by Chelsea Dee, Editor-at-Large

This continues The X-Files Project I started, where a relative newbie to the show starts from the beginning and recaps each episode. These are informal so I hope you don’t mind, it really is just me writing as I watch the show and reflecting on it in the process. This episode is named “Deep Throat.” I just had to get that completely inappropriate and childish giggle out of the way. Yes I know it’s referring to the informant. I’m still giggling. Moving on I am a mature almost-30 year old woman.Onwards with The X-Files! This time Mulder wants to investigate the strange case of a test pilot who was found horribly burned in his house and then disappeared for four months. Scully points out it’s not an old file, an X-File, but it’s enough to get his attention. Mulder is approached in the bathroom by a mysterious nameless man who warns him not to get involved in this. He, of course, ignores him. Duh. He also notices that he’s being followed and the line he’s calling Scully from is tapped. He tells her none of this, probably because she’s still required to report on his progress regularly.

They go to Idaho and talk to another woman whose husband was part of the same flight school. Scully and Mulder talk about potential undercover projects the two of them could’ve been working for. Scully naturally points out the rational kind, spying on other countries or testing out new equipment, and Mulder thinks it’s probably aliens. I think his answer to everything is going to be aliens, which I’d usually roll my eyes about too after awhile, but this is his show so he’s right.  It wasn’t entirely right this time which I think is important. While it’s strange that Scully still questions him at times, it’s important because Mulder isn’t going to be right in every instance. The pilot shows up again but he’s sort of going through the motion, some of his memory seems to be cleared completely. Scully insists that the brain doesn’t work that way, you can’t simply erase sections of it, and I’d like to argue with her about this and the techniques of torture people could probably use, but it’s The X-Files. So it’s obviously going to be conspiracy theory type of thing. Woot. They find these two kids out in a field where these strange but lovely lights are in the sky, and then a helicopter like thing goes after them.

One of those kids was Seth Green! I was surprised. Oh man look how nerdy he is. Awww. He’s a baby. I love Seth Green. I can’t take him seriously at all, but you’re not supposed to since they’re teenagers. Scully and Mulder are attacked by unknown Men in Black agents who take their film, destroy their notes, and punch Mulder. Mean. Eventually he gets up in everyone’s business because that’s how he rolls and he makes the teenagers bring him back to the base. He gets captured. Thus starts like five-seven minutes straight of me screaming NOOOO MULDER NOOOO. I have a thing about eyes, I winced when they put these strange drops in his eyes and he’s held down. I was not okay with this. And here’s the part that really made me gape: he doesn’t really get rescued. Scully kicks the ass of this “reporter” who is really undercover and brings him to the base, but Mulder is let go because his memory is wiped. Who knows what else they put in his head.

WOW. This is the second episode, and this one was more about conspiracy theories about aliens, and the hero got caught and actually brainwashed. That’s damn impressive. Way to go against expectations, and this was twenty years ago. He meets that informant who warned him not to go, and he acknowledges that aliens exist and have been on Earth for a long time. Dum dum duuuuum. A big high five to this episode. I winced during the Mulder eyedrop scene and I cheered when Scully beat up that jerk, and I was downright astonished that he didn’t get saved. It means that the stakes are a little higher. Mulder and Scully aren’t necessarily going to come out on top. They do seem to be climbing up a steep hill just to get anything accomplished, so it’s just as likely they’re going to keep crashing down to Earth.

Lingering questions: Okay obviously who is this Deep Throat guy. I’m sure we’ll get into that later. Could they have wiped Mulder’s mind of anything else? Is this going to come back? I’m sure brain washing of some kind will come back, it’s too big of a trope to ignore. How many unexpected celebrities do I have to look forward to? I guess we’ll see.

Rating: – I’m impressed that Mulder did get caught and suffered consequences.

Keep watching ComicsOnline.com for more Dee Discusses, more TV reviews, and everything geek pop culture!