Fic Recs: 3x14 Grotesque
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xfilesficrecs"Grotesque" is easily Howard Gordon's best script for the series so far. It's well-directed, beautifully filmed, and has a great score. I want to like it. Heck, I want to love it. While it has some genuinely scary moments, there is something hollow at the core. It has to do with Gordon's characterization of Fox Mulder.
"Grotesque" is supposed to show us how Mulder got his big reputation as a profiler. What it shows me is how little Gordon cared to learn about criminal profiling. Why the heck is Mulder spending so much time in the library looking at pictures of gargoyles? Why is he hanging Mostow's bad art on the walls of his apartment? Why wouldn't he just use the same investigative tools that he uses to solve X-Files? He's caught serial killers before without turning himself into a headcase. Other than the interviews he did with Mostow, where Mulder tried to get him to implicate another killer, was there anything that Mulder did that helped solve the crime? If the details of the crime were known only to members of investigative team, shouldn't Mulder have considered the possibility that one of them was the copy-cat killer? It was the first thing that popped into my head and I'm just a nurse who watches a lot of crime shows.
His normal demeanor in the face of horrific crimes is ironic detachment, which is not a bad coping mechanism, but he is also capable of enormous empathy toward victims. Still, he was sneaking glances at the football game while tracking down Donnie Pfaster. So why is he acting so irrational during this case? His behavior is unprofessional and everyone, including A.D. Skinner, knows it. He keeps ditching Scully, he never calls for backup, he doesn't answer her calls. He gets his fingerprints all over the evidence. He turns off his cell phone, for Christ's sake! He's behaving recklessly, not heroically.
This episode is ground zero for all of those Profiler! Mulder fics where Our Hero Goes Crazy while tracking down a serial killer. "Corpse" by Livengoo and "Oklahoma" by Amperage and Livengoo are two of the best known of the genre. Both are at Gossamer. There's a long list of titles at The X-Files Lost and Found. These are a few of my favorites.
Rivkat's "Acadia" is a fine representation of the genre, and is filled with rich descriptions of Maine in early spring which give it a sense of place. Her Mulder is a bit crazier than some and her Scully quite a bit angrier than most, but if you've read "Iolokus," that's hardly going to come as a surprise.
Acadia (35958 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Serial Killer
Series: Part 1 of Acadia
Summary:
In "A Case of Compromise," I admire how deftly Humby gets both characters involved in the case without contradicting canon and having them meet in person. I adore stories that remind us of how smart both of these characters are.
A Case of Compromise by Joann Humby
Rating - PG (but with a warning for strong language)
Classification - X
Summary:
It's 1991, Mulder has the X-Files and no partner. Scully is working at Quantico. A Senator's daughter goes missing and Mulder's life gets difficult.
"The Eye of the Beholder" is such a well-conceived and well-executed x-file/casefile that it was hard to believe it was her first "real story" (her words, not mine).
The Eye of the Beholder by Nascent
Rating - Mature (violence, language) (My rating, not Nascent's)
Spoilers - Emily
Keywords - Mulder/Scully Friendship/UST
Summary:
Mulder and Scully are called in to help track a serial killer whose victims have a guilty past. But the killer draws their personal lives into a high-stakes game of vengeance, which poses a risky
opportunity for to learn more about the Syndicate and lots of opportunities for almost-gratuitous Angst.
In "Gerber Daisies," DiscordantWords tackles a difficult genre, skillfully setting a new casefile into the events of season eight, following Mulder's return in "Dead Alive."
Gerber Daisies (53660 words) by DiscordantWords
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Charlie Scully, John Doggett
Additional Tags: Season 8, casefile, Serial Killers
Summary:
"This House is Burning" is flat-out the best Profiler!Mulder series I've ever read. Tesla's writing style flows effortlessly, and is, by turns, unobtrusive and lyrical. Her Mulder is both much more competent at his job and much less crazy than he's often written, which is a welcome relief. But THIB is more than a series of meticulously constructed casefics, it's also a believable, emotionally involving Mulder/Scully romance. So let's see: great writing? Check. Exciting plot? Check. Scorching hot sex scenes? Check, check, check.
This House is Burning by Tesla
Part 1: Blood on the Snow
Part 2: A Thief's Diet
Part 3: The Quiet Glades of Eden
"Grotesque" is supposed to show us how Mulder got his big reputation as a profiler. What it shows me is how little Gordon cared to learn about criminal profiling. Why the heck is Mulder spending so much time in the library looking at pictures of gargoyles? Why is he hanging Mostow's bad art on the walls of his apartment? Why wouldn't he just use the same investigative tools that he uses to solve X-Files? He's caught serial killers before without turning himself into a headcase. Other than the interviews he did with Mostow, where Mulder tried to get him to implicate another killer, was there anything that Mulder did that helped solve the crime? If the details of the crime were known only to members of investigative team, shouldn't Mulder have considered the possibility that one of them was the copy-cat killer? It was the first thing that popped into my head and I'm just a nurse who watches a lot of crime shows.
His normal demeanor in the face of horrific crimes is ironic detachment, which is not a bad coping mechanism, but he is also capable of enormous empathy toward victims. Still, he was sneaking glances at the football game while tracking down Donnie Pfaster. So why is he acting so irrational during this case? His behavior is unprofessional and everyone, including A.D. Skinner, knows it. He keeps ditching Scully, he never calls for backup, he doesn't answer her calls. He gets his fingerprints all over the evidence. He turns off his cell phone, for Christ's sake! He's behaving recklessly, not heroically.
This episode is ground zero for all of those Profiler! Mulder fics where Our Hero Goes Crazy while tracking down a serial killer. "Corpse" by Livengoo and "Oklahoma" by Amperage and Livengoo are two of the best known of the genre. Both are at Gossamer. There's a long list of titles at The X-Files Lost and Found. These are a few of my favorites.
Rivkat's "Acadia" is a fine representation of the genre, and is filled with rich descriptions of Maine in early spring which give it a sense of place. Her Mulder is a bit crazier than some and her Scully quite a bit angrier than most, but if you've read "Iolokus," that's hardly going to come as a surprise.
Acadia (35958 words) by rivkat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Dana Scully, Fox Mulder
Additional Tags: Serial Killer
Series: Part 1 of Acadia
Summary:
Mulder and Scully track a killer in the woods, while struggling with the various issues unresolved between them. Fourth season, between Demons & Gethsemane.
In "A Case of Compromise," I admire how deftly Humby gets both characters involved in the case without contradicting canon and having them meet in person. I adore stories that remind us of how smart both of these characters are.
A Case of Compromise by Joann Humby
Rating - PG (but with a warning for strong language)
Classification - X
Summary:
It's 1991, Mulder has the X-Files and no partner. Scully is working at Quantico. A Senator's daughter goes missing and Mulder's life gets difficult.
"The Eye of the Beholder" is such a well-conceived and well-executed x-file/casefile that it was hard to believe it was her first "real story" (her words, not mine).
The Eye of the Beholder by Nascent
Rating - Mature (violence, language) (My rating, not Nascent's)
Spoilers - Emily
Keywords - Mulder/Scully Friendship/UST
Summary:
Mulder and Scully are called in to help track a serial killer whose victims have a guilty past. But the killer draws their personal lives into a high-stakes game of vengeance, which poses a risky
opportunity for to learn more about the Syndicate and lots of opportunities for almost-gratuitous Angst.
In "Gerber Daisies," DiscordantWords tackles a difficult genre, skillfully setting a new casefile into the events of season eight, following Mulder's return in "Dead Alive."
Gerber Daisies (53660 words) by DiscordantWords
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Charlie Scully, John Doggett
Additional Tags: Season 8, casefile, Serial Killers
Summary:
Mulder, adjusting to life after death, comes face-to-face with one of the most dangerous criminals he's ever encountered. Set against the backdrop of Season 8.
"This House is Burning" is flat-out the best Profiler!Mulder series I've ever read. Tesla's writing style flows effortlessly, and is, by turns, unobtrusive and lyrical. Her Mulder is both much more competent at his job and much less crazy than he's often written, which is a welcome relief. But THIB is more than a series of meticulously constructed casefics, it's also a believable, emotionally involving Mulder/Scully romance. So let's see: great writing? Check. Exciting plot? Check. Scorching hot sex scenes? Check, check, check.
This House is Burning by Tesla
Part 1: Blood on the Snow
Part 2: A Thief's Diet
Part 3: The Quiet Glades of Eden