Fic Recs: 3x17 "Pusher"
May. 20th, 2019 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xfilesficrecsIf you love this episode, here's your fair warning: I don't, I never have, and I won’t mince words about it. I am well aware that every other critic in the world loves it and loves Vince Gilligan. If you think he can do no wrong, and wish he'd been the show-runner for the revival episodes, you are entitled to your opinion. But you're never going to convince me. Despite his talent, he's the last guy I'd want running a show featuring characters I love.
If my ranting about "Pusher" is going to raise your blood pressure, step away now. I do get why Mulder/Scully shippers love this episode. They love the looks and the touches and the emotional intimacy. Hey, I love that, too. Maybe it was the script or perhaps the director took it upon himself to film their faces in frame together over and over again. They look beautiful in this episode, transcendent even. Mulder calls her "G-Woman." Scully falls asleep on his shoulder. It's adorable. They're adorable.
But the price we pay for those moments, the cost of getting Mulder and Scully to that sweet, too brief hand clasp at the end, is too steep for me. The characters are put through a wringer and we watch innocent people die for no good reason I can see other than that this writer likes to kill characters for emotional effect. He likes to kill characters, he likes to make them suffer before they die, and he likes to force them into making unnecessary, "moral" choices. He likes psychological torture, too. Come on, he has his villain make a cop light himself on fire in front of other cops. It's a two-fer! Psychological pain for the victim and for the law enforcement officers forced to stand and watch, unable to save him. The audience is squirming in their seats. At least Gilligan let Scully run for the fire extinguisher.
My problem with the violence is that it's unearned, just like it is in bad horror movies. Safety or Death? This wasn't a case of Mulder needing to convince anyone that Robert Modell could manipulate people's minds, except maybe Scully, at first. Agent Frank Burst came to Mulder for help. Before the SWAT team arrived at the golf course, they'd already figured out Pusher's M.O.
Fifteen minutes of brainstorming and my spouse and I came up with a work-around: a simple pair of earplugs for each officer. Modell uses his voice and he can only influence one person at a time. Put earplugs on your SWAT team so they can't hear his voice, problem solved. He still gets off in court, so you don't lose that scene. You can even let him try to talk Agent Burst into cardiac arrest. But you don't have to make it lethal. Mulder and Scully could say to the SWAT team, "Frank is having a heart attack. Make him hang up the phone." What the hell is Scully doing? Doesn't she recognize the man is having an MI?
Instead, they keep trying to get the phone away from Burst, repeating the same ineffectual phrases. When Burst does arrest, you could have Doctor Scully perform effective CPR on him, instead of having her quit after ten fucking seconds. If you don't want your lead actress (who is, after all, playing a physician) tied up doing CPR, have the other officers take over compressions. Hell, have an ambulance standing by, get the paramedics up there quickly. This maniac keeps killing with his voice. Have the characters think. Mulder and Scully aren't stupid. Have them be a little proactive. At the very least, Mulder should have known Modell wouldn't give away his location and said so. The trace was a complete waste of time and manpower right from the start. Agent Burst died for nothing, a victim of bad writing.
The Russian roulette scene at the end is completely unacceptable. I'm shocked that it got by Standards and Practices. Plus, what Mulder and Scully did, walking in unarmed, one after the other, like human sacrifices, made no sense whatsoever. At the end, I didn’t feel a thing except angry and manipulated. After viewing it, I couldn't sleep a wink, I was so pissed off--at everyone involved in this shitty episode--and at myself for watching it. Never Again.
SWAT LIEUTENANT: Why do we keep giving this guy exactly what he wants?
That's pretty obvious, isn't it? Now you know why I didn't want Vince Gilligan anywhere near the revival. Anyway he's got his own characters now. He can torture them instead.
Despite being listed in the spoiler section for "Pusher," this fic has nothing whatsoever to do with it. But I needed to read something to get that episode out of my brain. "Caving" did the trick. It has everything I like in a fluffy MSR fic: sexual tension, a long buildup before we get to the, ahem, climax, and a little leavening of angst—this is The X-Files, after all. Her dialogue is full of wit. The characters' emotions and actions are believably them, and not lifted out of a bad romance novel. This fic is funny, sexy, and not-too-sweet; in short, it's damn close to perfect.
Caving by A. Kelly Nolan
RATING: R | CATEGORIES: SR | KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance
SPOILERS: Tiny one for "Pusher."
SUMMARY: She looked at him a long moment, a wicked plan hatching in her mind."Care to make this interesting?" Mulder caught her tone and smiled to himself. Scully wanted to play. "What'd you have in mind?"
If my ranting about "Pusher" is going to raise your blood pressure, step away now. I do get why Mulder/Scully shippers love this episode. They love the looks and the touches and the emotional intimacy. Hey, I love that, too. Maybe it was the script or perhaps the director took it upon himself to film their faces in frame together over and over again. They look beautiful in this episode, transcendent even. Mulder calls her "G-Woman." Scully falls asleep on his shoulder. It's adorable. They're adorable.
But the price we pay for those moments, the cost of getting Mulder and Scully to that sweet, too brief hand clasp at the end, is too steep for me. The characters are put through a wringer and we watch innocent people die for no good reason I can see other than that this writer likes to kill characters for emotional effect. He likes to kill characters, he likes to make them suffer before they die, and he likes to force them into making unnecessary, "moral" choices. He likes psychological torture, too. Come on, he has his villain make a cop light himself on fire in front of other cops. It's a two-fer! Psychological pain for the victim and for the law enforcement officers forced to stand and watch, unable to save him. The audience is squirming in their seats. At least Gilligan let Scully run for the fire extinguisher.
My problem with the violence is that it's unearned, just like it is in bad horror movies. Safety or Death? This wasn't a case of Mulder needing to convince anyone that Robert Modell could manipulate people's minds, except maybe Scully, at first. Agent Frank Burst came to Mulder for help. Before the SWAT team arrived at the golf course, they'd already figured out Pusher's M.O.
Fifteen minutes of brainstorming and my spouse and I came up with a work-around: a simple pair of earplugs for each officer. Modell uses his voice and he can only influence one person at a time. Put earplugs on your SWAT team so they can't hear his voice, problem solved. He still gets off in court, so you don't lose that scene. You can even let him try to talk Agent Burst into cardiac arrest. But you don't have to make it lethal. Mulder and Scully could say to the SWAT team, "Frank is having a heart attack. Make him hang up the phone." What the hell is Scully doing? Doesn't she recognize the man is having an MI?
Instead, they keep trying to get the phone away from Burst, repeating the same ineffectual phrases. When Burst does arrest, you could have Doctor Scully perform effective CPR on him, instead of having her quit after ten fucking seconds. If you don't want your lead actress (who is, after all, playing a physician) tied up doing CPR, have the other officers take over compressions. Hell, have an ambulance standing by, get the paramedics up there quickly. This maniac keeps killing with his voice. Have the characters think. Mulder and Scully aren't stupid. Have them be a little proactive. At the very least, Mulder should have known Modell wouldn't give away his location and said so. The trace was a complete waste of time and manpower right from the start. Agent Burst died for nothing, a victim of bad writing.
The Russian roulette scene at the end is completely unacceptable. I'm shocked that it got by Standards and Practices. Plus, what Mulder and Scully did, walking in unarmed, one after the other, like human sacrifices, made no sense whatsoever. At the end, I didn’t feel a thing except angry and manipulated. After viewing it, I couldn't sleep a wink, I was so pissed off--at everyone involved in this shitty episode--and at myself for watching it. Never Again.
SWAT LIEUTENANT: Why do we keep giving this guy exactly what he wants?
That's pretty obvious, isn't it? Now you know why I didn't want Vince Gilligan anywhere near the revival. Anyway he's got his own characters now. He can torture them instead.
Despite being listed in the spoiler section for "Pusher," this fic has nothing whatsoever to do with it. But I needed to read something to get that episode out of my brain. "Caving" did the trick. It has everything I like in a fluffy MSR fic: sexual tension, a long buildup before we get to the, ahem, climax, and a little leavening of angst—this is The X-Files, after all. Her dialogue is full of wit. The characters' emotions and actions are believably them, and not lifted out of a bad romance novel. This fic is funny, sexy, and not-too-sweet; in short, it's damn close to perfect.
Caving by A. Kelly Nolan
RATING: R | CATEGORIES: SR | KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully romance
SPOILERS: Tiny one for "Pusher."
SUMMARY: She looked at him a long moment, a wicked plan hatching in her mind."Care to make this interesting?" Mulder caught her tone and smiled to himself. Scully wanted to play. "What'd you have in mind?"
Author's Note: There's no specific time frame for this story, but I'd say it feels seventh seasonish. Complete notes at the end.
*/*/*
Many people enjoy stories where the protagonists have sex in the aftermath of a trauma. I don't. Even if I did, I'd have some issues with this story, so this is a qualified rec. Having said that, this is still the most nuanced post-op I've ever read for "Pusher." We discussed the fic at the xf-book-club if you're curious about my ambivalence. Here is my bottom line: Amal Nahurriyeh is one of the best writers no longer in this fandom (sob!), and this story was posted on LiveJournal nearly ten years ago, during a lull in TXF fannish activity. If "First/Second" had been posted in a megafandom like MCU on AO3, it would have received hundreds of comments and thousands of hits. I love her work and I think her fics deserve a much wider audience.
First/Second by Amal Nahurriyeh
Summary: First times are usually a disaster.
Pairing: MSR
Rating: NC-17 (sex, mental trauma, angst)Warnings: This is potentially the most triggery thing I've written; please do check out the warnings if you need to know this sort of thing, or PM me or comment if you need more details.
Timeline/Spoilers: Part 1, post-Pusher. Part 2, post-Detour.
*/*/*
Next up: "Teso Dos Bichos."
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-22 04:01 pm (UTC)As to the Russian roulette scene, I was ruined as a kid by watching The Deer Hunter. Those scenes are still hard to take, even now.
I probably would have some of the same issues of the stuff that didn't make sense. (Especially if I rewatched it, since it's been quite some time since my last viewing.) But I long ago had given up on this show making sense. I kind of accept things at this point. Too many years of non-continuity, unresolved points, and other random things that don't make sense will do that to you.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-22 08:46 pm (UTC)I'm so out of step with society.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-06 03:54 am (UTC)I did see some comments here & there that he was the hero of the story. I nearly fell out of my chair in shock. I don't know what show they were watching, but it wasn't the one I saw. The man was a monster! He destroyed not just his own life, but the lives of * everyone * he came into contact with. If someone sees that as something to be admired, then I cannot even relate to such a person!