1.04 - Conduit

Listed as a non-alien mythology episode on Wikipedia, this one has pretty strong references to Mulder’s history, with more than a couple references to his sister. It’s not surprising the best moments of the episode are related to that history.

Scully has a moment with Darlene Morris, whose daughter disappears in an apparent alien abduction at the beginning of the episode. These small moments of dialogue between them give Scully just the briefest hint of what it means to be a believer, and one who isn’t afraid to say so. It’s a tiny insight into who her partner is, into what it must be like to have everyone call you “Spooky”.

Mulder mentions how he found information about Darlene’s UFO experience when she was younger from the Center for UFO Studies, which is catnip for the UFO nerds in the audience. It’s a real place, usually called CUFOS, founded by J. Allen Hynek who worked on Project Blue Book — lest you thought the show didn’t have bulletproof nerd credentials.

I don’t want to cheapen the stuff with Mulder and his sister in this episode by recapping too much of it. He and Scully talk about her, one time Scully even raises her voice and sends a barb Mulder’s way about how he should stop chasing his sister.

I’m not sure why this wouldn’t be included in the alien mythology episodes. There isn’t a significant governmental presence (other than the NSA, and potentially someone higher up who got to Ruby/Darlene), although Mulder’s pain over his sister’s disappearance and all the similarities roots this one strongly in the show’s larger story arc.

“The truth has caused me nothing but heartache,” Darlene says.

Mulder and Scully both receive their own wounds from that statement. Scully, as of now, has a singular truth: science. We see her with recordings from Mulder’s hypnotherapy sessions, and his truth which is causing him pain just like it did Darlene. It seems like Scully’s wound is due to her inability to help Mulder, at least in this episode. She has her own wounds, which I’m glad of, if only because it leads to much more interesting characters. If both of them were nothing more than hotshot FBI agents the show wouldn’t have had the impact it did, I think.

Another episode with an amazing last line, one of the most iconic in the series. I don’t consider this a Monster of the Week episode at all.