Spoilers

“Beyond the Sea”

This was the best episode of The X-Files so far in this re-watch.

“Beyond the Sea” is a Scully-centric episode and it casts our heroine into an uncommon situation… as the believer. And Mulder is the skeptic.

Gillian Anderson gives an extraordinary performance, really able to dive into the character of Dana Scully for the first time as an individual and not just as the opposite of Mulder. The episode kicked off with the death of Dana’s father, played by Twin Peaks vet Don Davis, and Dana sees a vision of her father just prior to being told the unhappy news.

Then, the inclusion of the villainous Luther Lee Boggs, a serial killer that Mulder had helped to catch, as a potential psychic who claimed to have psychic visions of a kidnapping of a pair of teenagers. Mulder refused to believe that Boggs had any kind of psychic power because he knew the kind of manipulator he was. However, Boggs made some remarks, particularly singing the song ‘Beyond the Sea’ (which was Dana’s parents song), that made Dana think that maybe he was real.

The episode became even more about Scully after Mulder gets shot and ends up in the hospital, leaving her to carry the heavy load for the rest of the episode.

This episode had a ‘Silence of the Lambs’ vibe to it and Gillian Anderson and Brad Dourif, who played Boggs, were excellent. As in all X-Files episodes, the questions about what was actually happening are everywhere. It is just as possible that Boggs was working with his accomplice to set up the whole situation as it is that he was a psychic. That dichotomy is one of the reasons the X-Files is as beloved as it is.

The other major theme of this episode is one that the X-Files will focus on heavily over its entire run. The father theme is used regularly and with both major characters.

Great episode.