Spoilers

“Arcadia”

I remember loving this episode when it first aired. I still loved it after this rewatch, but it may have taken a slight step down. Still one of my favorite X-Files episodes.

Mulder and Scully going undercover as a yuppie married couple in a planned community to try and discover why people have been disappearing without a trace is a fantastic premise. It opens the show up to some funny moments as Mulder and Scully interact with each other and the neighborhood and its ridiculously strict rules.

This, I think, is a perfect episode to talk about something that I have truly noticed during this rewatch. I know there were people who thought Scully and Mulder were meant for each other, but this episode showed to me that they just did not have that lover connection. Each scene of them as a married couple, where there could have been sparks with their unrequited love, just lacked any energy and was played as humor.

I have never felt that Mulder and Scully had that “will they or won’t they” vibe of TV pairs such as David and Maddie of Moonlighting, Sam and Diane of Cheers, Richard Castle and Detective Beckett of Castle. I mean, I have no doubt that they loved each other, but more like brother-sister, or best friends. Heck, I would compare the relationship between Mulder and Scully more like that of Adrian Monk and Natalie from Monk. Closer than co-workers. Tighter than friends. Just platonic. Trying to do more feels uncomfortable, and that is the feel of “Arcadia.”

I do like the garbage monster which is revealed as a tulpa, a thought creature brought to life by the planned community leader Gene Gogolak, played by Peter White. However, the third act of the show sure seemed rushed. I think this concept could have been a two-part episode, although I know they kept those two-parters for the mythology episodes and not the monster-of-the-week affairs. I do think this could have worked as one in order to give a little more background to the monster and fleshing out the characters in the community more.

The comedic timing of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson is really great. They work in so many versions of this show. They are such solid actors. It just does not seem as if their characters are in love.