Rewatch Extra: 1x16 E.B.E.
This is one of those episodes that seems really long and meandering, but in a good way. As it went on, I kept thinking, Oh! THIS is in this episode! And this, too!
There’s a Prairie Home Companion-style commercial for “Goody’s Headache Powder” on the truck radio. “When the night’s been too long and the party’s been too hardy, Goody’s Headache Powder will straighten you right out.” Dudes, it’s Tennessee, not 1930.
And the voices on the CB radio are hilarious--Canadians doing white trash southern voices. The police chief has a similarly terrible accent. It’s like they’re all in a high school play.
Where did Mulder get all that fancy equipment? He must keep it wherever he keeps his spray paint.
When they’re interviewing Ranheim, Mulder has one of his legs up on his chair, just kicking back. You’re at work, guy. Act like it. It reminds me of one of my high school religion teachers who once told us that continuing to put our legs up on our desks once we reached college would cause people to say, scandalized, “Look at that Catholic school girl.”
Mulder and Scully ride a bus! See, they tried to do their part to keep expenses down.
Take a moment for the first appearance of The Lone Gunmen. The close up shot of Frohike's clicking camera is kind of the best introduction ever. The line “Old dude now, but yeah” never fails to crack me up. And, of course, Frohike’s “She’s hot” and the emphatic addendum, “She IS hot” after she goes through her spiel about the government’s ineptitude.
Did anyone else have a brief obsession with those money strips in middle school? All of a sudden, someone discovered them and it became some cool thing to try to pull them out.
NOTE. Scully is sitting at a DESK. Ahem, Morgan and Wong, you wrote this episode.
“I think it’s remotely plausible that someone might think you’re hot.”
I love how she discovers her pen is bugged while she’s ranting about people thinking what they’re doing is important enough to be monitored. And then, of course, he squats down and pulls her hand toward him to look at the bug.
When Deep Throat gets edgy at the flash of a camera, Mulder tells him, “It’s just a tourist.” Look at how cutely non-paranoid Mulder is!
Scully rocks the party more than usual in this episode, which is saying something. She’s gathered tons of evidence and debunks the whole Ranheim story. Then she’s immediately suspicious of Deep Throat. She tells Mulder: “Mulder, you’re the only one I trust.”
They meet at her place, at her kitchen table, which I love. She quickly deduces the UFO picture is a fake. I bet she’s great at those “spot the differences” cartoons. Mulder, obviously, is pissed, not wanting to believe it’s a fake. He tells her she’s determined not to believe; she sasses back that he’s determined to believe. Oh, you two.
“I have never met anyone so passionate and dedicated to a belief as you. It’s so intense that sometimes it’s blinding. But there are others who are watching you, who know what I know. And whereas I can respect and admire your passion, they will use it against you. Mulder, the truth is out there, but so are lies.”
After she finishes, he says “thank you” in a way where you can tell he kind of feels stupid for going off like he did, refusing to listen to her, but he's too embarrassed to admit it and apologize.
The sequence where she puts her briefcase (briefcase!) down on the desk, goes to get coffee, then comes back to find it on its side is too long, but it’s a good example of how their work is already getting under Scully’s skin, making her paranoid about something she never would’ve given a second thought.
Mulder actually tells her she was right about the photo!
“Now we’re alone on this. There’s no one we can trust.” He gets all close, talking low. It's hot.
The aquarium scene is great, particularly because it provides a great visual background.
This episode is full of classic lines: “A lie is most convincingly hidden between two truths.”
The scene where Mulder’s dismantling his apartment is really well-cut. He ends up actually smashing a light bulb with a book to see what’s inside. Nothing, of course, but in that one moment, shards of glass all over his desk, it’s like he’s hit rock bottom. After he does that, we get a look around his apartment, which he’s completely trashed.
The bug, unsurprisingly, is in the wall socket. Dude, ALWAYS look there first.
I love how he guides her into the apartment and over to the desk, where he writes her a note. And they have a fake conversation while having a real one with their eyes.
And then, the episode really gets going! I know! They split up to lose their followers and then Scully buys several plane tickets, with cash. The woman looks at her suspiciously, but says nothing else. Today, she’d probably be detained and questioned. (Where did the cash come from? Are they going to submit an expense report? “Oh, I didn’t actually USE the ticket, it was a decoy.”) Then they meet up in Las Vegas in a gift shop. THEN, they have a stakeout at the side of the road, and Scully uses binoculars.
Mulder helps Scully into the back of the truck. It’s cute. Sadly, her trench coat has an ugly gold chain across the back.
In the back of the truck they find a really low-budget surgical table, and walls that seem to be covered with aluminum foil.
Scully actually asks Mulder seriously if the experience fit a profile, if it was the real deal. Like she believes that it might’ve been real! No, there was no lost time, it was an elaborate show to deflect them. He says they’re using him against himself. Now, though, that’s more difficult with Scully at his side. If she hadn’t been there to question the authenticity of the photo, he would’ve been down to Georgia in a heartbeat and off on the wild goose chase they wanted, instead of on the right path.
When Mulder calls Langly to have him hack them some credentials, he gives Scully the eye the whole time he’s on the phone. That cap doesn't fully show how awesome it is.
They sneak into the power plant, using fake credentials. And Scully doesn’t even say it’s a bad idea or try to argue with it!
Once they get in and are busted by the guard (who is in a couple of other episodes, most notably as the Eyes and Ears guy from “Pusher”), it’s cute how Scully still has absolute faith in their FBI credentials, like showing him badges will help them. Mulder, of course, takes off running, leaving Scully behind to presumably explain what they’re doing there and to, you know, ask him not to tattle on them to the FBI.
"I’m wondering which lie to believe.” He looks so sad, like he’s just now realizing that his desire to believe can be detrimental. Like he’s suddenly disillusioned. It's interesting to think about how many times he's been unknowingly misled before Scully was in the picture to poke holes in all his theories and save him from himself.