Rewatch Extra: 4x08 Paper Hearts
There are IWTB spoilers in here. You've been duly warned.
The music in this episode is gorgeous, like a jewelry box being halfway opened, the bent ballerina struggling to turn.
I’m trying to separate myself from the movie to think about just this episode, but Mulder sleeping on his lonely little couch is killing me. I’ll try my best not to type “I ( Read more... )
The music in this episode is gorgeous, like a jewelry box being halfway opened, the bent ballerina struggling to turn.
I’m trying to separate myself from the movie to think about just this episode, but Mulder sleeping on his lonely little couch is killing me. I’ll try my best not to type “I ( Read more... )
Oh God dammit, here I go! (Snow won an Emmy for this one, didn't he? Deservedly so.) PAPER HEARTS. I warn you now, I will be LONG-WINDED (i.e. multiple comments) RAMBLY about this one, seeing as it's my FAVORITE.
I love the way he touches her arm when he’s telling her how he got to the park, like he’s trying to tether himself to her, or her to him. Afraid she might float away, needing her to understand.
Oh David, David, David. Him and his little touches (physical and otherwise). They KILL me, man. This is Emmy-worthy work, and he wasn't even nominated. For fuck's sake.
He seems surprised that she might remember something he’d said to her, like she might not always be listening to him. I love it when they quote each other, because honestly, one of the hottest things about them really is how they listen to each other and absorb it all.
So, so true! It's such a Muldery reaction, too; I think he expects her to tune him out most of the time (it would certainly jive with his lack of self worth). Oh, Mulder. I'll happily listen to you ramble the years away! (As I'm sure Scully would, too.)
Mulder, you complex, sexy man.
In a nutshell! But seriously, I want to comment on so much! All the actors are great, the dialogue is great, the direction is BEAUTIFUL (Rob Bowman, I met you, I wish I'd remembered to thank you for THIS, too!)... must stop now!
“Thirteen sounds more magical.” God, Vince gives Roche the best lines. They’re lovely, almost poetic, which makes them even more horrific.
Ugh, yes. Between Roche and Modell, no one -- and I mean NO ONE -- can touch Vince when it comes to writing the most truly disturbing criminals. Also, Noonan plays Roche in this incredibly real, creepy way (I think he mentioned he tried to make it sound like he felt he had a "relationship" with Mulder, and reacts accordingly to how Mulder treats him), and it blows my mind. I'm so surprised he doesn't make more "scariest XF villains" lists, because no one freaks me out more.
I could watch Duchov play ball all day long.
You and me both! I love how casually he makes that three-pointer, too.
Duchovny’s delivery during the Samantha dream is AMAZING. He’s going through the motions, like he’s in a trance. He knows his lines, he knows what happens, and he's powerless to affect a different outcome.
Yes. YES. Did you read Polly's CTP before writing this or what? Either way, you two are in the same headspace on this (along with me).
Even if Samantha hadn’t been abducted, he would’ve turned out pretty weird, anyway. I love that.
Oh, me too. I think that's what makes Mulder so unique, in such a subtle way; with or without the past trauma, he's just such a weird NERD. And I love him so much for it.
What’s more horrifying? When the door flies open and Roche is standing there, backlit by his El Camino, or when the door opens and an alien’s there?
Which is, of course, the concept behind the entire episode (and it's brilliant). The fear that comes from the real, everyday villains, rather than the unknown and obscure, the stuff that can't be programmed, categorized or easily referenced. ;)
he’s the only one who gets away with this, who can successfully call him on his shit without him getting defensive and angry.
And that's part of what makes them so awesome and special, am I right?
He is raw like hamburger meat this entire episode. Mulder's emotional honesty and vulnerability make him a good investigator, but they're also a liability.
Yes, ugh, YES. And the way Duchov PLAYS it, man! It's like you could cut him by tapping him with a spork.
That she has been willing to “follow” him, to accompany him on the journey, when she has doubted the main thrust of it. And Mulder has been able to overlook the knowledge that she doesn't believe him. LOVE, people.
I feel like an idiot for never recognizing that angle before, but you are SO right. And now I am just like DUDE, my writing meta on this episode is totally useless now. You have covered all the bases, my friend!
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AHAHA, I love you so much. You know that, right?
“Help me, Scully.” And she does. She gets down there, their hands digging through the dirt together.
That moment, to me, is one of the most definitive moments not only for their partnership, but their relationship. It's just so telling.
Compare this to the scene in “Conduit,” where he wants her to do the same thing and she refuses. Four years'll do a lot.
Oh man, yes. I always think back to Conduit in this scene.
Mulder alone with the body. His face is utterly bereft. It’s really well-done that we don’t actually see the remains for quite a bit, they remain under the sheet while he works up his nerve.
This entire scene, all by itself, is Emmy-worthy. (I'm sorry, I can't stop myself!) It's filled with silence, but it says SO much. His FACE, Sarah. This scene makes me cry a little, every time. A great article once described how David's face and eyes say much more than his voice ever does (since he's so often criticized about his "monotone" delivery), and said that in Memento Mori "his face collapsed in on itself," and how great that was. I see it again here. GOD.
“It’s somebody, though.” THIS is what I love about Mulder and about this episode. That despite being driven by his sister, he is never completely single-minded and selfish about it. He wants to ID this girl. Give her back to her family.
Oh God, now I'm going to start crying just READING about it! But yes, on all counts. So much yes. That is MULDER in a nutshell, and that's why this episode is just... so dear to me, on so many levels. Mulder has my whole heart, I can't help it!
I love Mulder in his suit, on his couch.
Me too! It's such a quintessential Muldery moment. I have so, so much affection for that goddamn couch, I can't even begin to explain it.
I know, Skinman, I know. No one understands why they’re not. They both recently got super, super hot.
LOL. I know. (Just tell me I'm not alone in finding them, or at least Mulder, hot before now? More cuteness before now, yes, but still.)
I love that whirring spaceship noise Roche makes while he twirls his cuffed hands.
I am absolutely convinced that no other actor but Tom Noonan could have sold this part the way he does, not even close.
"But I’m telling you the God’s honest truth. I can see you’re not as open-minded as you think you are."
Good God, this episode is so complex. It kills me, absolutely kills me. (I realize I'm fangirling all over your post, I'M SORRY. I warned you!)
Mulder's empty arms after "Samantha" disappears just break my heart. So much more will be taken from him.
*is definitely crying now*
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You already know this, but God, do I love Mulder with children. So much.
He sacrifices that, his selfish need for that, for the living girl in front of him. His face...his face.
Oh God. I can hardly stand to look, but I must. This is why, to me, Mulder will always be a hero. People love to throw words like "self-absorbed" and "selfish" around when describing Mulder, but I never see it that simply. Yes, he's focused, yes, he knows what he wants and will sacrifice just about anything to get to it or find it, but he's not that one-dimensional. Mulder FEELS, man; so much pain on behalf of so many more than just himself. And when the moment calls for it, he surrenders the rights to that pain to someone else, or conversely takes it all on himself.
And David shows it all, just with his face and eyes. He looks horrified at having killed Roche (I think there's something in Mulder, not just now but other times too, that wants to avoid that last step if at all possible), he looks devastated at what he's lost, he looks confused and lost and HURT and... ACK. It's all there.
Look how fucking sad he is. Shit, Scully, take that man home and make it all better! Mulder, you cannot save all the lost little girls in the world!
But he wants to believe he can. (I'm sorry, it slipped in!) It's at the heart of his character though, isn't it? That basic, frustrating, hopeless desire.
In that moment, when she's there, and they're touching, he's okay. She's holding him down, sanity in check. As soon as she leaves, he loses any peace that he just had.
Oh, Mulder. This episode breaks my goddamn heart into a billion pieces, every single time, without fail. And that cap, with his EYES? GAHHHH. *see icon* It just... yeah.
I have another movie post brewing, I think, with some ideas on plot and theme, but this'll do for now.
Are you trying to kill me, woman? I should just stop writing FOREVER about all things XF and divert to you!
When you think about it, profiling’s the closest thing to being psychic someone can be without actually having some kind of supernatural power. It’s mysterious, how it happens, especially in someone like Mulder, who often seems to intuit things like a savant.
Yes, exactly. That's why I love the entire concept behind "Spooky" Mulder; when someone's that good, it IS spooky. And I love that the show wasn't afraid to run with that ability for him.
And she does watch him. Not because it’s her job (unless we’re talking in a cosmic sense), but because she loves him. She’s the barrier, the protective skin, between Mulder and the world that just might rip him to shreds without her there.
Yes, exactly. And then this makes me wonder about when and how Mulder protects Scully, and how conversely adverse she almost seems to be about letting him do it, or even permitting him to. And it's sad, because he's almost desperate to return that love and protection.
It's not the work, really, that seems to be the draw, but doing the work with Scully. There's a flash in both their eyes in that scene outside Father Joe's apartment, and when Mulder says he's "only half of the team," and in the locker room scene where she's suggesting black market organ sales and they're riffing off each other, an old spark reigniting as their brains rejoin in the dance of the investigation. That's one of the many things we love about them, that interplay.
So, SO much word. Ugh. Get out of my head.
It brought them together, but they've moved past that, and at the end, they're willing to keep going. To keep looking forward, not back. Together.
And that's what makes that final scene so goddamn beautiful. He offers her the ultimate compromise, which isn't really a sacrifice for either of them: let's run away together, but be realistic about how far we can get. Just for a little while, let's rest together, and when the next hit comes, we'll take it. Oh, MULDER. That slightly sad smile on his face in that scene KILLED me.
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And it's sad, because he's almost desperate to return that love and protection.
Oh God, my thoughts immediately go to the nosebleeds in "Memento Mori" and "Elegy." "I'm fine, Mulder. Quit staring at me." She doesn't even want him looking at her while she's vulnerable. And god, the power it seems to take him to actually look away from her at that moment. Like...he can't, but if that's what she wants from him right now, that's what he'll give her.
Oh, the sad smiles on BOTH their faces in that scene. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. (Have I mentioned that recently? I was trying to explain it to my friend last night, and I just sounded like a total crazy person who had forgotten how to string words together. I just can't articulate out loud about these two!) And it's not that I just love them generally. I think what's causing this current wave (tsunami?) of love is the fact that I love what they have become so much. They're the same, but they're not, and I love them every step of the way.
I know I've probably rambled in one post or another about characters and character growth being the reason I love TV and why I want to write it, and it just hit me that this may be the most perfectly realized example of character development in television, ever. It really is like they exist. (Annnnd...end craziness NOW.)
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And god, the power it seems to take him to actually look away from her at that moment. Like...he can't, but if that's what she wants from him right now, that's what he'll give her.
UGH, yes. Scully often is lauded as the "caretaker" of the pair, but Mulder has the same desires to protect and care for Scully as she does for him. The problem, of course, lies in the fact that (a) Scully hides behind the Medical Doctor mask as an excuse to sublimate her own desires in that vein, and (b) Scully is fiercely determined to hide her weaknesses from Mulder, let alone let him help her with them. SIGH. I love how they're borderline entirely incompatible, yet somehow so PERFECT for each other. It's crazy!
I've often tried to explain why and how I love them (and the show) as much as I do, and I always come out sounding like a complete moron. Maybe it's because I'm more articulate in writing than I am in speech, or maybe it's simply because it's something that can never fully be appropriately articulated? Either way, I know what you mean.
it just hit me that this may be the most perfectly realized example of character development in television, ever. It really is like they exist.
SO VERY MUCH YES. Which is why so many people (like my friends Julie and Kylie especially) have these stories about how fictional characters have, in no small way, saved their lives. They are more real than any others I've read or seen, and I'm of the firm belief that they'll stay that way.
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I love this, too! But really, have we learned nothing from Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat? Opposites attract.
I've often tried to explain why and how I love them (and the show) as much as I do, and I always come out sounding like a complete moron. Maybe it's because I'm more articulate in writing than I am in speech, or maybe it's simply because it's something that can never fully be appropriately articulated? Either way, I know what you mean.
I've always been better at writing than talking, but it's not like I'm completely useless at verbal communication, generally. I'm even fairly decent at public speaking. But talking about XF, I end up sounding like I just had a combination lobotomy/dental procedure. Even if I could get the words to form, my mouth isn't helping at all. Finally, I just said to my friend, "Okay, I'm sorry, it was sweet of you to ask, but I'm not going to try to explain this to you anymore."
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Heh, yes, exactly. It's just too hard, which is why it's so good to know all these people who just get it, and be able to talk to them about it, in that same language.
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For real. Season four should've won this man an Emmy, and I still do not understand why it didn't. (Well, I understand the part where the Emmys don't know what the hell they're talking about. I understand that, but I don't have to like it.) Let's make our own awards and pick up the slack to award people snubbed by Emmy. Actually, The Zellies kind of has a nice ring to it....
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But yes, the lack of wins for S4 on David's part really is a crime. He is never more fully embodied as Mulder than in Paper Hearts (and considering how well he always portrays him, that's saying a lot, a lot, a lot).
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I know, right? I think it's the "sprigs of mint" line that seals the deal. Like he's just lost in this poetic reverie about waiting to take this little girl. Horrifying.
Did you read Polly's CTP before writing this or what?
I don't know who Polly is or what CTP stands for--clue me in.
I think that's what makes Mulder so unique, in such a subtle way; with or without the past trauma, he's just such a weird NERD. And I love him so much for it.
Yes! (Hey, let's comment back and forth, agreeing with each other!) But seriously, I kind of love nothing more than Mulder's innate nerdiness. No one on TV has ever been as convincingly smart and strange and geeky as these two. It makes me feel all warm.
And that's part of what makes them so awesome and special, am I right?
YOU ARE RIGHT.
I feel like an idiot for never recognizing that angle before, but you are SO right.
You know, I've watched this episode a million times, and this idea really hit me this time. It's something that I don't think we're asked to think about that much, and it bears thinking about. I felt like there was a LOT more to say than I did, but I couldn't quite get my head in the right place.
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Yes, exactly! That line, and the one you already mentioned in your post (the offhand delivery of "thirteen sounds more... magical, I don't know.") GAH.
I don't know who Polly is or what CTP stands for--clue me in.
Ohhhh dear. If you're like me, once you go to this site, you'll be stuck reading for hours. In short, Polly is an old school fan (she's a mod at Haven too, I believe) who wrote up great things for every single episode called "Cherish the Past". The one for Paper Hearts (which I believe is her favorite episode as well) is phenomenal, but they're all a fantastic resource for behind-the-scenes info.
I kind of love nothing more than Mulder's innate nerdiness. No one on TV has ever been as convincingly smart and strange and geeky as these two. It makes me feel all warm.
YES. They are just such NERDS. That great IGN article (the "Ten Things We Love about The X-Files" one) hit it on the nose; about how XF really did make geeks cool (and desirable). What's not to love about that?
This show! It keeps ninja-attacking us with new things to think about! 15 YEARS LATER. Ugh. (Also, isn't that our way, going back and forth and agreeing? HEH.)
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