Doggett may have been a great cop, but he just comes across as unnecessarily stubborn.
Doggett's character was introduced in this ep to serve as a challenge to Scully. She clearly despises him at first, and his way of fighting back against her hostility is to drop a few nuggetts of gossip and see how she reacts. He knows she doesn't want his sympathy or friendship. She wants answers, but in order to get those answers she needs to learn to trust Doggett. During the course of the episode he forces her to question her beliefs in Mulder, in herself, in their relationship, and in the existence of paranormal phenomena. This constant challenging of Scully's belief systems sets the stage for that trust to develop. Doggett doesn't tell her what she wants to hear - he tells her what she needs to know. Eventually she will recognize this honesty as a virtue instead of a threat. CC&Co needed to introduce a character not as a replacement for Mulder, but someone who could be a match for Scully's strength and determination. Someone to keep her on her toes, just like she did for Mulder for seven years. In that respect, I think Doggett fits the bill.
As for expertise, I think being a "great cop" is an expertise on its own (ie. gathering evidence, working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun, developing criminal profiles, etc.).
At least Scully has science to back her up.
In Season 8 Scully has taken on the role of believer and rule breaker, while Doggett is the skeptic who wants to follow protocol. In this respect, I would argue that Scully relies more on her beliefs in the paranormal this season than her science background, while Doggett will only believe when he can see the proof for himself. I wouldn't call that stubborn, I'd call that logical and rational, which are two character traits we would normally attribute to (and admire in) Scully.
The same reasons apply to why Reyes, as a character, really doesn't work at all well, either. She has no expertise; she just has "feelings."
Doesn't Reyes have extensive experience dealing with cases involving the occult? I would think that would come in handy at some point, especially in The X-Files.
Expertise aside, I think both Reyes' and Doggett's characters get more interesting later on once we learn about the death of Doggett's son.
I'm not just talking about this episode anymore, though; I'm talking about Doggett as a character, on the whole. Having rewatched S8 and S9 pretty recently, I'm sorry to say that, though I do like him, his character really makes no narrative progress in two years. Even by the time The Truth rolls around, he's still playing the baseless skeptic, and it's become tiresome at that point.
As for expertise, I think being a "great cop" is an expertise on its own (ie. gathering evidence, working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun, developing criminal profiles, etc.). I have to seriously part company with you here, as someone with experience in that actual field. They are not even remotely close to the same thing, I'm sorry to tell you, and they especially weren't at this point (1999/2000). Gathering evidence, maybe. "Working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun" (is that a shot at Mulder? okay), sure. Developing criminal profiles? Absolutely, a hundred times NO. That's a profiler's job, if not a detective's job, and Doggett is neither.
I wouldn't call that stubborn, I'd call that logical and rational, which are two character traits we would normally attribute to (and admire in) Scully. Scully, however, actually bends a bit, even in the earlier years of XF. As I said above, Doggett is still standing around at the end saying, "But this can't happen! I may have seen it, but it can't be!" It's... obnoxious to me, to say the least.
Doesn't Reyes have extensive experience dealing with cases involving the occult? I'm pretty sure she herself says she's only dealt with a handful of cases. The show itself has, on many occasions, dismissed the existence of occult practices, and Reyes herself dismisses cases pretty easily as well. I don't think there's enough literature or cases out there for her to have "extensive experience" in anything in that area, and aside from one or two throwaway lines, I don't think canon gives us much reason to believe that either. It's just one of many examples of extremely lazy writing in the last two years, that's all I'm saying.
Doggett's character was introduced in this ep to serve as a challenge to Scully. She clearly despises him at first, and his way of fighting back against her hostility is to drop a few nuggetts of gossip and see how she reacts. He knows she doesn't want his sympathy or friendship. She wants answers, but in order to get those answers she needs to learn to trust Doggett. During the course of the episode he forces her to question her beliefs in Mulder, in herself, in their relationship, and in the existence of paranormal phenomena. This constant challenging of Scully's belief systems sets the stage for that trust to develop. Doggett doesn't tell her what she wants to hear - he tells her what she needs to know. Eventually she will recognize this honesty as a virtue instead of a threat. CC&Co needed to introduce a character not as a replacement for Mulder, but someone who could be a match for Scully's strength and determination. Someone to keep her on her toes, just like she did for Mulder for seven years. In that respect, I think Doggett fits the bill.
As for expertise, I think being a "great cop" is an expertise on its own (ie. gathering evidence, working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun, developing criminal profiles, etc.).
At least Scully has science to back her up.
In Season 8 Scully has taken on the role of believer and rule breaker, while Doggett is the skeptic who wants to follow protocol. In this respect, I would argue that Scully relies more on her beliefs in the paranormal this season than her science background, while Doggett will only believe when he can see the proof for himself. I wouldn't call that stubborn, I'd call that logical and rational, which are two character traits we would normally attribute to (and admire in) Scully.
The same reasons apply to why Reyes, as a character, really doesn't work at all well, either. She has no expertise; she just has "feelings."
Doesn't Reyes have extensive experience dealing with cases involving the occult? I would think that would come in handy at some point, especially in The X-Files.
Expertise aside, I think both Reyes' and Doggett's characters get more interesting later on once we learn about the death of Doggett's son.
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As for expertise, I think being a "great cop" is an expertise on its own (ie. gathering evidence, working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun, developing criminal profiles, etc.).
I have to seriously part company with you here, as someone with experience in that actual field. They are not even remotely close to the same thing, I'm sorry to tell you, and they especially weren't at this point (1999/2000). Gathering evidence, maybe. "Working with firearms and not constantly losing his gun" (is that a shot at Mulder? okay), sure. Developing criminal profiles? Absolutely, a hundred times NO. That's a profiler's job, if not a detective's job, and Doggett is neither.
I wouldn't call that stubborn, I'd call that logical and rational, which are two character traits we would normally attribute to (and admire in) Scully.
Scully, however, actually bends a bit, even in the earlier years of XF. As I said above, Doggett is still standing around at the end saying, "But this can't happen! I may have seen it, but it can't be!" It's... obnoxious to me, to say the least.
Doesn't Reyes have extensive experience dealing with cases involving the occult?
I'm pretty sure she herself says she's only dealt with a handful of cases. The show itself has, on many occasions, dismissed the existence of occult practices, and Reyes herself dismisses cases pretty easily as well. I don't think there's enough literature or cases out there for her to have "extensive experience" in anything in that area, and aside from one or two throwaway lines, I don't think canon gives us much reason to believe that either. It's just one of many examples of extremely lazy writing in the last two years, that's all I'm saying.
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