The X Files / Beyond the Sea/ Notes
I've written extensively on "Beyond the Sea". It left an indelible impression on me. It is Scully's episode with Mulder mostly in a hospital bed after being shot by a kidnapping killer while she visits a serial killer he put behind bars. This is that episode where he might know something her father's spirit was trying to tell her right before Scully received that phone call and ponders if she will embrace the idea that he's psychic and knows. To alternate sides of the show like that--Mulder the skeptic, Scully possibly the one who believes--was a special change, even as the end would seem to indicate Scully reverts back to her skeptical side as her brilliant mind allows for "scientific reasons" to disprove her experiences with Boggs.
My user comments from January 10th, 2016:
"Beyond the Sea" could be looked at as another showcase for Brad Dourif as yet another disturbed individual in a cell, but I think it is just as much a Scully episode, providing Gillian Anderson with quite a chance to develop her FBI agent in the wake of her character's father's death. Mulder takes a back seat in this episode, shot early on and nearly killed when insight from a serial killer four days from the gas chamber (for killing his entire family over Thanksgiving dinner!) led him and others to an abandoned warehouse where a psychopath had kidnapped a local NC university couple. Scully had her parents over Christmas dinner, and later in the night she sees her father in a chair in her living room mumbling something inaudibly. Just seconds later, a phone call from her mom informs her that her military father had died of a serious coronary. Dealing with her mourning by dedicating her time to the job, Scully follows Mulder to Death Row to interview (and analyze) a serial killer named Luther Boggs (Dourif) who claims to channel the souls of the dead and has psychic abilities (he claims he can lead them to the kidnapped couple and their potential killer) that could benefit them…if his death sentence is commuted to life in prison without parole. However, Mulder (his profile of Boggs led to his capture) believes Boggs is just in cahoots with the kidnapper, using manipulation and a performance in order to save himself from the Chamber. However, when he sings out a tune "Beyond the Sea" to Scully (her pops' favorite song, played at his funeral), she gradually allows her skepticism to subside, wondering if perhaps Boggs is indeed what he says he is…these abilities seemed to coincide with her first near demise in the Chamber.
That inner struggle to either accept or deny belief in Boggs' startling revelations that do lead the agents to two locations (the angel of stone, blood on the white cross, and blue devil comments are spot on and accurate declarations) is at the core of this episode. Scully is almost always putting up a wall against believing anything beyond the realm of what is real and can be proved scientifically. When proof of something challenges this, that combative warfare exists: does the scientist allow a convicted psychopath's admissions of intruding souls speaking through him convince her of something science can't quite explain? Mulder's care and tenderness for Scully further develops their growing bond (he soft touch of her face is a warm moment she clearly appreciates), and when she tells off Boggs after Mulder is shot it is a bravura moment for her (and reaffirms just what Mulder means to her). This is a key episode that further allows us, the X-Phile, to grow closer to Scully and embrace her character with a real heart-felt affection. We follow this show and as it continues, these two people go through so much. So much loss. So much upheaval. Together (and many times distanced by outside factors), they rally against the opposing disruptions that attempt to derail their search for the truth.
I like the touch with Fenig's cap in Mulder's office, his calling Scully, "Dana" (and her recognizing it), and their bedside chat about whether or not she "should believe". Oh, and the Adult Video magazine line had me grinning from ear to ear. Dourif's channeling antics are a hoot! Dourif can do manic and intense in his sleep...the guy you can't take your eyes off of.
That inner struggle to either accept or deny belief in Boggs' startling revelations that do lead the agents to two locations (the angel of stone, blood on the white cross, and blue devil comments are spot on and accurate declarations) is at the core of this episode. Scully is almost always putting up a wall against believing anything beyond the realm of what is real and can be proved scientifically. When proof of something challenges this, that combative warfare exists: does the scientist allow a convicted psychopath's admissions of intruding souls speaking through him convince her of something science can't quite explain? Mulder's care and tenderness for Scully further develops their growing bond (he soft touch of her face is a warm moment she clearly appreciates), and when she tells off Boggs after Mulder is shot it is a bravura moment for her (and reaffirms just what Mulder means to her). This is a key episode that further allows us, the X-Phile, to grow closer to Scully and embrace her character with a real heart-felt affection. We follow this show and as it continues, these two people go through so much. So much loss. So much upheaval. Together (and many times distanced by outside factors), they rally against the opposing disruptions that attempt to derail their search for the truth.
I like the touch with Fenig's cap in Mulder's office, his calling Scully, "Dana" (and her recognizing it), and their bedside chat about whether or not she "should believe". Oh, and the Adult Video magazine line had me grinning from ear to ear. Dourif's channeling antics are a hoot! Dourif can do manic and intense in his sleep...the guy you can't take your eyes off of.
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