The X Files - Demons

 Now "Demons" is such a key episode to me in the whole series of The X-Files. Why is Mulder so driven to go as far as he does to get to the truth of aliens and all that? The abduction of his sister, Samantha, is always provoking Mulder to pursue answers. As we learn in "Demons", Mulder will go far in order to have access to repressed memories about his sister. Even if those memories might yield results Mulder couldn't possibly be prepared for, knowing the past might help to define his pursuit going forward...this much surmised by Scully as she continues to write in her "memoirs". You know, I am surprised, when I go back into the series, just how long Scully was at that computer, continuing to log entries about her cases with Mulder.

What a catch at the beginning, too: Mulder awakening with blood on his shirt and hands after memories (or are they hallucinations?) of his mother and father (or is he the father?) fighting over "who to choose" -- later, determined to be Samantha -- as Cancer Man (who looks like Jeffrey Spencer), younger but just as sinister, gets involved. Mulder cannot remember how he got to Rhode Island, to a particular hotel room, or why there is blood on his shirt. Why does Mulder endure seizure-like episodes during his "memory trips", suffering headaches? Scully, always so reliable and loyal, gets a call from an anxious Mulder who doesn't remember two days worth of activity and comes to Rhode Island where he is. And the episode, "Demons" kicks into gear and never lets up. A couple are found murdered at an abandoned, weathered, cob-webbed country home Mulder remembers from his childhood, the blood on his shirt is from the wife of that couple. The bullets found in the bodies of the couple are not from Mulder's gun and there are plenty of fingerprints pulled from the crime scene. Scully, ever the investigative forensics genius, notices a wound on the woman during the examination at the head, and this leads her to a psychiatrist with a peculiar therapy that includes electric impulses in the brain and a drill into the skull! Alien abductees with memory loss want to know the truth and the doctor's particular brand of therapy doesn't seem to bring healthy results since his patients suffer pained cerebral deterioration, including a police officer who shoots himself in a station open cell.

Eventually, of course, Mulder is cleared of the deaths of the couple, when the doctor's procedure is implicated as responsible for encouraging the patients' ensuing brain trauma resulting in suicides, as Scully, thankfully, gets to Mulder (who goes home to his mother's old summer home in Rhode Island) before he also goes down that dark path. This is why I LOVE this show, and continue to love this show.

Scully is there for Mulder and Mulder is there for Scully. They both are on journeys, very emotional life paths that could lead them towards doom, but we know now that these were teases and so much more (though the last two seasons sure didn't leave a good taste in the mouth) would develop beyond "Scully's got cancer and could eventually die" and "Mulder will discovery why Sam was abducted". 

I love when the show takes us into areas that are vague, further elaborated, even if Carter makes sure there is still some doubt as to what actually happened when Scully tells Mulder what he sees could be hallucinations. Confronting his mother over what happened that night he's trying to determine, Mulder can't get her to talk. She just won't relent, instead taking him to task for how he approaches her about that truth. We aren't about to get that in this episode. But I like that we are still getting breadcrumbs from Carter, here. 4/5

***A thought just came to me while watching an earlier 4th season episode. Judging by this episode, the truth isn't just out there, it is in Mulder. Wherever the truth is, Mulder desires to find it.***