Ace Review: “Tunguska”

Premise: Mulder&Scully learn that black oil is being brought into the United States

20th Century Fox c/o chrisnu

How good is this episode?

“Tunguska”/“Terma” has never been my most memorable mythology two-parter. Superficially, Part 1 has a lot of strengths: Krycek is back, the black oil is back, there’s a tie-in with the Tunguska event of 1908, it opens with Scully being grilled by senators and closes with Mulder in dire peril. The problem is that there isn’t a strong through line connecting these events. Why are diplomats carrying black oil to the United States? How does Krycek know so much about it? Why is Scully hiding Mulder’s whereabouts? We’re given a lot of action, but not a clear sense of how it ties together. Really, the biggest fun of this episode is watching Krycek become everyone’s punching bag. And even that doesn’t thrill me the way it did when I was a teenager.

How ace is this episode?

There’s no overt romance in this episode, but it does subtly contrast two opposite-sex pairings: Scully & Pendrell and Mulder & Marita. Neither of these pairings is explicitly represented as romantic, but we know about Pendrell’s crush on Scully from earlier episodes, and Marita’s interactions with Mulder are… suggestive. They’re also reminiscent of Mulder and Scully’s relationships with their exes seen in “Fire” and “Lazarus”. Like Phoebe, Marita is smart, sexy, and potentially dangerous. Like Jack, Pendrell is represented as a standard Nice Guy (the real kind, not the entitled misogynistic kind) who is as comfortable in the role of friend as lover. This might lead us to believe that some kind of romantic arc is in the works for one or both of our heroes.

Of course, natural as these pairings may seem, the truth is that neither Pendrell nor Marita has anything like the chemistry with Mulder&Scully that they have with each other. And since nothing romantic will come of either of these relationships, that may be the point.

Great moments in queerplatonic bonding

Scully stands by Mulder and refuses to divulge his whereabouts, even when hauled before a Senate Committee. She also launches into a jeremiad outlining how much she and her feelings about the government have changed since she first joined the F.B.I. Clearly, her time working with Mulder has had a major effect on her.

Favourite moment: I’ve always loved the image of Scully – petite, solitary, and youthful – standing up to Congress and fielding the questions of powerful senators. The whole set-up frames her as the hero of a romantic adventure. It might not quite be Nausicaä facing down the Ohm, Eowyn confronting the Witch King, or even Bilbo sparring with Smaug, but it’s something.

20th Century Fox c/o chrisnu

Random musings

• Okay, seriously, if someone tells you not to open a case because it has biohazardous material in it, call a hazmat team!  That’s a rule even if you’re not a character on a show like The X-Files!
• Pendrell and Scully go in wearing the exact same suit as Dr Sacks, yet they escape contamination while he doesn’t. How this happens is a mystery to me.  Pendrell seems perfectly justified in his reservations, and nothing Scully says in response is reassuring.
• Just to be clear, I love Pendrell, and I don’t mind the idea of him and Scully as a couple. But, let’s face it, he has a long way to go if he wants to share anything like the bond Mulder has with her.
• I’m afraid I feel much less friendly towards Marita – or, at least, the creative choices made around her. On paper she’s being perfectly professional, but her voice and body language when she offers to help Mulder are fraught with sexual overtones that really have no place in the conversation.

C