Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to the X-Files by Zack Handlen & Todd VanDerWerff

Author:Zack Handlen & Todd VanDerWerff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams Press
Published: 2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

| “BAD BLOOD” |

SEASON 5 / EPISODE 12

WRITTEN BY VINCE GILLIGAN

DIRECTED BY CLIFF BOLE

GETTING OUR STORIES STRAIGHT

In which Scully says po-tay-to, and Mulder says po-tah-to.

Four and a half seasons into The X-Files, the characters of Mulder and Scully are pretty static and predictable. With each new episode, we know Mulder will believe everything he hears and have a crazy theory that explains all of it; we know that Scully will cling to rationality and common sense in the face of all evidence; we know that Mulder will almost certainly be proved right; and we know that Scully will put up with pretty much anything. One of the strengths of a long-running series is the way the audience’s familiarity allows the writers’ room to play with our assumptions. What must it be like for Mulder to have to put up with a partner who never agrees with him? And what must it be like for Scully, working with a guy who seems to believe in everything?

“Bad Blood” is one of my favorite X-Files episodes. It’s goofy in the best way possible, offering a welcome respite from some of the heavier subject matter of the season. Like many of the series’ strongest comedic entries, “Bad Blood” is a genial self-parody, lovingly pointing out our heroes’ flaws in ways that only serve to make them more human. The humor derives from how Mulder and Scully see themselves and each other, and how both of their versions of the truth work to reinforce their ideas of who they really are. It doesn’t hurt that their latest investigation reveals that some monsters are just as invested in self-image as the rest of us.

After learning about a series of cattle exsanguinations that escalated to the murder of a tourist, Mulder and Scully head to Cheney, a small Texas town. There they meet Sheriff Hartwell (Luke Wilson, at his Luke Wilson-est!), Mulder tries to prove his wild theory about vampires (which is correct), and Scully does autopsies, firm in her belief that they’re dealing with a killer who’s read Dracula one too many times (this is also correct). Mulder is attacked, Scully arrives just in time to save him, and then Mulder chases his assailant—a teenage pizza delivery boy—into the woods, where he stakes him in the chest. This leads to a horrifying moment for both our heroes (and the audience) when Scully removes the kid’s fake vampire teeth.

It’s one of the best cold opens in the show’s history, one that plays on our expectations and our automatic assumption that Mulder ultimately knows what he’s doing. While in medias res beginnings don’t always work, the surprises this one holds—from the sudden twist (those plastic fangs!) to Mulder’s “Oh sh-,” 35 —it’s clear that we’re in for something different from the normal hunt for monsters and ghouls.

It all turns out OK, of course: the kid, Ronnie, really is a vampire, and when the local coroner removes Mulder’s stake, he pops back to life. He’s part of a community

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