They’ve solved the most bizarre crimes imaginable, but can Mulder and Scully figure out… baseball?
The truth is out there, and these iconic moments will have you believing in more than aliens.
"The Post-Modern Prometheus" is generally considered one of the best episodes of "The
X-Files" for good reason. In this episode, we follow Mulder and Scully as they travel
to a small town in search of a supposed monster who has a strange fascination
with Cher. In a modern re-telling of "Frankenstein," they learn that
the creature was created by a mad scientist and that the monster is not so monstrous after all.
The entire episode is filmed in black and white, giving it a distinctly old-school
horror feel. It's certainly a unique episode, and it concludes with a very sweet Mulder and Scully
moment. Scully and Mulder bring the creature to a bar in town where a Cher impersonator performs
"Walking in Memphis." As the creature gets up to dance, so does Mulder, pulling Scully with him.
According to creator Chris Carter, the moment was actually improvised by Gillian Anderson and David
Duchovny. It's an adorable gesture and a rare moment of cheeriness for the duo. There's also
naturalness to their movements that reveals how comfortable they are with each other. Perhaps,
this is not the first time they've danced together. There are plenty of physically
affectionate moments like these peppered throughout the series before they even share
their first kiss, and their easy intimacy is one of the things we love about them.
Mulder and Scully's relationship doesn't exactly follow a typical timeline,
which is why it can be somewhat surprising when you map out various milestones over the course of
the series. For example, it isn't until Season 6 that either of them say "I love you," and we
only see these words exchanged between the pair one time. In "Triangle," Mulder finds
himself trapped aboard a WWII ship that is stuck in 1939. He winds up surrounded by a
disbelieving crew and attacking SS forces at the very start of the war. He also meets an alternate
version of Scully, who he tries to convince to help him but then gets a little frisky.
"In case we never meet again."
Alt-Scully responds by punching him in the face. Later, Mulder wakes up in a hospital
surrounded by Scully, Skinner, and The Lone Gunmen. None of them believe his story,
of course, and when Scully tries to leave, Mulder stops her. They
look into each other's eyes for long seconds, as sentimental music plays.
"I love you."
"Oh, brother."
It's a perfectly absurd love confession for a couple that's anything but normal,
and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Mulder and Scully are the king and queen of intimate touches, and no form of intimacy is more
central to their relationship than the forehead kiss. Because of their height difference, Mulder
is most often the one doing the forehead kissing, but there are a few significant reversals to this
arrangement. In "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati," Mulder spends much of the episode living
in an alternate reality where he is reunited with his sister and able to settle down and have
a family. In reality, the Cigarette Smoking Man is preparing to harvest a portion of his brain.
Scully convinces him to wake up. A week later, she shows up at Mulder's apartment
and is shocked to find he is getting ready to go to work. Scully confesses to Mulder that
she doesn't know who to trust anymore, and tearfully tells him that his ex-girlfriend,
Diana Fowley — to whom he was married in his dream world — has been killed. Mulder tells
Scully that even when he didn't know what was real, she was his constant.
"And you are mine."
Scully then kisses Mulder on his bandaged forehead, a touching moment where they're both
able to comfort each other, and it also reveals the depth of the trust they have in one another.
Scully and Mulder are far from a typical couple,
and their journey into parenthood is similarly unusual. Scully becomes pregnant,
and everyone naturally assumes Mulder is the father. As we learn in Season 11, the Cigarette
Smoking Man is actually the biological father. But for all intents and purposes,
Mulder is the father of Scully's child. She names him after Mulder's father, after all. As happens
with every new development in their relationship, Mulder and Scully's foray into parenthood is
very natural. Nothing really changes about their relationship because they've always been in love.
Our favorite moment in this new chapter is when Mulder meets Scully's baby for the first time.
They discuss what a miracle William is, but also their fears — about what he is, and why he exists.
But Mulder suggests that what they really fear is the truth they both know. It's a typically
ambiguous comment, and when Scully asks Mulder what truth he's talking about, he kisses her in
response. It's one of the most domestic moments the pair have on the series and, considering
what they've both been through, quietly settling down is something they both deserve.
The Season 7 episode "All Things" is an important "X-Files" episode for several reasons, and one of
them is that it was written and directed by Gillian Anderson. It's also important to fans
because it's heavily implied that Mulder and Scully sleep together in this episode.
"All Things" follows Scully on her quest to save a doctor she dated in medical school.
It's a very spiritual, reflective episode, and much of it focuses on Scully's past. But it also
contains a classic Scully and Mulder moment that is utterly perfect in its simplicity.
Scully returns from her solo mission and she and Mulder have an existential conversation on the
couch, discussing how every choice they've ever made has led them to where they are right now.
Mulder might be content to have the discussion all night, but Scully falls asleep mid-sentence.
In response, Mulder carefully brushes her hair out of her face and covers her with a
blanket. It's often the quietest moments like these between Mulder and Scully that are the
most meaningful. The episode begins with Scully getting ready in the bathroom and Mulder in bed,
a fairly obvious indication they did more than just talk on the couch that night.
"Do you have a theory?"
"I have plenty of theories."
Mulder a nd Scully have exchanged some beautiful words over their 11 seasons, but there's one
exchange between them that takes the cake. "Folie A Deux" is one of the best and most disturbing
episodes of "The X-Files," and it contains one of the all-time best Mulder and Scully moments.
In this episode, the pair are sent to investigate a man who claims his
boss is a giant bug monster. As usual, at first, Scully struggles to believe
Mulder's account. Laying in the hospital bed, Mulder implores Scully to check for
evidence proving his claims. He tells her she has to believe him because no one ever does.
"You're my one in five billion."
Scully eventually finds evidence that corroborates what he saw, but whether or not the FBI knows the
truth is irrelevant. The fact that she was willing to believe him is all that matters to Mulder,
and this trust between them is the foundation of their relationship. Mulder has proven — both with
his words and his actions — that he cares about Scully more than anything else in the world, and
it's this unshakable bond between them that makes it absolutely clear that they belong together.
Mulder and Scully shippers are a patient bunch. It took seven seasons for Scully and Mulder to
have their first kiss. For a show full of outlandish twists and turns, it might come
as a surprise that Mulder and Scully's first kiss is so ordinary. But that's also the beauty
of their relationship: for all the ridiculous and life-or-death situations they find themselves in,
the fact that they love each other has never been a part of the problem. That's the easy part.
Season 7, Episode 4 takes place on New Year's Eve, and is aptly titled "Millennium." The
episode ends with Scully and Mulder watching the ball drop on TV. The clock strikes midnight,
and Scully and Mulder look at one another as if the decision is the most obvious thing in
the world. As the music swells, they lean in for a kiss that lasts a full 10 seconds. Neither of
them seems at all shocked by this development, and nothing really changes between them either.
"The world didn't end."
"No, it didn't."
Mulder is probably referring to the fact that some people thought the millennium spelled the
end of humanity, but we kind of like the idea that he's talking about their kiss.
Scully experiences a huge number of hardships over the course of the series, and one of the
most trying events in her life was her battle with cancer in Season 4. In "Memento Mori," Scully
discovers she has inoperable cancer and that all the other women with symptoms similar to hers
have died. Near the end of the episode, Mulder finds Scully in the hallway of the hospital,
having gone looking for her when he didn't find her in her room. Though she is terrified of
what's to come, Scully tells Mulder she won't let it beat her. They hug in the hallway.
"The truth will save you, Scully. I think it will save both of us."
The physical intimacy of this moment is touching, but so is Mulder's unshakable
confidence in Scully. He's also terrified of what might happen to her,
but he never stops believing in her ability to find the answers they're both looking for.
While most of the memorable Scully and Mulder moments occur within the series itself,
there is one scene worth mentioning from the 1998 movie "The X Files:
Fight the Future." Mulder and Scully get into a fight in the hallway,
and Scully expresses how guilty she feels about what's happened to Mulder. Her partner
is quick to dissuade that line of thinking, emphasizing how many times she's saved him.
"I owe you everything, Scully, and you owe me nothing."
Scully cries, they hug, and then Scully gives Mulder another one of their patented forehead
kisses. Then comes a moment we thought we'd never see: Scully and Mulder lean in for a kiss,
but they are rudely interrupted by a bee that stings Scully's neck. It's almost rude the way
fans were teased by the almost-kiss, but we also kind of love how drawn-out their relationship
is and how so many of their most intimate moments, presumably happen just off-screen.
Duchovny and Anderson actually filmed a version of the scene that ended in a very heated kiss,
but it didn't make the final cut. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz told the Huffington
Post he was in the theater when fans reacted to the almost-kiss,
and hearing those screaming fans remains the highlight of his time working on the show.
Some of the most touching moments between Mulder and Scully occur when one of them is injured
or otherwise incapacitated, but we have a soft spot for the times when they just get to relax
and have fun together. Season 6, Episode 19, tells the story of an alien who crash-landed
in Roswell in the 1940s and wanted nothing more than to play baseball, so he joined a team there.
Considering the episode is all about baseball, an odd topic for a show about aliens, it's only
right that it ends with a sporty moment. Scully meets Mulder at the baseball field, responding
to the urgent message he left for her. Scully derisively describes baseball as a waste of time,
which Mulder takes offense to. In the end, he convinces her to come play, positioning the bat
in her hands and reaching from behind her to show her how to swing it. Scully quickly gets over her
aversion to the sport, laughing and following Mulder's humorous instructions. She tells him,
"Shut up, Mulder, I'm playing baseball."
It's one of the most joyful moments in the entire "X-Files" timeline,
and you can almost imagine that Scully and Mulder are just a typical couple in love,
with no existential worries on the horizon. We almost wish that were
the case, but then they wouldn't be Scully and Mulder, would they?