The X-Files: The Boy Who Cried Ghouli
Season 11, Episode 5
I thought I was prepared for this gut-punch of an episode, based on the promo and synopsis, but I really wasn’t. It was time for Mulder and Scully to face their demons this week; the internal kind. The thought that they failed their son has hung over their heads for years, and since Scully brought it back up in season 10’s “Home Again,” we’ve known this was coming. But it doesn’t make it any less painful.
If you need a refresher on the season 11 premiere or were too wary to even watch, check out my thoughts here. For my thoughts on previous episodes: 11x02, 11x03, 11x04.
The Wig Files
Here I will check in on Gillian Anderson’s Scully wig and see how it’s doing. Her season 10 wig was lackluster, but based on promos and behind the scenes photos, the season 11 wigs seem to be much better.
This wig even looks good when Scully sleeps on a hospital waiting room couch. Damn. I want a wig like that. I’m gonna miss this wig when it’s gone.
Shipper Moment
A good 50% of The X-Files is wondering when Mulder and Scully will finally kiss and make-up. The show’s creator, Chris Carter, is notorious for insisting that despite having a child together and sharing a few on-screen kisses, Mulder and Scully are platonic. Obviously he’s wrong. This section will track the progress made on the MSR (Mulder Scully Relationship) front.
Mulder and Scully shared two tight hugs this episode. They were sweet and filled with subtext.
And yes, if you’re not a regular X-Files watcher or part of the fandom, this is what we consider to be a step forward on the shipping front. Sad, ain’t it?
I would also like to note that the way Mulder puts his hands on Scully’s shoulders and intertwined his fingers with hers when they watch the surveillance video makes me emo.
Best Line or Exchange of the Episode
Depending on who wrote it, an episode of The X-Files can contain quite a few gems. The 10 seasons and 2 movies we’ve had before this point have given us iconic one-liners like “Mushrooms taste great on burgers, Mulder, but they don’t raise the dead,” and “Please explain to be the scientific nature of a whammy.” What does season 11 have in store?
If you didn’t sob at that speech Scully gave Jackson/William in the morgue, you’re a robot. The whole thing was heartbreaking, made even more painful with Gillian Anderson’s impeccable delivery. Tearfully telling her (presumed) dead son that she never forgot him, wished she could’ve eased his pain or gotten to know him and that giving him up was one of the hardest things she ever did broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces.
Monster Mash
How does this week’s monster square up against the rest of X-Files canon? Mulder and Scully have seen some wild creatures over the years, from the Flukeman to clones to evil dolls. Season 10 didn’t have any strong monsters, so hopefully season 11 will rectify that.
Although Ghouli didn’t turn out to be real, the few times he “appeared” on screen gave us a pretty good look at the Demogorgon-type creature. The story of Ghouli seemed to be partially inspired by Slenderman, which is where the casual observer probably thought the story was going. If I wasn’t deeply immersed in fandom and slight spoilers, I might have thought it too.
The major force at play in this episode was misdirection. The bouncing around of different federal agencies trying to take over the case, the projection William exhibits multiple times throughout the episode when he turns into a nurse, an older asian man and Ghouli and whatever the hell CSM and Skinner were cooking up.
The Bat-Crap Crazy Corner
This section will track the craziest thing Mulder reveals his belief in this week — and the dude believes in almost anything, no matter how many times Scully rolls her eyes.
Aside from a slight indication that Mulder clearly believes in the lost city of Atlantic (which is real, I’m with him here), this week was more about Mulder trying to be the cautious skeptic to Scully’s deepest hopes that their son was okay. When The X-Files flips the skeptic and believer roles, it’s rare, but usually done right.
I also snorted when Mulder bemoaned how unoriginal modern-day monsters are. He’s so jaded.
William Dollar Baby
To those unfamiliar, William is the son Scully conceived despite believing she was barren after aliens conducted tests on her and took out her ova (I know, it sounds crazy). Mulder is his father and you can’t make me believe otherwise.
This week was all about William. William, who was raised as Jackson Van De Kamp, seems to have moved from Wyoming to Virginia with his adoptive parents. However, Mr. and Mrs. Van De Kamp don’t even speak in this episode before they are killed, saving us from any awkward exchanges between them and Mulder and Scully.
Anyway, the girls who attacked each other on the boat both tell our favorite agents that their boyfriend’s name is Jackson Van De Kamp. Scully immediately recognizes the name, and when she and Mulder stand outside the Van De Kamp residence, she feels in her bones that her son is inside the house. However, before they can have a reunion, shots go off. Scully finds Jackson/William on the floor, a gunshot to his head. She immediately begins poking through his room (which is way too clean for a teenage boy), and Mulder finds her looking at old photos of Jackson/William as a child. She also discovers medicine for seizures and schizophrenia, which can’t be an easy thing to encounter when you think the boy whose name is on the bottles is you son.
And after Scully does a DNA test and gives the saddest goddamn speech she’s ever given on this show, it’s revealed that Jackson is William. It would be stupid for him not be, to be quite honest. One problem: the body is gone. More proof this kid is Mulder’s son: William/Jackson unzipping himself from a body bag in a dramatic fashion. This is the exact kind of stunt young Mulder would’ve pulled — he used to insert blank slides for emphasis when trying to convince Scully an X-File was legit.
It seems that even though his birth parents are two of the coolest people out there, Jackson/William is a bit of a fuckboi like most teenage boys. He’s only human, I guess. Except for the fact that he’s totally not… but whatever. This dude has two girlfriends, and he sneaks into the hospital to tell one of them the truth about Ghouli (owning up to his BS is impressive in teenage boy terms, most would never ‘fess up), just for the other one to catch him in the act and call the cops on him. Basically, he says that he made up everything about Ghouli and projected the monster into their heads because he was learning to control the power his seizures gave him. He’s also super casual about the concept that he can mentally share his pain with a woman who is maybe his birth mother.
Even if Jackson/William knows who Scully is and doesn’t harbor any ill will against her, he’s not ready to meet her. He exchanges a few words with her over the course of the episode under the guise of being a kind middle-aged Asian man. But it’s not until he tells Scully at a gas station that she seems nice and he wishes he could know her better that I realized who he was along. Damn, good play, James Wong.
Basement Analysis
I’m just gonna rant and overanalyze like Mulder does down in the basement.
This week was painful, but a good pain. A heart-racing kind of exhilaration-fueled pain only an extraordinary episode of The X-Files can bring.
Also, let me just quickly nerd out that this episode was written and directed by James Wong, who wrote some of my favorite X-Files episodes: “Squeeze,” “Beyond the Sea,” “Tooms,” and “Home,” to name a few. Homie brought his A-game because this is maybe the best episode in this season so far. Which I said about the last two, but this one really was the best. So far.
Spineless Skinner
This bitch. Seriously?? How have you not learned any lessons after 25 years of letting CSM into your office? I’m officially petitioning for the next discovered jellyfish (you know there’s tons in the deep sea scientists haven’t discovered yet) to be named Skinner, because this dude literally has no backbone. And I think the only reason Mulder didn’t notice that Skinner clearly already knew who Jackson/William was is because he had a lot going on. I don’t believe for a second that the reveal was new information to Skinner.
Next week is an episode all about Skinner, which is the most unasked-for thing on The X-Files since John Doggett. Yawn.
Mulder Ain’t Even Sorry
This week was Mulder’s turn to DGAF. He spilled a soda on Jackson/William’s laptop and doesn’t even pretend it was an accident, then pretends he can’t hear Skinner on the phone. That was pretty weak sauce, Muldo. At least do the Parent Trap trick where you crumple a candy wrapper into the phone speaker.
You See What I Want You To See
If Jackson/William wasn’t his son, Mulder would most definitely be trying to turn this kid into an X-File. He can’t shapeshift, but what he does is just as evasive. He made himself look dead, for crying out loud. It gave me some Robert “Pusher” Modell vibes, for sure.
Mom, Don’t Read My Blog
I highly recommend checking out the Ghouli blog. This kid is so totally 150% Mulder’s son. He has a whole blog dedicated to a monster! A fake monster of his own creation, but still. Only Mulder’s son would dream up a monster. He’s also definitely got Scully’s DNA — one blog post opens with musings about the scientific method.
There are also some heartbreaking mentions of Scully, like this:
“I’ve fallen when there’s been no one to catch me. Does she have someone to hold her hand, to break her fall? I hope she’s safe and cared for. She shouldn’t suffer more pain than I’ve endured myself. I want her to hear me, but I don’t want her to hurt, not because of my uncontrollable screaming skull.”
