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TRIANGLE
Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Chris Carter


"I love you."  -  Mulder


And I love YOU, Mr. Carter. There is absolutely no way I 
could write acoherent review of this episode.  Not even after 
four full viewings and countless ones of certain scenes.  So with 
her permission, I'm ripping off Paula Graves' movie review format for 
my own use.  Here we go!


A is for:

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Someone ask me how much I adored Mulder's 
line to 1939!Scully regarding Einstein... "You know Einstein."  Go on... 
ask me!  Of course HIS Scully knows Einstein, from her senior thesis, 
and Mulder knows that any OSS agent protecting the scientist involved 
in creating the atomic bomb, would likely have come into contact with 
Einstein. One of several moments where past and present collided. 

ASS:  Where Scully said Skinner's head was.  Someday Skinner will 
learn not to stand between Scully and what she wants... Mulder, not 
even to keep up appearances.  


B is for:

BOAT:  It was the first of many references and parallels to "Wizard of 
Oz"... the boat Mulder was piloting before he apparently ran smack 
into the Queen Anne was named "Lady Garland" for Judy Garland, of 
course. 

BULLETIN BOARD:  Too bad Scully was in such a state when she was 
in her and Mulder's old office... she could have been appropriately 
appalled at the frighteningly neat bulletin board behind Spender's desk. 
Talk about anal-retentive. 

BOUYANT: What's Mulder made of anyway... blubber?  He must have 
floated in that water for hours!  

BRUISE:  On Mulder's widdle cheek.  A souvenir of his trip into history 
and a reminder that 1939!Scully, but Scully in his mind nevertheless, 
believed him when it really counted. 


C is for: 

CAMERA SHOTS:  The more times I see this episode, the more amazed 
I am at CC's camera tricks.  The split screen, the quick cuts, the illusion 
that much of the episode was filmed in one take... that in particular 
contributed to the dreamlike quality of the episode. The entire second act was
breathtaking as the camera followed Scully up and down three floors. It was
especially spectacular given the fact that those Steady-cams only hold 
four minutes or so worth of film. 

CSM:  A Nazi officer in "The Field Where I Died," it was natural that Mulder
would place him in the same role in his subconscious.  And of course, what
group in history imbodied evil more than the Nazis?  William B. Davis must
have had an excellent dialogue coach... from what I've heard from native
German speakers, his accent and pronunciation were nearly flawless. 


D is for:

DREAM:  Was it real or was it Memorex?  Did Mulder dream his time 
on the Queen Anne or did the events really take place in an alternate 
universe?   He had his sore cheek and bruise to remind him of it, but those 
could have come from a piece of flying debris from his boat. No, I think 
Mulder's words in "Aubrey" were never more true than in this episode... 
"A dream is the answer to a question we haven't yet learned how to ask."  
Mulder got at least one answer in his time on the Queen Anne... he now 
knows where the people in his life stand, or at least he thinks he does. 

DOUBLE TAKE:  Even besides the wonderful piece of editing that gave us 
real Scully and 1939!Scully crossing paths as they rounded the corner, 
there was the brilliant acting of Gillian Anderson in both roles as each 
woman did a double take at the feeling she'd been passed.  Gillian reacted 
perfectly, according to the person.  Scully was her characteristic curious 
self, but she decided it was her imagination, and went on without letting it 
throw her.  But 1939!Scully.... she was a little more bothered, so much so 
that she continues looking back as she and Mulder are running down the
passageway. 

DESK:  Looks like Scully finally has one now.  Wonder if that's Mulder's
behind hers?  Since they've lost the modicum of privacy they had before, I
envision E-mail tag as they sit there surrounded by the other agents.

E is for:

EMMY:  So many people involved with this episode deserve an Emmy for
"Triangle".  Of course Gillian does for her portrayal of two similar, yes, but
still full of remarkably different nuances, characters... but then some of us
know that Gillian deserves ALL THE PRIZES!  I'm not sure I would hand 
Carter the Emmy for writing... it wasn't a flawless script, but if he doesn't 
deserve one for directing, no one else does.  Equally deserving is Mark 
Snow for the marvelous swing music on the ship and the lovely piano 
rendition of the show's theme during the hospital scene. 

F is for:

FOWLEY:  Not there in person, her presence was nevertheless implied 
when CSM mistook Scully for Diana.  In keeping with the "Scully's 
subconscious was showing" theory, I think it's likely we were seeing 
Scully's niggling little fear that she's occupying a place where Diana is 
supposed to be... either in the X-Files office or in Mulder's life.  The most 
significant thing about Diana Fowley is how she fit into Mulder's dream. 
She WASN'T THERE.  Everyone else fulfilled a role in Mulder's mind, but 
Fowley wasn't even important enough for him to consider.

FOCUS: In the hospital scene, Mulder's focus was solely on Scully.  He 
didn't even acknowledge the presence of the Lone Gunmen.  Or Skinner 
for that matter... at least not directly to him.  No, he told Scully that "He 
was there."... he didn't say to Skinner, "You were there."  It was all about
Scully.. "I thought I'd never see YOU again." "YOU believed me."  "YOU 
saved the world."  "I love YOU." 

FAINT:  The collective thud heard around the country was an untold number 
of shippers falling away in a dead faint at being given this most precious of
gifts. 



G is for:

GROPING:  There were two instances in which Mulder's hands either DID 
or might have been groping 1939!Scully.  First, when they were forced to 
their knees in the ballroom, Mulder grabbed her shoulder, his fingers landing 
rather far down on her chest.  And then during that kiss... just where was his
right hand?!? I'm athinkin' maybe the punch wasn't for the kiss alone. ; )

GHOST SHIP:  Given the notions that this episode primarily consisted of
Mulder's dream and Scully's subconscious, I think it's plausible that the
Queen Anne really WAS a ghost ship.  Were her words to Mulder a clue that 
the satellite image wasn't really there?  


H is for:

HOMAGE: The X-Files has paid homage to several films, people, and literary
characters in its six year run, but none as perfectly as this tribute to
"Wizard of Oz".  There were parallels everywhere, little ties to the classic
film.  Some of those were:

-- 1939:  The year Mulder's adventure took place was also the year "Wizard 
of Oz" was released.
-- Elmira Gulch:  The name of the torch singer in the ballroom, the one who
betrayed Mulder to the Nazis was also the name of the schoolteacher who 
tried to take Toto and was later revealed to be a witch.
-- Yip Harburg:  The captain of the ship shared his name with the man who
wrote the lyrics for the movie. 
-- Lady Garland:  The name of Mulder's demolished boat paid tribute to Judy
Garland (Dorothy).
-- Mulder woke up in a bed, surrounded by his friends... the people he loves,
just as Dorothy did. And like Dorothy, he spoke the most important truth 
that he now understood.  
-- The tagline in German read "The Truth is Out There Somewhere"... similar 
to the line of lyrics, "Somewhere over the rainbow...".  Dorothy and Mulder 
both realized that sometimes, when we go looking over the rainbow (or in the
Bermuda Triangle) for the pot of gold (or the Truth), we discover that it can
actually be found right in our own backyard. 

HETERO:  What Mulder is!  How there can be any argument about that 
after this episode is beyond all rational thought.


I is for:

INTIMATE: I can think of many words to describe the scene between 
Mulder and Scully in the hospital, but none are as right as "intimate". This 
episode was the one which won me over to the "they're already lovers" 
theory.  Lowered voices, leaning into each other, a familiarity that we've 
never seen before, Scully's sweet, playful patronizing tone of voice as she 
tells Mulder to close his eyes... it reeked of two people who finally know 
each other in the last possible way. 

I LOVE YOU: David Duchovny's reading of a line rarely impresses me, but 
the way he said these three simple, yet powerful words makes up for all 
the times I was less than bowled over. It was perfect.  Said in as serious 
a tone I've ever heard from him, it was matter of fact... not a dawning 
realization sort of statement.  He was sure in his admission, finally uttering
those words because, I think, he felt the two of them had been through too 
many close calls, and he needed to take the opportunity.  He just wanted 
Scully to know. 

Scully's response was typical Scully. She approached it from the standpoint 
of a doctor who knows what a concussion and drugs can do to the mind, and 
also from the position of a woman who has been on the receiving end of too 
much innuendo.  As Paula G. says, Mulder is the Boy Who Cried Love. I 
don't think it's too farfetched to believe that these two very nonverbal
people 
are physically intimate with each other without having said "I love you" and
Scully just can't believe that he's finally saying it NOW, when he's all doped
up and not likely to remember (in her mind) that he did it.  Not for one
second did I get the impression that she didn't believe he loves her or that
she didn't feel the same.

J is for: 

JEWELRY: Comparatively speaking 1939!Scully was dripping in it. 

JELLO:  What Mulder will probably be eating in the hospital for a while,
thanks to his sore jaw.  Also what most Shippers were for the last fifteen
minutes of the hour.

K is for:

KERSH:  We got differing views of Kersh.  From Scully, there's the distinct
suspicion that he's in cahoots with CSM.  And from Mulder, we don't find 
Kersh allied with anyone, simply choosing to go his own way and be a butt 
about it at the same time. 

KISS: Ten seconds of nicely wet intensity. Many have complained about not
being able to see the kiss well enough, but I have the idea that Carter may 
be saving the spotlights for the first kiss between Mulder and HIS Scully.
Still,
there was the passion in this one that I fully expect to see in the real one. 

L is for:

LOST:  Mulder was again.  Scully needs to invest in a sturdy leash. 

LONE GUNMEN:  It was so nice to see them again, especially that cute little
Frohike. Their easy rapport with Scully acknowledged the trust that she does
place in them. 

LOVE:  Yes, there's the love that Mulder has for Scully, and the love she has
for him, regardless of whether or not she's said the words.  But this
particular love is my own for this show.  I'm one who was quite happy with
"The Beginning" and "Drive," and yet I fell in love with The X-Files all over
again with "Triangle".  At its end, I had tears in my eyes, and not just from
Mulder's words. 

LETTERBOXING: I don't normally like this technique, but after the teaser, I
didn't even notice it at all.  They handled it well... good thing, because
they HAD to letterbox this episode in order to manage the split screens and
some of the other shots. 

LIGHTBULBS:  We need to take up a collection for 1013 and buy them a few
lightbulbs to be placed in strategic scenes.  Namely anything that involves
kissing.  


M is for:

MULDER: He's on a roll... two episodes in a row that find me looking at him
favorably. When he realized where he was, he was so childlike in his wonder.
Then we moved to furious as the realization dawned on him what would 
transpire if he didn't figure out a way to get the ship turned around. I loved
that Mulder's greatest weakness, even in his dreams, is Scully.  Or least 
the woman standing in for her.  In the ballroom, Mulder was willing to allow 
all those people to die for the sake of saving the world, but as soon as 
1939!Scully became the target, he relented. And the hospital scene....I just 
keep coming back to it, but like everything else about it, this picture of
Mulder 
was perfect.  Sweet and tender, a man who knows exactly what his priorities 
are now, this is the Mulder who I liked years ago when I began watching the 
show. 


N is for:

NAZIS: I was a little worried about how Chris Carter would handle the Nazis...
afraid he'd romanticize them as movies sometimes do, but I found their cold-
blooded murdering of passengers frightening. 


O is for:


OVERBOARD:  Loved 1939!Scully calling "Hey!" when Mulder was about to 
jump overboard. Girlfriend wasn't finished with him yet. ; )  And she threw
him 
a life preserver... great metaphor for the real Scully being Mulder's savior. 


P is for:

PALS: Looks like Skinner and the Lone Gunmen are buds after their first
meeting in Mulder's hospital room in the movie. Skinner tapping Frohike on 
the arm and saying "C'mon" was so unexpected and wildly funny to me.  
Maybe they sit around swapping war stories. 


Q is for:

QUIPS: Though this episode was no comedy per se, the quips were flying 
fast and furiously.  None seemed out of place to me, except perhaps for 
Mulder's White House one, but it was funny enough for me to excuse it. 


R is for:

RUNNING:  Nice to see that even in 1939, Scully's counterpart was still
running at breakneck pace in high heels. 

ROSES:  Skinner brought Mulder flowers (I won't bother going into what a 
big ball of wrong that was.), but there were already some pink roses on the
bedside table. Maybe Mulder's little red-headed girlfriend brought those to
him. ; )

RIGHT CROSS:  Okay, I've already said I liked Mulder in this episode, more
than I have in a very long time as a matter of fact, and I'm as big a Shipper
as they come, but about 1939!Scully's right cross to Mulder's cheek, I just
have to say, "YOU GO, GIRL!"  Being that she was for the most part a 
mirror of the real Scully, it was one of the most in-character things she did.
I would expect nothing less from my Scully if a man she hardly knew 
grabbed her and planted a wet (nicely wet, but still) kiss on her.  Even
Mulder recognized that it was a Scully thing to do, except he had "expected
the left."

S is for:

SUBCONSCIOUS: Scully had her own dream in this episode.  Okay, it 
wasn't exactly a dream, but I think we got a very good look at her 
subconscious.  I had originally thought that the second act was a part of 
Mulder's dream, but after talking with a friend who posited a different
theory, 
and after watching those scenes carefully a few more times, I'm revising my 
theory. 

Several people have commented that Scully's behavior seemed a little over-the-
top, though basically in character.  I think that's because we were getting a
look at Scully's feelings, how things seemed to her in her subconscious.  We
KNOW she is a very controlled person around other people... not letting her
feelings show much, but in her head she would have to be frantic.  We felt her
anger at Skinner's initial refusal to help her, and then later we saw her
utter relief manifested in a way that, in her subconscious, would best
demonstrate it.  Several have commented on her nervousness in Kersh's office,
but again, that was how she felt, not how she actually behaved. And did she
really see CSM standing in there?  I don't think so.  Rather this was her
sense that Kersh was in league with him.  She didn't really threaten Spender,
but we now know that she'd liked to, that she hates him that much. Throwing
her hands up in the air at one point, calling herself stupid... those are all
things I could imagine her thinking, but not doing there in front of God and
everyone.  So, if we're getting a picture of her subconscious, naturally we'll
see that.  Also, everyone seemed to be staring at her. In essence, we saw an
enhanced version of what really took place on Scully's quest to find help for
Mulder... filtered through her unreliable (in terms of narration) mind. 

SHIP:  I was on the Queen Mary,which doubled as the Queen Anne, about 
25 years ago and it's even more beautiful than I remembered.  If being in L.A.
means Carter and company get to do more things like this, maybe the move 
wasn't such a bad idea after all.

SEASICK:  Why wasn't Mulder barfing?  This of all things is proof that it was
all likely a dream.  

T is for:

TAP-TAP-TAP:  A couple of little gestures of Mulder's gave my VCR a bigger
work out than the kiss.  While Scully was standing beside his bed, he would
reach out and ::tap-tap-tap:: his finger against her hip. Just another example
of the intimacy in that whole scene. 

TRIANGLE:  I'm surprised it took Mulder this long to get himself caught up in
the Bermuda Triangle!

TRUST NO ONE: Loved the stoker's "Trust no one, Mon!" before he went back 
into the boiler room. 

U is for: 

UNDERGARMENTS:  They didn't have bras in 1939?  On the other hand, 
Scully's Miracle Bra was getting a workout in 1999. 

V is for:

VOLKSWAGON VAN: I knew it!  I knew the Lone Gunmen would drive a VW.  
All it needed was some flowers on the side. Scully looked completely at home 
sitting there with Frohike, too.  Come along way from "EBE" haven't you?

VEST: If Mulder hadn't ditched Scully to go on this little gaunt, she would
have made sure he wore a lifevest. 

W is for:

WEASEL:  Every now and then something pops up on an episode that 
makes me wonder if CC takes time out of his schedule to read the message 
boards on AOL. We've been calling Agent Spender a weasel for some time 
now.  

WOODEN:  What David Duchovny's acting wasn't.

X is for:

X-Files:  Better than ever.  

Y is for:

Yummy:  What Mulder's little grin at the end was.  Secure in the knowledge
that 1939!Scully believed him, and that despite her "Oh, brother," HIS Scully
loved him, this was Mulder at his most appealing.

Z is for:

ZEE END!  (Well, do YOU know how hard it is to come up with a Z word?)


General rating:  9.5 out of 10
Shippy rating:  Ummm... infinity? 


Shari
~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicle X
http://members.aol.com/danascu11y/chronx.html

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