X-Files S3E8: Don't you forget about me

Sestra Amateur: 

I hear the word "oubliette" and I think of Jareth and Sarah in Labyrinth. This goes in a slightly less whimsical direction. In Seattle, Washington, high school kids are getting their school photos taken. Carl Wade seems creepily taken with Kaylee Frye (Jewel Staite from Firefly). I mean, early days of Photoshop creepy. It’s more disturbing since she’s only 15 years old. Too bad Kaylee -- I mean Amy Jacobs -- sleeps with her bedroom window open because Carl enters and covers Amy’s mouth which somehow causes a nose bleed. Must be a stress thing; otherwise, the bedroom air must be really dry. Carl abducts Amy while Amy’s little sis calls out for their mother. 

Meanwhile, in a restaurant 20 miles away, a waitress named Lucy Householder suffers a similarly bloody nose. She’s also muttering the same disturbing phrase Carl was saying to Amy, “Nobody’s going to spoil us.” The next morning, Mulder arrives at the kidnapping site and meets with Amy’s mother. Agent Walt Eubanks updates Fox, who already knows about the weird link to Lucy. Scully joins Mulder in the Evergreen State, and he fills her in on Lucy’s history as a kidnapping victim. She managed to escape, but her abductor was never identified or prosecuted. They meet Lucy who isn’t very helpful ... yet. I’m sure she’ll come around by the third act.

Carl is having a bad day too. First he has an unwilling abduction victim and then a flat tire. A nice tow truck driver stops to assist him, but Wade threatens to hit the man with a tire iron. Methinks poor Amy is probably in that trunk with the spare. Dana learns something interesting; Lucy’s bloody nose produced O+ blood, her type, and B+, Amy’s type. Fox is convinced Lucy is a victim, not a suspect. 

Lucy manages to get halfway home – I mean home to her halfway house. She’s cold and can’t see, just like Amy, who is being kept in a freezer. Mulder tries to get through to Lucy so she can help them find Amy, but she claims she doesn’t care. In the meantime, Amy’s now in a cellar … basement ... OK, an oubliette. Carl is disorienting her with a camera flash while he takes her picture over and over. Fox is watching video footage of Lucy from after her rescue 17 years earlier. Because she’s a great investigator, Scully is already on Wade’s case and learns he had been institutionalized for the past 15 years.

Carl leaves Amy alone in the house and she starts clawing her way through the window. Mulder shows Lucy the kidnapper's picture and she bolts. Wade returns home and hears Amy trying to escape. She gets through the window and runs, but Carl catches her after she trips. Simultaneously, Lucy tries to run from the past and also falls, and she finally breaks down after Fox catches up to her. Lucy is understandably terrified of going through that hell again.

Dana, Agent Eubanks and an agent to be named later arrive to arrest Lucy after confirming Amy’s blood was on Lucy’s uniform. So much for that “she was 20 miles away” alibi. Back in the oubliette, Amy begs Wade for some water. He complies. She asks for her mom. He doesn’t comply. Mulder tries to convince Eubanks that Lucy bled Amy’s blood, which destroys Fox’s credibility with the not-ready-to-believe Special Agent in Charge. Scully leans toward her default skeptic setting and thinks Lucy suffers from Stockholm syndrome. 

The tow truck driver meets with the FBI agents and shows them where he encountered Carl, just outside the town of Easton where Lucy was found 17 years earlier. The feds arrive in town and blow past Wade. See, that’s where it makes a difference to have your suspect’s vehicle description and maybe some less eager FBI guys. Sculder and the feds storm Carl’s house in the woods and Fox sees the cellar door is open. Mulder finds a traumatized girl downstairs, but it’s not Amy … it’s Lucy. Now Agent Eubanks really thinks Lucy is in on it. 

Fox walks a handcuffed Lucy to the car, but she's consumed with worry about Amy. Since Lucy is cold and wet, Mulder surmises Wade is dragging Amy through the water. Carl starts to drown Amy and Lucy’s mouth fills with water. Sculder finally catch up to them and Fox takes out Wade with one shot. Sculder perform CPR on the unconscious Amy which brings back Lucy ... and eventually Amy. Don’t be so pessimistic after only 30 seconds of CPR, Doctor Scully. Unfortunately, Lucy dies anyway. Good luck trying to explain how she drowned in the back of a police car.

Two points about this episode: Why did writer Charles Grant Craig (get this man a last name, stat!) feel the need to let Lucy die? So he can push the theory that Lucy had to die in order for Amy to live? I guess it’s not enough that Lucy spent her life trying to overcome the trauma of her abduction and recover from drug addiction. She even helped Mulder save Amy, despite literally reliving the horror. Which brings me to the second point. Whether intentional or not, CGC really set it up for the reveal that Lucy was Amy’s mother. To wit: Lucy was recovered 17 years earlier and Amy was just shy of her 16th birthday. Carl’s obsession could have been more so with Amy as his own daughter (or even if she was just Lucy’s daughter). There’s also Lucy’s extra-sensory connection to Amy. Maybe he didn’t go in that direction because it not only would have been predictable, but might have actually explained away the unexplained parts. And apparently, we can’t have that on The X-Files. 

Sestra Professional:

Fine work, Sestra Am. I don't think it's ever crossed my mind that the connection between the two women could have gone even further. I just focused on the more unique aspects of this episode. 

To start with, they've really brought the creepy in Season 3. It's probably because a lot of the situations at the core -- and before any kind of supernatural element enters into the equation -- don't feel so out of the realm of possibility. We all have concerns about the Carl Wades of the world getting their grimy hands on girls like Lucy and Amy and the ramifications of that.

Our heroes have been doing some good work this season. Mulder and Scully's moves have been reasonable and well thought out. They've figured out who the bad guys are relatively early in the episodes, utilizing their unique skill sets, and just need to quantify the less mundane aspects of the stories.

In this episode, we get a different look at Mulder and the way he relates to women -- particularly those in tough spots due to their unique abilities. We saw this delivered unsuccessfully in our least favorite episode to date, Season 2's Scully-less "3." It seems to work much better in "Oubliette," since Dana is on hand to challenge his premise with a reasonable alternative, even if his theory ultimately proves to be true. Fox's affinity for these types of women will continue to be a hallmark, and one that can stretch him past the all-consuming focus of his search for Samantha. More on this in a bit. 

What's your point? All of us kidnap victims got to stick together? I find it also intriguing that this episode filters through the victims. The two girls are in two completely different places on the same timeline. We see Amy living out everything that Lucy's already gone through. In most of the stand-alone shows, there's something weird in the neighborhood, so who ya gonna call? Sculder! Then the agents go about figuring out the perpetrator's methodology and rationale to get us to the all-important climax.

So Mulder's not as single-minded and one-dimensional as we come to expect of a  television character. Even when he's showing sympathy for Lucy, he doesn't bark at Scully's genetic testing. He just doesn't want the former kidnap victim treated like a suspect until they've confirmed that she actually is one. 

Not everything I do and say and think and feel goes back to my sister: Now in regards to Fox's outburst to Scully. Yes, I believe he believe what's he's saying, but is that actually true? He does feel for Lucy, that's more than evident. But does his compassion come from what happened to his sister so long ago? Probably on some level, it does. Mixed with the fact he's intrigued by the supernatural element of the case, it's a pretty tasty concoction for our Mulder. But I do appreciate them breaking him away of that one childhood experience and the fact that he's cognizant of 1.) his typical reaction and 2.) when a situation doesn't stem from that fact.

Dana gets to be the empath for the empath's empath in the end, pointing out to Fox that they were able to save Amy because he became part of the connection between the two victims. Not to mention the fact Sestra Am previously mentioned that Mulder continued CPR long after the medical doctor was ready to give up. 

We really get a sense of director Kim Manners' style in this episode. He draws the unenviable task of switching back and forth between the two victims and and their assailant. The river sequence is particularly chilling, literally and figuratively, with the camera down at the victim's level with the rushing water. According to the third-season episode guide, severe weather wreaked havoc with production. But they weren't too rushed to deliver suspenseful and gorgeous visuals.

Guest star of the week: Spoiler alert! This won't be the last time Tracey Ellis cops this honor as we see her dominate the canvas again in Season 9's "Audrey Pauley." Here she's almost too believable as ill-fated Lucy Householder. She draws a very fine performance out of David Duchovny, who forsakes some usual affectations in favor of his rapport with Ellis' character.