X FILES LYCEUM

1X13 BEYOND THE SEA

"It's far, beyond a star
It's near, beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon."
Bobby Darin singing Beyond the Sea

"Move on out Captain."
Bobby Darin singing Beyond the Sea

"Oh, lonely death on lonely life!"
"Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief."
Captain Ahab in Moby Dick

"Somewhere . . . beyond the sea. . ."
Luther Lee Boggs

SYNOPSIS

RALEIGH, NC
Following the unexpected death of her father, Scully returns to work only to face serial killer Luther Lee Boggs. Boggs may be the key to solving a current kidnaping and he may be the key to solving Scully's quest to discover whether or not her father was proud of her. When Mulder is shot, Scully must solve the kidnaping case alone and face Boggs who may, or may not, be channeling her dead father.

SCULLYVISION

In previous episodes like Ice, Scully, though not the featured character, steals the show. She doesn't need to steal it in Beyond the Sea, it's hers from the very start. And what a start it is. The opening teaser this time isn't how someone is savagely killed or abducted, no. This time it's Scully's night after Christmas with her parents. We see that she's now her own woman, she decorated her apartment for Christmas, and she's going to leave the tree up as long as she wants.

She has an easy relationship with her mother, but a difficult to put your finger on relationship with her father. She calls him, "Daddy", and "Captain", while he calls her "Starbuck". One could glean from that that their nicknames for each other are one of superior and servant, or they just liked the book. Captain Scully does pull his daughter into a hug, but it's tentative, and he's sharing looks with his wife at the same time. Sadly her father has to be prompted to ask her how work is going. Dana knows enough to answer briefly and superficially. Something's definitely not right.

In fact, her relationship with her father seems marked by unspoken words and unvoiced feelings. This makes the next scene of her father's brief appearance all the more chilling. Scully wakes on the couch, not by a bad Ron Popeil infomercial, but to see her father sitting on the chair across from her. He speaks, but she can't hear him, a wonderful metaphor for their lives together. The mood is broken when the phone rings, and the captain is gone. She gets word from her mother that her father had just died of a heart attack. Scully's first personal paranormal experience.

Trooper that Scully is, she goes into work that morning, in good mood and form, when she immediately teases Mulder about reading porn mags, "The last time I saw you that engrossed, you were reading the Adult Video News."

Mulder is concerned about her, calls her Dana, to which Scully lightly scoffs. She wants to be treated normal, but one would hope not the normal of Space or Fire. Not to worry though. Mulder places his hand on her shoulder and treats her with the utmost respect and sympathy of the loss of her father. He tells her that she should take some time off, and gently caresses her cheek. What a turnaround from the last episode! Love Mulder here. Amazingly, Scully acts out her unresolved father issue with Mulder. "I thought you'd be pleased with me..." she tells Mulder regarding her openness to extreme possibilities. It parallels her relationship with her father, and also adds depth to her relationship with Mulder.

We see people at Captain Scully's funeral on the beach. One would think that we'd meet Scully's family, but aren't treated to that just yet. The only family member we see in to is Mrs. Margaret Scully, who is grieving for her husband. We see some youngsters, but have no clue who they are.

After the loss of someone you can't ever talk to again, questions form in your mind and events and circumstances are second guessed. She asks her mother if her father was proud of her to pursue a career in the FBI, stepping away from medicine full time. Only Scully must have really been thinking about it, because she said it as, "Was he at all proud of me?" She gets an unsatisfactory answer of, "He was your father," from her mother, and this unresolved issue is overwhelming for Scully and will motivate her for the rest of the episode. Otherwise she would have probably attended to her mother's grief rather that focusing on her own needs. As we are learning piece by piece about Mulder's chronic grief over the loss of his sister, this single episode tells us volumes about Scully's grief.

She will be the believer, who wants so badly to believe, in this episode, while Mulder will take on the role of the skeptic. She wants to talk to her father, and Luther Lee Boggs, the convicted criminal on death row could be that conduit. Mulder knows all about Boggs, having done the profile that caught him. Mulder believes he only wants to hurt Mulder and all he knows as retribution for putting him on death row and he is not to be trusted.

Mulder tricks Boggs by giving him a piece of blue cloth to get some vibes from the kidnapper from. Boggs goes into a myriad of visions as Scully takes notes. Mulder proudly tells Boggs, "I ripped this from my New York Knicks t-shirt. It has nothing to do with the case."

Scully puts her notes away and is going to follow Mulder out, when Boggs begins to sing Beyond the Sea. It's one of the most chilling moments in the X Files. Scully turns to look at him and sees her father, we are downright scared. What a classic X-Files move to have Scully experiencing the paranormal first hand but at a time when she is under great psychological duress causing us to wonder if it's all just stress and not paranormal at all. She sees the face of her father in Boggs' prison uniform. Boggs has delved into Scully's psyche and showed her exactly what she wanted to see.

On her way home, she sees the landmarks from Boggs' vision and follows them to find the charm of the girl who was kidnaped. She sits stone faced in her motel room at another empty chair, trying to channel her father, when Mulder raps on the door, breaking her concentration. She ignores Mulder's lighthearted jokes, and very good ones, to tell him that she found the charm because Boggs told them where it was, she followed his visions. Mulder doesn't want her to trust Boggs, it would only lead to her undoing. And, he's more than angry that she didn't put that on her report to the police, he belittles her about not wanting to be like "Spooky Mulder".

He softens and urges her to step away and deal with her father's death, that her judgment is clouded, and that Boggs is probably an accomplice to the kidnaping so he can be the hero and save not only the kids, but his own butt from the gas chamber.

In their next meeting with Boggs, he pointedly tells Mulder, not to go near the white cross. To be a good Samaritan to warn him of upcoming danger, or to plant the seed in his and Scully's minds that Boggs is on their side, and the white cross can turn out to be anything they want to see it in?

Scully rushes in with the Feds, finding Elizabeth, and orders the rest around. Love it. Mulder is shot, and Scully sees two boards of a dock that form a cross. As Mulder is brought into the hospital, Scully is exhausted and doesn't want another death, so she takes it on herself to find out about Lucas Henry Jackson, the kidnaper of Elizabeth and her boyfriend, who he still has. They only have 5 days to find him before he's killed as they believe that Jackson is working on a self-imposed time table. In an absolutely riveting scene, Scully confronts Boggs about if Mulder dies, no one would be able to stop her from throwing the switch during his execution herself. She rages at him with a force that pins us to the couch and then incredibly, she becomes so vulnerable that she covers her ears like a child. We knew Scully could be tough and she could be fragile but to see it all in one scene is riveting.

Boggs, or her own mind, played tricks on her again, when she sees Mulder in Boggs' prison uniform. He tells her a story of a girl sneaking cigarettes from her mother, and Scully dismisses it, that it could be from any kid's life, but we knew she must have done that at one time, and we see another side of Scully.

She makes a deal with him, or tries to pretend that she is, as the governor has no intention of dealing with the man. He seems to go along with it, and she tells him, "Luther, if you really were psychic..." to which he acknowledged that there never was a deal. He knows she tried, and tells her not to 'follow the devil'.

They were able to catch Jackson, because he stood in front of a Blue Devil logo and fell off the catwalk. Boggs saved her life. She acknowledges that, and in another wonderful scene with tour de force acting from both Gillian Anderson and Brad Dourif, she asks him to speak to her father. He tells her to be his witness, and she'll be able to.

The ball's in her court. She can walk that final mile and accept Boggs' gift, but she doesn't. She goes to Mulder's bedside instead. When Mulder asks her why, that she wasn't able to find out the answer, she tells him she knows her answer, "He was my father."

Whether she just accepted the fact that her father wouldn't be able to tell her his feelings, or she wouldn't trust Boggs to tell her the truth, or she doesn't believe Boggs' gift is real, or knew the answer all along, she just had to realize it herself, or it was just a way to live with herself and the decision she made, her father's opinion be damned. She worked it out for herself, and came to a truth that she could live with. It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful episode.

OH, COME ON!

Who was the bright one to give Boggs Mulder's profile on him?

Why was there a lit candle in the abandoned warehouse when Scully found Elizabeth's charm?

Who gave Boggs Mulder's cell phone number?

THINGS LEARNED
or All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From the X Files

Morgan/Wong are great writers.

David Nutter is a master director.

CASTING

Luther Boggs is a riveting character, smart, tortured, maybe channeling, and tuned in to Scully in a frightening, yet ultimately life saving, way. Brad Dourif is a dream, electric, and may be the only character to call Mulder and Scully Fox and Dana. FOX was smart to pay him the dough he needed to bring Boggs to life. Would the character have been as successful if not for him? Who's to say, but we're glad we didn't have to find out.

Sheila Larkin is first introduced in the role of Margaret Scully. She's the perfect actress to play Scully's mother and seems to have a chemistry with Gillian right off the bat.

Don Davis is appropriately stuffy as the Navy Captain, and there's a glimmer of a family man who didn't quite get the hang of showing his feelings.

This is the first episode with solid, irrefutable proof that no one else could possibly play Dana Scully except for Jodie Foster. In the 13 episodes of the series, Ms. Anderson has grown into the shoes and mind of Dana Scully and has given her heart and back bone, who could stand toe to toe with an actor the caliber of Brad Dourif.

WRITERS
Glenn Morgan/James Wong

They created a monster who refers to himself in the third person. The episode is a rip off of Silence of the Lambs, but it's done to great personal effect to the character of Dana Scully. Gillian Anderson is on the same plane as Jodie Foster in Silence. Rich characterization of both Scully and Luther Lee Boggs.

DIRECTOR
David Nutter

Excellent from start to finish. He doesn't rely on stock footage or normal camera angles, but isn't trying to use them to be hip, he's using them to tell the story and give the audience the information they need to enjoy the episode. When Scully is in her trance in the motel room, we see her, we see the empty chair in front of her, the camera had moved up from the floor, as if Captain Scully had emerged from his grave to communicate, as Scully would have hoped. The brilliant use of black and white, morphing, voice overs, and slo mo for Boggs' story of the first time he was in the electric chair was one of the best things that's ever been shown on television. Finally, in a kind of rip off of Demme's work in Silence, Nutter segues from the Blue Devil logo to Boggs' closeup. Spooky, and memorable.

THE USUAL
Flashlights - Scully in warehouse, with feds while rescuing Elizabeth
Guns - rescue of Elizabeth, Scully shoots Jackson
Cell Phones - Boggs calls Mulder's
Scully's white clunky cordless phone - she got the call about her father's death

POINT/COUNTERPOINT

Mulder,

I know my father loved me. I realized that the moment I decided not to follow through with Boggs' wishes. But being loved and being proud of are two very different things, and I don't think I'll ever have the answer to that question. Mom wouldn't tell me when I brought it up at his funeral. She didn't answer, probably because he was so disappointed with what I could have been, in his eyes, that wasn't a part of me, or my plans.

When I was accepted into medical school you should have seen the look on his face. He beamed brighter than all of his military medals. I could feel the pride and love radiating off of him. He couldn't put it into words but I could tell that he wanted to.

But when I told him I was joining the bureau, it was all gone, the pride, the love, everything. He became a hollow man to me, Mulder. I let him down. To add salt to his wound, when he found out the true nature of my work on the X Files, he just looked at me. He didn't display anger, he didn't display anything. It was as if a part of him had died.

Scully

~~~~~~~~~~

Scully,

You have a way to set your mind at ease. You're not a practicing medical doctor as your father wished, but you use your skills that you have developed in every case we work on. Sure, I know what it feels like to have a father 'disappointed' in the paths their child decided to follow in life, but you can make Captain Scully 'proud' by doing your excellent work in a professional and caring manner.

I don't know if it means that much to you, but I'm extremely proud to have you as my partner. I trust you with my life in any situation we may find ourselves in. Your uncertainty of your father's views can only make you crazy. I need a sane partner, so please don't do that to yourself.

Mulder

ATHENAEUM

Scully went slowly down the stairs to the old library still shaken from her experience with Luther Lee Boggs. She was determined to erase the memory of that man from her mind and replace it with fond memories of a far better man, her father. She wanted to learn more about the song that was playing at his funeral, the same song that was playing when her father's ship returned from the Cuban Blockade, when he marched right up to her mother and proposed. The Curator sat behind the desk appearing as if he had been waiting for her.

The frumpy old guy looked up at Scully. "Walden Robert Cassotto," he said.

"I'm sorry?"

"You've come for information on the song, Beyond the Sea," stated the Curator softly.

"Yes, Bobby Darin's version."

"Right. His real name was Walden Robert Cassotto. Grew up in the Bronx. Had rheumatic fever frequently as a kid which caused heart disease. Doctors said he would not live to see his seventeenth birthday. He proved 'em wrong. For a while anyway. In '58, he had a couple of hit pop tunes which made him a teen idol. Then in '59, he did an unusual thing. Rock and Roll had helped put the big band era to sleep, yet Darin recorded a big band song called Mack the Knife. It hit the top of the charts earning him Grammy awards for 'Record of the Year' and 'Best New Artist' and it is still one of the best selling songs of all time."

"He married actress Sandra Dee, didn't he?" Scully inquired.

"Married her, had a son with her and later divorced her. Their son, Dodd Darin has written a book about his famous parents "Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee". Got it right here on our shelves."

"He was in movies too," added Scully.

"Thirteen motion pictures. Nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the 1963 film "Captain Newman M.D." He also won a Golden Globe Award for 'Most Promising Male Newcomer' for his role in "Pressure Point". On top of that he was the youngest person ever to host his own variety TV special. NBC then gave him his own show."

"What about Beyond the Sea?"

"Amazingly another big band hit for Darin in 1960. Thirty-two years earlier, it had been a hit for Benny Goodman. It was actually a French song called The Sea, or to be more precise, La Mer."

"Are they going to make a film about his life?" Scully asked.

"Ought to. Despite all the success, there was also great tragedy. As an adult he discovered that his "mother" Polly was actually his grandmother and his "sister" Nina was actually his mother who had engaged in the deception in an attempt to cover up Darin's illegitimacy. He felt his whole life had been a lie and was devastated by the truth. Later, after all his success, he lost the rights to his music, sold everything he owned and became a recluse, living in a trailer in California. Yet he eventually came out of that and went on to record yet another hit in '66 with, of all things, a folk song, "If I Were a Carpenter". Tragically his life was cut short on December 20th, 1973, when he died following his second open heart surgery at the age of 37."

"Amazing story," sighed Scully.

"He was an amazing guy. If you ever see film of him with Judy Garland or Jimmy Durante, or the time he forgot the lyrics in the middle of a song and kept singing about how he forgot the lyrics, without missing a beat, you would be amazed. I hear tell that they will indeed do a film about him. Kevin Spacey might play the lead since he kind of resembles Darin or maybe it will be Johnny Depp who can portray the exuberance, charisma and brashness that were the hallmarks of Darin's personality."

"Thank you for the information," Scully said to the kindly Curator.

"Let's listen to the song," he said and turned around and placed the old record on the turntable. The arm rose carring the delicate needle over and placing it down in to the grooves of the spinning vinyl.

"Somewhere..." began the song. The Curator smiled and turned back to Scully but she had gone.

Scully stood at the top of the stairs. She could hear the song far below her. "No more sailing," she whispered softly.

QUOTES

SCULLY Good sailing, Ahab.
WILLIAM SCULLY Goodnight, Starbuck.

MRS SCULLY We lost your dad. He had a massive coronary about an hour ago. He's gone.

SCULLY Last time you were that engrossed, it turned out you were reading the Adult Video News.

MULDER At the age of six, Luther Boggs slaughtered every pet animal in his housing project. When he was thirty, he strangled five family members over Thanksgiving dinner and then sat down to watch the fourth quarter of the Detroit - Green Bay game. Some killers are projects of society. Some act out past abuses. Boggs kills because he likes it.

SCULLY I know that you and Dad were... disappointed that I chose the path I'm on instead of medicine but I need to know... was he at all proud of me?
MRS SCULLY He was your father.

BOGGS Mr. Boggs must be made redemptive for his transgressions.
MULDER That's exactly what the state of North Carolina intends to do next week.

BOGGS (singing) Somewhere... beyond the sea...

BOGGS Did you get my message, Starbuck?

SCULLY I lied to the police about how I found the warehouse. I didn't notice any suspicious activities.
MULDER Then how did you find it?
SCULLY It was where Boggs said it would be.
MULDER What you're really saying is that you didn't want to go on record admitting that you believed in Boggs! The bureau would expect something like that from "Spooky" Mulder, but not Dana Scully.

MULDER Dana... open yourself up to extreme possibilities only when they're the truth. That goes for Luther Boggs... and your father. As for Luther Boggs, he's the greatest of lies.

BOGGS Agent Scully believes me.

SCULLY We have to deal.

BOGGS Mulder. Don't go near the white cross. We see you down... and your blood spills on the white cross.

SCULLY You set us up. You're in on this with Lucas Henry. This was a trap for Mulder because he helped put you away. Well, I came here to tell you that if he dies because of what you've done, four days from now, no one will be able to stop me from being the one that will throw the switch and gas you out of this life for good, you son of a bitch!

SCULLY No! No, I do not believe you!

BOGGS There was that one time when I was fourteen and my parents had gone to bed and I snuck downstairs all alone. Got one of my mom's cigarettes and went out onto the porch in the dark. I was so scared. My heart was beating, I mean, they would have killed me if they knew. But I was so excited. Not 'cause of the cigarette, I mean, it was gross, but because I wasn't supposed to.

BOGGS It is a cold, dark place, Scully. Mulder's looking in on it right now.
SCULLY It may be a cold dark place for you but it's not for Mulder and it's not for my father.
BOGGS I'm sure he'd like to tell you hisself but I'm not going to let him. Nobody speaks until you get me a deal.

SCULLY I don't believe you.
BOGGS Oh well, there's plenty of room in that cold, dark place for liars, Scully.

SCULLY All right, Mr. Boggs... you got your deal.

SCULLY Luther, if you really were psychic...
BOGGS I would have known you lied. That there never was a deal. I know you tried.

BOGGS Avoid the devil. Don't follow Henry to the devil. Leave that to me.

SCULLY I believe... that if you had orchestrated this kidnaping, Lucas Henry would have... been aware of the danger you warned me about. He never would have crossed that bridge. So you saved... Jim Summer's life. But you saved mine as well.

MULDER Dana. After all you've seen, after all the evidence, why can't you believe?
SCULLY I'm afraid. I'm afraid to believe.
MULDER You couldn't face that fear? Even if it meant never knowing what your father wanted to tell you?
SCULLY But I do know.
MULDER How?
SCULLY He was my father.