208 ONE BREATH

"I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again."
James Taylor Fire and Rain

WASHINGTON DC
GEORGETOWN

When Scully's comatose body is discovered at a local hospital, Mulder suspects the government was responsible for her disappearance.

SCULLYVISION

All is calm, all is bright. Scully unplugged. It was nearly goodnight for our Scully as someone did bad things to her. Seeing her taped and tubed was awful, not to mention seeing her headstone. Her dream sequences, however, were poignant and beautifully filmed. Her father's comments to her were quite beautiful. In fact, online reviewer Autumn T. says this is one of her favorite scenes in all of X-Files. As usual, Autumn is right. We do wonder if this really is a visit from her father or it was a dream. If it was a dream, then what he said to her would be things that she would like for him to say. Perhaps it was just a dream since she probably would picture her father as an Admiral rather than his actual rank of Captain.

Scully, of course, is able to find humor in Mulder's social awkwardness by responding to the Superstars of the Superbowl video gift by saying "I knew there was a reason to live." Speaking of gifts, we are treated to a flashback of a very young tomboy Scully out-shooting her brothers. We also learn that she was afraid of snakes and very sorry that she killed one. Another gift was Skinner's admission to Mulder that he liked and respected Scully. We probably knew that already, but it was nice to hear him admit it.

MULDERVISION

Mulder is really thrown by Scully's condition. He is angry and threatens her doctor. He is clueless and helpless, or as X put it so brutally: "You're a damn school boy, Mulder. You have no idea." He is confused, as his frustration with Scully's sister brings out. He is full of rage, as shown in his scene with Smokey. You just had to cheer for Mulder when he slapped that cigarette out of CSM's mouth. That alone was worth the price of admission. Last, but not least, Mulder is guilty. He feels he has contributed to Scully's (near) death. Some of the guilt is based on reality but some of it is probably rooted in his guilt over the loss of his sister, Samantha.

OH COME ON!

A dead snake is not something to cry over, no matter how old you are or if you did have a hand in killing it.

Skinner has a big THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING sign in his office but didn't remove the ashtrays?

For a man who smokes a lot, CSM sure doesn't know how to put one out. Or was that on purpose?

Mulder is after the guy who stole Scully's vial of blood. Mulder shouts, "HEY!", apparently to warn the nonchalant guy that he is being pursued. Nonchalant Guy then becomes Sprinting Guy.

Mulder catches Sprinting Guy and has a gun on him. The guy picks up a broom or something and takes Mulder down. Is Mulder an FBI agent or a damn school boy?

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

As soon as you fork over the bucks for a headstone for a missing person, that person will show up. Thank goodness.

Don't mess with X. He can be one bad dude. Yep, he used to be Mulder, but then he grew up.

SFX

Not a special effect, but it was really neat how Scully's comatose state was portrayed of the calm lake, boat, visitors on the dock. The shot of Scully in bed shift from the tranquil peace of the forest to the sterile hospital environment was inspired.

RECURRING CHARACTERS

Margaret Scully, Melissa Scully, Frohike, Skinner, Langly, Byers, X, Captain William Scully, Cigarette-Smoking Man

WRITER
Glen Morgan and James Wong

Wonderful episode to show Mulder's attachment to his platonic partner, and Scully's spirituality that is there, but more conventional than her sister's. It was also nice closure for Scully's psyche that, even if it was only her dream state (i.e., wish) that had her father was talking to her, she finally got the answer she was searching for so precariously in the first season episode, "Beyond the Sea", which coincidently, was also written by them.

DIRECTOR
R. W. Goodwin

Mulder's scene in the hospital when Scully was returned could have been hokey or sappy, but both Duchovny and Goodwin, along with Morgan and Wong's words, found the right notes. The scene in the hospital parking garage where X dealt with the G-Man was absolutely, starkly, chilling.

THE USUAL THINGS
Guns
Raining
11:21
Necklace
Scully is hospitalized
Mulder lies on the couch
Mulder's porn fixation
Mulder Cries
Mulder Drops His Gun

Side note: Nurse Owens is named for Glen Morgan's grandmother. The actress who plays Margaret Scully is the wife of R W Goodwin, the director of this and many other great X Files episodes.

NOT NAUGHTY MULDER

Mulder would do anything to help Scully and bring the villains to justice. To be at his best, he needs sleep, but he is so worried about her that sleep eludes him. He therefore puts a tape in his VCR that he knows will put him to sleep and not rouse, or shall we say arouse, him. The tape is clearly of Julia Child pointing out just when to stop adding some ingredient to the pan. Mulder rewinds it, of course, to be sure he's got the recipe right. Or perhaps he was fast forwarding it to the part where Julia makes dessert.

POINT/COUNTERPOINT

JO: X is one kick ass great informant. The best on the Files. He's a much more effective one than Deep Throat. As much as X is without humor or pleasantries, it's a sure bet that he's not lying to you. As chummy, I'll-take-you-under-my-wing-because-I'm-a-great-guy-caught-in-a-bad-situation kind of person that Deep Throat was, he could lie to your face with as much whimsy as recalling the great baseball games he's been able to see, thanks to his connections.

JOHN: Ah ha, but you have pin pointed exactly why Deep Throat is the more effective informant. "I'll-take-you-under-my-wing-because-I'm-a-great-guy-caught-in-a-bad-situation" is precisely what you want in an informant. You don't want an honest informant. You can be sure that honest guys finish last in the dark world of government secrets. Though I do agree with you that X can kick some serious ass while taking no prisoners.

ATHENAEUM

Though he had watched presidents die and knew many things, Cancer Man knew nothing about comas, so he had come to the old library to see what he could learn. As soon as he entered the Athenaeum, the Curator scuttled back among the shelves and hid.

Cancer Man grabbed some neurology books and settled at a large oak table. He lit a cigarette ignoring the "IF YOU SMOKE, YOU DIE" signs. Within minutes he returned all of the medical texts to the shelf. Then he found the book better suited for him; "Comas for Dummies."

The first thing he learned was that the word coma is derived from the Greek word koma, meaning state of sleep. The term was first used by the Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates, to describe the state of the brain at the lowest end of the spectrum of functioning. Some of what Cancer Man read was encouraging and some of it wasn't at all. One definition that he found turned out to be good news/bad news. "Coma is a sleep-like state from which an individual cannot be aroused." The good news was that coma isn't sleep-like at all. In fact the brain wave activity in a comatose person is very different from that of a sleeping person. The bad news was that it wasn't true that the person couldn't be aroused, it's just that they had not yet been aroused.

Coma, Cancer Man read, is a state of brain function. The human brain performs at different levels of consciousness with the lowest level of functioning being a state of coma. Sometimes this represents the last state before death. However, many people do awaken from comas. While an individual in a coma is unresponsive, we have no way of knowing what they can hear or what they are aware of. Many people, upon awakening from coma, report having been amazingly aware of their surroundings while comatose.

Cancer Man read on: "Many people recover their full physical and mental functioning when they emerge from a coma. Others require various forms of therapy to recover as much functioning as possible." Some patients never recover anything but very basic body functions. Apparently a general rule was that if a patient in a coma survives the first seven to ten days following the injury to the brain, then long-term survival is more likely.

Cancer Man was amused to read that coma is considered a neurological emergency and action needs to be taken quickly to avoid permanent damage. Scully's doctors didn't seem to be taking much action. He also read that if the cause of the coma is unknown, what is often called a "coma cocktail" is given to the patient. No cocktails had been prescribed for Scully. Cancer Man ground his cigarette out on the old oak table and lit another. He wasn't exactly happy about Scully's condition, but he relished the thought that Mulder was suffering since Mulder had threatened to shoot him. Mulder... the damn school boy.

QUOTES

MARGARET Once, when she was a girl... a very little girl... Dana was in the woods. It was autumn. She had always been a tomboy, unlike her sister Melissa. For her birthday, Dana's brothers had given her a BB gun and were showing her how to use it. Their father had told them only to shoot cans but in a patch of grass, Bill Jr. found a garter snake. And they began shooting. Wanting to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake. It squirmed wildly, desperately fighting for life but as the boys continued to shoot the snake began to bleed. When she realized what she had done, Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt. Through her tears, she was saying that something was missing from the snake. She had taken something that was not hers to take. And although deathly afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal as if sheer human will could keep it alive. The snake, its blood on her hands, died. There was nothing she could do to bring it back.

MULDER It's too soon, Mrs. Scully. We can't give up.
MARGARET That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter. But at this moment, I know how my daughter felt.

DANA KATHERINE SCULLY
1964-1994
LOVING DAUGHTER & FRIEND
The Spirit is the Truth. John 5:07

MULDER How did she get here?
NURSE Sir, will you please...
MULDER How did she get here?!

MULDER I want to see her admission forms. Who did this to her? I want to see what tests have been done! Listen, if you're hiding anything, I swear, I will do anything, whatever it takes, I will find out what they did to her!

DALY We just don't know, Mrs. Scully. There are no indications of acute injuries, traumatic or non-traumatic, I can't find any signs of degenerative or metabolic disorders. We have conducted every test possible.
MULDER I'd like her examined for trace evidence.
DALY She has been bathed and cleaned since her admittance. Also, there is a situation which I don't know if you're aware of. The FBI has notified us of the terms of Dana's living will.
MARGARET What is it, what did she say?
DALY Well, Dana is a doctor. Her criteria for terminating life support is quite specific. She states that if her Glasgow Outcome Scale lists her--
MULDER She doesn't want to live in this condition.
DALY You signed the will as her witness.

MELISSA I've been told not to call you Fox.
MULDER By who?
MELISSA Dana, just now.
MULDER Dana talked to you just now? If she talked, the EEG would have moved.
MELISSA Her soul is here.

MULDER You're Scully's sister.
MELISSA Dana's choosing whether to remain or move on.
MULDER She's not here.
MELISSA No, your anger and your fear's blocking any positive emotions she needs to feel.
MULDER I need to do more than just wave my hands in the air.

BYERS Good work sneaking out these charts.
FROHIKE Snuck 'em in my pants.
MULDER There's plenty of room down there.

LANGLY You look down, Mulder. Tell you what, you're welcome to come over Saturday night. We're all hopping on the internet to nitpick the scientific inaccuracies of Earth 2.
MULDER I'm doing my laundry.
BYERS The chart shows abnormal protein chains in the blood. The amino acid sequence is in a combination I've never seen before. I've downloaded Scully's medical data to the newest Lone Gunman.
FROHIKE He goes by the name The Thinker.
BYERS This guy's a hacking genius.

BYERS The Thinker reports the protein chains are a result of branched DNA.
MULDER Branched DNA?
LANGLEY The cutting edge of genetic engineering.
BYERS A biological equivalent of a silicon microchip.
LANGLEY This is way beyond cutting edge. This technology fifty years down the line.
MULDER What's it used for?
FROHIKE Could be a tracking system.
BYERS Developmental stages of a biological marker.
MULDER You mean a high-tech identity card?
LANGLEY Or something as insidious as grafting a human into something... inhuman.
BYERS Good theories, gentlemen, but all for naught. This branched DNA is inactive. It's waste product. Whoever was experimenting on Scully is finished. Now it's nothing more than a biological poison.
MULDER Will she live?
BYERS Her immune system has been decimated and I doubt even a healthy human body has the ability to fight this. Mulder, there's nothing you can do.

NURSE OWENS Dana? Dana, honey? I know you can hear me. This is Nurse Owens. I'm here to take care of you, sweetheart, to watch over you. Help you find the way home. I know you're far away from home tonight and that where you are is peaceful. It would be nice to stay but Dana, you must leave here only when it's time. I'll be here when you need me, dear.

MULDER Get that gun out of my face.
X This high-capacity compact Sig Saver .40 caliber weapon is pointed at your head to stress my insistence that your search for who put your partner on that respirator desist immediately!
MULDER You ignore my call for help and then you expect me to do what you say? You go to hell!
X You got him killed! You got her killed. That's not going to happen to me. You're my tool, you understand? I come to you when I need you. Right now, you're heading in a direction that can lead them right here.
MULDER What the hell are you talking about?
X You're not supposed to know. That's the point.
MULDER I owe her more than just sitting around doing nothing.
X She was a good soldier, Mulder, but there's nothing you can do to bring her back.
MULDER She's not dead.
X Listen to you. Listen. You're a damn schoolboy, Mulder. You have no idea. No idea!
MULDER Okay, then tell me. Tell me!
X I used to be you. I was where you are now. But you're not me, Mulder. I don't think you have the heart. Walk away. Grieve for Scully and then never look back. You will be able to live with yourself, Mulder, on the day you die.

X Stay there.
MULDER Wait!
X You want to see what it takes to find the truth, Agent Mulder? You want to know what I know?
X I'll attend to this.

DALY Discontinuing the respirator does not necessarily mean pulling the plug or ending her life. Karen Ann Quinlan lived for nine years after cessation of mechanical ventilation. I do believe, however, that this is not the case with your daughter, Mrs. Scully. My guess is that she's been in this state since her disappearance and she will not improve.
MELISSA Is she below the criteria established in her will?
MULDER It's possible branched DNA can be treated with designer antibiotics.
DALY Agent Mulder, I don't know where you developed this bizarre diagnosis, but I do believe you're in no position to continue your...
MULDER You've never provided an answer as to why she's here or what's wrong with her. We need to study her.
MELISSA She's not a piece of evidence.
MULDER She's here because of unnatural circumstances.
MELISSA She's dying. That's perfectly natural. We hide people in these rooms because we don't want to look at death. We have machines prolong a life that should, that should end. That's a much more unnatural circumstance than any cause of her death.
MULDER That's very politically correct.
MELISSA That's very human. I love her. This is right.
MARGARET Dana has made our decision. Fox... you and Dana had a friendship built on respect. Now, in the last year, I have lost my husband, and God knows I don't want to lose my baby girl. But like you, I have always respected her. Fox. This is a moment for the family but you can join us if you want.
Mulder sadly shakes his head no.

SKINNER I called you right up here because of rumors about an incident at the hospital last night.
MULDER Is this about the tooth that was found in the cafeteria Jello?

MULDER May I see the police report?
SKINNER There is no police report of this incident, Agent Mulder, and there is no body. You know that.
MULDER Since I am unfamiliar with any such incident, sir, no, how would I know that?
SKINNER Knock it off!
MULDER How's it feel? Constant denial of everything, questions answered with a question.
SKINNER I want to know what happened, damn it.
MULDER Him. That's what happened. Cancer Man! He's responsible for what happened to Scully!
SKINNER How do you know that?
MULDER It's a rumor.

MULDER You can have it all, you can have my badge, you can have the X-Files, just tell me where he is.
SKINNER And then what? He sleeps with the fishes? We're not the mafia, Agent Mulder. I know it's easy to forget but we work for the Department of Justice.
MULDER That's what I want.
SKINNER Agent Scully was a fine officer. More than that, I liked her. I respected her. We all know the field we play on and we all know what can happen in the course of a game. If you were unprepared for all the potentials, then you shouldn't step on the field.
MULDER What if I... I knew the potential consequences but I... I never told her?
SKINNER Then you're as much to blame for her condition as... "The Cancer Man."

WILLIAM SCULLY Hello, Starbuck. It's Ahab. People would say to me 'life is short,' 'kids, they grow up fast,' and 'before you know it, it's over.' I never listened. For me, life went at a proper pace. There were many rewards until the moment that I knew, I understood that... that I would never see you again, my little girl. Then my life felt as if it had been the length of one breath, one heartbeat. I never knew how much I loved my daughter until I could never tell her. At that moment, I would have traded every medal, every commendation, every promotion for one more second with you. We'll be together again, Starbuck. But not now. Soon.

CSM How'd you find me?
MULDER Shut up! Tonight, I ask the questions! You're going to answer me, you son of a bitch!
CSM Don't try and threaten me, Mulder. I've watched presidents die.
MULDER Why her? Why her and not me? Answer me!
CSM I like you. I like her too. That's why she was returned to you.
MULDER You should be the one to die.
CSM Why? Look at me. No wife, no family, some power. I'm in the game because I believe what I'm doing is right.
MULDER Right? Who are you to decide what's right?
CSM Who are you? If people were to know the things I know, it would all fall apart. I told Skinner you shot the man in the hospital but I didn't really believe it. And here you are with a gun to my head. I have more respect for you, Mulder. You're becoming a player. You can kill me now, but you'll never know the truth and that's why I'll win. Don't worry. This'll be our secret. We wouldn't want others to start rumors.

SKINNER When I started out, this is where they kept the copier.
MULDER At least back then, it wasn't just wasted space.

SKINNER Look, I know you feel responsible for Agent Scully, but I will not accept resignation and defeat as self-punishment.
MULDER All the forensics, the field investigations, the eyewitness accounts... to still know nothing. To lose myself... and Scully. I hate what I've become.
SKINNER When I was eighteen, I, uh... I went to Vietnam. I wasn't drafted, Mulder, I... I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day of my eighteenth birthday. I did it on a blind faith. I did it because I believed it was the right thing to do. I don't know, maybe I still do. Three weeks into my tour, a ten-year-old North Vietnamese boy walked into camp covered with grenades and I, uh... I blew his head off from a distance of ten yards. I lost my faith. Not in my country or in myself, but in everything. There was just no point to anything anymore. One night on patrol, we were, uh... caught... and everyone... everyone fell. I mean, everyone. I looked down... at my body... from outside of it. I didn't recognize it at first. I watched the VC strip my uniform, take my weapon and I remained... in this thick jungle... peaceful... unafraid... watching my... my dead friends. Watching myself. In the morning, the corpsmen arrived and put me in a body bag until... I guess they found a pulse. I woke in a Saigon hospital two weeks later. I'm afraid to look any further beyond that experience. You? You are not. Your resignation is unacceptable.

MULDER You gave me Cancer Man's location. You put your life in danger.
SKINNER Agent Mulder, every life, everyday is in danger. That's just life.

X Your plane ticket.
MULDER But we barely know each other.

MULDER Waiting.
X To defend yourself with terminal intensity. It's the only way, Mulder. The law will not punish these people.

MELISSA Why is it so dark in here?
MULDER Because the lights aren't on.

MELISSA Listen. I don't have to be psychic to see that you're in a very dark place... much darker than where my sister is. Willingly walking deeper into darkness cannot help her at all. Only the light...
MULDER Enough with the harmonic convergence crap, okay? You're not saying anything to me.
MELISSA Why don't you just drop your cynicism and your paranoia and your defeat. You know, just because it's positive and good doesn't make it silly or trite! Why is it so much easier for you to run around trying to get even than just expressing to her how you feel? I expect more from you. Dana expects more. Even if it doesn't bring her back, at least she'll know. And so will you.
MULDER I feel, Scully... that you believe... you're not ready to go. And you've always had the strength of your beliefs. I don't know if my being here... will help bring you back. But I'm here.

MARGARET Hello, Fox.
SCULLY Not Fox, Mulder.

MULDER How you feeling?
SCULLY Mulder, I don't remember anything... after Duane Barry...
MULDER Doesn't... doesn't matter. Brought you a present. Superstars of the Super Bowl.
SCULLY I knew there was a reason to live.

SCULLY Mulder? I had the strength of your beliefs.

SCULLY Could I see Nurse Owens? I've got something I'd like her to have.
NURSE Nurse who?
SCULLY Owens. Short with straight light brown hair? She watched over me in intensive care and I'd like to thank her.
NURSE Dana, I've worked here for ten years and there's no Nurse Owens at this hospital.

END