Now I know why people hate telemarketers so much. Not only are they annoying and invasive, but they work for monsters and their co-workers are zombies! After watching "Folie A Deux", there's no way I'll ever buy vinyl siding over the telephone (even with a $100 offer!). There are also a few words I hope never to hear when orally assaulted by a telemarketer..."Miss Katie. Listen very carefully - it's here!"

It was here alright, a buzzer of an X-File, with both creepiness and creepy crawlies to spare. I loved almost everything about this episode, but that's just Vince Gilligan for you. He's able to take all the strengths of "The X-Files" and put them together in just the right mix in every X-File he writes. "Folie A Deux" had the gross out factor and the suspense of a well written monster episode, but it also expanded Mulder and Scully's characters, challenged their beliefs, and tested their perception of reality. It introduced us to an fascinating mental condition, "folie a deux", giving us "pseudo intellectuals" something to talk about. One of the strengths of this show, as David Duchovny pointed out in an interview in Primetime Live, is the discussion it inspires. "The X-Files" isn't so smart that only academics and geniuses are able to understand it, but it does have a certain intelligence about it that makes it so much fun to review. Without creepiness and gore, "The X-Files" wouldn't be "The X-Files", but without these underlying ideas, all the creepiness in the world couldn't have made this show the intellectual thriller it is today.

The term "folie a deux" is used in psychology for an induced psychosis; the sharing of the same delusional ideas by two people closely associated with each other. It was featured in this episode as a new twist on a recurring theme - paranoia. Mulder has long been paranoid. So, it makes sense that under tense conditions the paranoia of another (in this case Gary Lambert) could be passed on to Mulder and heighten his already preexisting fears. That is, if you're inclined towards Scully's views. In her opinion, this is what made him see the "bug". In the intensity of a hostage situation, Gary's delusions were passed on to Mulder. This would also explain how Scully herself was able to see the bug at the end of the episode. In that moment of closeness in the mental hospital, Scully acquired Mulder's psychosis through this process. His paranoia and delusions became her own. This is why she "hallucinated" and saw the zombie and the bug. If you believe, Mulder's circular logic though, this whole show takes on a whole new perspective. Gary didn't see the bug because he was disturbed, he was disturbed because he saw the bug! What ability prompted him to be able to turn off the visual hallucination the bug was clouding the minds of his victims with is unclear, but somehow, he passed it on to Mulder, who in turn passed it on to Scully. Perhaps even in Mulder's version of events folie a deux was at work, not creating hallucinations, but destroying them.

"Folie a deux, madness shared by two."

All this talk about "folie a deux" would never had started, though, save for one detail - Scully. She easily dismissed Gary Lambert's claims as those of a lunatic. However, Mulder's admission that he too had similar visions noticeably shook her. It placed her in quite a quandary, and exposed the somewhat hypocritical nature of her skepticism. How could she explain this? She knew Mulder, and unlike Gary Lambert, she couldn't just heartlessly analyze him. So, she accounts for it using folie a deux. It was the only explanation she could come up with to make Mulder sane. He had to be sane. She had known him to too long for him to be otherwise. This explanation became even more important at the end of this episode, after Scully had seen the bug as well. To admit that Mulder was crazy would be to admit that she was crazy too. Mulder has to be mentally sound, because if he wasn't, than neither was she!

Folie a deux was also able to hide Scully's inability to believe. Though she had seen the monster with her own eyes, she couldn't admit that to Skinner, Mulder, or even herself. "It was dark" was the explanation she gave for the spectacular insect that greeted her in Mulder's hospital room. It may have been dark, but as Mulder pointed out, in order to see something, you have to be willing to look.

"You're saying 'I' a lot. I thought it was 'we'."

Mulder, Mulder, Mulder. Don't you ever learn? You're a great guy, a hard worker, and a good friend, but sometimes you can just be so darn insensitive. Mulder's sensitivity level has been rising dramatically in this past season, so I must commend him for that, but sometimes his old Scully-ditch habits pop up again. In this episode, he didn't even bother to ditch her. He just cut to the chase and didn't invite her to come help him investigate the case. Yes, he thought he was just getting jerked around by Skinner, that this was simply some stupid, meaningless errand he got assigned to because someone mentioned monsters. ("Monsters? I'm your boy.") It would be a waste of Scully's time to involve her. Still, that's what he thought of the flukeman case in "The Host", and we all know how that one turned out... That's why it didn't surprise me when he did end up calling her down to help him.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only instance in which he took Scully for granted in this episode. With only a few obscure phrases to go on, he asked her to look through all the old case files piled up in their office to find the term "hiding in the light". That's a huge job! He also scheduled an autopsy for her to perform even after she had refused to do it. That doesn't exactly qualify as a model of sensitivity. What got me, though, was that she did it anyways! She may have been pissed, but she still did as Mulder asked. Too bad these two never made it to their teamwork seminar in Florida. They probably could have used it. ;-)

"Scully, at the risk of you telling me 'I told you so', I think it's time for you to get down here and help me."
"I told you so."

Despite all this, Mulder and Scully still have a wonderful relationship. That's one of the things I love best about this show. Every scene they share is a wonder to watch, and when Vince is writing the script, it only gets better. Each episode seems to bring these two closer. Sometimes I get so frustrated with Mulder for his insensitivity - just read the last paragraph! At other times, though, I can't imagine him any sweeter. This was more than evident in the hospital scene, one of my favourite parts of this episode. Mulder's plea to Scully to believe him, and his admission that she is the only one that can or will ever believe him (she's his "one in five billion"), was one of his most honest scenes in this episode. That, thrown in with Scully's evident worry and the lovely little hand hold made me just want to go "Ahhhh...". :-)

"Scully, you have to believe me. Nobody else on this whole damn plant does or ever will. You're my one...in five billion."

In any good X-File, though, Mulder and Scully have more than just one good scene together. Just listening to them talk can be fascinating. The Mulder/Scully verbal exchange is one of the trademarks of the series. Mulder expresses a wild idea, Scully disputes it with some scientific fact, Mulder expands on his theory, Scully makes some concessions to her skepticism, and so on and so forth - this is the classic way they solve their cases. They learn so much from each other. Without the other to bounce their ideas off of, I doubt they would get so far in their investigations as they have. The office scene in this episode is an example of one of their weekly tête-à-têtes. Actually, they seem to do a lot of talking down there in the basement. If those walls could talk, they'd probably make excellent speakers for any convention on paranormal activity. :-)

Mulder and Scully's relationship with Skinner is always fun to watch too. Sometimes I can't make up my mind whether he thinks of them as his subordinates, his friends, or his children. In this episode he seemed to take on a fatherly type role. He was obviously worried about Scully as she left to go do the autopsy without telling him what was wrong with her or Mulder, and just as obviously upset with Mulder for breaking into that woman's house on the grounds that she was getting attacked by a giant bug. He treated Mulder just like a disobedient student, even sending him to the principal's office (in this case, a mental hospital) to reprimand his for his bizarre behaviour. But of course, Skinner wasn't the only one worrying. There is the usual Scully fretting over Mulder. But in this case, she actually had good reason to! Mulder was dangling from the thin thread of sanity throughout "Folie a Deux." Luckily, all that worry paid off at the end - little Scully was able to save Mulder from the big bad bug. Hoo ya!

One of the things I've learned from this show is that reality is as subjective as perception. In "Folie A Deux" we got an entire episode based on that theory. What is real? What is not? And does it really matter? If a monster can hide himself simply by making everyone who see him look crazy, who's to say the insane are not the most sensible of all humans? The truth, as Scully stated in the conclusion of this episode, is folie a deux. Reality and perception, truth and belief; these are two forms of the same thing. They are forever intermingled...just as the phrase "Don't let the bed bugs bite!" and this episode will be linked eternally in my mind.

"Don't pretend you know what I'm talking about because you don't."