"Alpha"

Mighty morphin' cryptozoologists...

Okay, I'll be honest: I wasn't looking forward to this episode.  No offense to the writers, the actors or anything but I generally don't enjoy animal episodes.  Oh, c'mon...can you blame me?  Lets review what we've experienced so far:  Shapes (scary-ass werewolf episode), Fearful Symmetry (completely forgettable episode about alien-abducted zoo animals), Our Town (they're eating chicken but it's not chicken...need I say more?), War of the Coprophages (cockroaches and a way too flirty Dr. Bambi), Teso dos Bichos (we all remember how bad that one was with that tiger thing), El Mundo Gira (goat-eating Chupacabras)...and any I might have missed.  In short: animals to me = dull episode that I wish would go away and replace itself with an Arcadia.

However, it would appear I was proven wrong.  I shouldn't have been surprised since it was written by the same guy who wrote Rain King but it's hard to consider all these factors when you're as busy with crossgrades as I am right now.  I was pleasantly surprised with the underplots it had, especially the Scully-defending-her-territory one.  It included such shipper favourites (and altogether rare moments) like Mulder waking Scully by softly stroking her cheek with the magazine he took from her <g>, which is only surpassed by actual physical contact (ala Pusher) and that hair stroke thing he did in The Red and the Black.  And best of all, cute quips all the way and the entirety of the episode laced with varying shippy moments.

It starts from the beginning when, instead of calling out a passive "goodnight", Scully stops in the doorway to gaze at her partner and ask him whether he's going home.  He responds that he is "feathering the nest" (I don't think that needs interpretation if he considers the office his home and is feathering his nest) and after hearing very few details that she might have dismissed long ago she enters their office and moves extremely close to him as they banter about the credibility of the case Mulder has been working on.  They sit comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder almost nestled against each other as Mulder tries lamely at a play on words:

Scully: What happened to the dog?

Mulder: Dog gone.  Dog-gone.  Doggone.

Scully: Yeah, I got it.

Several times during their conversation, Scully's gaze drops longingly to Mulder's lips as she offers whisps of Scully-wisdom and skepticism in that soft affectionate voice she's been using a lot lately.  

Arriving on the scene, Scully easily guesses what Mulder is thinking as they check out the crime scene and other evidence.  

Mulder: You get a biscuit, Scully.

Even better is the scene where they arrive at Berquist kennels to get Karen's opinion.  They pull up (in a mightly nice rental car, I noticed -- definately a step up from those Buick pieces of crap they used to drive in seasons one and two) and mistake a helper for Karen.

Quote of the Week:

Helper: You two looking for Karen about boarding? Mulder: No, it's actually more of a behaviour problem. Scully: Yeah, he, uh...he doesn't listen and he chews the furniture.

Scully humour!  My, my.  Inside, when Scully makes a sarcastic comment about Karen's decor, Mulder gives her an impromptu shoulder hug to reassure her and get her to let her guard down.  Scully is initially surprised by their phsyical contact, but you can see a small smile form on her lips as she turns away from him to hide it.  

Even after establishing that Karen is homely, dark, and antisocial...Scully still feels a little territorial, so to speak.  She attempts, "So, you two are chummy?" and is carefully watching when Mulder puts his hand over Karen's to move the mouse when they're looking at something on the computer.  When it becomes apparent she's getting Fowley on him, he asks her if everything's alright.

Scully: How well do you know this woman, Mulder?

Mulder: How well do you know anybody you meet on the internet?  She likes to talk.

Scully: Well, I question her motives.

Mulder: Are you suggesting that this case was a way to get me out here to meet me?  I'm flattered but...no.  I don't know this woman, but I'll go out on a limb and say there's no way in hell she has anything to do with those four people being murdered.

Scully: She's enamored of you, Mulder.  Don't underestimate a woman...they can be trickters, too.

Hmmm...it would appear she's got some experience being enamored of Mulder.  She warns Karen that she understands what she is and who she is and that she's watching her.  Like we need to be reminded of ground rule #1 concerning Mulder-babes (although "babe" may be too strong a word in this case): Never trust a woman who calls Mulder "Fox".  Well, it would appear that her Scully-intuition was right in the end, and a huge leap in Mulder-logic reveals that Dr. Ian Debtweiler is actually this wolf thing.  

Staking out the hospital, Scully is grumpy about being dragged away from the chase and takes her magazine away from Mulder.  Several hours later when Mulder realized he's been lied to (took him long enough!) he wakes Scully by softly brushing her cheek with the same magazine that he'd obviously stolen from her when she fell asleep (and was that snoring I heard?)  Karen had sacrificed herself to get rid of Debtweiler.

Back at the office, Mulder sits dejectedly, his head propped in between his hands.  It is only when Scully stops by, telling him that it wasn't his fault that his moods lift.  She perches next to him, resting against his desk, looking concernedly into his eyes and seems to know exactly how to make him feel better.

Scully: Are you going to be okay?

She even manages to get a smile out of him in his sad-guilty state.  Is she good or what?

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