The Record

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The Record

Why does Marita Covarrubias deserve such a defense, you ask? Let's take a look at what she's been up to, and, more importantly, the possible interpretations of her actions.

Herrenvolk: Why did X send Mulder to her in the first place, anyway? He knew he was dying, so why would he leave a message that would send Mulder straight to the enemy? He wouldn't - otherwise, he wouldn't have put himself in such a life-threatening situation in the first place. It would have put the imminent loss of his own life at the service of the very people he had been working against. This still leaves the possibility that the Syndicate knew where Mulder would be headed after the loss of this informant in search of another one and hastily planted her there. I don't believe this, simply because it's giving Cigarette Smoking Man and his cronies too much credit. CSM in particular has shown faulty judgment in the past in his selection of personnel (e.g. - hitmen who can rarely do a job right), so he's anything but infalliable. When Mulder sees X's final message and follows it to the office of the SRSG, Marita acts very cautious in what she tells him, but still gives him encouragement. This is because she wants to do the right thing, debates with herself concerning the obvious risks involved, but finally makes the right choice. Maybe she does it because she feels it's right, or possibly she was a friend of X (or at least respected him, as people in his occupation rarely have "friends"), but, either way, at first glance, she deserves at least the benefit of the doubt.

Okay, but what do you look like after a day at work? Teliko: Her actions here only reinforce the above argument - not what she does (or doesn't) do for Mulder, but her actual physical actions. Consider: she's leaving work, and she hears somebody falling into step behind her. Surely she can take care of herself with any ordinary thug, but the look on her face reveals that she believes she may be in trouble, and whoever is behind her is going to make her answer for it. Why would she fear this? Because she's gotten involved with things that are better left alone. She's given information to Mulder earlier, and the look on her face before she knows who's there could be seen as saying, "I should never have gotten involved because I knew it might lead to this." In fact, this internal struggle could be seen as a reason why she doesn't go out of her way to give Mulder all the information he wants. She's just gotten quite a scare, and it's certainly understandable that she'd still have doubts as to how far she wants to expand her role as an informant.

Tunguska: Here we see a turning point for her. After debating with herself, she's decided to help Mulder in his search for information. Not only has she decided to take the risk in order to pass along sensitive information, she's willing to go as far as to call a source in the middle of the night to get it, and even to procure diplomatic credentials to give Mulder a cover when he runs off to Russia to investigate. Although her stated reason for helping him sounds hokey, if she's being honest, what else is she supposed to say? After all, Deep Throat and X both got involved more than they'd expected to become with Mulder's life and work (Deep Throat insisting on making the trade of the package from Purity Control for Mulder's return, and X getting suckered into revealing his sympathies when he believed Mama Mulder's life to be in danger), and the only reasonable assumption they did is because they'd come to believe in what he was doing. When she comes right out and says this, that's hardly a reason in and of itself to distrust her. Maybe she just doesn't mince words. Also, remember that in making it easier for Mulder to get to Russia, a new element is added to the situation that might (and apparently does) alert the Russians to the Consortium's "operation". If her object is only to provide the appearance of assistance without actually providing it, then giving Mulder the means to cause any degree of exposure of the Syndicate's activities is not something she would have done.

Unrequited: Having made her decision to provide information to Mulder when he needs it and if she can, here we see how fully this decision has been made. Now she's willing to rendezvous with him in public, in much the same way his previous informants did. Because she's in the loop, she certainly knows the fate of the people previously in this role, which makes her decision all the more admirable. Although in this instance, the information she provides probably doesn't adversely affect the Consortium, it still provides another example of her willingness to help in Mulder's work.

Don't they make a cute couple... heh heh heh... Zero Sum: In spite of the fact that she's working toward assisting both Mulder and Skinner here, what seems so hard to accept is that the last time we saw her, she was talking to CSM on the telephone. However, she'd have little credibility if she didn't have any connections with him. After all, how is she going to have access to information without being in some kind of communication with the movers and shakers? Once again, both Deep Throat and X were working with him, and yet their motives weren't questioned once we familiar with them. Two questions remain concerning that final scene, though. Why would she be calling CSM for advisement on what to tell Mulder? Who was standing in the background, listening in on the phone call? In reply to both of these questions, Marita still deserves the benefit of the doubt. Could it be that Skinner inadvertently exposed the connection between her and Mulder when he contacted her? She could have pawned that off on X, saying that Mulder gaining her number was out of her control. However, now that CSM knows that they are in contact, he wants to use her to his own ends: the further planting of misinformation to keep Mulder just off the right track. Remember Krycek, though - just because someone answers to CSM doesn't mean they don't have an agenda of their own. That brings us to the other question. Could that have been Mulder on the other phone, listening in? Maybe, but given the possibilities for answers to the first question, the second question is almost a moot point. If it was anyone other than Mulder, then she still deserves a reservation of judgment given the reasons stated above. If it was Mulder, the case is closed. Either way, given the evolution so far of her informant's role with Mulder, she certainly deserves at least the benefit of the doubt, which is all we're asking.

Patient X/The Red and the Black: Complete vindication for we defenders of Marita (okay, so, we'll see with regard to some of the particulars, but so far it looks like she's owed a hell of a lot of apologies). She appears in Kazakhstan ostensibly in her capacity with the United Nations to investigate

the first mass torching incident, but the real reason she's there is to gather information for an increasingly shaky Syndicate. So far, it looks like that's the side with which her allegiances lie. Then we learn that apparently she's had a relationship with Alex Krycek for quite some time. However, what matters is what she does next. She betrays Krycek by stealing his Kazakhstani prisoner, taking what leverage he had against the Syndicate, and doing it not with the intention of taking him to her shadowy employers, but instead taking him straight to Mulder - the one man who could do the most damage to Syndicate activities by finally having his long-sought-after, living, physical evidence (although taking into consideration how he'd been acting lately, this is assuming he'd believe it in the first place). What does she get for her efforts? She goes to all this trouble to help Mulder, and what happens? She becomes a black oil hijackee herself, and then a convenient test subject for the Syndicate's anti-oil (anti-colonist?) vaccine, although because she's already betrayed them as well as Krycek, her future might be in question regardless of how the vaccine works, all because she tried to do the right thing. She's on our side. Believe it.

Look what she's willing to endure...

...and look what she gets for it!

Convinced yet? If so, head on over to the FMU Forum, start a thread titled In defenssssssssse of Marita, and join the BGDL. Step on into the light!

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