The X-Files 20th Anniversary Blogging: "Unruhe" (October 26, 1996)

There are some fates that are worse than death, and, indeed, far more terrifying than death.

Vince Gilligan’s “Unruhe” is an incredibly unnerving episode of The X-Files (1993 – 2002) because it acknowledges this plain fact, and nearly subjects the brilliant Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to just such a macabre fate. 

In this episode, Scully is captured (again!), but this time by a troubled man who wishes not to end her life, but to give her a “trans-orbital lobotomy” and thus render her ever-questioning mind…“peaceful.”  Presumably she will live for many years after this lobotomy, but only in the manner that he, in his wisdom/madness, has ordained is permissible.

In terms of metaphor and social critique, one can interpret “Unruhe” -- meaning “unrest” or “strife” -- in more than one way, but certainly in terms of various 1990s cultural frissons. 

In basic terms, this fourth season story concerns a man who believes he can become “powerful” by superimposing his own vision of women upon others.  He believes he knows, a priori, what is right for his female victims without getting to know them, without even asking their permission to operate on them.  He engineers this change through a forced medical procedure.

Accordingly, “Unruhe” might be interpreted as everything from a meditation on sex roles in 1990s America to a commentary on abortion rights, and a debate about who, ultimately boasts the right to control one’s own body (or mind).  

The episode’s final statement is one that yet resonates in today’s culture of “legitimate rape,” “trans-vaginal probes” and other male controls over female reproduction:  The “howlers,” Scully establishes, are actually monsters who reside not in the women who make decisions about how they are entitled to live, but within the men who attempt to control those choices based on their own psychological foibles, biases, and mental problems. 

In Traverse City, Michigan, a young woman stops at a drug store to get her passport photograph taken.  She is abducted by a psychopath immediately afterwards, yet her photograph (taken before the kidnapping…) reveals her in mortal danger…surrounded by monstrous little demons and a tall, spectral angel-like figure.

Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the abduction and are shocked when the victim is returned alive but lobotomized. 

The abductor, a disturbed man named Gerald Schnauz (Pruitt Taylor Vance) strikes again, lobotomizing another woman he deems to be suffering strife.

Finally, Schnauz goes after Scully so as to free her from the restless “howlers” he imagines in her mind… 

One of my favorite all-times quotes regarding The X-Files comes from critic James Wolcott in The New Leader.

He wrote: “What’s erotic about the show is its slow progression from reverie to revelation, stopping just short of rapture.  It wants to swoon, but swooning would mean shutting its eyes, and there’s so much to see….” (April 18, 19984, pages 98 – 100).

A slow progression from reverie to revelation…stopping just short of rapture? 

That’s a brilliant description of the intellectual dance performed between Mulder and Scully throughout the long-lived series. 

We have long understood that “smart is sexy,” but The X-Files takes that artistic paradigm to new heights in the persistently clever writing, and in the knowing, thoughtful performances of both Duchovny and Anderson. 

Accordingly, Scully and Mulder transmit to audience members as real individuals to a large degree, individuals that we love, admire, and yes, respect.  This doesn’t mean Mulder and Scully are perfect individuals, but it means that we are drawn to their imperfections as much as to their strengths.

In terms of Scully -- the character imperiled so grievously in this episode -- we appreciate her intelligence, her fashion of viewing the world, and the steadfast manner in which she contextualizes the strange events of the X-files investigations through a belief system of science and rationality.  

In another way all together, we love Scully’s stubbornness, and the exasperated way she sometimes reacts to Mulder’s latest flight of fancy.

These are the things that make Dana Scully an individual special to us, and special to herself.  These qualities make her who she is.  As we all are, she is a blend of strengths and weaknesses, and every quality in her gestalt is a critical piece of her personality.

The aspect that remains so scary about “Unruhe” is that Scully meets up with a monster who wants to rob her of these very unique qualities.  All because he thinks he knows better who she should be, and how she should act.  This act of dominance is reflected in Gerald's choice to walk on stilts on a construction site, where he towers over others, including Scully.  He superimposes his will -- his shadow -- over others.

He wants to take away from Scully the right to choose to be who she wants to be.

Remember, as I noted above, Gerald Shnauz doesn’t want to kill Scully.  No, he wants to destroy her identity, her individuality, and her intelligence, thereby rendering her a permanent “little girl” (like the sister he couldn’t save...).  As a lobotomized woman-child, after all, she will be completely under his control and unable to make choices for herself.  She would never question him, or never act counter to his wishes. This is literally a fate worse than death, and to imagine Scully in this way -- her ever-questioning, ever curious mind rendered quiescent -- is nothing short of traumatic.

The implicit question in “Unruhe” is one of superimposing one person’s rights over another’s. Schnauz believes he detects “unrest” and “howlers” in Scully’s unquiet brain, but what is his basis for judgment, other than his own madness? 

And why does he direct all of his attention only upon women?  Why are they the ones to be “modified” by his procedures?  Are men immune from howlers?

The answer, of course, involves Gerald’s sister, who committed suicide, and thus ruined Gerald’s idealistic vision of his father and his family life.   Gerald had always believed it wasn’t his father who was in the wrong (presumably for abusing his daughter…), but the daughter who was wrong for destroying the family.  Gerald bought into that belief.  

Unfortunately,there are plenty of people who think precisely in this fashion…and many are in Congress right now.  Women are the ones at fault when they are raped (they asked for it, or it wasn’t legitimate rape…) and they are wrong again for not wanting to bear children of rape.  By and large such ideas originate from men who wish to superimpose their personal values upon others.  The lobotomy in “Unruhe” is a similar brand of tool, only much blunter: a method of enforcing behavior on women that conforms to an outside/male standard, in this case, Gerald’s.

Given what is at stake here -- Scully’s very identity -- “Unruhe” is much more than a standard “serial killer” episode of The X-Files. 

The psychic photograph angle of the tale is a brilliant and visual way of externalizing Gerald’s madness, of revealing how he egotistically views himself as a savior of women who require “help.”  And yet the images simultaneously reveal his utter, complete madness.  He has created monsters to imperil these women so he can step in and save them.  It’s a crazy, vicious circle.

In the episode’s climax, Scully confronts Gerald with his brand of madness and notes that if howlers exist, they do so only in his mind. He’s responsible for them.  Not her.  This declaration is a great character moment, and one that reminds us of Scully's brilliance, courage and clear-headedness.

Scully then defeats Gerald showcasing again her individuality and resourcefulness…the very things he would take away from her without a second thought or a glance back.  

Next week: “Paper Hearts.”