The
second season episode “3” has never been particularly well-regarded by fans of The
X-Files, and there are reasons that support this point-of-view.
For
instance, this is an episode where Mulder works alone, and Scully is nowhere to
be found, thus flouting conventional formula.
And,
shippers may be disappointed or angry because Mulder experiences a sexual
liaison with a woman in the story who is not Scully.
Indeed
a certain percentage of the hostility aimed at “3” apparently revolves around
Mulder having intimate relations with another woman. Some fans consider this an emotional
betrayal, though of course, that’s a silly viewpoint. The episode makes it pretty clear that Mulder
and Kristin connect on a physical level, but not much else. Mulder makes love to Kristin because he is on
a nihilist tear, living in a world that seems to be spiraling out-of-control,
inching ever towards annihilation.
These
qualities certainly mark “3” as atypical, but I’ll be honest: I often
appreciate episodes of series that are
willing to bend or break the rules, to try something new.
If
nothing else, “3” impresses in this regard, stretching the series format in the
process. It’s an episode that looks and
feels very different from the typical series installment, and on those grounds
alone must be regarded as something of an artistic success…even if it isn’t a
particularly popular or acclaimed story.
As
has become a staple on X-Files stories, “3” bases it
monster-of-the-week -- the “Unholy Trinity” -- on a real scientific idea, and
pinpoints trenchant visuals to echo it’s “the
blood is the (dangerous) life” thesis.
What
ultimately emerges is a widely-disdained episode but a highly visual --even
visceral -- story dripping in style and mood…even if it is not the intellectual/humorous
dance fans have come to expect and adore from this franchise.
With
Scully still missing after her apparent abduction by aliens, Mulder (David
Duchovny) re-opens the X-Files and flies to Los Angeles to investigate a
strange new case. A murder victim has
been drained entirely of blood. Mulder
has been tracking similar crimes and suspects a trio of modern-day,
science-spawned vampires known as “The Unholy Trinity.”
Mulder
stakes out the Hollywood Blood Bank in hopes that an employee there, the new
night watchman, may be one of the criminals.
Mulder apprehends the criminal, a man who insists that the he is a
vampire and can live forever. Soon after
this boast, the man burns up when exposed to sunlight, a side-effect, Mulder
believes, of Gunther’s Disease.
Soon,
Mulder meets a dark and mysterious woman with a thirst for blood, Kristin
(Perrey Reeves), at a club appropriately called Tepes. He suspects that she holds the key to apprehending
the other two corners of the murderous triangle.
Commendably,
“3” film looks, sounds, and feels like a Michael Mann film circa 1986. Kristin’s
modern apartment, with its opaque glass partitions and spare, minimalist
decoration evokes similar settings from Manhunter (1986), and in terms of
narrative and theme, “3” also contends with typical Mann obsessions, like the solitary
law enforcement official drawn into an underworld of moral-relativity and
crime.
There’s
the tragic affair between two people from different worlds too -- here Mulder
and Kristin -- and also a generally humorless tenor. These are hallmarks of Mann’s ascetic or
stoic films.
Accordingly,
“3” is very much a Los Angeles noir --
like
Heat (1995) -- with the
ubiquitous threat of looming forest fires always representing a secondary
jeopardy to life and limb. The world
itself has become contaminated and “unnatural” by the “blood sports” of its
people, the episode intimates.
Los Angeles Noir. |
Beyond
the intriguing Mann vibe, “3” is fascinating in terms of its specific
visuals. I would submit that David
Nutter literally and metaphorically “colors” the episode scarlet red, in direct
response to the thematic leitmotif about blood representing both danger,
perhaps, and immortality. We see the
opening images of red wine in a cracked, overturned glass, then red
(fire-fighting) spray dotting the Los Angeles sky, red lights also shading the
blood bank, and even red “berry” sauce at a bloody crime scene. The episode then culminates in an orgy of
blood stains, in Kristin’s garage, in the oven, on Mulder’s unshaven neck,
even. The episode is about blood
released, passion released. And worse, that passion is -- as we learn from
Kristin -- unsavory and self-destructive.
The
underlying point here is that Kristin can’t escape the allure of her “blood sport” with the Unholy Trinity,
and that as much as she attempts to reject it, she is also drawn to it…to the
flame that burns out of control.
I always argue that the highest apex of quality
for film or television is attained when form reflects and augments content, and
one can legitimately make that case regarding “3.” All the visual material contributes to the
disordered nature of the narrative’s world.
Red Wine. |
Red Light District. |
Red Sky |
Red Villain. |
Red Sauce |
Red Moon. |
Lady in Red. |
The scientific
truth underlying “3” involves a condition that Mulder mentions in passing: Gunther
Disease. This illness was named for Dr.
Hans Gunther (1884 – 1956), who discovered the condition, and is also described
by doctors as “congenital erythropoietic
porphyria.” Those suffering from
this condition show dramatic physical symptoms when exposed to direct sunlight. Such exposure can cause scarring, blistering
and redness, of the skin, as “3” demonstrates in one grotesque make-up sequence.
Porphyria. |
What’s ultimately missing
in this episode -- perhaps because of Scully’s absence -- is a satisfactory
explanation for the Unholy Trinity’s ability to regenerate and survive after such
severe sun exposure. Were Scully around,
she would no doubt have some intriguing theories to put forth, but of course,
she’s not here…and that’s the point.
To expand on that
point, “3” depicts a world of madness and danger where the ameliorating voice
of science and rationality is nowhere to be found. Mulder is living a kind of
nihilistic, aimless existence in this episode. He’s half-a-man without Scully,
his other eye, to help him “see.” He
says he isn’t sleeping, and clearly he’s given hope regarding Scully’s
disposition. Mulder then goes out on a
case in L.A. and finds himself confronted directly with the idea that there is
“no Heaven, no soul…just rot and decay.”
But of course, some
folks get off on rot and decay, on death itself….
This observation about
“no Heaven, no soul…just rot and decay”
seems backed-up by the constant “crisis
alerts” due to the forest fires, and by the predatory nature of the Unholy
Trinity. They are urban predators who
hunt based on society’s desire to walk right up to the edge of moral behavior. It isn’t hard for them to find willing
victims. The folks at “Clube Tepes,”
pretty clearly, are seeking new and dangerous pleasures.
Mulder ultimately
partakes in the darkness with Kristin, and has a brief sexual relationship with
her. But importantly, he does so not
because he is in love with Kristin, but because he has lost hope, I would
submit. He’s on a sort of dark “death
spiral” in this story, and the episode is dominated by images of life
disordered, from the broken wine glasses to the moon turned blood red.
Seen in this
context, “3” is actually Mulder’s journey into the heart of darkness, and --
finally – his rejection of it. These
events, including his dalliance with Kristin, are an important part of his
grieving process, and to dismiss “3” out-of-hand is to ignore what the
narrative adds to the character’s odyssey.
“3” is Mulder’s journey through – and out of – Hell itself. He realizes he is not as hopeless as Kristin
is, nor as desperate. He isn’t willing
to surrender to the inevitability of death just because “blood tastes dangerous.” He
is better than that.
So, yes, Scully is
missed here, of course, but Gillian Anderson was not available (due to her
pregnancy) and if The X-Files ever wanted to tell a story of sexual dalliance and
Mulder’s flirtation with nihilism, “3” clearly offered the opportunity. I am glad Chris Carter and the others
involved in the episode’s creation took a big chance. I wish
fans could see that, in a weird way, Mulder attaches to Kristin because of his
feeling for Scully. It’s not like -- as
some fans seem to feel -- they are married at this point, and he is being
unfaithful to her. Instead, Mulder is
lost, and missing the most important connection in his life. He takes solace in (empty) sexual pleasure…so sue
him.
I would submit that
“3” is precisely what it hopes and desires to be: a walk on the wilder, more
dangerous, and more nihilistic side of The X-Files equation. “3” may not be
a conventional X-Files episode, but the story and visualizations are “sweet and thick,” in Kristin’s descriptive
words, layered with ominous fin de siècle,
Michael Mann-ish imagery. Frankly, there’s absolutely no other episode
like this one in the X-Files canon, and so we can either
curse it for not following the accepted pattern, or praise it for its surprises
and contrasts.
Another way to look
at it: Without “3”, we wouldn’t be able to witness our troubled hero take his
beginning steps back into the light.
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