So which is my favorite episode of these 5? I wish I could say "Fire" because, you know, Mark Sheppard, but actually I've always been indifferent about that episode. It's an honest toss up between "Beyond the Sea" and "Gender Bender." I like "Gender Bender" because it's a different take on aliens. Throughout this show many different types of aliens are met and some stories are stand alones while other fit into the over all arc. This one is not only a stand alone it is completely different from all of the others which deal with aliens in a more traditional sense. However, I think "Beyond the Sea" wins - just barely. Why? Because Scully doesn't just want to believe, she DOES believe. Even better is for once Mulder does not believe. Scully's belief shows how when you want to believe you will find the proof wherever you want to find it - whether it is there or not. (And, for the record, I think the proof is there.) and then, we reach the end of the episode, and Scully decides it was all a lie. And Mulder, who doubted the whole episode and doubts still, does not rub it in her face that he was right and she was wrong. Instead he wants her to believe even though he is convinced it's a lie. And he also does not want her to believe because it means a victory for him - instead he wants her to believe because she did believe and he doesn't want her to lose that, to throw that away. He wants her to hold to her convictions even if he doesn't agree with them. And when he asks her why she can't believe - because it is a choice - she admits it is because of her fear. Powerful episode all around.
On that note here are the 5:
Eve - Season 1, Episode 11
Synopsis - The father of a young girl is murdered. While investigating the case Mulder & Scully discover not only that the girl is a clone, but that she is one of multiple.
Theme - abnormal human, cloning, human experiments, psychic, psychic connection, strange death
Fire - Season 1, Episode 12
Synopsis - Someone is murdering people with fire, only no one can figure out who he is or how he is doing it.
Theme - abnormal human, pyrokinesis, satanic cult, strange death
Guest Star - Mark Sheppard
Beyond the Sea - Season 1, Episode 13
Synopsis - Scully's dad dies in the midst of the agents landing a kidnapping case. A man on death row claims to have a psychic connection to the kidnapper - and to Scully's father.
Themes - ghosts, psychic, visions
Gender Bender - Season 1, Episode 14
Synopsis - Someone is killing people with sex and then switching genders.
Themes - abnormal human, aliens, MOTW, rebirth, sex change, strange death
Guest Star - Nicholas Lea
Lazarus - Season 1, Episode 15
Synopsis - FBI agent Jack Willis is investigating a series of bank robberies. During the course he is shot and killed by one of the suspects but when the doctors save him Mulder is convinced that he is actually someone else.
Themes - near death, possession
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