Little Green Men - 8/10/99 "Do you like Bach Mulder?" "I live for Bach." "Then let's hear it again." Could there be anything better than this fine piece of dramatic entertainment? Well I don't care what you think anyway! This has to be the all-time best episode of our beloved show of all time... the only thing that even comes close is "Deep Throat". In fact, the only thing that could've made this better was the presence of Deep Throat (who was killed in "The Erlenmeyer Flask"). Nothing compares to this... not even "One Breathe"... I've said it before and I'll say it yet again: Thank God for Morgan and Wong. The writers of this episode, as well as many other unforgettable plots and such, hand us a disturbing look into Mulder's personal quest after his life's work is shut down by the same government he's trying to expose. This episode asks the questions that we've been asking from day one, and delivers the answers in frightening ways. This is what all season premieres should strive to be... hell, this is what all episodes should do. Make you feel for whatever character is on the screen... make you able to identify with them in a more human way... you should be changed after you watch this show. Way back when I used to finish an episode of our show and feel that I had learned something, and that I would never think of 'it' in the same way again, whether it be Big Blue or simply conspiracy theories about aliens bent on colonizing the planet. They just don't make 'em like that anymore. "Little Green Men" begins with Mulder's long shpeel about Voyager and contacting extraterrestrials and how no one wants to believe that it could be possible to have contact, so why waste the government's money on such nonsense. Personally, I found it all kinda depressing. We learn that Mulder has been placed in the stiflingly boring job of electronic surveillance and Scully has been sent back to Quantico to teach. It is immediately clear that Scully has been changed by her year of working with the Bureau's most unwanted- one of her students even says she sounds "a little spooky". Nice choice of words... The first (and one of the only) scenes with our duo together takes place in the Watergate Hotel & Office Complex parking lot. (Nice spin on the country's betrayal and equating it to Mulder's.) They have a brief conversation in which Mulder tells Scully the legend of ol' Mister Hale. Th' poor ol' bastard was a-playin' pool one night when a buncha them elf creatures a-climbed tru his wendar and tol' him he best git some money from th' ROK-A-FELER foundashun to build a big ol' tele-scope. Scully asks Mulder if he thinks that all his life he's been seeing elves. He replies that in his case, Little Green Men. Scully leaves him there to think of things gone by and we even get a glimpse into his childhood. For the first time ever we see the event that changed Mulder's life: the abduction of his sister (dun-dun-DUNN...). Young Fox's comment to Sam, "get out of my life" was a little too foreshadowed to me, thanks... It was, however, a good launching pad for the rest of this lil gem. We also meet Senator Richard Matheson in said gem. Matheson is apparently Mulder's supporter in the gov't. Matheson informs Mulder that a few days ago, a signal was received in a telescope in Aracebo Puerto Rico, apparently extraterrestrial in origin. He tells Mulder to get down there before the fuzz takes it all away. Matheson refers to the signal as "contact". So what does Mulder do? Go to Puerto Rico, of course. Skinner informs Scully that Mulder is 'missing'. She goes to his apt. and finds (among other mysterious things) a document on his computer containing galactic latitude coordinates. She prints it and barely makes it out of the apt. with the document b/c Mulder's apt. is under surveillance by two other agents. Scully takes the document to some guy and he tells her that it's better than that fool "WOW" signal and says that there's some telescopes and such all over the country and that it could've come from any of them. Scully checks fight manifests to all of those cities with said telescopes for Mulder's name but finds nothing... she does find a George E. Hale on a flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Back to Mulder, he found a friend! In the Aracebo control room! His name is Horhe, and he doesn't speak English but he says that he saw men with pointy chins and big eyes! To make a long story short, Horhe is killed by some unknown being, presumably aliens (no way!), and Mulder is once again alone in the middle of nowhere Puerto Rico chasing phantom alien signals. In one the most frightening, sad, and all-around best scenes that the show has ever offered us, Mulder, talking to Scully through a small tape recorder, says the following: "My life up to this point has been about the need to see her again - to see them - but what would I do if they really came?" Enough said I think. They do come, and Mulder tries to shoot them again. He passes out, Scully finds him later on the floor. They're chased out by the said fuzz, but not before Mulder can grab the tape that will prove that *they* were really there. Back in Washington, Mulder is reprimanded by Skinner and dissed by the CSM. Scully and Mulder listen to the tape that they brought back; it's blank. Mulder has no proof, but he still has Scully and himself, and that's all that matters. Scully leaves him, sitting in his janitor closet listening to some guys talk about the difference between a lap dance and a table dance. The End. Musings of a KMC -Usually this is where I'd make fun of an episode's minor foibles, but for the life of me, I just cant seem to find any. This is the best episode ever, and as far as I'm concerned, why mess with perfection. 5 lounge chairs out of 5 "Up above, aliens hover, makin' home movies for the folks back home..."