“Syzygy” – Season 3 Ep. 13

Scully: I’m driving. Why do you always have to drive? Because you’re the guy? Because you’re the big, macho man?

Mulder: No. I was just never sure your little feet could reach the pedals.

Written by: Chris Carter

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: January 26th, 1996

Principal Setting: Comity, New Hampshire

Episode Summary:

Scully and Mulder investigate a series of murders all involving boys from the same high school. The town is in a fire and brimstone panic as rumors of a satanic cult emerge. Everyone in the small town of Comity, NH is acting out of character, including Mulder and Scully as they bicker at one another like a married couple. Scully has become an exaggerated caricature of her skeptical self, while Mulder is even more crazy with his theories – as well as mocking Scully at every chance he can get. He also has grown a liking to the local Det. Angela White, at the same time Scully grows increasingly jealous.

Mulder’s visit to a local psychic astrologer however reveals an unusual planetary alignment of Mercury, Mars, and Uranus is occurring that day and Comity is aligned perfectly to cause somewhat of an alternate reality to cause these two high school girls to murder.

Personal Commentary:

This is a weird episode to watch for the first time since the characters act so differently and you’re left with an episode not entirely funny nor dramatic. Gone is Mulder’s cheesy, funny jokes as he becomes a huge jerk to Scully. On the other hand, Scully is also annoying in the way she is not open to any non-scientific explanation Mulder has for the murders and becomes unreasonably jealous of Mulder flirting with Det. White. The flirting doesn’t bother me since I don’t ever want to see Mulder and Scully get together romantically, but at the time it made a lot of X-Files mad that they were changing the dynamic of the show.

I did love seeing them act so differently, especially Scully smoking and wanting to drive the car and Mulder telling her she couldn’t because her little feet couldn’t touch the pedals. Although they tried to give a good reason why everyone was acting so weird, a lot of the humor fell flat and was lost in the jerky behavior of Mulder and the dismissive, jealous Scully. The quote that is said a lot by Scully pretty well sums this episode up- “Sure, fine, whatever.”

Episode Grade: B-

Favorite Scene:

Great little exchange with Scully being fed up with Mulder. Apologize for the poor picture quality and framing.

Fun Facts:

• Scully’s and Mulder’s bickering during the episode – over Mulder’s “ditching” Scully, how Mulder always drives, how Scully’s feet are small, etc. – was derived from fans’ online complaints dating back as far as the beginning of the series.
• Lisa Robin Kelly, who played Terri Roberts in this episode, played Laurie Foreman in That 70’s Show (1998). Her TV father, Red Foreman, played by Kurtwood Smith, is in the next X Files episode ‘Grotesque’.
• Syzygy is a straight line configuration of three celestial bodies. Syzygy is also a term used by Carl Jung to mean a union of opposites.
• The planets and the moon are shown, at the beginning and the end, as being in a sort of triangle formation. This would never happen as the sun, moon, and all the planets orbit on the same plane (the ecliptic plane) and are always in line with each other. In addition, one of the planets mentioned as being in alignment, Uranus, cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Ryan Reynolds plays a very small role in this episode, as Jay De Boom (great name), although he is the most recognizable star now. He is famous for playing Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, as well as starring in The Proposal and Smokin’ Aces. He will play Wade WIlson in the upcoming Deadpool movie.

• Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Detective Angela White) is famous for playing in Fletch and Tombstone.

• Lisa Robin Kelly is best known for playing Eric’s older sister, Laurie Forman, in That 70’s Show.