AIR DATE:  September 17, 1993
Written by Chris Carter
Directed by Daniel Sackheim

	After seeing the movie "Babe:  A Pig in the City" (or "Babe: 
Beyond Thunderdome" as I like to think of it) I had to go home and rewatch
"Babe" to get rid of the dark feeling I got from it.  The critics weren't
kidding when they wrote it was far darker than the original.  So after
seeing one too many X-Files lite episodes this season I decided to go back
and rewatch "Deep Throat" the 2nd X-Files episode to see why I loved the
X-Files and the paranoia it used to do so well. Whereas the pilot episode
gave us the background on who Mulder was and his quest for the truth and
why Scully was partnered up with him and the beginnings of the conspiracy,
the 3rd episode, "Squeeze", established that X-Files was going to be more
than about UFOs and government black projects.  "Deep Throat" is an
important episode because it helped to establish the partnership between
Scully and Mulder even more and some of the basic tendencies of future
X-Files episodes.  We get Mulder's first ditch of Scully, a shadowy
government figure helping Mulder out, Scully and Mulder coming back with
no new information on the conspiracy, great banter between Scully and
Mulder about the validity of the case, Mulder's wacky theories on what is
going on with Scully debating every aspects of these theories, and the
best part of the episode was a strong no holds barred Scully.

	A strong tough Scully has always been one of the most appealing
aspects of the show. Early in the show's history Scully is just as much an
equal as Mulder in the X-Files and not a weak second half.  When Mulder
first brings this case to her she has her suspicions and checks up on the
case before they fly out and find the real reason why Mulder wants to go,
but it doesn't stop her from wanting to go with Mulder to Idaho.  The
trust was already starting to build between them.  Some of my favorite
scenes in this episode were when Scully got Paul Mossinger, the military
security person, to release Mulder by pointing a gun at him.  I just love
these scenes because you can see the look of surprise on her face as she
is doing this since she was brought up in a military household and
probably taught to respect the military.  It was the "I can't believe I'm
doing this" look and by having Scully do this it allowed her and us to
understand how far she has come as his partner that she was risking her
life and career by doing this and how she understood Mulder's passion
about finding proof of UFOs and knows it can get him into trouble.  Also,
she firmly believes the government has no right to hold back information
or keep one of its soldiers a prisoner.  She truly was there to keep
Mulder grounded and to protect him from himself.  This is the Scully I
love seeing the most on the show.

	Along with a tough Scully in "Deep Throat" we get to see the
passion behind Mulder's quest for the truth and how far he will go.  "Deep
Throat" was the starting point for Mulder having someone help him and
allows us to see how much danger Mulder was putting himself and Scully in. 
All the perfect ingredients to make a fine X-Files episode, and to keep
the viewers coming back for more.  These are the type of episodes that
keep us all watching. 

	Now some miscellaneous comments on "Deep Throat":

- It's 2:00pm in the bar when Scully and Mulder meet in D.C. and it sure
is a busy bar for that time of day.  I suppose all those government workers 
have to let off steam somehow by drinking in the middle of the work day.  
Also, this was one of the few times we see them outside the office and in
a bar at that. 

- Once again the military shows little common sense when they keep Col. 
Budahas for months and don't tell his wife what has happened to him. Let's
not make her suspicious and want to get others involved to find out what
has happened to him. The military are lucky she didn't take them to court
where the press could get ahold of the story.  Another thing I liked about
this episode was we see for the first time Mulder's ability to smell out
an X-Files from what seems to be a routine case. 

- Now here's an X-Files, Mulder was cooking in this episode.  What I want
to know is what kind of cook is Mulder. 

- Once again the government shows their ability to spy on Scully and
Mulder when they give away that they are taping Mulder's phone when we and
Mulder hear the clicks coming over his phone line though what he and
Scully were talking about wasn't anything they wouldn't have known already. 

- My favorite quote in "Deep Throat" was Scully telling Mrs. Budahas that
"The government is not above the law.  They cannot hold back information." 
The young and innocent Scully, little did she know how untrue that comment
is and that in includes real life.

- One of the grossest things in this episode was the other Air Force
wife's husband sitting there on the back porch pulling his hair out for
fly fishing and we see there are spots on his head. 

- You would think a Colonel of a top secret government base would make
sure he has an unlisted phone number or at least make sure his address
wasn't published in the phone book.  Oh yeah, it annoyed me that this same
Colonel that Scully and Mulder confronted at his home didn't have his rank
on his shirt, but he was Air Force. 

- I do find it funny how the government will not allow the base put on any
map, but everyone knows where the base is and suspect what goes on in the
base.  Reminds me of the N.S.A. headquarters in Maryland that for years
didn't have a sign identifying what building it was, yet, everyone knew
that was the N.S.A. building. 

- Second favorite Scully quote was to Mulder about the lights in the sky
they were viewing over Ellens Air Force Base, "Just because I can't
explain it, doesn't mean they are UFO".  Good old Scully always knew what
to say back to Mulder to prevent him from going off on one of his wild
theories.  Also, it was good to see how much Scully smiled in this episode. 

- Good direction on Daniel Sackheim's part in making Col Budahas kids have
a worried look on their faces as they observe all the action going on
around them.  You can see how they wanted everything to be back to how it
used to be. 

- Mulder's first ditch of Scully after she tells him they are heading back
to D.C..  Of course Mulder gets himself into trouble and needs Scully's
help.  This is where dumb Mulder comes into being when he decides to stand
in the middle of the runway as the plane is flying over him and the MP's
start coming for him, but we wouldn't have had that great shot of Mulder
standing underneath the plane with its lights on him.  One could say he
did this to show his youthful wonder at what he was seeing. 

- The shock and mad look on Scully's face when she realized she left her
gun in her motel room was priceless because she knew something dangerous
was up with Mulder and seeing the fake reporter coming out of her motel
room must have been jarring.  We also get one of the few times Scully is
referred to as Dr. Scully.  Those Air Force security people should have
known better than to underestimate Scully. 

- Second favorite scene was Mulder walking confusingly towards Scully
after he is released from Ellens Air Force base, and Mulder asking Scully
how he got there after they have taken off in the car.  The look on
Scully's face said it all from being worried about what they did to Mulder
to being relieved that he's all right to not believing what she just did
to get him released. 

- What I found amazing in this episode was Scully laid down the law to
Mulder when she told him at the end of episode that they are heading back
to D.C. and implying that he better not go running off this time.  Also,
throughout this episode she kept mentioning her field reports as a way to
get Mulder to produce some physical evidence and not theories.  Basically,
she tells him they don't have any more information than when they first
came there and they are not wasting any more time on this case. 

- I question how much Mulder actually saw that night that the government
would find it necessary to manipulate his mind to make him forget what he
saw considering these type of sightings had been going on for years. 

	"Deep Throat" continued some of the steps begun in the pilot
episode of government conspiracy and Mulder and Scully's search for the
truth behind it all.  It had all the elements we love in the show, Mulder
running off and getting hurt, Scully rescuing him and a mystery stranger
helping out.  If anything the episode helped to explain their early
partnership where trust was being built between them, and the UST that was
starting to show between them and how it sublimely played on the show. 


Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

2/7/99

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