AIR DATE:  November 17, 1995
Written by Charles Grant Craig
Directed by Kim Manners

	Wow, this is one of the reasons why I watch the X-Files, to have
some kind of weird phenomenon and have these things affect the main
characters.  In "Oubliette" we get both of these things.  After a few
episodes where Scully and Mulder have basically been there, without the
events having any direct impact on them, it was good to have an episode
where the events have some impact on Scully and Mulder.  This was mostly a
Mulder episode with Scully just in the background to keep Mulder in check.
Here we see how Mulder's pent up feelings over his sister's kidnapping can
affect his judgement in a case that is eerily similar in some ways to his
sister's kidnapping. 

	The episode starts off simple enough with a weirdo psycho
kidnapping a young teenage girl and then the scene switches to a
restaurant and the next thing you know a waitress is collapsing to the
floor with her nose bleeding while she is repeating the same words that
the kidnapper said to Amy Jacobs "that no one is going to spoil it now".
(I hope that's an exact quote).  The first thing that comes to mind is
what the hell just happened?  And what connection does this woman have to
the kidnapping?  This had to be one of the best opening teasers X-Files
has ever done (next to the cold opening teasers in "One Breath") because
it tricks you into thinking this could be the typical psycho kidnaps young
girl story then it changes to something even weirder.  It even turns
weirder when Mulder shows up at the crime scene without Scully since when
it comes to investigating cases she is always right there with him.  This
was the case throughout the whole episode where Mulder went off on his own
such as running into the woods before Scully could catch up, and he did
the majority of the interviews with Lucy by himself.  Very unusual
behavior for Mulder and the questions we are asking? Did he do this
because he was too close to it and most likely didn't want Scully to hold
him back by confronting him over his motives in helping out in the case.
The fact he took off from DC without his Cellular phone or wait for Scully
to catch up with him showed how passionate and single minded he can get on
cases that hit too close to home. 

	Of course, the thing that made the case close to home was the
similarities to his sister's abuction.  Lucy Householder was kidnapped
when she was 8 years old and returns 5 years later an underdeveloped
teenager.  Amy Jacobs is kidnapped from her bedroom with her younger
sister sleeping next to her.  Mulder's sister was kidnapped when she was 8
and depending on which story you want to believe Mulder and his sister
were sleeping in the same room when she was taken.  Mulder saw in Lucy
Householder his own sister if she returns how she could turn out to be as
messed up as Lucy is if his sister has gone through what Lucy had to
during her years of captivity.  These feelings allow him to sympathize and
relate to her in ways the other agents are unable to.  It was Mulder's
compassion toward Lucy Householder, who just wanted to forget everything,
that helped save Amy Jacobs, but wasn't enough to save Lucy. We all knew
the second Amy Jacobs's mother said to Mulder that there was no way he
could understand her pain of having someone you love taken away from you
by someone who had no right to that this episode was going to touch upon
Mulder's feelings toward his sister's kidnapping.  It was his
understanding of that feeling which allowed him to solve the case.

	"Oubliette" is the second episode, I believe, Scully ever brought
up Mulder's sister's kidnapping and indicated that his feelings toward
that is affecting his judgement in the case i.e. treating Lucy more as a
victim than a suspect.  In "Conduit" she tells Mulder to stop chasing
after his sister when he is about to go off on what appears to be a wild
goose chase after another missing young girl.  In "Oubliette" she
confronts him after there is hard evidence linking Lucy to the kidnapper. 
He doesn't believe it so she tells him that maybe he isn't seeing clearly
because he is relating the case too much to his sister.  His quick denial
showed how much he actually was in denial about his feelings and he was
quite brisk towards Scully when she brought it up.  When Scully did this
in "Conduit" it made Mulder stop in his tracks and asks her rather briskly
are you coming or not.  Both reactions she receives from Mulder indicts to
her that she is touching a sensitive area and nothing she says will stop
him from doing what he is about to do.  It shows how in tune Scully is
with Mulder even if he himself can't see how a past event is affecting his
judgement. 

	At the end of the episode when Mulder is trying to revive Amy
Jacobs you can see in Scully's eyes even before he starts to do it that
Scully has a pretty good idea that Amy Jacobs is dead, but doesn't know
how to tell him.  A very intense and sad scene with Mulder realizing he
was too late once again to save a little girl and especially when he
realizes that Lucy gave herself up to save Amy Jacobs it hits him even
harder.

	Everything in this episode went right from the direction, to the
writing, to the acting.  Duchovny gave a great performance of Mulder's
anguish over what was happening to Lucy and Amy particularly the scene
where Scully confronts him in the hallway about his feelings toward the
case and his talks with Lucy.  The Director, whose name escapes me at the
moment, kept the pace of the story up so it never seemed to lag.  You know
how you usually can tell a really good written episode is one where there
are no discernible plot holes or inconsistence in the story, and
"Oubliette" didn't have any that I could tell.  The characterization of
Scully and Mulder and Lucy Householder were solidly written with nothing
seeming untrue to the characters.  Boy, where do they find these great
supporting actors for the show.  Tracy Ellis as Lucy Householder gave an
excellent performance of a mixed up woman whose life was ruined the day
she was kidnapped 17 years ago and who was still confused about her
feelings toward her kidnapper and what was currently happening to her.

A few little comments -

- Hey, what's this liter deal when Scully tells Mulder they found 5 liters
of water in Lucy?  This is America, Scully, and we still say gallons no
matter what the rest of the world uses for a measuring system.  Though I
suppose the medical profession could be using the metric system.

- I'm not saying anyone was being insensitive or uncaring, but I thought
it was kind of strange that not one FBI agent offered his coat to Amy
Jacobs who had to be freezing in that little nighty thing lying on the
cold wet ground.

- Best line:  After Mulder explains to Scully how Lucy was saying the
exact same thing as the kidnapper was 20 miles away from where Amy was
taken, Scully says "Spooky" and Mulder goes "That's my name, isn't it?"

	What more can I say about "Oubliette" except that it was great to
have Mulder and Scully a part of the action and to have the events
affecting Mulder in a way we don't usually see him affected.  This is the
stuff that makes a great series.

	"Oubliette" gets a grade of A.


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

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