The Cave's X-Files Commentary Archives:
Episodes: E.B.E (1x16)

Title: Which lie to believe and who to trust
Author: bardsmaid

E.B.E accentuates the layers of mystery/conspiracy in the X-Files world. At the outset of the show, both main characters saw their goals as much simpler. For Mulder, it was to find evidence of extraterrestrial life, evidence which--hopefully--would lead to his sister. For Scully it was to distinguish herself in her new assignment--to accompany Mulder and to put his theories and evidence to the test of science. But in this episode the plot darkens... and thickens. We learn that:

it's not prudent to take anything--or anyone--at face value
motives are not just 'rarely unselfish', as the WMM warns in a later season, but often convoluted, complex and calculating
even being a dedicated servant of the government does not guarantee that the powers that be are supporting you.

In what becomes a signature element of the show, E.B.E. shows us many possibilities, but doesn't end up pointing us to any definitive truths. Like Mulder and Scully, we're left to try to weed out the truth on our own. And the possible options for which bits of 'evidence' are lies and which may be true seem endless.

Mulder, as many people have already observed, seems all too eager to believe the evidence and sources put before him. While on a personal level he tends to be a very wary person, knowing from experience that people may only want to make him the butt of a joke, we all have blind spots, and Mulder's is the raw desperation of his need to believe. It makes him overestimate the trustworthiness of Deep Throat ("He's never lied to me," he protests to Scully, and yet how much does he actually know about Deep Throat and the veracity of his information?) just as it makes him believe in the faked UFO photo... until Scully points out its flaws. And although Mulder is frustrated by the points she makes, and obviously takes them personally ("Why don’t you just admit it, Scully? You’re determined not to believe him"), it's interesting to note that he does subsequently go have the photo analyzed. While he may not always realize it consciously, he tends, even at this early point, to depend on her input.

Deep Throat's offerings, both in terms of concrete evidence and explanations, seem to be all over the board. He gives Mulder evidence of an alien craft shot down, but then provides false information to keep him from following the craft because 'there are some secrets that should remain secret'. He seems sincere in his frustration over some of the things he's had to participate in, and yet his rationale about giving information to Mulder as an atonement for his past sins rings hollow. "Maybe sometime, through you, the truth will be know," he tells Mulder, and yet he's already admitted that on some occasions he determines that it's not in the public's best interest--or perhaps his own--for certain truths to be exposed. Even in The Erlenmeyer Flask we see Deep Throat using Scully to get something he wants: the alien fetus.

By episode's end, the one fact that seems clear is that the only people Mulder and Scully can trust are each other. In spite of her skepticism about his theories, Scully does trust Mulder's motivations and heart, and her actions on his behalf in critical situations have proved to Mulder that she's trustworthy, too. The players around them, and indeed even their own Bureau, have shown that they may well not be what they claim. Mulder and Scully have become two against the world, bound together by circumstances and by their determination to find the truth, whatever it may turn out to be.

Fanfic index | X-Files commentary & analysis | X-Files Home | Site index |