Magic Moment: Skinner Opens Up To Mulder

Photos copyright Fox

In any series good writing is essential to keep the characters alive and the viewers guessing. In The X-Files, Mulder and Scully had a boss called Walter Skinner. He was tough on them and played as a hard nosed boss under orders to get rid of Mulder once and for all. He never smiles but Mister X once told Mulder that he had a friend in the FBI.

So in the season two episode One Breath, Mulder is at breaking point.

Scully had been kidnapped by Duane Barry who apparently was an alien abductee. He had severe mental issues. Scully was given to aliens leaving Mulder with no answers and lost. His mental state was seen in the vampiric episode Blood. He is at rock bottom and paired with a new partner, Alex Krychek, Mulder is in a turmoil.

But in One Breath, Scully is found, alive but in a coma with little hope for recovery. He finds someone stealing Scully’s blood and her prognosis is not good. There is evidence she has undergone some sort of medical examination. Out of his head with anger and grief, Mulder storms to Skinner’s office and hands in his resignation. Whomever his enemies are they have broken him by breaking the one person he trusts most in the world; Scully.

Alone in his office, he is packing his things when Skinner comes to the door. What follows is a turning point for them both. Skinner is revealed to be the friend Mulder was told about. He rips up the resignation saying he may feel responsible for Scully but resigning will only be self punishment which he will not accept. He sees Mulder is broken, that all the evidence they have uncovered has been for nothing and that Scully paid the price for it.

Skinner reveals he signed up for the Vietnam War and a boy walked into their camp covered in grenades. Skinner lost his faith in everything that day when he blew the child’s head off at ten yards. Life had no point to it any more. Later his patrol was caught in an ambush and every one of them fell. He tells Mulder that he looked down and saw his body.

He didn’t recognise it at first as the Vietnamese tore his uniform off and remained in the jungle peaceful and not afraid. He was put into a body bag and woke up in a hospital two weeks later.

He reveals that he is afraid to look beyond that experience but Mulder, Mulder is not. He reiterates that his resignation is unacceptable.

What makes this scene so electric is how underplayed it is. Pileggi’s delivery is as Skinner has been, controlled but giving us enough of a glimpse beyond his hard exterior that Mulder is left stunned. Skinner has been hard on him so he can get the answers he seeks. By doing that maybe Skinner will too. This opens up Skinner’s character so much to the audience and lays the foundations for their secret alliance that will last for the entire series.

Skinner here is almost an angel silhouetted in the doorway; neatly dressed and impeccable while Milder is disheveled and a physical and emotional mess. This is Skinner’s scene but the expression on Mulder’s face when he realises that Skinner has been helping him is a revelation. Symbolically, Skinner closes the door after him meaning that the matter they have just discussed is also closed to them to be held between only them.

It is a scene that lasts less than four minutes but vital to the very heart of the show and its future. Scully does recover. Between this and Skinner’s revelation, it ignites Mulder’s drive again. It reminds him that the truth could literally be right in front of him and may lie in those he never expected.

This scene defines the best of The X-Files and an example of how to not only do it right but do it brilliantly.