This essay came about in response to one of the ATXF essay challenges (there's a site in my "Links" section that archives all the answers to all the challenges -- most of my challenge essays are archived there, not here). The question for this week was: is Mulder's mental health deteriorating in Season 4, or is what we're seeing just more of the usual?
(You didn't think I was going to pass this one up, did you? ;-) ) Mulder's mental health is on a downward spiral. His descent has been swifter this season than in the past, but he's been heading downhill ever since the pilot. The events of his childhood were like a spring coiled inside him, just waiting to push him over the edge. I think there would eventually have been a crisis no matter how he decided to live his life, but I can't prove that. What I can do is trace how the events that we have witnessed have interacted with his psychological make-up to cause him ever-increasing troubles. I know some people are going to say "Mulder's been nuts from day one," but there's nuts and then there's nuts. Watch the first couple of episodes again: Mulder is cocky. He wears his X-Files weirdness proudly, like a badge of honor. He's cynical, certainly, but still upbeat. He's excited, happy even, when they lose those 9 minutes. He's wide-eyed with wonder. You don't have to focus on the Angst!Mulder episodes of season 4 to see that those qualities have changed -- it's apparent in every episode (except for maybe Synchrony, which was completely lacking in authentic characterizations). I want to speculate for a moment (OK, several) about what Mulder's life was like between the abduction and the pilot episode of TXF. Samantha was abducted, laying down the complex web of psychic traumas that has come to dominate Mulder's life. But I think those traumas were quickly compartmentalized and repressed. Not just the facts of the matter (which Mulder is now so obsessed with recovering), but the emotions, too. I'm not talking about total amnesia -- I think that at any point, if you had asked him what happened he would have been able to tell you that his sister had disappeared under mysterious circumstances and everyone in his family was quite distraught. But emotionally, it would have felt like something that happened to someone else, and he would have been likely to deny its centrality in his life. Given his intelligence, charm, and good looks, and his use of this defense mechanism, I think that he probably put together a pretty good semblence of a normal life and normal persona. And who could blame him for this? Who, in his shoes, would not want to defend himself from such intensely negative, threatening emotions? (In other words, i do not subscribe to the "Mulder on meds" school of thought that appears sometimes in pre-XF Mulder fanfic -- I think that only recently has he even approached that level of overt suffering). I wish that I knew what prompted him to undergo regression hypnosis for the first time, because I think that's a *huge* milestone in his development. You don't voluntarily give up a defense that's working well. Maybe being dumped by Phoebe was the precipitating crisis. Given the loss of his sister and his concomitant perceived loss of his parents' love, he is probably extremely sensitive to issues of abandonment. Anyway, something made the old trauma flare up with a vengeance, and he had to retrench, find some new way to protect himself. Given his talents, it's not surprising that intellectualization was his next defense of choice. Turn her disappearance into a mystery to be solved. Focus on the intellectual aspects of it, to stave off the emotional aspects. Also, by trying to solve the mystery of her disappearance, he can deny what he subconsciously sees as his fault in the matter. "See? I never wanted her to disappear! I'm trying to get her back!" This is where he's at when he first meets Scully. The abduction has taken center stage in his life, and his discovery of the X-Files allows it to be the center of his professional as well as his personal life. But emotionally he seems to be functioning pretty smoothly, just your average brilliant, charming, handsome guy. He has no idea what's in store for him, both in terms of the external forces arrayed against him, and the internal forces waiting to bring him down. ************************************ OK, here I am, with my thoughts collected for the next part! So. I think it's important to realize just how little Mulder knew about the conspiracy when the show began. His reactions in the pilot seem to indicate that this is the first hard evidence that he has personally encountered, rather than hearing it from other sources. Of course, with the advent of Deep Throat, evidence starts pouring in. Sure, it's all stuff that can be interpreted in multiple ways, but any of the available interpretations should inspire fear, loathing, and paranoia. Mulder would never have made it through those past seasons without Scully; he has drawn on not only her material and intellectual resources, but her emotional resources, from day one. She swiftly becomes part of his coping, part of his defenses, allowing him to proceed along avenues that he couldn't have handled before. You know that scene in Conduit where he's crying in the church? Most of us probably took that at the time as an indication of something habitual. "Wow, what a caring, sensitive guy -- he's reminded of his sister, and he cries." I'd like to suggest that that may have been the first time since his childhood that he cried about Samantha. Forced by circumstances to confront the trauma more closely than he had before, and buoyed by Scully's support, he finally allowed himself to approach his original emotional reactions to the abduction. Of course, as soon as he has come to depend on Scully, she is taken from him. He can't function without her; a near-breakdown results. His attack on Duane Barry during the interrogation. His disordered sleep (that line in 3, "I don't sleep," always gives me chills). His raw misery and need in 3. His freaking out and finally collapsing in One Breath. She comes back, he pulls himself together, but he just can't get a break. His work is just one horrifying discovery after another, his parents keep getting drawn into the mess (they are of immense importance in Mulder's psychic landscape) and it appears that they can't be trusted, his life and Scully's life are continually endangered... His limited coping resources are constantly being stretched to their utmost, allowing the underlying long-repressed trauma to bloom, consuming him until he can find some way to resolve it once and for all. Whew! I could go on in more detail, but I won't! I think this framework provides a good explanation for a lot of Mulder's selfish, unprofessional, and ill-considered behavior in season 4. L.O.