Season 1, Episode 4—Conduit
Mulder is attracted to a tabloid story about a teenage girl’s abduction by aliens and petitions the FBI to make it a legitimate X-Files case—a move that angers his superiors and gives Scully pause. Believing the incident bares more than a passing resemblance to the unsolved disappearance of Mulder’s sister, Samantha, Scully overlooks the obvious sensationalism of the case in order to keep an eye on Mulder’s psychological state.
While not an exceptional episode (the abduction plot line is fairly cut and dry), “Conduit” provides strong character analysis for both Mulder and Scully: Mulder’s deep obsession with finding the truth no matter how implausible it may seem, and Scully’s skeptical but nurturing mindset—no matter how illogical Mulder’s theories may seem, she’ll always have his back.
Rating: 👽 👽 👽
