Paper Clip ('Mythology'): The Awe is Back

Paper Clip is so clearly a Rob Bowman technical masterpiece. The true-ace director that Chris Carter and company carried in the line-up during most of The X-Files run, manages to do something few 'Mythology' episodes had done since the beginning of season 2 (if at all): awe and wonder. The myth-arc episodes in season 1 weren't bogged down by heavy back story and a defined universe. . .plus not much was explained. There were a few flying things (military? alien? militalien?????) and little understanding of how it all pieced together. This, for the most part, worked to perfection.



But then season 2 started to get a little heavy and the government got more involved. Then, in season 3, we got a bunch of hold dudes sitting around and smoking. One of them was Baron Munchaeusen (which is just frickin' cool) but it dulled the proceedings a bit. . .it put a face on the whole 'conspiracy'. The awe and wonder, seemingly, was now in plot points and revelations and not just simple atmosphere. 'Paper Clip' brings it alllllll back. . .whether it be the absolutely bitchin' sequence with Skinner baiting CSM to annihilate a whole race of Native Americans or Mulder staring at what could be his first flying saucer (of sorts. . .his memory was wiped in 'Deep Throat' and it was a human aircraft anyways).

That moment, when Mulder sees the spacecraft, contains that mood and atmosphere that oozed throughout most of the X-Files first, innocent seasons. It made the mythology feel important again. The underground bunker (which, I think, contains the first reference to a 'mythology' character who would only show up once in the first movie: Strughold*) sequence is phenomenal and though it explains a lot of what's going on (and thus I'm being hypocritical), it also adds further twists to Mulder's sister-sub plot and Scully's abduction. Basically, the characters find new roads to the answers they need but it still leads to nowhere (for now).



'Paper Clip' is a classic. . .a true classic and one of the best episodes in the series let alone the third season. These are the kind of mythology episodes where you can't see how feasible it'd be to go back and do Monster of the Weeks. Thankfully, they pulled it off but a lot happens in this episode and the next episode, though also a classic, feels like it doesn't belong right after something so revelatory. Oh well. . .I'm not going to complain. Classic X-Files is classic X-Files and 'Paper Clip' lives up to the tag.

*a lot of important mythology elements are brought into play in this episode and the previous ep: Well Manicured Man was introduced previously while the idea of the US government giving exile to Nazi/Japanese scientists comes into play big time later in the season.