Current Events > C/D Agent Dana Scully was the worst part of The X-Files. *maybe spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think the actor (actress? I forget which is preferred) did a good job, but found the character to be insufferable.

I should rewatch that show some time. I remember her being okay tbh.
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I haven't seen the show since I was a kid but wasn't she extremely skeptical even though she had extensive experience witnessing supernatural events first hand?

She had the personality of a tree stump and was always skeptical of the paranormal despite all the shit shes seen and even after she became a ghost.
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Grischnak posted...

I haven't seen the show since I was a kid but wasn't she extremely skeptical even though she had extensive experience witnessing supernatural events first hand?

Correct.

"I don't believe that thing I just saw because there is no scientific proof of it, but oh yeah, I'm also very religious and 100% convinced that I'm correct." - is how I would sum up her character

Horrible opinion

Dana had a great arc
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Grischnak posted...

I haven't seen the show since I was a kid but wasn't she extremely skeptical even though she had extensive experience witnessing supernatural events first hand?

Sounds like Leah from Diablo 3.
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Deny, she was the voice of reason to Mulder's crazy speculations.

She was also the sex appeal.

Mulder and Scully needed each other man, it's like dang ol yin and yang cain't have one without t'other
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Typhon posted...

Grischnak posted...

I haven't seen the show since I was a kid but wasn't she extremely skeptical even though she had extensive experience witnessing supernatural events first hand?

Correct.

"I don't believe that thing I just saw because there is no scientific proof of it, but oh yeah, I'm also very religious and 100% convinced that I'm correct." - is how I would sum up her character

Honestly, I found this opinion to be a bit overblown when I watched it. She's skeptical, but she's not stupidly so. When she sees evidence of aliens, she does start to believe Mulder. No, she doesn't go along with every magic voodoo fried chicken cult they find, but I don't know that I can blame her.
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Scully would witness something firsthand. Be directly involved and reach that OMFG! It's real! moment.
And then return to the status quo sceptic the very next episode. Many, many times.
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EternalDivide posted...

Scully would witness something firsthand. Be directly involved and reach that OMFG! It's real! moment.
And then return to the status quo sceptic the very next episode. Many, many times.

Yeah, but believing in one thing doesn't mean you have to believe in other ones. And most episodes (as far as I can remember) ended far more ambiguously.
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These criticisms are fair, but it's important to realize that most of the time she isn't denying the supernatural/extraordinary, but offering alternative possibilities while leaving room for discussion. Her character's job is to ask, "Is it more likely to be aliens, or some guy with a hideous deformity?" To prove the extraordinary, you need extraordinary proof - which is often lacking (ignoring the weekly episodes).
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pegusus123456 posted...

Typhon posted...

Grischnak posted...

I haven't seen the show since I was a kid but wasn't she extremely skeptical even though she had extensive experience witnessing supernatural events first hand?

Correct.

"I don't believe that thing I just saw because there is no scientific proof of it, but oh yeah, I'm also very religious and 100% convinced that I'm correct." - is how I would sum up her character

Honestly, I found this opinion to be a bit overblown when I watched it. She's skeptical, but she's not stupidly so. When she sees evidence of aliens, she does start to believe Mulder. No, she doesn't go along with every magic voodoo fried chicken cult they find, but I don't know that I can blame her.

I haven't seen every episode, so maybe she gets better.

It is true that she'll sometimes acknowledge the existence of [thing] in the moment while it's right in front of her, when it would be blatantly stupid to deny [thing].

However it seems that more often than not, when [thing] is later referenced, she denies it again.

Mulder will be like "remember? you saw it!" and she'll come back with "I don't know what I saw" or "i could have been drugged/hallucinating" or "I was so stressed/afraid/upset due to [event] that my mind was playing tricks on me".

Even worse, Skinner will read aloud an excerpt from Mulder's report, that is solely factual, and ask her to confirm. Instead, she'll ignore the question and offer up something like "I can tell you this, we saved those people" or "I saw no evidence to support that, Mulders stressed and imagining things".

I'm paraphrasing.

The main issue was her continued skepticism. The fact that she is the skeptic to Mulder's crackpot (but legit) theories is the crux of the show's formula. But the longer the show goes on after Scully has seen paranormal and extraterrestrial proof, the more ridiculous it looks for her to continue to deny their existence.

It's like a murder every week in the same town on Murder, She Wrote. The more a show does the same formula, even if it doesn't become stale, it still becomes a joke in its repetition.
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I feel I should add that Mulder also has, less frequently, eyeroll inducing ridiculous theories. I think the difference in my reception between the two is due to a) Mulders are more often fun to think about and b) he is nowhere near as condescending.

Hayame Zero posted...

The main issue was her continued skepticism. The fact that she is the skeptic to Mulder's crackpot (but legit) theories. But the longer the show goes on after Scully has seen paranormal and extraterrestrial proof, the more ridiculous it looks for her to continue to deny their existence.

It's like a murder every week in the same town on Murder, She Wrote. The more a show does the same formula, even if it doesn't become stale, it still becomes a joke in its repetition.

This

and both characters did this constantly.

I think Mulder gets the bigger pass because it's X-Files hunt for the supernatural and Mulder is the one that drove the hunt for the supernatural even if he goes back to his own levels of doubt and skepticism constantly.

It's like guys, how many times can the paranormal gobsmack you before you just accept it as real.

I love Scully but i always laugh out loud in the first movie when

Mulder drags her out to the surface in Antarctica and them watches as the huge spacecraft comes up from beneath, to which he turns to Scully and says 'Scully you gotta see this!'. And she's so exhausted and out of it that she isn't paying attention. Mulder watches it fly away and then looks at her with the expression 'oh you gotta be fucking kidding me'. Then he collapses and suddenly Scully is fully awake and cares for him lmao
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The worst part of The X-Files was the mythos, mainly from season 7 on.
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au_gold posted...

The worst part of The X-Files was the mythos, mainly from season 7 on.

Most of the mythos episodes were boring, and often had the most generic dialogue.
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pegusus123456 posted...

EternalDivide posted...

Scully would witness something firsthand. Be directly involved and reach that OMFG! It's real! moment.
And then return to the status quo sceptic the very next episode. Many, many times.

Yeah, but believing in one thing doesn't mean you have to believe in other ones. And most episodes (as far as I can remember) ended far more ambiguously.

It was more of how it was handled during the next eye-witness event by saying something along the lines of "c'mon Mulder, that's impossible" and dismissing it outright.

It was great later in the series when her role takes over as the believer rather than the skeptic.
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She was annoying sometimes, but she played well off of Mulder
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every other X-Files episode:

*something paranormal happens*
Mulder: oh shit it's aliens
Scully: who posted
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Even in the world of the X-Files where supernatural events occur, there are still hucksters and people making shitty conclusions on insufficient evidence. Can't blame her for wanting to rule out the simplest explanations before going with Mulder's speculations.
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