I Want to Believe

In high school and college, Friday nights and then Sundays, belonged to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), my constant companions. So, when I found out that I’d miss the series finale, because my parents didn’t have cable, one of my cousins sent a VHS tape with the finale episode. It was a bittersweet ending; Mulder and Scully didn’t save the world, they ultimately couldn’t raise their son, they didn’t change any minds…but, they did have each other. So, in a bookend to the series, Mulder and Scully ended up in a crappy motel room, just the two of them. But that was The X-Files--struggling for Truth but never quite getting what you want and finding out the truth that it is our relationships that endure when, literally, the world explodes around you.

Fast forward seven years—I’ve finished graduate school, worked in DC for three years, and figured out that government per diem can get you a lot better than a crappy motel room, but not much, depending on where you have to go. I’m not a special agent investigating aliens, like I wanted to be in high school. And I'm not Dana Scully, though I wanted to be in high school, because, if I were, I’d be cool enough to run in heels while shooting my 9 mm, write awesome journal entries, and hang out with Fox Mulder. Not to mention I’d be jet-setting across the world seeking that elusive Truth, always getting a glimpse. But, after seven years, I feel more like Dana Scully than I ever did in high school—seeking the Truth, struggling when my Faith intersects Science, and desperately hoping to keep it all together, just like she did, though I still haven't found my Fox Mulder.

So, go visit my old friends Fox and Dana (TM—Mrs. Scully) in their new movie, The X-Files: I Want To Believe. If you are an “x-phile,” you’ll love it. It’s got the snark, the sexual innuendo, the laughs, the creepy monsters, and our two intrepid agents. For x-phile, it’s a great reunion. You get to reminisce about all your fondest memories, you get to catch up with old friends, and you get a glimpse of their life in the future. And you realize not much changed. If you’re not a phile? Well, you still get the awesomeness of Dana Scully. This movie is about a woman’s struggle to understand what she believes about her life and her relationships with others, as well as the complexities of her choices as a medical doctor.

Dana Scully is still the type of person I think it would be good to be. Somehow, she never gives up; she has a deep Faith that challenges her; she makes the wrong decisions, but so how mananges to get it right in the end. She takes chances, but knows when to draw lines in the sand. Not to mention, she got to be a snappy dresser! So, go see my movie if you're bored and The Dark Knight is sold out. It's a great way to spend two hours.