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'The X-Files' Boss Chris Carter Explains Mulder and Scully Split

I think his reasoning is off considering that M/S were barely together on the show, they drew out the Will They/Wont They too much in the end IMO, instead of just resolving things in season 6 after the movie. I don't know how CC can argue that it didn't work as well to resolve the sexual tension and have them as a couple when M/S were never an ongoing romantic couple on the series? They didn't kiss as an official couple until the season 8 finale, then Mulder was obviously missing from season 9 until the finale, so basically they were an on-screen item only in 822 and 922? Even IWTW saw Mulder and Scully off in separate plotlines with lots of tension between them and not working together the way that they used too, so really CC has never even tried with writing them as a completely happy and settled romantic couple, so that he can then point to that not working out so well

Lol at how mad everyone is getting in the comments though, it's not something that I'm THAT worked-up about honestly (although that's because I have faith that things will be resolved in the finale, I will be mad if they're not a couple together again when they conclude it :P ), but it is annoying that CC still seems stuck on that very 90's mindset of we must never resolve the sexual tension. It's like CC is incapable of writing an established relationship and still having drama, so he has to reset everything and break them up. It just feels like these six episodes should have CC ready to try something new and just let Mulder and Scully be a settled couple together at this stage in their life's, rather than keeping it stuck at sexual tension between them yet again

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well, they were a couple on the... sigh... last movie (the sigh is because the movie was deefinitely eyebrow-rising, that's all), but anyway.... gotta admit that a split, well, I've always wanted something to happen beetween them back in the day, but I've never thought that I would have been broken-hearted if they were to broke up. And in fact? Gotta admit I don't really care that much.

Edited Date: 2015-09-15 01:57 pm (UTC)

True, but even then they were apart for most of the movie and arguing, it was just bookended with the scenes of them in bed together/then kissing in their finale scene, but otherwise they were at odds for most of the running time, so CC doesn't have many examples to point too for why it doesn't work to have them together as a happy romantic couple with "no tension". It's barely something that the show has even tried, even when they wanted Scully pregnant by Mulder they were still scared to actually confirm that M/S were an item one way or the other

And I don't care as much as some do either tbh, I'm mostly just rolling my eyes at CC seeming incapable of evolving his writing of their relationship, but so long as they're still working together and functioning well as a team then I'm happy. A lot of fans are really fuming though!

I didn't know how to react to this.

During the show's run I was never one of the 'shippers.' I loved the show for the crazy monsters and conspiracies. I did not care if Mulder & Scully got together romantically, but I loved the closeness of their partnership.

The way their 'romance' was presented on the show was so ambiguous to me. But at the end of this six episode arc in January, I want them to be together in the end (just in some capacity), and not going their separate ways.

I guess I just can't make up my mind!

I wasn't a shipper in the early years, but at the point of seasons 5/6/7 when the show kept telling me how perfect they would be together, that was when I was ready for them to just get on with it already and pair them off. It got annoying by the time of season 8 when CC still seemed so afraid of resolving the sexual tension and giving us any straight answers on whether they were a couple or not, at some point he should have stopped stagnating their development. I suppose that The X-Files was never really a character-centric show though, and CC's focus was never on character development...

I stopped watching X-Files before they got together, but my feeling was that CC was dead set against them as a couple. It wasn't about resolving sexual tension it was more that his vision of the show didn't have a romantic element. The problem with that is that Mulder and Scully's relationship kept deepening and the events of the world were isolating them from others. You have a heterosexual man and woman who trust each other profoundly and have no one else in their lives. It becomes unrealistic that they wouldn't have sex. That's how the human race has survived. If the opportunity arises, generally, we have sex with each other. So, CC finally agreed to what logically had to be happening. It was like he said, "Fine! Fine! They're a couple. They've been sleeping together for awhile now. Are you happy? Will you shut up about it?" But he never showed them getting together.

So, my speculation is he's breaking them up this time around so that he can get them together. Maybe he's come to terms that there is a romantic element to the show. Maybe he realizes that resisting it for so long didn't do the show any favors. And maybe his plan is to give us that coming together moment the original run didn't have.

Anyway, that's just my speculation.

Disclaimer: I am always wrong about everything. I'm always wrong about what I think happened in the past and I'm always wrong about what I speculate will happen in the future. I should just change me screen name to Wrongbunny.

I love this post. I agree with your logic.

I also agree that that is what CC did with M&S. Whether he liked it or not, the characters evolved without his input. And he finally was like "here, they *are* together now shut up!" I didn't mind them being together, I just wasn't one of the fans screaming it from the rooftops to *get* them together already...

Like I said in my other post, I just want them together in some way at the end and not going off into the sunset separately.

I would actually love if that were the case, but yeah with CC I don't know if I can believe it, he seems so against showing any kind of outright romantic or ~epic~ moment between them, even their kisses had to either be in the darkest corridor humanly possible, or filmed from very odd angles. The FtF kiss was probably the closest they ever got to an actual epic kiss, and even that was interrupted by bees :P

Also David and Mitch were talking at a convention recently and David seemed a bit vague about how things end for M/S, so I'm braced for more of the very subtle and understated writing where you're not sure if they actually got back together or not in the end, but we'll have to wait and see I suppose :P CC really does seem extremely uncomfortable with writing any kind of romantic scenes for them though

Edited Date: 2015-09-15 06:18 pm (UTC)

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I talked to a friend about this yesterday, and we basically said the same thing.
You can show a couple together, have them be intense/have some drama WITHOUT splitting them up.
but Chris Carter... well... I have no words tbh.

Exactly, it seems like he's STILL stuck on the 'Moonlighting curse', but ff that was near enough 30 years ago now! There's plenty of interesting issues they could still give M/S as a couple, especially with the William factor as well, it just feels false to still make it a question of whether they're going to settle down together or not. We already know that they're soul mates and won't be parting for good, so any kind of will they/won't they tension is only going to feel artificial and been there, done that

Yeah, and there's tv couples that SURVIVED the curse, but no one is talking about that.
Instead people think breaking them up will magically restore everything, and that everyone would want that :|

Lemme guess, they're splitting them up so they can try and rekindle on the will they/won't except this time it's will they/won't they get back together? So they can keep the old sexual tension going again, because jeez, having people in an actual relationship is just boring.

I just don't really see the point of this. They spun out the relationship for so long and it was such an integral part of the show, that breaking them up now seems pointless and counter-productive. Except as a lazy storyline gimmick. Which I'm sure it is.

Yep, it doesn't feel natural to the characters at all, it just feels like CC is terrified to stretch and write anything other than what he knows, so we again have to go back to drawing out the sexual tension as much as humanly possible

I'm in complete agreement with you. My first reaction to the news was disgusted shock, because I couldn't imagine what would split them up at this point, and I didn't want to think of what wrong-ass way he had planned of doing it. But I quickly got over that. I think it helps that I was a shipper right from the start, and a fan of the show while it was on the air, so I have maaaaaany years of experience ignoring Chris Carter's trolling. Now, when I see people flipping out over the news, I just start laughing. It feels like old times, tbh. Part of me is almost like, "Ah, I missed this, this hating CC thing." Haha. Plus, like you, I believe they'll be fine in the end, and I'm already used to disregarding shit I don't like. So if the six episodes give us something awful, it'll just be more of what I'm used to. Obviously I hope they're good, but I don't fully expect it. I just hope for some good moments & fic fodder. That's the other thing for me -- at least the breakup has added to my ficspiration re: my next story, once I get around to actually writing it. I think it'll be a fun challenge for me to explain what WOULD break them up while still remaining in character (fingers crossed). Really, as long as he doesn't have either of them cheating on the other or saying their feelings are gone, I'll probably be fine with it. But I don't think they'll be together at the end of the six episodes. I think it'll be *implied*, or maybe we'll at least get a long look & a kiss or something, but I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if we finally get a sex scene. I might break out champagne, actually, if that happens.

But I don't think they'll be together at the end of the six episodes. I think it'll be *implied*, or maybe we'll at least get a long look & a kiss or something,

I think you're absolutely right there sadly, CC is never going to give us a sex scene, or even a passionate make-out, he's just too rigid about how he personally sees the show and the characters. I'm wondering now with his talk of how they would have broken them up in a third movie, if he blames the failure of IWTB on M/S being an item in that? Which would be ridiculous when IMO half the reason it flopped was actually because viewers were disappointed at things being so cold between Mulder and Scully, viewers actually wanted a nostalgia fest with the two of them working together again, they could have promoted the hell out of a M/S sex scene, or even a movie filmed epic kiss with the two of them passionately embracing and running towards one another. Instead of them being separated for the most of the film, and ending it on an extremely coy and awkwardly filmed kiss. So even in that film it was all about where they were as a couple and if they would reconcile, CC has never produced even an hours worth of them as a happy romantic couple, so it's a bit rich to now say that he wants to bring the tension back and split them up.

Yep, yep. Just picture me nodding to everything you've written here, because I totally agree with all of it. CC has a fucking complex about them not fucking, and he has all sorts of wrong-headed notions about what drove down the quality of the show & him out of the fans' favor in the first place. Now he's bringing along that baggage with him into the new project. I can't say I'm surprised, though I am a little disappointed.

There's been wank on my dash about them breaking up for DAYS. And someone had a meltdown today because their son that Scully put up for adoption is now a teen so when he comes back, he will take over the show and it will be all about him. Because that makes total sense.

Fandom on tumble does seem to get really emotional :P

I really hoped that would be an "item" but id not get that far. A pity really.

You'd think that it would have made sense with where they'd left it

Sometimes I think that The X-Files - and the characters of Mulder and Scully specifically - was successful in spite of Chris Carter, not because of him.

I agree, I think that he was always more interested in the conspiracy side of the show, and never knew what to do with the fan response to the chemistry between the actors

I'm sad, tbh. I was hoping they'd have them finally happy together after all these years.

I read today that apparently they won't be back together at the end of the six episodes, so now I'm really bummed out :(

Ugh. :/

I can't find the interview now annoyingly, I'm trying to google it and coming up blank, but I'm sure I read something on Prismatic with CC saying that they won't be back together at the end of the six episodes :( I mean I guess you could see it as a good thing in terms of they may be planning another six episode mini-series if they leave things open-ended, but I can't see viewers being very happy if it ends on no reconciliation kiss even

*sighs* That takes away a lot of my excitement, tbh. I mean, I know Mulder/Scully were always more teased than obvious but after so long it just doesn't make sense anymore to have them apart (and today's viewers seem to like ships to get together under a season or less instead of dragging it out). But, yeah, I don't mind open-ended so much as long as there's some hope at the end or they're definitely doing more episodes, but otherwise it's just.. :/

Edited Date: 2015-09-17 05:33 pm (UTC)

Ugh, what?? I swear to god, I will...complain bitterly on the internet. WTF, Chris Carter. W.T.F.

I guess we'll see what unfolds.

Yeah, ITA with you. I will be livid if they're not together in the end, and I think it's bullcrap to not write them as a couple working together solving mysteries, because that never happened on the damn show! But I knew this was coming, so I'm staying optimistic that they're together in the end.

Edited Date: 2015-09-16 11:10 pm (UTC)

Exactly, no one's expecting them to make an ongoing thing of M/S being a couple and turn it into a romantic Soap Opera, we talk about how nice a sex scene would be lol, but nobody would be tuning in expecting that! It would just be nice (and something different!) to have them quietly together as a functional couple in the background of the cases, but god forbid we don't have the old are they or aren't they together tension dragged back into it again, which just feels really cheap and lazy at this point in their life's

Even though my first thought is that this is ridiculous, I suppose in other ways I will reserve judgement until I see how it's done. Because there is the potential that it could be done well and work well with the story and make sense in terms of the journey that they are on. I mean in that last film she was not happy and he was not making her happy. He's always been selfish; he's always thought of himself. Well, maybe not always but certainly in the later seasons that was a man who couldn't compromise for someone else and if I'm honest, I don't want to see Scully with someone who won't compromise for her.

But, we'll see. I don't have high hopes for this series because I often think these things just don't work! But I am looking forward to it.

True, there are certainly ways that it could work with the characters and force Mulder to reexamine his self-obsessions, just the way that CC talks about it makes me fear that instead it's going to be more of the same attempts to introduce tension into the love story because that's all he knows how to write :(

Yes – I also agree with you. I think that he just doesn't understand how to have them together. I don't understand why he feels that they have to always be a part. Yes they were the poster people for unresolved sexual tension but TV has moved on since then. And they have moved on since then. I find I Want To Believe frustrating in so many ways and one of those ways was the fact that they still had to be so separate. Their separation made sense throughout many seasons of the programme but at that point – in that film – it made much less sense and it just seemed painful and upsetting.

Maybe that seems silly, but I find it upsetting but I really hate to see characters that I'm invested in going through something difficult and painful that doesn't make sense. And the thing I liked least about the last film was what they did to Scully. She was completely broken – and their representation of their relationship was a huge part of that – and I did not want to see that. Can he not give them a difficult life but together. Can there not be strength for them in that they are bonded together when all the world is crushing them? I guess not.

Yep, I think that's why most of the fandom is mistrustful, because they dragged out actually writing M/S as a couple for so long that this just feels like an easy out from having to actually put the work in to write them as a couple and try something new. It's such crap for CC to act like they spend a lot of time on writing M/S with no tension and that just didn't work, they barely dedicated any time to them just being a functional romantic couple together, it was always about keeping us guessing right up to the end of season 8. And season 9 hardly counts when DD was missing for all of that season outside of the finale, and even then they certainly had a lot of other complications to deal with in The Truth

And I know exactly what you mean, there was a very tired and depressing feel about what they did with the characters in IWTB, and I don't think it's something that anyone had been going to the cinema hoping to see. But I wouldn't be surprised if CC interpreted it as FTF being the bigger success because there was tension and the bee near kiss in that one, while Mulder and Scully were settled down together in IWTB and so that was just boring for the audience, even though again that's a far cry from the moments that they did give us in that movie. Okay there was the adorable bed scene, but otherwise everything about their relationship was subdued and raising the question if they were even still together, and even their final hug and kiss wasn't exactly something that the film tried to make particularly cinematic

The idea that a couple can't be compelling once together is a hack idea. I can think of plenty of couples that stayed interesting, if not more interesting, when together. Parks and Rec had two that I adored throughout because the writers remembered that what made them interesting during the UST period kept them interesting together (Andy's childlike enthusiasm to April's hatred of everything, Leslie's optimism to Ben's pragmatism). The time for UST is over with Mulder and Scully. I think we know there is no one else in the world for either of them.

That being said, I hope this is just a UST device to give us the grand RST Carter never gave us onscreen during the show's run. If so, then fine. But you better deliver or I will feel cheated by the hours I am spending recapping this series. Sorry. Can't unship what has been shipped on this level.

Yeah it just feels like such a 90's idea at this point, audiences will absolutely still care about your main couple if you know how to write it well. And geez it's not like the show is a soap opera drama when they need to make the relationship the main focus and source of drama, they could very easily just give us great cases each week, and keep M/S as a happy couple in the background. I have more sympathy for teen dramas when it comes to them needing to break their couples up and find new sources of storylines, but with a show like The X-Files It's not like they need to keep introducing personal drama to keep the show going, their personal lives were very rarely dealt with when the show was having its most successful run

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