X-Files--"The Field Where I Died"

" ...at times I almost dream
I, too, have spent a life the sages' way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out-not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again..."
--"Paracelsus," Robert Browning

“The Field Where I Died” is the most atmospheric and tragic episode of the series. It remains one of my personal favorites, not only because I am a history buff, but because of how much it stands out among the rest of the series. There is very little action to it, yet it feeld larger than life. Considering the point of the story is living multiple lives, I assume that is intentional. Personal drama propels the story, including allowing a guest actor to splendidly take front stage. In short, it unusually poignant.

Mulder and Scully take part in an ATF raid on a religious compound that has a large cache of illegal firearms. The FBI was tipped off by Sydney, an informant whom they are there to rescue as a secondary objective. After the most heated part of the raid in complete, mulder feels in explicably drawn into a field near the compound where he finds an underground bunker in which the cult leader, Vernon Ephesian, is hiding with his six wives. Mulder has no idea how he knew about the bunker.

The cult hid the weapons. Their lawyers can have them freed within 24 hours if the guns are not found. The Fbi is in a race to find the guns in order to hold all the cult members in custody because, in accordance with their fanciful interpretation of Revelations, they will commit mass suicide rather than allow the Armies of Satan--the ATF and FBI--to defeat them. Their biggest obstacle is that Sydney is discovered to be one of the personalities of MPD sufferer Melissa.

Melissa not only exhibits MPD, but past life regression. One of her pass lives was a Confederate widow who witnessed her husband die in the field behind the cult compound during a battle in 1863. What is more, her past life believes Mulder is her dead husband. Scully, who is not a psychologist, thinks she is suffering from MPD. Mulder, who is an oxford trained psychologist, believes her past life regression. There is a juxtaposition best to gloss over.

Mulder thinks they can bring out the Sydney personality to reveal the location of the gun cache if they take Melissa back to the compound. They do, but she is dominated by her Civil War era life. The agents try hypnosis, much to Scully’s skepticism, but that does little more than cause melissa to reveal the heartbreaking story of how she witnessed her husband die. The two are intertwined throughout eternity because of their love for another.

With Mulder’s attention piqued, he goes under hypnosis himself. He confirms his past identity, that many others in his current life have been with him before, and how his true love has always been with him, too. He tells stories of their past together in the Warsaw ghetto and as lowly bureaucrats. David Duchovney makes the entire sequence come off much more emotionally wrenching than I can describe.

But the Sydney personality never emerges, so the gun cache is never found. Without any reason to hold the cultists, they return to their compound. As expected, they commit mass suicide by drinking poisoned Kool Aid before the ATF can raid the place again looking for the gun cache. Mulder mourns the death of Melissa, someone with whom he obviously shares a connection., even if it is inexplicable.

“The Field Where I Died” is a fantastic episode. It certainly ran the risk of being derivative. The cult is a blatant mash up of the Branch Davidians (The guns, the apocalyptic prophecy, and Vernon, which was David Koresh’s birth name) and Jonestown (The mass suicide by poisoned Koll Aid.) The whole idea of past life regression being brought to the surface by hypnosis is also in many ways sillier than aliens and ghosts. Yet it all works here because of the actors’ skill.

Kristen Cloke, who later married episode writer Glen Morgan, gets much more screen time than most guest cast members in order to shine. She not only affords each personality within her a distinctive spirit, but genuinely establishes her Civil War era self with an air of deep sorrow. Cloke is also the actress in the Millennium video I posted yesterday.

I often praise mark Snow’s musical scores, but they stand out in particular here. When I spoke of “The Field Where I Died” as atmospheric, it is the music I mostly credit, the the early morning/late evening cinematography plays a big part in the discovery of new life/death of the old theme. The musical score mixes the acoustic, Civil War era sound on the field when mulder searches for the bunker and the ATF raids the compound much like the Union army in 1863. Inside the compound, the cult’s religious services, including the mass suicide, are done to ethereal Gregorian chants. Very haunting on both counts.

The only downside to “The Field Where I Died’ is that none of the revelations will mean anything for the characters later. Finding out mulder, Scully, et al are spiritually connected throughout eternity with mulder destined to have a one true love is too big a deal to just drop and never mention again. But that is exactly what will happen. The flaw is only going to knock off a star from my rating, denying “The Field Where I Died” a perfect score.

Rating: **** (out of 5)