Season 7: All Things (7X17)

Written by: Gillian Anderson
Directed by: Gillian Anderson

Scully joins Mulder for lunch in the X-files basement office, he shows her slides of crop circle formations, however Scully seems uninterested and opts out of travelling with Mulder to the UK to investigate. Scully goes to the Washington National hospital to pick up a medical chart, however she is handed the wrong chart, it is marked D. Waterston. Scully asks the nurse if the chart belongs to a Dr Daniel Waterston, which it does.

Scully speaks to his doctor who explains he was brought in suffering from chest pains. Scully is surprised to hear that he mentioned her name. She leaves the hospital before Daniel regains consciousness but later receives a phone call from his daughter Maggie saying that he wants to see her. Scully returns to the hospital, Maggie is not happy and leaves the room, Daniel however is pleased to see her, they have a history, they used to be lovers.

Scully fearful of causing the break up of his family left to joined the FBI. However Daniel's marriage broke down anyway shortly after Scully left, he even moved to Washington in hope of getting back together with her. Later she goes to see Colleen Azar to get some crop circle research for Mulder, and ends up talking about Daniel. Colleen, an advocate of faith healing, tells her how shame and guilt can cause illness. Back at the hospital Scully tells Daniel that she is not the same person who fell in love with him, and that he has to face up to the pain he has caused his daughter, it is the only way he will get well.

Notes:
"All Things" has one of the most controversial teasers of the entire series. Scully is seen dressing in front of a bathroom mirror, and then we pan out to find it's Mulder's apartment, and he's in bed without any clothes on...

Colleen Flynn (Colleen Azar) previously appeared in Season's 5 "Detour" as Michelle Fazekas, the Search and Rescue team leader investigating the disappearances in the forest.

Mulder appears in brief cameos only throughout this episode.

Is Gillian a buddhist? When Scully enters the hospital room you hear the sound of a bell ringing. This is an integral part of meditation, the bell is rung at the beginning and the end of meditation. Throughout the show, there's quite a bit of reference to slowing down and "being in the now" or "living in the moment." Also, when Gillian Anderson married Clyde Klotz, their ceremony was performed by a buddhist monk. I think Gillian did a beautiful job all over this episode not only acting, writing, and directing but her life lesson is a grand one.

At 23:09 in the running time of this episode, Scully is starting to give CPR to a patient in a hospital bed. The camera pulls back in a tracking shot. In order to enable the camera movement it is obvious that the hospital equipment on that side of the bed has been removed. As the camera pulls back a hand can be seen on the bottom right-hand portion of the screen, replacing the equipment. This can probably only be seen in the widescreen version of this episode.

The music Mulder is dancing to after the theme is played is: Moby - The Sky Is Broken. It also features prominently throughout the episode.

Quotes:
Scully: (voiceover) Time passes in moments... moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen, to consider whether the path we take in life is our own making, or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed. But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path?

Scully: Crop circles, Mulder?

Mulder: Computer-generated crop circles. It's a fractal image predicted by a computer program and using data of every known occurrence of the phenomena over the past 40 years. What most people don't realise is that, since 1991, there's been a dramatic increase in size and complexity of circle design. That's when the Mandelbrot Set appeared in England. A series of geometrically perfect rings appearing almost impossibly overnight, in a field near Cambridge. But that was merely prelude of what was to come. Three years later, in 1994, even more complex formations occurred simultaneously on opposite ends of the English countryside with the Mandelbrot Set, were it still there, at its centre. Then, in 1997, even more complex formations occurred... and I'm not wearing any pants right now.
Scully: Hmm?
Mulder: You're not listening.
Scully: I am. I guess I just don't see the point.
Mulder: The point is is that a computer program has shown us that these are not just random, happenstance coincidental occurrences and that same program has predicted that in just 48 hours even more complex formations are going to be laid down in a field near Avebury — 48 hours, Scully — but I wouldn't mind getting there earlier if you don't mind.
Scully: Getting where?
Mulder: England — I got two tickets on a 5:30 flight.
Scully: Mulder, I still have to go over to the hospital and finish the final paperwork on the autopsy you had me do. And, to be honest, it's Saturday and I wouldn't mind, I don't know, taking a bath?
Mulder: Well, what the hell does that mean?
Scully: What it means, Mulder, is I'm not interested in tracking down some sneaky farmers who happened to ace geometry in high school. And besides, I mean... what could you possibly get out of this? Or learn? I mean, it's not even remotely FBI-related.
Mulder: I'll just cancel your ticket. Thanks for lunch.
Scully: Mulder... Look, we're always running. We're always chasing the next big thing. Why don't you ever just stay still?
Mulder: I wouldn't know what I'd be missing.

Daniel Waterston: So I have to lock eyes with the Devil for you to grace me with your presence?

Scully: Surely not the Devil. How are you feeling, Daniel?
Daniel Waterston: It's a real drag when the body doesn't want to play any more.
Scully: You're extremely lucky you called that diagnosis.
Daniel Waterston: Luck has nothing to do with it, Dana. It's what doctors do everyday. You may have forgotten that.
Scully: Daniel... So, how did you happen to be here in Washington?
Daniel Waterston: That's a long story. How's the FBI?
Scully: Is that why you wanted to see me? To remind me once again what a bad choice I made?
Daniel Waterston: Believe me. My motivation is far more selfish than that.
Scully: You scare me, Daniel.
Daniel Waterston: I know. I scare you... because I represent that which is ingrained not only in your mind but in your heart — that which you secretly long for.
Scully: You never accepted my reason for leaving.
Daniel Waterston: It wasn't a reason, it was an excuse.
Scully: But you understood why.
Daniel Waterston: I can't believe the FBI is a passion. Not like medicine.
Scully: I'm sorry I came. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.
Daniel Waterston: I know how difficult it must have been for you... just walking through that door, but you wouldn't have come if you didn't want to. That says something, doesn't it?

Colleen Azar: Are you all right?

Scully: Yes, I... I mean, yes, I'm just a little shaken. I... a near car accident, I think. It's nothing, really.
Colleen Azar: A car accident isn't 'nothing'.
Scully: I'm sorry?
Colleen Azar: In my experience they're often the end results of us not paying attention to something.
Scully: Look, I don't mean to be rude but I really don't have much time.
Colleen Azar: Sure. I'll go get my papers. You think what we do is a little ridiculous, don't you?
Scully: Uh, to be honest, I don't know exactly what it is that you do.
Colleen Azar: But you've already formed a judgement about it.
Scully: I really should be going.
Colleen Azar: There is a greater intelligence in all things. Accidents — or near accidents — often remind us that we need to keep our mind open to the lessons it gives. You may want to slow down.

Daniel Waterston: I haven't been completely honest with you. It was hard for me... when you walked away. Shut down from my family, and needless to say, it was very difficult for Barbara.

Scully: You divorced.
Daniel Waterston: Only after an interminable period of discomfort for us both.
Scully: Where did you go?
Daniel Waterston: Here. Washington.
Scully: When?
Daniel Waterston: Almost ten years ago.
Scully: Daniel... you didn't move here for me?
Daniel Waterston: I didn't mean for it to happen this way, of course.
Scully: Oh, God. You've come at such a strange time.
Daniel Waterston: I know, I know. You have a life.
Scully: I don't know what I have. I mean... your x-rays were in the wrong envelope. I never would have even known you were here if it wasn't for a mix-up. It's just...
Daniel Waterston: What do you want, Dana?
Scully: I want everything I should want at this time of my life. Maybe I want the life I didn't choose.

Mulder: I just find it hard to believe.

Scully: What part?
Mulder: The part where I go away for two days and your whole life changes.
Scully: Mmm, I didn't say my whole life changed.
Mulder: You speaking to God in a Buddhist temple. God speaking back.
Scully: Mmm, and I didn't say that God spoke back. I said that I had some kind of a vision.
Mulder: Well, for you, that's like saying you're having David Crosby's baby. What is it?
Scully: I once considered spending my whole life with this man. What I would have missed.
Mulder: I don't think you can know. I mean, how many different lives would we be leading if we made different choices. We... we don't know.
Scully: What if there was only one choice and all the other ones were wrong? And there were signs along the way to pay attention to.
Mulder: Mmm. And all the... choices would then lead to this very moment. One wrong turn, and... we wouldn't be sitting here together. Well, that says a lot. That says a lot, a lot, a lot. That's probably more than we should be getting into at this late hour.

Clip from ''All Things''

Episode Number: 156
Season Number: 7
First Aired: Sunday, April 9, 2000
Production Code: 7X17