The X-Files

Soft Light - S2-E23

Stupidity: After Mulder requests a fingerprint check on light bulb, Scully wipes it down with a napkin, removing any such evidence with no possible useful outcome. (00:06:00)

Ice - S1-E8

Stupidity: Everyone is trying to figure out who among them is infected by a psychosis-causing worm. Physical symptoms are not reliable indicators, seeming to come and go. Near The End of the episode, the scientists are using infected blood to develop a test or cure, and see that larvae in one sample attack larvae in the other sample. If an infected person develops larvae in their blood, why not just do a blood test on everyone to determine who is infected?

Ice - S1-E8

Stupidity: Scully is a trained professional and ultimately has authority (and a degree of responsibility) over everyone at the research base. The idea that she would disarm herself just to make someone feel better by throwing out the pistol magazines is ridiculous and negligent especially given that there have been numerous deaths/murders at the base already. (00:33:15)

Jack Vaughan

Travelers - S5-E15

Stupidity: When Mulder is watching the hearing video in his apartment and spots his father, he is wearing a gold wedding band for the duration of the scene. (00:07:35)

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Mistakes

Paper Clip (3) - S3-E2

Visible crew/equipment: When Mulder and Scully enter the abandoned mine through a doorway, the viewer can see at right in the distance a number of people sitting on a wall, and one crouching in front of the wall with what looks like a dog. They are sitting still, but there is still movement there. (00:16:00)

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Quotes

Triangle - S6-E3

Skinner: Use your head Scully. It'll save your ass.
Scully: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.

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Trivia

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Questions

Show generally

Question: In a vast majority of the episodes, whenever Mulder and Scully investigate some mysterious or paranormal phenomenon, Mulder believes that some unknown force is responsible but Scully always has a rational explanation for what is happening. In other episodes, when Scully herself is caught up in something mysterious, she is the believer but Mulder is the skeptic. In those episodes, why would Mulder be skeptical about an unexplained phenomenon considering that he a was witness to his own sisters abduction and he saw many strange things that defied explanation while working for the F.B.I.?

Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: A variety of reasons. Just because Scully saw something unusual does not mean that it was. Mulder always needs concrete proof before he'll believe there's some otherworldly explanation for unexplained phenomena. He's too experienced to take a novice's explanation as fact. It is also a plot by device by the writers to switch the tables on the characters to make it more interesting and to let viewers see another side of their relationship.

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