They both seemed completely in character to me--and doing that while keeping them in transition from the end of the series to IWTB is hard stuff. Plenty of writers (including myself, it could be argued) fell short of this goal. I can only think of a handful that succeeded, even partially.
I liked this approach to the problem of William far better than most. I absolutely believe that Scully would put a stop to it if Mulder suggested they try to get him back. It's a moot point whether or not William would have been safer if she'd kept him or gone on the run with Mulder. It's what Chris Carter wanted. It's what got filmed.
They're no longer his parents. He's someone else's child. Seeing him again at this point, having to give him up again would be ruinous for everyone concerned. Taking William away from the only family he's known would be cruel. But plenty of fanfic writers have done it without blinking and I wouldn't put it past Chris Carter.
I think it's interesting that Mulder is the one who wants to go find William and I can't decide if it's written for us to believe that Mulder needs direction, something to pursue -- or if it's just paternal longing/desperation.
Couldn't it be both? People's motivations in real life are seldom one-dimensional.
But you're asking what the author intended us to think. For that, we have to return to the text.
“He’s our son,” he states factually, but confusion soon gives way to heady desperation, and she feels him lost in this strange labyrinth he had left her to navigate. “Our son, Scully.”
He's asserting his ownership of the child, first of all. The patriarchy rears its ugly head. Then he remembers whom he's talking to, and adds her back into the equation. Really, I think he's trying to negotiate with her on her terms, her turf--the realm of facts, not feelings--but this is Mulder so the feelings are still there, with William only the latest in a long chain of losses going all the way back to Samantha. Mulder hasn't been a whole person since he lost his sister. His life has been a quest, not just in search of her and for the truth, but to fill the deep well of emptiness inside him. Scully made him a whole person, or so he believed at the time. I'm not sure it works that way. For a psychologist, Mulder can be remarkably obtuse about human nature.
But then he was taken away by the spaceship in Oregon. He was experimented on and tortured unmercilessly. The story makes it clear that he's having flashbacks--a symptom of post-traumatic stress. Even with Scully there at his side, he's a black hole of longing and regret and fear and uncertainty. Going after William, like searching for the truth about Samantha, is the most convenient way of displacing that unresolved pain, and the most familiar coping mechanism in his repertoire.
Scully knows what's going on here, better than Mulder. After all, she's an abductee as well. Samantha was Mulder's sister. His search for the truth was always firmly rooted in the emotional underpinnings of that loss. (This is an unpopular view but I've always thought that Mulder's first attachment to Scully was as a substitute for Samantha.) Until "Closure" there was never any sense that Mulder could or would be stopped from looking for her.
But now Scully can put her foot down because William isn't just Mulder's son, he's hers. The patriarchy be damned. She may have given him to other parents to raise but she hasn't given up her need to protect William, even from his father if necessary. Plus, Mulder was trying to argue his case using facts, using logic. Naturally, he was going to lose. Maybe, deep down, he didn't want to win. Maybe, he knew all along that Scully would never go along with his half-baked plan.
no subject
I liked this approach to the problem of William far better than most. I absolutely believe that Scully would put a stop to it if Mulder suggested they try to get him back. It's a moot point whether or not William would have been safer if she'd kept him or gone on the run with Mulder. It's what Chris Carter wanted. It's what got filmed.
They're no longer his parents. He's someone else's child. Seeing him again at this point, having to give him up again would be ruinous for everyone concerned. Taking William away from the only family he's known would be cruel. But plenty of fanfic writers have done it without blinking and I wouldn't put it past Chris Carter.
I think it's interesting that Mulder is the one who wants to go find William and I can't decide if it's written for us to believe that Mulder needs direction, something to pursue -- or if it's just paternal longing/desperation.
Couldn't it be both? People's motivations in real life are seldom one-dimensional.
But you're asking what the author intended us to think. For that, we have to return to the text.
“He’s our son,” he states factually, but confusion soon gives way to heady desperation, and she feels him lost in this strange labyrinth he had left her to navigate. “Our son, Scully.”
He's asserting his ownership of the child, first of all. The patriarchy rears its ugly head. Then he remembers whom he's talking to, and adds her back into the equation. Really, I think he's trying to negotiate with her on her terms, her turf--the realm of facts, not feelings--but this is Mulder so the feelings are still there, with William only the latest in a long chain of losses going all the way back to Samantha. Mulder hasn't been a whole person since he lost his sister. His life has been a quest, not just in search of her and for the truth, but to fill the deep well of emptiness inside him. Scully made him a whole person, or so he believed at the time. I'm not sure it works that way. For a psychologist, Mulder can be remarkably obtuse about human nature.
But then he was taken away by the spaceship in Oregon. He was experimented on and tortured unmercilessly. The story makes it clear that he's having flashbacks--a symptom of post-traumatic stress. Even with Scully there at his side, he's a black hole of longing and regret and fear and uncertainty. Going after William, like searching for the truth about Samantha, is the most convenient way of displacing that unresolved pain, and the most familiar coping mechanism in his repertoire.
Scully knows what's going on here, better than Mulder. After all, she's an abductee as well. Samantha was Mulder's sister. His search for the truth was always firmly rooted in the emotional underpinnings of that loss. (This is an unpopular view but I've always thought that Mulder's first attachment to Scully was as a substitute for Samantha.) Until "Closure" there was never any sense that Mulder could or would be stopped from looking for her.
But now Scully can put her foot down because William isn't just Mulder's son, he's hers. The patriarchy be damned. She may have given him to other parents to raise but she hasn't given up her need to protect William, even from his father if necessary. Plus, Mulder was trying to argue his case using facts, using logic. Naturally, he was going to lose. Maybe, deep down, he didn't want to win. Maybe, he knew all along that Scully would never go along with his half-baked plan.
I think I know what story I'm going to post next.