X-Files Flashback: ‘Oubliette’

Oubliette

Season 3, Episode 8
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Charles Grant Craig

The X-Files hits Mulder where it hurts in “Oubliette,” an episode dedicated to the real-life horrors of child abduction and its brutal aftermath. With only a small supernatural connection, the episode has to sink or swim based on its human element, and it acquits itself nicely. Plus, David Duchovny succeeds in his bid to demonstrate some acting range that many felt, up until this point, he hadn’t really displayed. Okay, let’s be nice and say hadn’t had the opportunity to display…

An “oubliette” is defined as a dungeon that opens only at the top, which fits with the story line as it deals with the abduction and subsequent imprisonment of a young girl. We open with the actual abduction of Amy Jacobs (Jewel Staite), but, this being The X-Files, we are also introduced to Lucy Householder (Tracey Ellis) who experiences everything Amy experiences through some sort of psychic connection. When Amy’s nose starts bleeding, Lucy’s nose finishes. When Amy’s face is scratched, Lucy’s bears the scars. When Amy is cold and wet, water drips from Lucy. You get the picture. Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate, and nearly everyone suspects Lucy was directly involved in the kidnapping, particularly since the blood that stains Lucy’s clothing is effectively Amy’s blood. Mulder, however, believes in Lucy and tries to explore her connection with Amy because Lucy was once herself the victim of a similar kidnapping at the same man’s hands. At the end of the episode, the kidnapper is discovered by the FBI but flees to the river to drown Amy. As he does so, Lucy begins to gasp for air on dry land. After killing the kidnapper, Mulder uses CPR to resuscitate Amy but is not able to save Lucy, who dies from drowning.

“Oubliette” isn’t an effective “monster of the week” show, but that’s OK. It gets thrown into the category because it doesn’t truly deal with the overall mythology of the series (thankfully). Instead, it forces the supernatural element to the side and pulls forward the human story as the central drama. Mulder’s obsession with saving Amy/Lucy clearly ties into his unresolved feelings for saving his own sister, Samantha, who was abducted by aliens. Amy is even kidnapped through an open bedroom window, much like Samantha was years ago. The whole kidnaping storyline is truthfully rendered and feels eerily similar to too many real-life cases of missing and murdered young women. It’s hard to call this episode an entertainment given that fact and given Duchovny’s full-on dive into the emotional truth of the situation – the damaged authoritarian figure who tries to save the damaged women in his life.

By focusing more on the reality of child abduction and those damaged by it, The X-Files takes a huge risk in turning off viewers anticipating a classic science-fiction storyline. But there are rewards to be had here if you’re willing to invest in real human emotion over the shock value frequently offered in regular X-Files outings. “Oubliette” may at times appear one-note and predictable, but it doesn’t diminish the power of real fear and of true-life salvation.

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