The American Dream in The X-Files: 3, One Breath, Firewalker, Red Museum, Excelsius Dei, Aubrey, Irresistible, Die Hand die Verletzt

By -


The introduction to this series of posts on the American dream as it appears in The X-Files may be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1

2x07 3 (Monster of the Week)

No apparent reference to the American dream (unless it's a dream about being a vampire).

2x08 One Breath (Core Mythology)

There is a suggestion that different groups (who may or may not be involved in a government conspiracy to keep information from the populace) in the form of the stealing of Scully's blood, the intervention of X, and Cancer Man's statement that he does know what's going on.

2x09 Firewalker (Monster of the Week)

No apparent reference to the American dream.

2x10 Red Museum (Core Mythology)

There are repeated references to food which could lead back to the 'freedom from want' element of the American dream, and to freedom of religion as well as the negative side of how religions perceived to be outside the mainstream can be treated. There is a hint of government involvement in the injections because the assassin is the one who killed Deep Throat, but these things are very much merely scenery to the real point which is the alien DNA.

2x11 Excelsius Dei (Monster of the Week)

This episode references the American dream of immigration to the US to improve your life. The show then undermines the dream by depicting the world's worst run nursing home, and having an immigrant reflect badly on how Americans treat their elderly. This is juxtaposed with Mulder's supposition that traditional shamanic communities have treatments for dementia in the shape of hallucinogenic mushrooms (they don't, we'd have heard of them by now).

2x12 Aubrey (Monster of the Week)

No apparent reference to the American dream.

2x13 Irresistible (Monster of the Week)

In the scene where Pfaster introduces himself to the mother as their new delivery man and she tells him how they always leave the door open, the episode brings the fear right into the home, one of the embodiments of the American dream.

2x14 Die Hand die Verletzt (Monster of the Week)

This is one of the few episodes which explicitly references the American dream, specifically the part about religious freedom, because it was written to critique and parody American religion with its tale of luke warm Satanists, who have come to the country to escape persecution. 

Since the episode explicitly critiques American religion which is part of the dream I will include this episode in the ones with significant content about the American dream.

As I go through these posts I am going to keep a tally of how many episodes of Core Mythology and Monster of the Week types have significant content making the American dream in effect part of the plot rather than the omnipresent setting, and so far we have 

Core Mythology: 11 (4 with signifcant content relating to the American dream: Deep Throat, Fallen Angel, E.B.E., and Little Green Men.)

Monster of the Week: 26 (8 with significant content relating to the American dream: Eve, Beyond the Sea, Young at Heart, Miracle Man, Shapes, Blood, and Sleepless and Die Hand die Verletzt.)

As always, I'm totally unequipped to do this so if I've missed anything corrections are very welcome in the comments.