black and white

scully:

The X-Files is incredibly romantic, but it’s not going to be romance the way you’re used to seeing romance on television. 

It is not going to be forced and it is not going to be fast. They are not going to fall into bed with each other in the first season or two, you are not going to listen to them profess their undying love to each other in so many words. 

What you get are two people, two total opposites, put together with the intention of destroying each other but in turn, end up saving each other. You get to watch them grow from acquaintances, to friendly co-workers, to best friends, to lovers. But by the time they get there, by the time they get to the part that other couples on television seem to jump right into, it doesn’t even matter because they’re already each other’s everything.

So you don’t see them go on typical dates. But you see them bonding in shitty diners across the country, in rental cars on long stretches of dark highway, sitting on rocks in the water or on benches in small town America or on forest floors. They don’t talk of their feelings in so many words, they don’t use flowery prose to make sure the other person knows how they feel but they fight for each other, lie for each other, die for each other, go to battle together, be the only person the other person trusts. 

So Mulder is not the best boyfriend/husband in the world but he’s the best partner Scully’s ever had, the love of her life, the father of her child but he’s also her best friend. It is a foundation of trust, loyalty, respect before love even enters the equation.

And Scully is not the best girlfriend/wife in the world, but she’s the only person who’s ever made Mulder feel like he’s worth a damn, like he deserves something in this world.

So The X-Files is absolutely romantic and I think if you don’t see that, then it’s because you’re looking for romance in all the wrong ways.