Scully's skepticism is pretty rational

[Scififan]

The real reason that Scully is so likeable is that David Duchony chose to play Mulder as a bit of a dick. Not a complete asshole, but he really plays up the unlikeable aspects of the character - how he's offputting to others, how he won't accept their input, how he likes people to buy in to his theories fully. Combined with the writers often making Scully and Mulder BOTH wrong about something, it really got you rooting for Scully to be right just to stick it to Mulder sometimes. Scully is the more conservative, down to earth skeptic, but showing her unlikeable elements alongside another protagonist with unlikeable elements served very well to keep them in check.
Laura did have a wild side too, in fact she became a P.I. because she liked excitement.

If you want to see another dynamic like that, Remington Steele features Laura Holt who is very much the "stick in the mud" type of character alongside a suave Pierce Brosnan playing the great detective "Remington Steele" (it's a long story). But because of the ways "Remington Steele" is a dislikeable person, and specifically how they play his weaknesses against Laura's strengths, and visa versa, show why they're a team, and have viewers rooting for both people even when they disagree (as they did. Often.)

[Beastro]

Laura did have a wild side too, in fact she became a P.I. because she liked excitement.

I assume this is what you meant to put in that got buried in the quote.

That's the thing with their dynamic in that it isn't a stereotypical yin and yang, but both have a bit of each in the other: Laura is the uptight stick in the mud, but is also the feisty one often needing restraining from going at people's throats who annoy her; Remington is the professional thief, but he is always dogged by moral qualms when it comes to really having a chance to benefit from deeply hurting someone.

In the end, the job is for Laura more an adventure to break say from her life, for Remington it becomes a form of redemption.

Sigh, I wish TV shows were had more archetypal and thematic things going on in them.

[Scififan]

Laura did have a wild side too, in fact she became a P.I. because she liked excitement.

I assume this is what you meant to put in that got buried in the quote.

That's the thing with their dynamic in that it isn't a stereotypical yin and yang, but both have a bit of each in the other: Laura is the uptight stick in the mud, but is also the feisty one often needing restraining from going at people's throats who annoy her; Remington is the professional thief, but he is always dogged by moral qualms when it comes to really having a chance to benefit from deeply hurting someone.

In the end, the job is for Laura more an adventure to break say from her life, for Remington it becomes a form of redemption.

Sigh, I wish TV shows were had more archetypal and thematic things going on in them.

She was also trying to escape from the traditional nuclear family scenario that her mother wanted to her to be, which is what her sister ended up becoming. Her sister even stated that Laura escape from the kind of life her sister lives in. It is also true that she was very passionate about getting to the truth. I loved Remington Steele, they don't make shows like that anymore.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Kraicheck was a really misunderstood character.

I liked Krycek when he was an informant who got in too deep with the wrong people and became a self-interested rogue agent, which seems to be what they were going for at first. Unfortunately, Krycek's motivations became way too convoluted and seemed to shift to whatever the needs of the immediate plot might be. He's not the only character that seemed to happen with either.

Do you have a different read on the character?

Okay, so I think you're right about it being considerately convoluted when you take a step back, but I actually think he gelled well as a whack-a-mole in the grand scheme of things. Probably not the best metaphor, I know, but fitting nonetheless.

I think I get what the writers were going with with him, though it's kind of tricky having him join the Russian efforts for some time. I'm really not too sure though what the idea was with him kidnapping Scully's baby, but maybe time will tell on that one.

I was just larking about him in earlier posts, but I do kind of like what he represents as part of the show.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Regarding the original topic. Having finished the series, episode, by movie, by episode, by movie, by episode. There is only one instance where I felt like Scully's reactions to events were not consistent with her dynamic cohesive work with Mulder.

At the time I felt that it was rather shattering to my defense of her, and started questioning things. But really it's not as if that sentiment wasn't easily avoided from that point on, especially given that the show relied heavily on wild card writings by that point as a matter of its standalone-episode strength, though in spite of the questionable overarching plot precision.

[CharlesPhipps]

The best episodes actually play with the formula. It's not that Mulder is RIGHT, it's just that Mulder isn't WRONG.

For the majority of X-files, it goes like this:

Mulder: I believe this town contains the chupacabra, Scully!

Scully: That's stupid, Mulder. Chupacabra doesn't exist!

Mulder: I shall prove you wrong!

[40 minutes later]

Scully: It wasn't a chupacabra.

Mulder: No, Scully, it was actually a group of tunnel trolls that have fled back underground to rejoin their people.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

There's actually I feel like a lot of variation even in the monster of the week. Between comedy, dire straits bewilderment, supernatural crime drama, and episodes I'd say that field a garden variety of niche speculative subgenre, it points your brain to multiple facets.

[CharlesPhipps]

The Mythology Episodes are ones I hate now.

Because it was revealed there was no Story Bible or mythology.

It was all made up on the fly like Lost.

[Independent George]

I loved the mythology episodes over the first thee-ish seasons; that was rare back then, and I loved the feeling that we weren't just watching a procedural, but in a lived-in world that was evolving.

By the end, I hated them; the mythology made no sense, and was all buildup to absolutely nothing. The conspiracy was just a bunch of dudes in a poorly-lit rooms speaking vaguely about nothing in particular while portentous music played.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

House of Cards was the mythology we didn't get.