For a show so beloved by lesbian and bisexual women everywhere, The X-Files sure didn’t have a lot of actual lesbians or bisexuals. OR DID IT??? At least IN MY IMAGINATION?? Not discussed is the sexual orientation of Scully herself, because my heart can’t take it, but feel free to cover the topic roundly in the comments.
1. Colleen Azar, “all things,” Season 7 Episode 17
I always remembered this as a subtextual lesbian episode — like here are Colleen Azar and her “friend,” two nice white lady “roommates” who live together and are really into chakras, wink wink nudge nudge. Imagine my surprise when I rewatched it a year or two ago and found out they are canonically lesbians who talk about their relationship! And kiss! This episode was directed by real-life lady who likes other ladies Gillian Anderson, so I am assuming we have her to thank for this lesbian representation way back in the year 2000. They seem like they take things super seriously in general and aren’t that fun to hang out with, but hey, at least they’re still alive at the end of the episode!
2. Karin Berquist, “Alpha,” Season 6 Episode 16
The best part of this episode is that one subplot is supposed to be Scully being jealous of what she perceives as romantic chemistry between Mulder and Karen Berquist — Karen Berquist, who lives in the middle of nowhere with her mullet and a young female assistant, training dogs and eschewing most human contact. Scully is a brilliant scientist, but we have to be real about the fact that gaydar is not a strength of hers.
3. Michelle Fazekas, “Detour,” Season 5 Episode 4
Michelle is a beautiful and powerful force for good in the world and looking at her makes me want to weep, and also she is a lesbian. She is the only person who understands how forests work on this whole show, she is extremely competent, and also her hair is perfect. Also she makes this face when talking to Mulder for the first time, which I find very gay and relatable.
4. Angela White, “Syzygy,” Season 3 Episode 13
Angela White has perfect cheekbones, wears shoulderpads with her skirt suits and drinks cheap whiskey out of the plastic pint bottle; I feel strongly that she is bisexual, and I would like to get a bottomless mimosa brunch with her.
5. Invisigoth, “Kill Switch,” Season 5 Episode 11
I mean, come on. She even dies at the end of the episode. Somewhere Invisigoth and Lexa are together in television lesbian heaven, smearing on eyeliner straight out of the gel pot with their whole palm.
6. Nancy Kline, “Arcadia,” Season 6 Episode 15
For many fans, the appeal of this episode was the fanservice plot point of having Mulder and Scully go undercover as a married plot point. Fair enough, but let’s not forget about Nancy Kline, who keeps her cool when her husband gets shouty about the azaleas by remembering the sweet embrace of Suzy Ferris, her college girlfriend that she met in ceramics class and dated for two years before Suzy joined the Peace Corps.
7. Kristen Kilar, “3,” Season 2 Episode 7
Kristen Kilar has to be bisexual because she’s a vampire, and all vampires are bisexual. I don’t make the rules. That’s just how it is.
8. Lab technician, “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” Season 1 Episode 24
She has lesbian voice and a general air of weariness that I suspect resonates with us all to some degree.
9. Phoebe, “First-Person Shooter,” Season 7 Episode 13
She has blunt-cut bangs, is the only woman in a world of annoying narcissistic software developers, and she secretly creates an avatar who looks like a leather domme from space and murders male gamers.
10. Monica Reyes
Why am I so sure Monica Reyes is queer? Is it because she lit candles and put on whale music to help a friend give birth? Is it because she’s sort of psychic and has a great haircut? Is it because of how far short the show fell in terms of doing her character justice? How natural a v-neck and blue jeans look on her? I don’t know, but if Monica Reyes is straight I will get in my car, drive to a hat store, purchase one and then eat it bite by bite with a knife and fork.
What about Dr. Da Silva from “Ice”? Maybe it’s just me loving Felicity Huffman, but I think she really enjoyed checking out Scully (err… for extraterrestrial worms).
Being bisexual and having been accused of being a vampire I would have to agree your assertion on the 7th listing.
As a lesbian who is on season 4, this was very motivating and inspired me to binge faster so I could get to all of these episodes.
Yes! I’m part-way through season five, and this has definitely motivated me to keep going – although there’s no way I’d stop now haha :p I still find it excited hearing/reading people discuss the show and being able to join in because I know the episode they’re talking about – is that weird?
*exciting. I meant exciting. Also, for a website as awesome as Autostraddle, why is there no way of editing a comment? Would be super useful for late-night typos just like this haha :)
It actually personally offended me when they tried to make Reyes/Doggett a romantic thing because Monica Reyes is so obviously a lesbian it is astounding. Stop forcing compulsory heterosexuality on possibly the gayest character to ever be on tv! Anyway I love world-weariness used as a wlw indicator in #8.
I just IMDb’d the character from Detour, because I thought the actress looked familiar from something more recent that The X-Files, and IMDb imforms me that actress, Colleen Flynn played both Michelle Fazekas in Detour, and Colleen Azar in All Things.
Now I’m imaging that after dealing with Mulder and Scully the first time, she changed her name, moved away and started a new life, with a new girlfriend, only to be drawn back into X-Files type shit again. No wonder she was so serious.
Kalamac I’ve been thinking about this comment since you posted it five days ago, i will probably never stop thinking about it
this is like my da vinci code
AGREED ON ALL POINTS
Wait, is Scully not bi? I always assumed she was…
How could she not be bi?
Gillian Anderson is bi IRL! I am also very open to interpretations of Scully being bi. A+, great work.
Invisigoth aka one of the first Quirky Goth Tech Girls
Also yes!! All Things IS the episode with a soundtrack of almost entirely Moby. We talked about this at Camp. I feel like she and Mulder fuck off screen at the end of this? Or make Eye contact and then later she’s pregnant with the worst plotline of the entire show. Same thing.
Figuring out exactly where the fuck MSR is at any given point in the series is so confusing. They definitely canon fucked at least once by the end of the main show but I’m not sure when that was supposed to be. I heard it was All Things, but the episode is vague about it. Like Scully goes to sleep on Mulder’s couch at the end of the episode, but the flash-forward at the beginning made it look like she banged him to sleep off screen and then bounced. Like did she wake up all frisky and shit in the middle of the night? The biggest X-File of them all tbh.
I’m really into this list and also have a
SUGGESTED ADDITION: Dr. Amina Ngebe, the pretty African lady scientist from the opening of Season 7. She and Scully spent a bunch of time in a tent by the sea doing science about an alien artifact while Scully kept a passionate journal (to Mulder? but w/e). Really though I just want to read a novel using this scenario so someone get on that?
So I’ve been REALLY trying to get into this show, like watching the beginning of Season 1 at least three times all the way to episode 7 probably (!!!). But I just can’t ! Mulder is so bland ! They have zero chemistry !
Does it get better ?
For me, the show had an incredibly solid first season, so no, it does not get better, really. I also cared a lot about Mulder and felt they had excellent chemistry from the start (though that part does actually intensify over time). Character appeal and chemistry perception is subjective, is my point.
It sounds like it just isn’t a show for you and that’s fine. Not everyone has to like something. Better to just acknowledge it’s not your cuppa tea and move on.
i also don’t care about mulder really at all, and i love the show mostly maybe because i just focus on the scully parts? if it helps, the way i got into things was just bouncing around and watching Monster of the Week episodes that looked fun without caring at all about the mythology stuff, and after i had gotten sucked into the world via that route, i could put up with the mulder-heavy mythology arcs. but also if it’s not for you, that’s ok, don’t feel like you have to slog! tv should be fun and good!