Oubliette

"Oubliette" is a solid, emotionally engaging episode that sometimes gets forgotten amidst all the show-stoppers that aired in Season 3. This is lamentable, as it features a gripping storyline, superb guest cast, and some great tender moments from David Duchovny. On ink and pad the basic premise - a psychophysical connection between two strangers that allows one to feel the others pain - sounds too far-fetched to be taken seriously. Duchovny and Tracey Ellis, as the fragile Lucy Householder, make it work. The incredulity of the plot becomes smothered by the viewer's sympathy for Lucy, who, having been abducted and held captive by a man named Carl Wade many years earlier, is once again a prisoner - trapped by the demons of her past via the young Amy Jacobs (Jewel Staite), who has also been kidnapped by Wade. Michael Chieffo is so convincing in his role as a psychopath he could make the Flukeman seem like Santa Claus. It is nice that the mythology arc is brought in somewhat with the connection to Samantha Mulder, one that is obvious even before it is mentioned.

"Oubliette" is a great Season 3 episode that deserves more recognition. Though it ends on a somber note, it is a beautifully written script whose success rests solely on the strength of its actors. The depth of this caliber would become scarcer and scarcer to find in subsequent years and as such it remains a classic X-File. 9 out of 10.

The episode starts with a school photographer taking pictures during school class day. As a girl walks away after getting her picture taken, the photographer's assistant leers at her, licking his lips.

"Keep your eyes off the girls, Lenny," says the photographer, the hint of violence in his voice. "Now go get me another bucket of film and keep your mind on your work before I smack you one." As the assistant hobbles away he can't help but look back once more at the girl.

This is an episode about a kidnapping, and then another former kidnapping victim can experience what she's going through, but she refuses to help because she doesn't want to.

Mulder pleads with her, I think I counted 8 or 9 times, but she's like, "No, I hope that girl dies, and I hope you die!"

The episode is hammy, overdone, there's a supernatural plot, but they don't really do anything with it because they don't want to and it probably sounded like hard work at the time. It's just a psychic thing happened and then old fashioned police work and luck actually did all the work. And otherwise it's a bad SVU episode about a fat guy torturing Kaylee from Firefly. I managed to get through it by playing it at 150% speed.

I was so proud of myself when I saw the title of this episode and said, "I know what that word means!" I wanted to write a review to tell you guys because I find it so ironic that the episode is called this, but the word is never even mentioned nor explained. But it completely fits the episode!

"Oubliette" is French for 'dungeon' and can also be connected to another French word, "Oublier," which means 'forget.' In other words...forgotten dungeon. An Oubliette was a Medieval torture chamber in which prisoners were thrown into a room below the floor. This room had no windows and the only way out was by a door high in the ceiling, the very door in which they were cast into. The prisoners in there were then intentionally forgotten about and many of them died from starvation or from going mad.

I love that the writers did their research and I absolutely LOVE this episode! A wonderful Mulder-centered episode and if that wasn't enough, it is also beautifully written.

(PS: I'm sorry if I got some of the French definitions wrong. I don't speak French, but I know all of that through research)

Many X Files episodes focus on the supernatural, paranormal, or government conspiracies. This episode focuses on Mulder more than anything, with a supernatural twist on a deadly serious plot: child abduction. It's about a 15 year old girl taken captive by a crazed school photographer who keeps her locked in a basement, or more aptly, an oubliette. Meanwhile a previous abductee, Lucy, who was kidnapped by the same man many years before, is somehow able to experience everything the little girl is as its happening. This makes Lucy the only person who can help find the little girl. Mulder is naturally sympathetic to the case because of what happened to his sister. Scully thinks that his emotions are clouding his judgement, and that only furthers Mulder's determination of finding her. It's hard seeing Mulder dealing with these emotions on his own, especially without support from Scully, and David Duchovny's performance is suitably heartbreaking.

Another thing that sets Oubliette apart is its use of a non-supernatural killer. The creepy photographer is nothing more than a sick, depraved man with no moral compass. He kept Lucy locked up with hardly any light for 5 years before her escape, and though it isn't stated, it's heavily implied that she was molested or raped numerous times. He's one of the most deplorable villains on the show if only because of how real he is - an average guy with an average job and a hellish secret, and there are enough of those to be afraid of in the real world.

This is an overlooked X Files episode with one of Duchovny's greatest performances, great writing, and great acting all around. Though it's not necessarily the most memorable episode of the series, it's among the few that taps into realistic human fears through delicate subject matter, and deserves recognition for so successfully pulling it off.

Oubliette follows the story of a girl who was abducted and a woman across town who collapsed and muttered the exact same words the abductor says at the exact time of the abduction. Mulder and Scully investigate this bizarre connection. A poignant line towards the beginning of the episode is when Mulder is talking to the mother of the abducted girl, Amy. Mulder says, "I know you must be feeling..." When the mother interrupts Mulder and exclaims, "I'm sorry … but how could you really know how I feel?" Mulder says nothing in reply. It's powerful because Mulder does know the feeling of having someone close to him abducted. Mulder separates the events of his sister's abduction from this case and manages to make a connection with Lucy, the woman who has the bizarre connection to Amy. However, when the police and Scully suspect that Lucy was involved in the abduction, Scully accuses Mulder of allowing his sister's abduction to cloud his judgement. Mulder responds by telling Scully, "And not everything I do, say, think, and feel goes back to my sister." And this is what made this episode special to me, Mulder's emotional connection to Lucy. He truly wanted to help Amy AND Lucy to "escape". Scully finally realizes this at the end. "Mulder, whatever there was between them, you were part of that connection." David Duchovny gives a great performance that you shouldn't miss.