X-Files Dreamland review: why the Mulder body swap works

Dreamland I and II, the two part body swap story from season 6 of The X-Files, is an excellent set of episodes, and I love the way they played out. They turn a familiar premise into something that fits the world of the show, with real insight into the characters' lives along the way.

The X-Files, starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, came into season 6 right off the back of the series' first feature film. The season premiered on the 8th of November 1998, ran into the new year and became the show's final season of the millennium. It pushed the episode count back above 20, with 22 episodes in total.

Season 6 of The X-Files is where many fans think the decline began

This season has a personal history for me. It was the first box set I ever bought. I didn't use to buy TV box sets, and because of that, this was the season of TV I watched over and over again.

It's also considered by many to be the point where things started to decline. This is where the ratings started to go down, and that continued until the final season of this run. Most of the criticism was that the standalone entries leaned more toward humor and stopped going for the scares that dominated so much of the earlier seasons. But I liked it.

Dreamland asks whether life outside the X-Files is any better

We begin with Mulder and Scully heading to the desert, talking about what life means to them outside of the X-Files. They discuss how they couldn't settle down, have a family or live their lives. That perfectly sets the stage for a body swap in which the episodes answer whether the grass is actually greener, whether that dreamland exists, if you will.

I think overall it's about learning to appreciate what you have and rediscovering what makes life good. The pair are then stopped by the military, and a government agent steps out smoking a cigarette. This isn't the Cigarette Smoking Man, though. Instead we're introduced to Morris Fletcher. A mysterious ship passes overhead, and Mulder and Fletcher find they've switched bodies.

Area 51 and the Duck Soup mirror scene show off the production

Confused, Mulder goes along with it and is taken to Area 51, past all the barriers and security checks, with a number of excellent camera tricks. I don't know if it's because the crew were used to working on a movie at this point or because they'd made so many episodes, but the production quality and blocking here demonstrate a level of skill that's not often seen in other shows.

There's also a brilliant mirror scene that pays homage to the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. Duchovny and Michael McKean wear the same clothes, match each other's movements and expressions, and go back and forth almost flawlessly. There's a bit here and there where it doesn't quite line up, but I think it's one of the best scenes they've done.

I think it shows the range of the show. One season you can have a cannibal cult that ended up gaining early onset dementia, and the next you can have stuff like this. Mulder also goes through Morris's wardrobe, finds a lot of black and white suits and makes a joke about them belonging to Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was known as the man in black, so it's a nice line to have said about a literal man in black.

Morris Fletcher's midlife crisis plays out in Mulder's life

Morris slots into Mulder's life and tries to make the most of his newfound freedom. Through Mulder's eyes, we learn that Morris comes from a loveless marriage with kids who hate him. Area 51 and black ops seem like they would be cool, but he says the paperwork's a nightmare. He smokes, and that bleeds over into his time as Mulder, as he asks for a pack of Morleys.

I think Morris is going through a midlife crisis and has been longing for the days he could be a bachelor once more. He asks out Kersh's secretary and even makes a move on Scully, which builds throughout the two episodes. He also sucks up to Kersh and is the complete opposite of Mulder in his career goals. He puts Mulder back on track to be the bureau's best agent, which is a funny progression to see.

Mulder struggles with Fletcher's family as the crashed ship warps the desert

Mulder isn't having the best time. He has to deal with Fletcher's coworkers, his wife and his kids. In his sleep he mumbles the name Scully, which makes Fletcher's wife think he's having an affair, something that continues across both episodes. He's caught watching adult movies, which is a characteristic of Mulder, and he gets the kids' names wrong.

He also finds out the ship from the night before crashed in the desert. One of the pilots has been fused with a rock, while the other has switched bodies with an elderly woman. It turns out someone sabotaged the craft and called Mulder out to the desert to witness it. There's a mole in the organization, and both Fletcher and Mulder try to find out who it is.

The ship was able to manipulate gravity, and in being destroyed it created a gravitational anomaly. A wave spreads across the desert, fusing people and objects together. That includes a gas station where the owner fuses with the floor, which the government covers up by killing him and destroying the place. Scully finds a penny and a dime fused together, and Mulder tries to convince her about the swap. Fletcher overhears and tips off his old boss, and part one ends with Mulder, in Fletcher's body, being arrested.

Dreamland II opens on Fox Mulder's childhood and a cell with the pilot

The second part picks up with Fletcher narrating Mulder's life over shots of him as a child: "Once upon a time there was a guy with the improbable name of Fox Moulder." I love that we get the Spock costume too, and it's nice that Mulder has always been obsessed with aliens. The episode plays further into identity, with a character repeatedly saying "I am Tiger Woods" while playing a game that took me back to my childhood.

In the cell, Mulder finds himself next to the captain, and we get some great bits where the soldier rants about how much trouble they're in. The role was played by Julia Vera, who was given special makeup and contact lenses to make her look older. The lenses made it difficult to see, and apparently it took ages to get the shot where she flicks a cigarette at Mulder.

Luckily for Mulder, his boss believes Fletcher was trying to trick the FBI as a way to find out who the mole was. He says he didn't tell them because they wouldn't believe it and one of them might be the mole, so they needed to figure out on their own that he wasn't the leak. This is where the MacGuffin is set up, with him saying he's hidden the flight recorder.

Fletcher's wife Joanne, the waterbed and the mole Wegman

He's allowed to go home, and he and his wife have it out. Throughout both episodes she says he doesn't love her anymore, and when he tries to explain why, she thinks he just needs Viagra. He finally tells her the truth, but she thinks he's having a midlife crisis, which he partly is.

Scully is invited to Mulder's place, where Fletcher shows off the waterbed, which ends up becoming a staple of Mulder's apartment. After asking him to handcuff himself in what looks like romantic role play, she reveals that she knows the truth. A meeting is set up, and Mulder says he's going to take Joanne on a date, which takes them to the same place.

That's where they discover the leak is Fletcher's boss, Wegman. He says he only wanted to disable a stealth module so Mulder could see the ship and potentially expose the truth. Wegman later has a hilarious scene where he flat out asks if aliens exist. Even working at Area 51 doesn't give you the answers. They just send the ships down for test flights, and nobody knows how they work. It's like someone handing you a phone and telling you to test it without you having any idea how it works. The phone might even be made by aliens. I think it plays nicely into the mystery of Area 51 and how people there probably know as much as the public does.

Things snap back to normal, and Fletcher meets the Lone Gunmen

There's a great moment in the bathroom where both characters meet, using mirrors well and playing up the humor. During the bar scene, Joanne spots her husband meeting Scully and breaks down crying. Fletcher sees this as he leaves, and you can see the moment gets to him. Wegman has also given him the flight recorder, but he's worried he's going to be turned in.

Not long after, Scully discovers the gas station has returned to how it was, with the attendant back to normal and remembering nothing. The warp is snapping things back. One of Fletcher's colleagues, Grodin, got kicked off the project after locking up Fletcher, and he starts to believe the same: two lovers who had fused together in the desert turned back to normal when he arrived.

We also get some phenomenal scenes where a fed gets to interact with the Lone Gunmen. Fletcher mocks them for believing what the government creates and broadcasting it, then claims: "There is no Saddam Hussein. This guy's name is John Gilnits. We found him doing dinner theater in Tulsa."

The confession to Joanne is the heart of Dreamland

I think what makes this whole story special is that there are so many great moments with insight into the characters' lives. Eventually Mulder, Scully and Fletcher go together and confess things to Joanne. It's such a touching moment, one that makes you realize you need to appreciate what you have, with memories of Fletcher and Joanne's wedding, their first apartment and the night their daughter Chrissy was born.

They return to the spot from the start of the first episode, the wave passes over them, and they switch back. The conversation continues as it was, and though it seems Mulder and Fletcher may have some recollection, it appears to be lost. Still, Scully discovers the fused coin back at the FBI, and Mulder's apartment has been cleaned, so it's clear something happened.

I'll admit body swap stories are something I often find a bit played out, because they nearly always go through the same beats. Added to the world of The X-Files, though, these two episodes work, and they're an excellent pair.