r/XFiles • u/13onFire • 2d ago
Bill Scully Discussion
Does anyone else absolutely hate this dude? Does his character get any better? Im on S5 EP 8.
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u/LadyRowanHawthorne 2d ago
Doesn't get better. And yes, I hate him. It's not just a matter of him being a protective older brother. It's controlling, arrogant and bullying behaviors and it's demonstrated from the time they were kids in flashbacks.
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u/Backdoorpickle 1d ago
What are the ways exactly in which he is controlling?
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u/SwivelTop 1d ago
There were some scenes cut from the series. He berates Dana for not becoming a practicing doctor implying she disappointed their parents. He also believes her cancer is a sort of karma for joining the FBI. He usually does this when she is sick and possibly dying. Honestly he comes across as sociopathic. Who takes digs at their dying sister?
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u/Due_Pin2723 I LOVE JOHN DOGGETT 1d ago
But those scenes you mentioned were cut. Other than those, what else shows he's controlling? This is a serious question, not meant to be challenging or sarcastic. I am just curious when people say he's controlling. Thanks.
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u/Backdoorpickle 1d ago
There's another counter-argument I have for you. I suspect, and I may be wrong so if I am, then I apologize, but I suspect that you haven't been through a series of close family deaths.
Scully's timeline goes something like this: She's a Daddy's girl and grows up wanting to be a doctor. Her father, who is probably a LTJG in the Navy thinks that's awesome. She goes on to college, doctoral school, and then decides to chuck the degree in favor of law enforcement.
Now. One COULD say that is sexist, for her pops to be pissed off. But let me give you a real life comparison. I was a music major in school. Came from a single mother home, so no pops in the picture. I am also female. I decided to chuck my degree away for a career in law enforcement. I don't know if my mom was pissed off, but she certainly wasn't happy. Now, some of that came from probably spending a shit load of money on my degree, but I think, looking back, she was WORRIED. Male or female, it's an inherently dangerous job, vs. a job that isn't really dangerous at all.
So fast forward now to Bill Jr. His father has died young (i.e. before his time), and from a traumatic way, and Bill can't be there because he's followed in his footsteps so now he's deployed. He's probably heard from his Dad (and from Maggie Scully, because she wasn't thrilled either) that Dana is off following this hairbrained scheme no one approves of. Not only that, she's fallen in with this WEIRDO that's going to tank her career before it's even started, and she's already had to go tend to him for gunshot wounds. Then she's abducted. Then she almost dies. But yet, still, despite everything to the contrary, she stays with him.
Now. Put yourself in his position. You're fucking PISSED. Because you KNEW this entire road was going to lead to your baby sister getting killed, just like your older sister was, because of this quest that this joke of a guy has lead her on for no other reason than that he's selfish. You've told her again and again to get out, the job is killing her, she's going to die, and she's already taken a part of your family with her.
Is he an asshole to her in the cutscenes? Sure. But even if they weren't cut, death is UGLY, especially when it is unnecessary. Families fight and dissolve over death sometimes. My aunt and my cousin almost never talked again because my cousin, flying to my mom in the ICU, got drunk in the airport and missed her flight. They fought. And it turned into a scene that almost got the police called.
Memento Mori and the cancer arc are what happens when there is a death involved that happens and is drawn out and you don't suspect it. It gets ugly. People start to turn on each other, for not doing enough, for not doing anything, for having to focus on themselves. And yes, sometimes, that anger manifests onto the person that is dying. It's fucked up, but it is human.
Hashtag Team Bill.
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u/SwivelTop 1d ago
Been through many first degree relative deaths, before the age of 40. Bizarrely I have a lot of parallels to Scully’s life but reality plays out differently than fiction. They dramatize a LOT of family deaths on the show. think it’s important to remember that there were many writers for the show and they didn’t necessarily line up with their philosophies.
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u/Backdoorpickle 1d ago
Well, you're lucky that your family is functional then. Scully has just as much blame as everyone else in their disfunction.
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u/SwivelTop 1d ago
You’re making a LOT of assumptions about me. No, they are not functional. My main beef with Bill’s portrayal is it’s uneven and sometimes villainous for no reason. The conflict from Bill is forced and awkwardly written. I understand his anger towards Mulder who often puts Scully in risky situations needlessly. However, making him cruel towards her while undergoing chemotherapy was not in line with his previous behavior. People often say things they regret while grieving but he was just…a dick for no reason in that scene.
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u/Backdoorpickle 1d ago
I mean... have you ever been a dick for no reason and done something you later deeply regret?
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u/stormchasegrl 2d ago
I could write a dissertation on Bill Scully and how I wish we'd have gotten more from him because I hated his character. Don't get me wrong, Pat Skipper played him to perfection. The brooding contempt he exuded toward Mulder was perfectly done to make us bristle defensively. I didn't hate him because I didn't somehow understand where he was coming from. I hated how he (and Mulder....and by extension CC) acted like everything that happened to Scully was Mulder's fault. I know why they did it, but it cheapens the strong, fierce independence of Scully and, the way Bill talks, likens her to a doe-eyed irrational teen full of adulation for a lunatic.
I really wanted more Scully family dynamics in TXF, largely because of this (and bc of Melissa if we didn't lose her). By extension, I was craving an eat-crow moment where Mulder's brilliance, actions, and true devotion to Scully would have him save her/maybe even also Bill/his family. I've written so many FF stories like this in my head over the years. I've read only 1 or 2 really good ones like this in all these years.
All this to say, I get why he gets a lot of hate, but I really wanted more of him on my screen if it went in an eat-crow-esque direction.
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u/mb10240 Assistant Director Skinner 1d ago
Had Flight 180 been produced, we would’ve had more of the Scully family dynamic.
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u/damnmydooah 1d ago
This is so cool, thank you for sharing it! I know Final Destination was originally a spec script, but I'd never read it.
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u/TheEsotericCarrot 1d ago
Yes, Pat Skipper is so good! And I totally agree that it’s poor writing that women can’t make their own decisions and need to be saved.
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u/DeathRabbit679 1d ago
I get what you're saying but I guess I get the brother's point of view too and why he hates him. What happened to Scully is not Mulder's fault, she made her own choices, but like it's also NOT not his fault. If she never met Mulder, she would have probably gone on to have a successful and boring career, full of not being attacked by Alien Bounty Hunters and such
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u/stormchasegrl 1d ago edited 1d ago
I said I get why. That's why I wanted a crow-eating arc. Perhaps if she never met him, she'd have died in a car crash, had a nightmare relationship with Daniel, or the like. My point is that CSM/the syndicate/the aliens are at fault. Fighting bad guys doing bad things doesn't mean the guy fighting is to blame is all I'm sayin'. Plus, to have Bill, of all people, with all his protective high and mighty rage, even if said rage is understandable, have to face that there's literally one man on Earth who wouldn't let anything get between him and protecting/saving Scully...or even better him/his family...would have been 😚🤌 such a delicious moment.
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u/Mindless_Log2009 2d ago
Bill Scully is there to make Krycek seem less bad.
Or maybe that was Luis Cardinal's role. 🤔
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u/Backdoorpickle 2d ago
His character doesn't get better, but I don't hate him the way everyone else does.
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u/ButterscotchPast4812 2d ago
I think the better question is, does anyone like him? He's never not a dick anytime he's on. Whether it's to Scully or Mulder.
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u/Public-Pound-7411 1d ago
He played an asshole in a lot of things in the 90s. Poor actor’s type is smarmy and punchable. He’s probably the nicest guy ever in real life.
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u/Stanton1947 1d ago
Hate him? Bill is a man who shoots straight, and has as much reason to hate Mulder, (or more), as Mulder has to hate Krycek.
Total respect.
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u/ChaoticMutant 1d ago
I believe that at one time somebody had a poll and he was in the top three most hated characters in X-Files history.
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u/hibbletyjibblety 1d ago
Considering the immediate rage reaction I get upon simply seeing his name on Reddit…yeah hahaha. Ugh it would have been so much more satisfying to see him get punched instead of Krycek. At least Krycek is charming 🤣
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u/Appropriate-Entry-98 2d ago
I'm a bit confused by the comments. I mean, yeah, almost everyone hates him, but
Would it be a spoiler to tell OP that they've already seen his last appearance on the show that's not a minor mention or flashback?
Maybe he does get better and have a huge redemption arc behind the scenes lmao
correct me if i'm wrong
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u/Lonely-86 WHAT ABOUT MY MEN?! 2d ago
I hated him at first but in recent rewatches, I saw him in a different light: protective of his family, misplaced anger towards Mulder. The Scully family take a lot of hits early on.