I Believe in Alex Krycek

By Rhea Dee

I love Alex Krycek.  My love for him began when I was eighteen, sitting in my freshman film studies class.  We were studying fan responses to film and TV and we watched a Mulder/Krycek slash fanvid set to “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell.

This…this is amazing! I thought.  And so, an obsessive love was born.  “Tainted Love” indeed.

Alex Krycek was one of the most compelling characters on The X-Files.  Was he good?  Was he bad?  Or was he really just a survivalist rat that was too busy saving his own ass to care about good or bad?

But even more important than all that:  Did he have a crush on Agent Mulder?

I’m sure most Krycek fans know “the scene.”  You know, the scene that quite possibly changed the face of slash fandom forever.

For those who don’t know “the scene”, I’ll map it out in three quick points:

1. Mulder comes home, sees a note on his floor that says “Things Are Looking Up.”

2. Krycek lunges out of the shadows and attacks Mulder.  They banter, making innuendo-y jokes about Krycek’s missing arm.  Krycek proceeds to tell him alien stuff that fits into the super scary conspiracy stuff Chris Carter is so fond of.  Mulder is reluctant to believe him, given their past history.

3. Krycek fixes a heated gaze on Mulder, then leans in and kisses him on the cheek.  He says “Good luck to you, my friend” in Russian and leaves.

“The scene” never fails to make my fandom heart explode. 

I spent ages discussing the possibilities of a Krycek and Mulder pairing with my friends.  Krycek, we reasoned, was already there, but was Mulder?  Could Mulder love Krycek back?

I thought so.  In fact, I thought Mulder was halfway there himself.

And then Chris Carter did something super duper mean.

He killed Krycek.  Killed him.  Skinner frickin’ shot him in the head.

Damn you, Skinner!  Actually, damn you, Chris Carter!

The only relief I got from Krycek’s death was the fact that by Season Eight (when Krycek died) the show was already taking a nosedive to hell.  (Well, I thought it was anyway.  I’m not the biggest fan of Seasons 6-9 of The X-Files, which should be renamed as Chris Carter flails around while the Fox Network laughs and eats money.  And souls.)

Fortunately, there was a silver lining.  Even though he was dead, Krycek did return as a spirit thingie in the series finale.  Mulder’s spirit thingies were obviously meant to be slightly ambiguous in origin; were they just in his head or what?  A few of Mulder’s ghosts knew things (one even gave him a piece of paper) that couldn’t be possible if they just all figments of Mulder’s imagination.  My friends and I speculated for ages: was Krycek really dead?  Could a figment of the imagination open a door for Mulder to escape through?  I thought we’d never know.

Then…six years later, Chris Carter finally comes out after years of “We will make a movie someday” to say: “We’re making a movie now.”

All I could think was: Will there be Krycek-y goodness?

The dialogue about Krycek returned full force between me and my friends.  Would he come back?  Could he?  Would he kiss Mulder again?  Do I dare dream of all the slash possibilities?

But as the movie neared release, the possibility of Krycek making a dramatic comeback became slim.  The movie, it seemed, was going to be a Monster-of-the-Week movie, with little tie into the Alien Myth arc of the series.   Fans got excited.  But I was crushed.  A Monster- of-the-Week story meant there was no chance Krycek would be slinking around in the shadows.  Sigh.

Finally, the day arrived.  My friends had been to a midnight showing of the movie, but they went again with me.

“Is it awful?” I asked.

“I’m not saying.  I don’t want to influence your decision.”

I peered at her suspiciously.  “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

“I’m not saying!”

“You don’t need to say anything.  I’ve known you long enough to know that you think it’s awful.”

The movie’s basic plot circled around a missing FBI Agent and an apparent psychic link between a Registered Pedophile Priest and the missing agent.  Agent Whitney (Amanda Peet) calls in Fox Mulder to help save the missing FBI Agent even though Mulder’s been out of the game for six years.  Scully joins in as well, but she’s a bit reluctant to “chase monsters in the dark.”  (The whole movie is actually pretty Scully centered.)

Near the beginning of the film, the Agents (and Pedophile Psychic) stumbled across a severed arm buried in the snow.

“Ha, Krycek,” I staged whispered (No one was around us three rows back and forward…can’t have you thinking I’m a rude movie yapper).  My friend giggled in a very fangirly way, which confused me…it wasn’t that funny.

Then, later…

“Russians?”  Giggle.

“Kind of Gulag-y, huh?” Giggle.

And even later…

“Gay Russians?” Practically a snort from my friend.

“Limb reattachment?!?” My stage whisper was gone.

“I know!  It’s just like Chemical Agents, isn’t it?” 

(Aside: Chemical Agents is a Mulder/Krycek action/adventure/slash romance where Krycek’s arm grows back after he’s exposed to some alien junk.)

And then it was over.  I stumbled out of the theater in shock.

For a movie that didn’t have Krycek at all, there sure were a lot of reminders of Krycek.

“Isn’t it great?” my friend gushed.

And it was.  It was absolutely great.  It was like Krycek’s spirit floated throughout the entire movie, easing my heartache over losing him as a character.

Mushy, I know.  Total conspiracy theory of an obsessed Krycek fan, I know as well.

I don’t harbor any illusions that I was reading Krycek in almost every scene (although in my defense, I didn’t have to read too hard).  But I think I’m allowed one crazy conspiracy obsession for a show that focuses on crazy conspiracy obsessions.

It’s like what Mulder said in the movie; “Let’s just say…I want to believe.”  Well, I want to believe, too.

And I totally believe in Krycek.

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Rhea Dee teeters between hipster and geek.  (At least that’s what that one quiz said.) Once a contributor to the defunct Now Wave webzine, she now spends her time upgrading vinyl to mp3, collecting vintage dresses, and pondering the lyrical genius of Devo.

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