So as to maintain the premise that only FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully encounter the paranormal, the majority of the events they investigate are out in the sticks. This accomplishes a number of things including increased isolation and peril but perhaps most importantly it allows all the police to be incompetent hicks. The officers that our favourite FBI duo encounters are for the most part unhelpful and occasionally even confrontational. They play on the jurisdictional issues that a lot of American cop shows like to remind us is a thing but above all they just act like idiots. Even when given proof that something out of the ordinary is going on they simply shrug and declare that these city folk don't know what they're talking about. Most of the cases they embark on would have been solved in half the time if they had the cooperation of the local police force but as they are seen to be muscling into ongoing investigations the reception is always hostile. This nearly gets Mulder and Scully killed in the episode 'Teliko' when an unhelpful police operator shows no compassion for the danger they are in. I know the whole point of the X-Files is that Mulder is the only true believer in the paranormal for the majority of the show's run but surely at least one of the 'hick' police forces would have been a little more accommodating when asked nicely by the FBI.
A pop culture mad writer from the North East who loves films, television and debating them with whoever will listen.
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