"A lie is most conveniently hidden between two truths," Deep Throat once informed Mulder back in the first season of the show. The X-Files was often at its best when its conspiracy theories were grounded in reality, and the second half of the two-part season three opener, Paper Clip, in which Mulder is discovered alive after being left for dead in a New Mexico desert, is a prime example. It's what really ramps up the season (the first half, The Blessing Way, was a little too centred on visions and mysticism), and that, plus its intertwining of a real conspiracy of sorts, makes it a great mythology episode. The episode's premise is that Nazi scientists worked for the U.S. government after the war, under Operation Paper Clip, and joined in on the alien conspiracy, contributing to the cloning of an alien-human hybrid. Part of this is actually true: the OSS (precursor to the CIA) really did bring over some of the "less evil" Nazi scientists in order to keep them out of Soviet hands. In all, over 1,500 Germans were recruited under the program, including Werner von Braun and Hubertus Strughold (coincidentally or not, one of the members of the Syndicate working with the alien colonists is named Conrad Strughold in the X-Files movie). Paper Clip also features the discovery by Mulder and Scully that the U.S. government is keeping records on its own populace involving smallbox vaccines, that Scully's name is in said files, and features a close encounter for the agents - which of course Mulder sees more of than Scully.
Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.
