First thing: from here on in, this is probably going to get a little childish. Why? Because I'm going to be talking about each character based on how much I like the character. That's going to mean there's quite a possibility that I'm going to be talking about comedic relief before talking about other headliners. Take, for example, the fact that Skinner, Reyes and Doggett have all been called "stars" of the show at one point or another, but I'm going to be talking about John Fitzgerald Byers.
Role in show: To talk about Byers, I'm going to have to talk about The Lone Gunmen.The Lone Gunmen were introduced in the first season of the X-Files as Mulder's "tech guys", conspiracy nuts who have a knack with computers and science. The Lone Gunmen consist of Melvin Frohike, the "brains" of the operation, Richard Langly, the "technical brawn" of the group, which considering the group's function, isn't far from the "brains", and finally Byers, who plays the role of the level-headed guy, the PR guy and pretty much the only member of the trio who can behave like a human being in polite society. The Lone Gunmen apparently proved to be quite popular among viewers, and as such, a spin-off series, "The Lone Gunmen", was commissioned, running for 13 episodes. The pilot of the show is infamous (just google "Lone Gunmen Pilot Conspiracy theory" and see for yourself), but the show didn't achieve the ratings it was going for and was cancelled. This leaves me in a tricky position. I want to talk about a character featured in two different shows, but really I only want to talk about his role in one. This is going to mean I might talk about character traits of Byers not present in The X-Files, but I'll try to back up most of the things I say without going into The Lone Gunmen show.
Family: John's family isn't brought up during The X-Files at all, so I'm going to skip over this category.
Pre-1994 Life: Byers earned his unusual middle name by being born the same day that JFK was killed, giving him a natural predilection towards understanding what was going on in that situation, pretty much setting him down the road to be a conspiracy nut. Prior to 1989, Byers worked for the Federal Communications Commission, with the episode "Unusual Suspects" sort of implying that he was just a PR guy, going to tech fairs and handing out badges. In a single day in 1989, Byers was attending a tech fair, when a woman named Susanne Modeski approached him, and while claiming that Mulder was an abusive boyfriend holding her child captive, introduced the three members of the Lone Gunmen. Susanne was in reality fleeing from a government lab in which she was helping make a weapon which was to be used on civilians, and was now fleeing for her life. Susanne introduced the Gunmen to the vastness of government conspiracy,a concept to which they had all previously been ignorant, and also inadvertently introduced the three to Mulder. Byers, who has fallen for Susanne, is heartbroken when she is kidnapped right before his eyes. Between 89 and 94 nothing is really explained, but during that time Byers transforms into a member of Mulder's tech squad.
Personality: After Mulder and Scully, I must say that these posts are probably going to be considerably shorter.
Kindness: One thing that just comes up before everything else when looking at Byers is how he's just such a nice guy.Throughout the entirety of the X-Files, he is the only character who wasn't an arse to someone else. I'm pretty sure that Skinner's secretary got in more fights than this guy. Compared to every other character on the X-Files, who was willing to lie, cheat and steal to get to their own goal, I just find myself rooting again and again for the "Byers approach" to be the victorious one. I might want to backtrack a little in a moment, but I now want to talk a little too close to the end of the series, so spoilers. Bigger. SPOILERS. Red. SPOILERS. And continue. "Jump The Shark". X-Files "Jump the Shark" is possibly the worst I've felt after watching an episode of this show. Yes, I may have been tearing up a little, but overall I just felt like the episode did a real injustice to Byers. To put it simply, the Lone Gunmen die. Off screen. Langly was an arsehole. He just was the whiniest, most irritatingly pedantic jerk I think the X-Files had to offer.... well, maybe Follmer, but anyway, he wasn't important. Frohike ... well, he was a good guy too, but he was a little embittered, a little cranky.... his time had come, really. But Byers? I know the X-Files doesn't pull many punches, considering how many children have been killed, that Scully's mother is the only surviving parent of either Mulder or Scully by the end of the series (spoilers are not over) and that it's almost proud of this body count, but killing Byers was just a real kick in the teeth. Byers embodied a lot (I'll go into it in a second), but for such a good, kind, likable character to die like that? That was just too brutal. END SPOILERS. Going back, though, Byers was really what stopped the X-Files from being set in a hard-boiled crime fiction story, where everyone is just out for themselves and there is no hope left. He really is just the embodiment of the kind everyman, which is why he is far and away my favourite secondary character.
Hope: Tied in closely with Byers' kindness is his hope for the return of the American Dream.The opening to the episode "Three of A Kind" explains exactly what Byers hopes to achieve, and how he is tormented by the fact he has been torn away from the life he wanted so badly to live. This brings up a closely related aspect of Byers: the fact that he is so different to the other members of the Lone Gunmen. Frohike and Langly were never going to live normal lives. They weren't so much sacrificing their lives, just exchanging obsessions. Byers was normal. He would have lived out his existence in blissful ignorance, settled down and had 2.5 children, the American dream. What is remarkable is how he wants to return to this ideal. He still dreams of normality. He dreams of another Kennedy (who he sees as the epitome of a leader or the people) arriving, and his role being completely obsolete. Byers also is the most principled. Although it is more shown in the spin-off, he refuses to stoop to the levels of those he is working against, so that he may look back upon his actions with pride rather than regret. Overall, Byers hopes for the best, acts as he feels his morals will allow and is the best demonstration of an X-Files character with hope for the future. Seriously, there is almost no-one else in that category.
All-round Clean-Cut Persona: For a show almost entirely set in a government office, revolving around government employees, it's absolutely astounding that Byers stands out as a bureaucrat. Closely cut facial hair, perma-grey suit and carefully maintained hair all go to show exactly what profession this man has pursued in a past life. Byers' clean-cut persona is deeper than this, though. Byers is concerned with appropriate behaviour, always attempting to prevent his colleagues offending anyone and always the first to point out potential dangers in plans. Byers' concern with others and optimistic approach would easily allow the label "unworldly" or "naive" to be placed on him, and I'm not sure if I could make a coherent argument against these, but I think it's more about how Byers career shaped him. Dealing with angry nerds every day would force someone to either become aggressive or passive, and the way in which both Langly and Frohike referred to Byers as a "narc" upon first seeing him in "Unusual Suspects" leads me to think that Byers' professional mannerisms and reasonable countenance came about due to the necessity of his job.
Motives: Like Mulder, Byers' primary goal was to investigate and report on the truth, whatever that may be. He clearly was after Modeski, who sort of became a larger than life character in his mind, who was just out of his reach.
Overall, Byers was a friendly, approachable, just so likable character who was forced by his morals to lead a life counter to what he desired.
Considering I'll just be looking at secondary characters from here on in, I think I should give a few episodes for any newcomers to watch to get a reasonable understanding of the person I'm talking about.
For Byers, I'll have to go with the fifth season episode "Unusual Suspects", the sixth season episode "Three of a Kind" and finally the infamous "The Lone Gunmen" Pilot, if anyone feels like tracking it down.
I'll be back soon with another character.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
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