Mulder: “We can’t win, Scully. We can only hope to go down fighting.”
How do you wrap up nine years of weirdness and a hopelessly convoluted mythology? I think this episode does the best it can relying on repetition, cliche and general hokeyness. Well, it was lovely to see Mulder get off that bus, we end up with a very familiar series of events. Mulder somehow managing to infiltrate a top secret military facility where he wanders around with a pass card. He finds a working unoccupied computer and also knows the password. And who shows up but our friendly super soldier Rohrer. We get our usual chase and the capture of Mulder. We get to see Mulder tortured (again). There are some interesting bits. Mulder sees dead people (although we never really find out why), he does a good job of acting broken, making Scully cry and we get a great kiss which says everything about the state of Mulder and Scully's relationship.
I don't usually like courtroom dramas, but Mulder's trial did provide a vehicle for reviewing the last nine years and attempting to tie together the bits of The X-Files' mythology. It let us revisit some characters and highlights. It also made it clear that the truth was not going to win the day. Power and fear were the winners. For me, The X-Files were always about new ways of thinking, questioning what the authorities said was truth and challenging the powers that be. It felt like the writers had backed themselves into a corner (actually it felt like this a few seasons back) and then found an unsatisfying way out. The hopelessness in the certainty of an alien invasion was a sour note to end nine years on. The sappy speeches at the end of the episode didn't rescue the bleak picture of a doomed humanity betrayed by their own government. The consolation prizes were Mulder escaping, all the main characters surviving, Rohrer finally dying and Cancer Man getting a rocket in the face.
Other Thoughts
Poor Scully. Her emotions were roller coaster city.
Could they have picked a more clean cut guy to prosecute Mulder? His world view got a kick in the ass.
It took me until the third rewatch of this episode to figure out that the actor who plays Kersh also plays Richard Webber on Grey's Anatomy – seriously.
I've always enjoyed the recognition of Indigenous peoples on this show. The first shadow government hung out on pueblos.
Reyes and Doggett were lovely in this episode.
Quotes
Mulder: “Come here, you big, beautiful, bald man.”
Deep Throat: “What truth? Whose truth?”
Mulder: You’re afraid, you’re afraid of what I know, you’re afraid of the truth.” I kept waiting for Mulder to yell – "You can't handle the truth."
Mulder: “It’s not about how good you are. They control the game. They own it.”
Doggett: “Then let’s shove it up their ass.”
Reyes: “What is the point of all of this? To destroy a man who seeks the truth or to destroy the truth so no man can seek it? Either way you lose.”
Scully: “I hoped and prayed you were dead, you chain-smoking son-of-a-bitch.”
Cancerman: “You damn me for my secrets but you are afraid to speak the truth.”
Mulder: “I’ve been chasing after monsters with a butterfly net.”
Mulder: “Maybe there’s hope.”
Thanks so much, Doc! Not the most satisfying series finale -- I rewatched fairly recently -- but that final conversation in the motel room with the religious undertones was lovely.
ReplyDeleteA long, long time ago – May 18, 2009, to be exact – Jess Lynde posted a review of the pilot episode of The X-Files. Almost nine years and 217 reviews later, with the new season ten folded in, here we are at the end. Or near the end, since season eleven began last night.
A big thank you to our X-Files team, past and present, for their contributions: Jess Lynde, ChrisB, drnanamom, Heather, Juliette and Mallena. This is a massive accomplishment.
Congratulations to everyone involved! I almost can't believe that you're done! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Billie! :) Just a few more episodes to go!
ReplyDelete