I always feel like somebody’s watching meeee!
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Noooo.
Nope.
The first time I saw this episode I remember thinking, “Somebody, END THIS.”
Funny. Fourteen years later and nothing has changed.
As a genuinely grateful and devoted fan, I planned to watch till either The X-Files died or I did. And as of “Trust No 1”, death by cancellation was preferable, anything was preferable to watching the sanctity of MSR desecrated by paint gallons of pink tinted goop. Ending it is the only mercy left.
Oh, who am I kidding? I wanted the show to end after “Existence” (8×21).
But this, THIS, was worse than I ever imagined it could get.
“Dearest Dana”?!?!?!?!?!
Who are these people?????
They must be alien replicants. They can’t be Mulder and Scully. Mulder fell in love with “Scully” and “Scully” she shall be.
This woman is an imposter. This woman is an idiot. This woman leaves her Super Baby unattended while she goes to see about somebody else’s baby. This woman not only invites strangers into her apartment when her baby’s under threat, she lets them spend the night. This woman let’s them spend the night alone in the same room with the baby. This woman.
“I’m physically shaking right now seeing your words.”
You know what I’m physically doing? I’m physically pressing the pause button because I need a minute to compose myself.
Let me try to focus.
The NSA is watching… everyone. That includes Scully. One NSA agent tasked with spying on Scully and his wife come to Scully for help. They have a baby showing similar signs of abnormality as the little uber Scully. The NSA agent’s supervisor has been trying to contact Mulder on his behalf both to give him information and hopefully receive some answers. It’s too bad the supervisor, the Shadow Man, is actually a Super Soldier trying to lure Mulder out into the open so he can kill him because as he cryptically states, “Mulder must die. Mulder or your son.”
To which I state, “Well then why don’t you just kill her son since Mulder appears to be unavailable?”
Come to think of it, I haven’t watched Season 9 in so long… do we find out before the series ends why the Super Soldiers keep eschewing chances to kill William? Will I care once we get there?
If I may indulge in one more shipper tinted rant, I’m as disgusted as Scully at the thought that she and Mulder’s first time together was watched. I also hate the idea that after all they’ve been through, Scully initiates a relationship with Mulder because she’s lonely one night and doesn’t want to sleep alone. So desperation was the final nail in the coffin, eh?
I’ll yet repeat my oft repeated request of Season 8: Please stop going back and adding drama where there was none instead of propelling the story forward in new and interesting ways. Thank you for your consideration.
I’m not going to drag my complaints out. The bottom line: watch at your own risk. I’m sure there are fans out there who enjoy or can at least tolerate Mulder and Scully’s newfound Hallmark card sentimentality. If you’d rather skip it, all you need to know is that the Super Soldiers’ weakness has been discovered and it’s magnetite, not to be confused with kryptonite. When around it they shake like a Weeble having a seizure and then they blow apart. Now you know.
Verdict:
The one thing that does work for me in this episode is the teaser, and that despite the highbrow language. The weight and history of Mulder and Scully’s relationship actually stands up to the heaviness of the words. But the retrospective is a poignant reminder of what we’re missing and consequently sabotages the rest of the episode when it’s supposed to set it up. Yes, I do remember when magic happened here. What did happen to the comfort and safety we shared for so brief a time?
Melissa Scully: She’s dying. That’s perfectly natural. We hide people in these rooms because we don’t want to look at death. We have machines prolong a life that should… that should end!
That’s probably what happened.
To the fans for whom this is a happy indulgence and felt they needed a little more gross affection out of Mulder and Scully, I judge you not. Neither do I judge Messrs. Carter and Spotnitz. In fact, I beg your forgiveness and understanding of my ravings. I’m known to get protective of characters that don’t belong to me. I’m working on the problem.
Until next time, I remain forever yours…
D
Surveillance:
They keep changing taglines, yet I’m not intimidated.
If I believed that this episode ever happened, and I don’t, I’d suspect the “one lonely night” of being the day Scully came home with bad news in “Per Manum” (8×8).
It’s Terry O’Quinn again. Chris Carter, understandably, loved to use him in his various shows. For The X-Files alone he appeared three times. The original movie and “Aubrey” (2×12) were the first two.
Doggett can’t seem to catch a clean shave.
No explanation is given for when or why the NSA started surveilling all the people at all times. It’s more important that every shamelessly sappy emailed word be read and savored.
There’s no real tension in this trip Scully takes at the insistence of Shadow Man. I’m supposed to feel something might happen to her, but I never do. Are we to be impressed with this dated subterfuge?
And I still don’t get why he blows up the car. If there was tracking on it, they’ll still know where to find you.
Doggett and Reyes feel more like Scully’s sidekicks than the new leads.
Shouldn’t an infant that young be sleeping in the room with mom?
Mulder and Scully prearranged the manner of his return before he left. So Mulder knew before he left that the Super Soldiers were vulnerable to magnetite and picked a train that would pass a quarry that contained it?
Whatever Happened to Baby Joy?
Musings of an X-Phile 
“This woman is an imposter. This woman is an idiot. This woman leaves her Super Baby unattended while she goes to see about somebody else’s baby. This woman not only invites strangers into her apartment when her baby’s under threat, she lets them spend the night. This woman let’s them spend the night alone in the same room with the baby. This woman.”
MWAHAHA Oh man it’s like you’re in my head! I think I’ve watched this ep just a couple of times since the original airing and each time, this is what I’m thinking during these scenes. What the actual heck, Scully? What is wrong with you? Why are you just leaving your baby alone in a strange place and then not even keeping an eye on him? Scully’s always been compassionate but not stupid … apparently motherhood has addled her brain.
The emails … oh goodness, the emails. I’ll admit on initial watch, I am one of those shippers that loved them because it was like actual confirmation of Mulder and Scully being together (him saying he wanted to come home to her and William, and her whole ‘comfort and safety’ line just melted my shipper heart), but on re-watching the episode I’ve realized just how amazingly out of character they are. Mulder and Scully are NEVER this flowery or mushy – that’s one of the best things about them. It makes sense that it’s how they would need to communicate now, and some of the lines are fine but in the majority…no…just no.
I am right with you on the never-ending William and the Super Soldiers of death issue – if these guys are SO freaking deadly why can’t they just off a baby? Really? It’s like Voldemort and Harry Potter insanity when ALL POWERFUL beings who apparently cannot be killed can’t handle A BABY! Why hem and haw about it being EITHER William or Mulder … if you can’t get to Mulder just go after William and get it over with (oh wait…provenance/providence…oops)
*cracks knuckles*
I watched this conversation unfold in the car and was powerless to respond. Quite the frustration.
I said in a conversation earlier this evening, this is the season of Scully Stupid. I don’t know where our brilliant redhead has gone, but I want Scully back, dang it. I don’t want this wide-eyed weepy third wheel who can’t handle her own business.
I’m not even mad at your former self. I mean, I believe Mulder and Scully show open verbal affection… OFF SCREEN. But whatever they may say, I’m dang sure it doesn’t include “dearest.” I’m serious. I don’t believe it. I love you, Chris Carter. But I don’t believe you. This didn’t happen.
And William – Now that I’ve made it through “Providence” (not unscathed) I understand all things (see what I did there?). Well, not all things (I just wanted to make that joke). But I understand a lot more. Now I get why they didn’t kill William… more or less. The truth is, the rational thing would still have been to kill him, but there’s pseudo-religious mumbo jumbo and… I don’t care enough to keep talking about it, sorry.
I kind of want to smack her at so many points this season and that’s very rare for me and Scully …
I have no doubt they have had their mushy moments – in private! Because they really are very private people, and I am completely ok with that kind of relational stuff being off screen – when it’s put front and center in an episode – and then also crapped all over by the end of said episode – it’s irritating …
I’ve been meaning to re-watch Provenance/Providence and I just haven’t been able to yet…I think I may need to give it a go and really pay attention (though I do remember a particular “YES SCULLY!!” moment in Provenance which you can probably guess that I love and watch on occasion just cause …)
I was going to reply with something similar to this. Now, look, I’m in a job where I call everyone by their last name. And I’ve had a relationship within that job. And it was HARD to start calling each other by our first names but we did, because, well that’s what people do.
So I will even loosely buy off on the first names even if it sounds super weird (and it DOES). But the weepy, sentimentalist, waxing poetic of dearest, and that? Nope, love does NOT two people like Mulder and Scully into THAT.
And it’s really unfortunate because after the opening monologue, I WANTED to like this story because that whole thing is just freaking terrific. Thanks guys. Way to throw a damper on it. Does anyone have a bellows?
In real life… I concede that a couple would try, if only because their family and friends would look at them funny if they didn’t, yes?
It still feels awkward. I remember when Mulder called Scully “Dana” ONCE in “Beyond the Sea”. She rolled her eyes, and that was Season 1! And Chris Carter knows what’s what. From now on, they’ll go back to “Scully” and “Mulder”.
But I’m like you. Even if I bought the first-name basis thing, that’s no excuse for the rest of this. The goodness that is the opening just makes the disappointment worse. And I have a bellows. I’m using it to stoke the mental fire that’s burning those emails from my memory.
““Dearest Dana”?!?!?!?!?!
Who are these people?????”
Ya’ll did note SCULLY refers to him as “Fox” in the recent 2016 montage, yes? I literally braced myself when I heard it. Foreboding, and not in a good spooky way.
Um, no. I’ve only seen the teasers.
I find that… disconcerting.
PS – the quotes you chose for the blog titles for each episode are GOLDEN!!
“And I know…that on one lonely night you invited Mulder to your bed.” A serious contender for the most heinous, insulting line of the series.
^This!
CC gives us flowery, mushy emails and then turns around and implies M/S whole relationship was basically started because Scully was ‘lonely’ one night and Mulder just happened to be there…all in ONE DANG EPISODE!!!
I really want to hug him and then beat the ever-loving life out of him…
Or, more awfully, that Mulder and Scully’s sexual relationship was being observed by creepy outsiders. He finally gave us the closest thing we’ll ever get to confirmation and then taints it with complete and total BS.
Cause, ya know, why not … *eyeroll*
*throws hands over head*
That’s exactly right.
Those are basically my emotions, yes.
CC gives us flowery, mushy emails and then turns around and implies M/S whole relationship was basically started because Scully was ‘lonely’ one night and Mulder just happened to be there…all in ONE DANG EPISODE!!!
I have nothing to add. May the internet let your profundity soak in.
Isn’t it though??
Is it so hard to say that Mulder and Scully love each other and they knew each other, biblically, and made a baby? Is it???
You have to qualify it by making sure we know they didn’t come together in happiness?
Would it have killed you to just leave it alone altogether so that people could think… or not think… what they wanted?
PREACH SISTA!
I thought I was the only person who used the phrase “knowing Biblically.” 😉
I always thought that we were not supposed to take it as they were actually lonely and it just suddenly happened, but that to an outsider like Terry O’Quinn (who was just watching them without comprehending the depth of their relationship) it would appear that way. (However, I’m sure Chris Carter also loved the duality of the statement, and how it would inspire debate among the fans and keep us guessing and unsatisfied.) So much of their relationship is unspoken. So much so that if you just watched them arbitrarily, I think you would assume their relationship was simple & platonic and be surprised when that happened.
Anyway to me, I always assumed that Terry O’Quinn’s character just didn’t get it. Maybe the writers were just bringing up the old theme of ‘underestimating the power of Mulder and Scully’s relationship.’ I guess that’s why that part never bothered me, however I cannot stand it when character’s suddenly stop calling each other by the name they’ve always used. How does that even happen??
In all sober-mindedness, I know you’re right. There’s no need to take what the Shadow Man says seriously and we have no reason to take him at his word. CC loves to throw out facts that may or may not be true and leave us guessing. And on top of that, what makes us think the Shadow Man truly understands what he sees?
But it’s such a cheap dramatic shot, like they know they have to concede MSR but they want to make sure it’s not too perfect – Nevermind that they then depict sappy emails between the two. And Scully’s reaction gives it a lot of weight… unlike her reaction to CSM’s observations of their relationships in “En Ami”.
Cheap shot – yes! Absolutely. One can imagine him sitting at his computer with a sinister laugh while he planned that…I always wonder how much of the dumb stuff resulted from the pressures of the tv medium and looming deadlines. I wonder what things they would change in season 9 given the chance after it was all over… and will we see those things rectified later this month? Then I think chris carter would rather just mess with us.
…
……
I am at a loss. Do I vomit from the flowery emails? Do I scream at Scully for being so extremely stupid? Do I scoff in disbelief at the idea of the NSA spying on our duo for years? Do I laugh at how magnetite kills the Super Soldiers? Do I rage about the fact that I’m to believe Mulder was in the same quarry as Scully and he never even went to her despite everything that’s happening? Maybe I should just cry because that’s all Scully seems to be good at these days.
I know what I shall do! I’ll promptly forget all of this every happened. It will disappear forever, never to be spoken of again! Much like Mulder’s illness.
I imagine I’ll have to do another purge after the rest of this season. I’m physically shaking right now at the thought.
That’s what I do. When it doubt, deny.
After this rewatch, I will promptly have a memory dump. Everything past the fanvid teaser must go.
Totally agree on the “Dearest Dana.” It’s just not him. That’s not how they ever were. At all.Jeanna S.
It comes out of nowhere. No wonder CC was so against MSR if this is what he thought it was.
YAS I’ve been trying to think of a way to say this and I think you just did (in far fewer words than I was imagining).
I feel like that might work its way into the season wrap up.
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Hi Salome! So glad your back. I have been reading your reviews and agree with all of your comments. Life has been too crazy for me to do much more than steal a few minutes to read your reviews at work. However, now that we are in season 9 and the end is in sight, I just have to say something. If I could have a Make-A-Wish fulfilled it would be to meet Chris Carter and ask him why he felt it was his place to obfuscate and inveigle his devoted fans. It never made any since to me why Mulder would leave especially on Kersh’s advice. Didn’t he think that maybe it was just a way to make Scully and baby William more vulnerable.? This episode was so bad on so many levels. It just didn’t make sense. The actions of weepy Scully,and out of sight out of mind Mulder were completly out of character. Made me wonder if M&S had been invaded by alien body snatchers. Do you think CC had a plan or direction for this new myth arc?
Genius CC needed to pull his head out of his a** . Maybe even take a dose of humility and realize the characters are not his own anymore but have taken a life of their own much like Spotnitz tried to say when he wrote Milagro.
Hey! Thanks for commenting!! I know there are (technically?) more important things in life and it takes time to participate so I appreciate it when people do.
In fact, your comment comes at about the perfect time because the post that goes up today is “Providence” and I give a good bit of thought to CC’s master plan. He *did* have a plan, it just wasn’t very interesting… But it was actually quite detailed.
My Make-A-Wish would probably involve a private concert for all my friends with Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Elton John with Al Pacino, DD and GA in attendance.
Boy, that makes me sound older than I am.
Anyway.
It doesn’t seem rational that Mulder would trust Kersh, but I’m going to play Devil’s advocate and assume that Kersh presented some compelling evidence. But I think that in later seasons, the show confused us instead of slowly baiting us. It took too long to make sense of what we saw on screen and that was a mistake. By the time we get answers, we’ve long since thrown up our hands. So Mulder’s actions don’t make sense and we’re forced to accept that for too long.
And Scully is tapping on my reserve nerve.
About “Milagro”, CC is the one who physically wrote it and his signature prose style is exaggerated throughout. I think he agreed with the message, I think he just miscalculated the audience response to the show’s choices. It’s a crapshoot anyway. Who would’ve thought an alien conspiracy would continue to fascinate the world over?
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Reading this review must be what Kirk felt like when he was beamed aboard Fu Manchu Beard Spock’s FMBS) Trek universe in “Mirror, Mirror”. WHAT THE FRELL??? It is not right on every. single. level.
Ignorance is bliss and I’m skimming these reviews with an alternate universe FMBS mindset!
“If you’d rather skip it, all you need to know is that the Super Soldiers’ weakness has been discovered and it’s magnetite, not to be confused with kryptonite.”
Watch the Paley Center’s interview with DD/GA in NYC, when the interviewer – who is clearly as lovingly geeked out as the rest of us – mentions “magnetite” GA says “magnetite??” and dissolves into giggles. (Because that is just what this deserves, out right giggles.) Thankfully, I had no clue what he was referring to either, until reading this review.
I read about that! I suspect half the time they didn’t concern themselves with what the scripts really meant, way too confusing. I remember reading comments from Robert Patrick saying he had no idea who/what William was at the time.
But, by all means avoid… I think this episode would only tick you off.
I’m ticked just reading that you all went through the pain that was this crap. *sigh* I continue to leverage my Reality Distortion Field.
#MSR4Evah
I have a Reality Distortion Field as well. And I’m going back to it once I finish this rewatch. #MSR4Life
I love the teaser.
The “Dearest Dana” and the “I am physically shaking write now” are over the top. I don’t really get annoyed with Scully’s emoting though. It’s not her usual way of coping, but her life is in shambles and so when she is reminded of how much is absent she would let some of that emotion out.It’s not Scully season 1, but people it shouldn’t be that anyway because no one is the same person after so many years especially after going through all that Scully has been through. On the other hand I do think that the writers didn’t quite know how to write for Scully as a mother. They couldn’t figure out how to make her badass and a mom which is really frustrating. I also suspect Gillian Anderson probably wanted to try something different after so many years of playing Scully.
I don’t think it’s that stupid of her to let that woman into her home. She seems completely unconnected to everything else and Scully’s nature is to help those in need. She is a caretaker. Also, she has like no friends and she is lonely. Maybe not so lonely that that is the reason Mulder and Scully begin having sex, but I would argue that both of them are very isolated and lonely people who are of course the other’s one in five billion. So it was going to happen, but that probably isn’t the best justification. There is a fanfic that addresses this. http://archiveofourown.org/works/4462856
Also, I like the super soldier stuff and baby William as some sort of powerful force, I wish it had been put together more successfully. It has potential. The mythology episodes that had me most on the edge of my seat were Essence and Existence. BIlly Miles Super Soldier is so scary to me. And I love everyone working together to get Scully out of the apartment. It’s especially nice when Krycek helps out. It’s true though that the deeper into this plot we get, the less it makes sense. What would have made sense would have been for Mulder, Scully, and William to go into hiding. In real life I am certain that that’s what they would have done, but GA was committed for the season so that’s not how that went down. I probably have a soft spot for later mythology because it is about M and S, but that’s also the problem. Reyes and Doggett need to be at the center if they are expected to win over the fandom. Making it about Mulder and Scully just reminds me of what is lacking and the cruelty of the passage of time.
I don’t mind Scully getting emotional. What bothers me is that all she’s given to do nowadays is be emotional. They’ve made her Juliet in a Shakespearean tragedy – that’s the problem.
I don’t think they knew how to write for her as a mother either. But I understand that part of the problem was that if she was on a case, half the audience wondered why she wasn’t with her baby. And if she was with her baby, half the audience wondered why she wasn’t in on the action.
It just wasn’t good for the story for Scully to be involved in Season 9 at all. Gillian wouldn’t even have done it if the contract she signed at the end of Season 7 didn’t require her to. As you said, Doggett and Reyes needed to be the center of the show. Keeping Scully in the mix just made us miss Mulder, “Trust No 1” being a shameless attempt to both acknowledge that and make us miss him more. And I completely agree that in a perfect world, Scully, Mulder and the baby would have gone into hiding together at the end of Season 8.
Outside of Mulder, I can’t say I see Scully as much of a caretaker, though. She’s usually pretty emotionally closed off and aloof. It would make sense if being a mother now were bringing these feelings out of her, but the events happen so suddenly that we’re not able to make the connection to motherhood. She just unsuspectingly invites a complete stranger to spend the night in her home. That’s pretty unusual whoever you are, let alone if you’ve seen as much death and mayhem as she has.
And she does have friends. At least, a whole bunch of ladies showed up to her baby shower in “Essence.” That was a shock, though, I’ll admit.
Those friends seemed to pop up quite conveniently just in time for a baby shower, but I suppose she could have had a social life offscreen. Or they could have been old friends she hadn’t seen in a while that Maggie invited.
They went in an out of Scully having a social life. Season 1, she had one that was hinted at both onscreen and off. We meet her ex-boyfriend, she goes on a date, attends a wedding, and she’s even a godmother. Then her social life visibly disappeared, we would assume because she got wrapped up in the X-Files and helping Mulder. But even Seasons 4 & 5 we see she does spend time with her family and in “Chinga” she even takes a vacation. Basically, Scully has friends when they want her to.
Myself, I always assumed she had somewhat of a social life that happened off screen. After all, she’s not Mulder!
And one last little thing. Doggett and Reyes are always super badass in the mythology episodes.
Doggett has turned into our resident rogue instead of Mulder, it’s true. Although Reyes got relegated to sidekick status in “Provenance” and “Providence”.
She definitely deserves to be more than a sidekick.
She sure does.
You know, a lot of the issues you’ve raised don’t sound so bad to me. Like being watched all. the. time. As horrible and as cheapening as it is to the plotline concerned, it also feels like honest-to-God reality.
But I do realise that I am a newbie and that I’m removed from the context of the time, thus my opinion is quite invalid.
No opinions are invalid!
Even now when the idea of the NSA spying on the American public carries more weight, I still need some idea of why they’d go through all the trouble and expense. I’m assuming that they kept such a close watch on M&S because they posed a threat to the conspiracy, but I’m forced to assume that because it’s never addressed. Instead, the inference is that our broke federal government is spending money it doesn’t have to spy on the sex lives of its citizens, which seems a bit much to swallow.
I see what you mean, and I agree. The notion is preposterous.
I guess that’s the thing with this show – it never gives you an explicit answer, or if it does, it never gives you any evidence to support it. And whilst that’s usually an intriguing concept, when it falls, it falls flat.
Yes, exactly! Chris Carter was always taking a risk. Sometimes the vagueness worked, other times it didn’t.
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This is only my second time through season 9, though I’ve made it through seasons 1-8 many times. You’re spot on, our beloved characters are….uncharacteristically moron. And it’s a shame. ……long live disdainful, detached Scully, with her heart under wraps, only rarely peeking through.
‘I want to see him SO bad.’ Pfft. Who IS this broad?
Who is she indeed?? And why is she still here come IWTB??
Thank goodness the promos for the revival seem to show us Scully got her groove back. I can’t wait to see.
Can we just talk about the line ‘I know your real hair color.’ Seriously?! No, Chris Carter. Just no. Didn’t happen; Scully’s hair is red.
An abomination of blasphemy. Shadow Man hinting that the carpet doesn’t match the drapes? DISGUSTING. Besides, we’ve seen her childhood flashbacks. We know she’s a redhead!
Reduce the Retcon.
The overall plot wasn’t too bad but the substance that tried to connect the plot ideas was awful. It appears to me that CC and Co are trying to find out how to use Scully in these season 9 episodes at the last minute. In this one where she is the major focus I found myself wondering why she is so scared all the time. I get the concern for her son but she comes off like she was never a kick ass FBI agent….strange.
The death of the super soldier at the end was magical but not in a good way…:)
The mythology ideas are running on empty and I can hear my eyes rolling back in my head due to the speed they do so.
Thank you so much for this- I have no idea how long it has been since you wrote it but I googled this episode just to find someone else who would rant about the same exact things!!! “Dearest Dana” my ass!! The ENTIRE episode I was waiting for her to realize that it could not be him- I mean that is how, very early on, they could tell eachother they were being watched or listened to, by using their first names. I cannot beleive that Gilligan and Frank would write such unbeleivable crap and go so far from the true characters for sappiness! Thank you for sharing my frustrations- I am watching X Files now for the first time all the way through. I can make it through this season only because I know that Mulder will return and things will be as they should be.
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You have wooden platforms in your railway stations?!?
I can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen a railway station of any kind. Wherever they were, it was vintage.
I’m forcing myself to rewatch season 9 and this is so bad…. This is torture. I can’t believe that “Trust No 1” is written by same Chris Carter and same Frank Spotnitz who wrote almost all seasons 3 -5 mythology…. Probably the best moments in television history. Like what happened? Seriously!!!
I think we’re all simultaneously scratching our collective heads. It’s just unfathomable. Burnout is the only explanation I can come up with.
I feel the same way about most of the revival, but in this case, burnout can’t be an excuse.
My favourite thing about this episode is the teaser. It’s beautiful. The music and the images go well together. However my problem with the episode in general is that it tries to trick the audience to believe that Mulder may appear in this episode, especially when everyone knows he is long gone and not contractually obliged to appear in any episodes this season. It seems like a misstep. The whole episode feels like trying to hold on to past glories, the era of Mulder and Scully. The the teaser is exactly that, a reminder of what we once had. This is a sad feeling.
All the events in this episode would be more meaningful if they did actually lead up to his return. It’s by sheer luck/chance/money that they got Duchovny to return for the finale. So imagine if this episode aired before “The Truth”. I think it would be better received.
I’m all for Scully/Anderson to get her own episode this season. Up to now she’s had a very minimal role in Season 9. Especially if you watch the season in production order, which I think the episodes work better. Though I think the script took the wrong direction. Again she’s been resorted to a crying emotional wreck, worrying about “my baby”, “my son”. It should have done something else completely.
Doggett and Reyes have pretty much been sidelined this episode, like much of the season. If this new era was ever going to work they should have been the main leads.
I love the character of the lab technician Doggett goes to about testing Scully’s shirt. It reminds me of “Young at Heart” when Mulder goes to agent Henderson.
Why is Scully even going to an internet cafe? She can check her emails at home.
Gillian Anderson looks particularly beautiful this episode. I really like her season 9 hair. A lot! It reminds me of how her hair was in the Pilot.
Dearest Dana? It’s Scully! Always has been. Is that even Mulder?
Why is Terry O’Quinn back. Although a brilliant actor should not have been cast for the third time in this show. He’s too recognisable.
So in terms of “Mythology” what did we learn? Super Soldiers can be killed luckily. And “Mulder must die, or her son”. Why?
Despite problems with plot, I do kind of enjoy this episode, maybe because it has more Scully.
C+