The seventh season was possibly going to be the last, so Chris Carter and his people actually seem to wrap up a number of loose ends that had been dangling and a number of characters met their fates. We saw the ultimate answer to Mulder's questions surrounding his sisters disappearance in the two parter 'Sein Un Zeit' / 'Closure'. Another show, 'Millennium', served as the conclusion of another series entirely.
This batch of shows were very much in the spirit of season six...a number of hard core chillers, the occasional dramatic character piece, and too many humorous episodes (the worst being the stupid 'Fight Club'). I found it curious that if this year was to the final for the series, why three of the final four episodes were comical in tone. That just didn't seem appropriate for a program that was built on horror and suspense. But, thankfully, one of them, was the season highlight.
With the conspiracy saga dead-and-buried since last season's 'Two Fathers' / 'One Son', the series seems to have lost real focus, with unimportant stand-alones week in and week out. The season started by completing the semi-conspiracy 'Sixth Extinction' saga, but unfortunately it fell completely on it's flabby ass, and ended up being a big waste. It lacked the spark of the classic mythology shows from seasons two and three.
Perhaps it was this that made David Duchovny lose interest in the show. Then again, it was Duchovny who gave us the best hour of the whole season: 'Hollywood A.D.', his remarkable second shot at directing. Gillian Anderson made her writing/directing debut with 'All Things'; an obvious labor of love for the talented actress, it, unfortunately didn’t impress me. Cigarette Smoking Man himself, William B. Davis, was more slightly more successful when he penned the curious but forgettable 'En Ami'.Thankfully, the season ended in a bang with the absorbing, near-resolution 'Requiem', which revived much of the conspiracy scenario...and brought back old faces, and not necessarily friendly ones. Still, the show had becomes a touch flat, and in need of a shake up. And with season eight, they got it.
Directed by Kim Manners. Written by Chris Carter.
EPISODE RATING (1 to 4 stars): **
The 7th season opening continues on where 'BioGenesis' left, with Scully on the Ivory Coast in Africa, investigating the bizarre spaceship-ish object buried in the sand. She begins to see a ghostly figure who warns her to leave, and other nasty surprises indicate that she is most certainly not wanted. In addition, she has to deal with the deranged, obsessed Dr. Barnes (Michael Ensign), who wants to get the truth at any cost. Meanwhile in the States, Mulder continues to succumb to the mysterious illness that's overcome him. However, answers to his woes, and a possible, solution may lay with Michael Kritchgau (John Finn), the former government employee who aided our heroes several seasons back. Kritchgau and ADA Skinner help Mulder, and discover that he has somehow developed telepathic abilities. Plus Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers) is on the scene, announcing she loves Mulder, but still working for a certain tobacco inhaler.
This second chapter of a three part arc is not bad as such, but it's neither thrilling nor creditable when it's all said and done. There's some intriguing ideas in here...the concept of our heroes discovering the origin life on Earth and it's religious implications is terrific, and wisely not confined to one episode. There's some power and suspense in Scully's investigations, including the supernatural omens and warnings that occur. The best thing about this one is the return of Finn, who is great, and brings a lot of conviction to his sympathetic character. Mitch Pileggi also gets to play the hero this time out, recruiting Kritchgau, and evading the FBI to protect Mulder.
There's no one, large problem with this show I can put my finger on. Rather, it's the pieces that damage the whole. Several times throughout the show, we hear Scully's messages to Mulder while she searches for a cure to his illness. In the earlier days, Scully's voice overs had real passion and power, yet here it comes off for as rather sad and phoney, and future ones would be likewise. Actually, the phoniness seeps into the other plotline, where Mulder has acquired mental powers. Simply put, I don't care. I'm sick of telepaths in sci-fi, and as part of the Mulder's weird condition, here it's just another in the line of mentally/psychically screwing up one of our heroes. We know whatever he has will be gone in a week or too, so it's damn hard to get too involved. The telepathic element also allows for some rather cheap plot connecting...Mulder suddenly knows Skinner is under the thumb of Krycek, knows about Fowley's links to the Cigarette Smoking Man, etc. These would have been better developed through actual storylines, instead of as throwaway material. The performance of Ensign, reprising his role from 'BioGenesis', can best be described overripe, and is presence is actually rather pointless. He doesn't add anything to the story.
Although not a total lose, 'The Sixth Extinction' is more than a little disappointing for a season opener.
Directed by Michael Watkins. Written by David Duchovny and Chris Carter.
RATING: *1/2
As Mulder slips further towards death, Scully finds herself helpless to aid him. Diana Fowley and Michael Kritchgau seem unwilling to help, and so, surprisingly, is Skinner. However, Mulder's saviour may be the most unlikely of people...the Cigarette Smoking Man. With CSM's help, Mulder finds himself given a second chance at life, and the happiness he's never been able to find. But Mulder is in fact trapped inside his own mind, and CSM intends to use Mulder's newfound mental abilities as a resistance against a new terror on the horizon.
The three part story line started in 'BioGenesis' comes to an end here. Well...wheezes to an end might be a more appropriate comment. The weakest third yet, 'Amor Fati' doesn't actually seem to fit the first two. All the stuff Scully discovered in previous episode is thrown aside and forgotten here. Mulder drives the action here, in both the real world and his dreamland, and, to Duchovny's credit, he comes across as heartfelt. Jerry Hardin makes a welcome cameo as Deep Throat, and Floyd Red Crow Westerman also reprises his role as Albert Holstein. The best thing about this show is Mulder's vision of a future apocalypse, where the aliens are breaking destruction to a major city. This is a great FX sequence, and jarring moment amidst the blandness.
The episode is decent for the most 15 minutes, but things slide downhill at an alarming rate. Once it's established for certain that Mulder is in a dreamlike state, we get a lot of scenes of him experiencing a life with Diana, and growing old. CSM is there for much of it, and it sorely lacks any emotional impact. Aside from the alien attack bit, it's just plain bland. It also feels like it's just there to pad the running time. It takes up too much space, which is a damn shame because the episode seriously needed to answer some questions and answer some threads. The connection between Mulder's "gifts" and the spacecraft in the Ivory Coast is sketchy at best. If Mulder had been affected a few years back, why was the power activated now? From the paper containing the rubbings in 'BioGenesis'? And what actually happened to the ship? People knew it was there. It's fate is left unresolved. If CSM did remove the telepathic disease from Mulder, what the hell happened to it? Did CSM get it himself, which is what it seemed like was going to happen. Plus Kritchgau's involvement in the whole affair is not explained in any satisfying way. And what happens to Skinner when he's struck down with deadly virus Krycek gave him? That is never resolved! And how does Scully get Mulder back in the end? Doesn't CSM's hospital facilities have security watching over Mulder? There's a ton of other dangling or half ass plot points that needed to be wrapped up. And to top it all off, Carter and company kill off several crucial characters, needlessly and pointlessly.
The X-Files conspiracy mythology appeared to end with great success with 'Two Fathers'/'One Son' last season. However, it was revived for this poor quality trilogy, proving that it was better off dead. Roll on the stand alone episodes!
Directed by Kim Manners. Written by Vince Gilligan.
RATING: ***
When a fast food restaurant customer is killed at the drive through window and his brain removed, Mulder and Scully investigate all the employees. In particular, Rob (Chad E. Donella), a mild mannered young man who in fact is a genetic freak with the need to consume human brains for survival. Under advice from a sympathetic shrink (Judith Hoag), Rob goes to an eating disorder support group, but also has deal with a nasty, blackmailing co-worker who knows that Rob is a killer.
Pretty good episode (and certainly better than the previous two!) gives us another villain who we feel some pity for, like Timothy Carhart in season three's '2Shy'. But this episode has a different approach to it than any such previous entries; Rob is the lead character, and the entire episode is seen through his eyes. As Rob, Donella is just right. We feel pity for him, yet can't approve of his actions. But by the ending, I was kind of hoping that he'd be able to escape from Mulder and Scully, and make a clean getaway. 'Hungry' walks a fine line between comedy and drama, with some scenes pulling off some good gags, such as Rob losing his ear in the psychologist's office. The whole 'Lucky Boy' fast food setting seems to be played intentionally for laughs, and Duchovny's performance is more lighthearted than usual, like Mulders not taking the case seriously at all. The Overeaters meeting scenes and the sequences with Hoag gently balances out a light-hearted tone and rather tragic drama. The closing shot is bittersweet and haunting.
Although not without it's flaws (a little too leisurely paced, for one thing), 'Hungry' is an about average episode, and another example of the talents of director Manner and scripter Gilligan.
Directed by Thomas J. Wright. Written by Vince Gilligan and Frank Spotnitz.
RATING: ***1/2
1999 is drawing to a close, and Mulder and Scully are assigned to investigate an upturned grave. Scully says grave robbers, and Mulder, naturally, says zombie. What they do learn is that the corpse was a former FBI agent who had affiliations with the mysterious Millennium Group, and seems a number of his colleges have all similarly died and disappeared from their graves. Our heroes then make contact with one man who could supply them with answers on the Group...Frank Black (Lance Henriksen). And they're gonna his help, as the new century approaches, and so perhaps does the end of the world... This episode had me thrilled in advance...I was a big fan (and sometimes critic) of Chris Carter's Millennium, and loved the idea of Frank Black venturing in the world of The X-Files. This episode serves as a fine resolution to Millennium, but also stands on it's own as a creepy supernatural X-File. The best thing about this entry is seeing Black again, and that the writers giving him the (relatively) happy ending that he never received on his own show. Henriksen gives a strong performance...cryptic and joyless, the way we remember Frank! What's interesting is the way we really don't know what Black is up to...we question his motives and even nobility. Duchovny is also in good form here, and the actor seems to be enjoying himself.
The whole zombies aspect of the story could have been either cheesy or laughable, but director Wright (who did so many Millennium episodes) makes them highly effective, especially in the climax where Mulder and Black confront them in a basement. The lighting and art direction is tip-top, and there's a powerful effect generated from the flares lit by Frank. As for the zombies themselves, they are pretty damn eerie. Unlike the gooey, messy horror movie types, they're dusty, dirty and dry with unnerving white eyes. Good direction for the makeup FX folks to go in. And the episode ends with a pair of nice surprises. The appearance of Franks daughter Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) is welcome and allows for Henriksen to display a smile and show some warmth. And of course there's the famed (or infamous) new years kiss between Mulder and Scully. In my opinion, it works big time. It's sweet, and doesn't actually suggest romance. If anything, Mulder and Scully look more amused with it than anything else. Plus Duchovny gets the line of the season: "The world didn't end". That can be taken to refer to events of the show, but it's pretty obvious that it's directed at the fans of the show who feared the concept of a Mulder-Scully liplock.
If there's one disappointing element of this one, its that we really don't get much info on what became of the Millennium Group and their beliefs and predictions. And personally, I didn't buy that Group disbanded in the months following the final episode of Millennium. This is an organization that has existed since the dawn of man, preparing for the end of the world...and they break up just months before the beginning of the new year that is supposed to justify their existence in the first place? Come on...
But that's a quibble I'm more than willing to overlook.. 'Millennium' is an excellent episode of one show, and a fitting conclusion to another.
Lance Henriksen on 'Millennium': "When Chris approached me about doing The X-Files, I felt, 'Let's give Millennium its dignity, because Fox certainly didn't.' So we did it. I was happy to do it. It was closure. I don't ever want to do Frank Black again. David and Gillian were very nice. I was surprised at how much fun we had together. They're very bright. David was very happy to have me on the show. He kept saying to me that he'd do another year if I were on it. I don't think he meant that, but it was wonderful compliment. It actually felt like doing a Millennium. It was hard work and long hours."
THE TRUTH IS DOWN HERE