After a full year, Mulder finally shows up, and he's in more trouble than ever. After supposedly murdering a man he knocked down, he's put on an illegitimate trial where he has to prove his innocence.
Even though this season started off somewhat worryingly, it turned out to be not that bad actually. Nevertheless, I was happy to see our dear old Fox again.
You're just as creeped out as Scully when she meets Mulder in jail. Why is he acting so weird? Almost at peace with possibly getting a prison sentence or worse for something didn't do, and repeating how he's guilty of his "crimes"? Of course, it turns out they are trying to brainwash him into confessing his guilt, which as you can guess he won't. But something is still off. He asks Skinner to defend him instead of hiring a real lawyer, and he's knowingly withholding information, even from Scully. The fact that he's so un-cooperative really increases the suspense, since it's up to everyone around him to get him released instead.
The trial that follows is very intense. You keep rooting for Mulder to be proven innocent, but every single testimony, no matter how convincing, gets shut down. That includes Jeffrey Spender, despite having visible proof of government experiments performed on him. Chris Owens as usual does a great job portraying him. I liked how several characters stepped forward and explained the whole complicated mythology to the judges. Over the years it's gotten harder and harder to follow, but here it was recapped in a way that actually made some kind of sense, which is an impressive feat. Several familiar faces show up either in the form of living presences or ghosts. The most surprising one to me was Mr. X. He has such an intense presence whenever he's onscreen, showing off a more gruff demeanor than the other informants on the show.
There's some nice suspense near the end when Mulder is sentenced to death, and he gets help from Skinner and some others to escape. The entire government is after him this time.
Once you find out why Mulder didn't want to tell Scully what he heard, it makes sense. Cigarette Smoking Man is the one who reveals that there's an alien invasion planned on December 22 2012, and that there's nothing they can do to stop it. Seeing Smoking Man so gleeful despite looking decreipt after the attempted murder simply because he knows this will finally kill both of them is eerie. Talk about someone who's evil all the way to the end.
The best parts of the episode are the scenes with Mulder and Scully. You can see how years of working together and growing affectionate of each other has developed into a beautiful, lowkey romance. The ending with them holding each other in bed both fearing the possible alien apocalypse knowing at least they have each other is heartbreaking, but also very sweet.
The only things that didn't make sense to me were Krycek and Kersh helping Mulder. Krycek has always been a conniving mastermind, but now since he's a ghost he's suddenly nicer? What? Kersh was characterized inconsistently, first you see him opposed to the trial and rigs it reluctantly, then he seems more than glad to bring Mulder down, and then when he's sentenced to death he helps him escape from prison. Make up your mind, writers.
This was originally written as the series finale, and while I can see why some fans are disappointed it didn't tie up all ends, I thought it was conclusive enough I was satisfied at the end of it. I'll have to see for myself how the next two seasons fare, but as an X-Files entry in general it's excellent.
Even though this season started off somewhat worryingly, it turned out to be not that bad actually. Nevertheless, I was happy to see our dear old Fox again.
You're just as creeped out as Scully when she meets Mulder in jail. Why is he acting so weird? Almost at peace with possibly getting a prison sentence or worse for something didn't do, and repeating how he's guilty of his "crimes"? Of course, it turns out they are trying to brainwash him into confessing his guilt, which as you can guess he won't. But something is still off. He asks Skinner to defend him instead of hiring a real lawyer, and he's knowingly withholding information, even from Scully. The fact that he's so un-cooperative really increases the suspense, since it's up to everyone around him to get him released instead.
The trial that follows is very intense. You keep rooting for Mulder to be proven innocent, but every single testimony, no matter how convincing, gets shut down. That includes Jeffrey Spender, despite having visible proof of government experiments performed on him. Chris Owens as usual does a great job portraying him. I liked how several characters stepped forward and explained the whole complicated mythology to the judges. Over the years it's gotten harder and harder to follow, but here it was recapped in a way that actually made some kind of sense, which is an impressive feat. Several familiar faces show up either in the form of living presences or ghosts. The most surprising one to me was Mr. X. He has such an intense presence whenever he's onscreen, showing off a more gruff demeanor than the other informants on the show.
There's some nice suspense near the end when Mulder is sentenced to death, and he gets help from Skinner and some others to escape. The entire government is after him this time.
Once you find out why Mulder didn't want to tell Scully what he heard, it makes sense. Cigarette Smoking Man is the one who reveals that there's an alien invasion planned on December 22 2012, and that there's nothing they can do to stop it. Seeing Smoking Man so gleeful despite looking decreipt after the attempted murder simply because he knows this will finally kill both of them is eerie. Talk about someone who's evil all the way to the end.
The best parts of the episode are the scenes with Mulder and Scully. You can see how years of working together and growing affectionate of each other has developed into a beautiful, lowkey romance. The ending with them holding each other in bed both fearing the possible alien apocalypse knowing at least they have each other is heartbreaking, but also very sweet.
The only things that didn't make sense to me were Krycek and Kersh helping Mulder. Krycek has always been a conniving mastermind, but now since he's a ghost he's suddenly nicer? What? Kersh was characterized inconsistently, first you see him opposed to the trial and rigs it reluctantly, then he seems more than glad to bring Mulder down, and then when he's sentenced to death he helps him escape from prison. Make up your mind, writers.
This was originally written as the series finale, and while I can see why some fans are disappointed it didn't tie up all ends, I thought it was conclusive enough I was satisfied at the end of it. I'll have to see for myself how the next two seasons fare, but as an X-Files entry in general it's excellent.