"Millennium"

"I was trying to walk the straight and narrow, leave the Millennium Group behind, but I know I can't do that anymore."
Originally Aired 11/28/99

I remember approaching the year 2000, the dawn of a new millennium and the fear of the Y2K bug crashing computers. I suppose it also could've caused a sense of dread and fears of the end of the world. Chris Carter tapped into that with his series, Millennium, and centered it around Lance Henriksen, who portrayed the character of Frank Black. He was a criminal profiler and possessed a gift to see inside the mind of a serial killer. Black also had a wife Catherine and young daughter Jordan, although by the end of the series he had lost both friends and family members at the hands of the Millennium Group, which he worked for and later turned against. The series came to an end in May 1999 when it was canceled after three seasons. I feel like it had a fitting ending, given that it wasn't meant to be a proper series finale, which saw Frank ride off into the sunset. Chris Carter didn't need to bring "closure" to Frank Black, but here we are with an episode titled "Millennium."

At the end of the day this is still an episode of The X-Files with Mulder and Scully, it just happens to contain a guest appearance by Frank Black. Chris Carter did invite the series' longtime director Thomas J. Wright to direct this episode and also Mark Snow's music score seems reminiscent of the early days of The X-Files and also Millennium, including a few notes of that series's theme song when we first see Frank Black. I feel like they should have asked a Millennium writer like Chip Johannessen to have a co-writer credit since Vince Gilligan was never a writer for the series and Frank Spotnitz only penned a handful of scripts. Yet, as I said, this is still an X-Files episode and you can't overwhelm the audience with too many details from a canceled series which only a fraction of the X-Files audience had watched. They created a fairly pedestrian zombie apocalypse plot, which I thought was more offensive when I first watched it in 2008 following my first run-through of Millennium, but time has been kinder to it.

Mulder and Scully arrive on the scene of what Mulder feels is more sinister than a grave robbery, which is confirmed when Skinner points them in the direction of the Millennim Group. While the group was never associated with zombies, they had an obsession with the turn of the century, and it's explained by Frank that this is the work of a schism within the group. I enjoyed how this zombie tale has roots to the black magic side of zombies than just a plague that creates zombies, which seems to be the trend in recent years. These zombies are created by a Necromancer who can make the dead rise again and salt repels them; which reminded me of an episode of Kolchak The Night Stalker, which I actually watched around the same as I saw "Millennium" for the first time. Kolchak actually dumped salt into the mouth of a zombie and attempted to sew his mouth shut to defeat the zombie, where here the opposite effect takes place. Scully arrived on the scene too late when an unsuspecting coroner removed staples from the mouth during an autopsy. I like how this episode creates classic X-Files visuals, like Mulder removing a note from the mouth of a deceased cop, the cop rising from the dead when his staples are removed, and later when flares are lit in a basement as Frank Black comes to the rescue.

The highlight of this hour is actually the reunion of Frank and Jordan, and also of the actual actors Frank Black and Brittany Tiplady, who I would assume haven't seen each other since the conclusion of their series 6 months prior to this episode. The bond between them is real, having spent 3 years together playing father and daughter. The highlight for many X-Files fans, however, would be a New Year's kiss shared by Mulder and Scully. Fans have been waiting years for confirmation of a relationship between the two, though I feel like Mulder telling Scully that she is his "constant" at the end of "The Sixth Extinction" was the true sign.

"Hungry"

"And just maybe you can blow town before the long arm of the law reaches out and grabs you by the gonads."
Originally Aired 11/21/99

This is an interesting episode because when I was watching reruns on the Sci Fi Channel in the mid-2000's, I came across this episode a few times yet it was always during the final ten minutes. It seems like I'd always remember there was an afternoon rerun at the last possible chance to turn it on after I got home classes. It also happens to be interesting for another reason, because "Hungry" goes against the typical X-Files formula and is told from the perspective of the monster. While the series has featured sympathetic villains in the past such as in "Leonard Betts", those episodes still featured plenty of scenes with Mulder and Scully. Here they only get a handful of scenes together and most of the investigation seems to consist of Mulder stalking the monster, much like how he followed Wayne in "Terms of Endearment." "Hungry" isn't breaking new ground but I love how the writer Vince Gilligan has combined bits of previous episodes into a fun "monster of the week" tale.

Rob Roberts (Chad Donella) works at a burger joint but he doesn't have cravings for the double patty with cheese, instead he enjoys delicious brains. He's hiding his true self and feeds off excess ground beef once the joint closes, though he can't hold off his cravings much longer. I like that we follow his side of the story because we get some delicious slices of Vince Gilligan's dark comedy- Rob dreams he's frying up brains on the grill, and later, he sees a bald guy's throbbing brain through the back of his noggin. It's kind of like when a guy in a cartoon gets hungry and sees his plump friend as a hamburger.

Another guest star in this episode portrayed April O'Neal in the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Judith Hoag, although the real treat was seeing Mark Pellegrino as "Derwood Spinks." Besides having the cool name of Derwood, it's nice to spot him in these earlier bit roles, after seeing him in key roles on TV shows, Lost and Supernatural. An interesting fun fact is that the P.I. Steve Kiziak is actually named Steve Kiziak, and he's also David Duchovny's stand-in.

The seventh season is actually off to a fine start despite my hestitations, which is actually closer to dragging my feet since I held off on writing anything new since the finale of Season 6. "Sixth Extinction" 1 & 2 and now "Hungry" are all solid episodes while also being "new" episodes, with exception to the ending of "Hungry." This leaves me with 10 new episodes and 9 I've already watched.

"Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati"

"And even though my world was unrecognizable and upside down, there was one thing that remained the same. You were my friend and you told me the truth."
Originally Aired 11/14/99

While I felt last week's episode was excellently paced, giving equal time to both parts of the story, this episode was written by two writers and it feels just that; one story smashed around another. The bulk of the episode was written by David Duchovny, which explores more of Mulder's brain activity and is spent in a dream world where he succumbed to temptation by the Cigarette Smoking Man, finally leaving the X-Files behind. This topic was visited in the past, when Mulder was tempted to leave The X-Files behind in order to cure Scully of her cancer, during Season 5's epic "Redux" story arc. Even Mulder's sister Samantha was used as bait by the Cigarette Smoking Man in that story, too. While it may have the feeling of deja vu, or Carter recycling old plots, there's enough new ground to keep it interesting. I love the return of Deep Throat and the revelation that he faked his death to escape the Syndicate. The dream world was filmed convincingly too, because Mulder turns up missing in the real world as he's released from the hospital by his mother, the same time as CSM leads him by the hand in the dream world. Even the scene where all of the security camera footage has been blacked out, save for a single circle that revealed CSM and Mrs. Mulder's conversation, was a nice touch of filmmaking.

While David brought his A-game both on and off-screen, Chris Carter's script packed a few punches as well. For years it seemed that the Syndicate could've easily done away with Mulder, and a character once questioned why they've kept him around, well this time CSM lucked into Mulder's brain activity/cancer/trauma. Had they killed him years earlier, the CSM never would've been able to reach the point where Mulder's become the science experiment he's longed for all these years; Mulder is now another "alien-human hybrid" due to the black oil being activated. I also loved Kritschgau going full "heel" as he threatened Scully in her office, "you destroy this and I'll destroy you." He doesn't live long enough to make good on his threat, as he's killed off in typical X-Files-fashion. Just as Carter did last season with Jeffrey Spender, I felt Kritschgau was killed off prematurely, which is where Carter's half of the episode falters. Not only is Kritschgau killed, but two other characters also exit the series; Agent Diana Fowley and Albert Hosteen. Fowley's exit is much like I figured would happen, as she does go "soft" on Mulder and pays for it at the hands of CSM (though it is off-screen.) Hosteen's death also makes sense as he appears in spirit form to guide Scully, much in the same way he guided Mulder and Scully in "The Blessing Way." Before we know he's a spirit, it is slightly creepy to think he was actually there in Scully's apartment; did he watch her sleep or something? Although I do question his appearance at all since we learn it was actually Fowley who helped Scully, by leaving both a book and a key card. Something I even noticed is that the book which explains the Sixth Extinction was actually on Scully's desk when she's woken by Kritschgau, long before Fowley covertly leaves it for her. OOPS! The brief screen time used for Hosteen might've been better served adding to Krycek's role in this since he's barely seen for more than 30 seconds. These character deaths make sense in the long run (well, minus Kritschgau), but watching it for the first time, it just seems that Carter was trigger happy with his 3-in-1 death spree.

That's something Carter has always failed to do properly, is to make Krycek more than just a plot device, who should probably be referred to as "Deus Ex Krychina." Every episode must end with the slate being wiped clean and all evidence vanishing, making Krycek the ideal foil. But there comes a time when there must be some explanation. What is he doing with this surplus of government files that he's collected? Who is he and why is he always a villain? CSM has had a clearly defined role, and I loved the revelation that he actually is Mulder's father, though it's left open to whether that was within the dream world or before.

Despite the mishandling of Krycek and Kritschgau, Carter did luck into a great escape for the alien spaceship. Ever since Season 4, I've loved the personal character moments more than the alien/monster/creepy crawler tales. That's why "Redux" worked so well, because it was about the bond between Mulder and Scully more than it was about abductions and bounty hunters. While Carter does weave a grand tapestry with the ancient ancestors/alien architect theory, tying that to the alien colonization, he convincingly brings it back to that bond without betraying all I've seen for the last 120 minutes. The Native American lore book reveals that the writings on the spaceship are proof positive of ancient alien visitors known as "Anasazi", tying that back into Season Two's finale, which first introduced Albert Hosteen and the Syndicate's experiments.

The episode's closing moments with Scully and Mulder at his apartment is another fine moment between these characters. I did anticipate the "constant" line coming from Mulder seconds before he told Scully she was there for him in both his dream and the real world, which means that one of the biggest moments in the TV series LOST may have been borrowed from The X-Files. We really have no idea just what cured Mulder of this brain activity that was either killing him or making him more human than human, and how it all affected the Smoking Man's noggin too, but using that heart to heart moment isn't something I see as a "cop out." I thought it was well-executed when Scully was simultaneously snapping him out of his dream and also coming to his aid at the Syndicate hospital/lab.

While I do think this episode may have worked better had it been split into two separate episodes, turning it into a 4-part arc, "The Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati" was more satisfying than it was a let-down. Perhaps I'm also viewing it too much in hind-sight, as this was still produced in the era before the great serial "boom", where every TV series is now given a two-hour season premiere and finale. Chris Carter, and even David Duchovny, had to make do with the 44 minutes that The X-Files was allotted this week.

"The Sixth Extinction"

"I was destroyed to protect what Mulder knew all along. And now he's the proof. He's the X-File!"
Originally Aired 11/7/99

I realized this has been my longest drought yet without an X-Files review, as I haven't written a single review since finishing Season 6 in May. And honestly, I can probably count the number of complete episodes I've watched on one hand, since it's become something I'll watch as I'm in bed and I'll fall asleep with the TV on. Surely it's a sad realization. Yet watching this episode proved just the opposite. "The Sixth Extinction" was actually a thrilling episode which I felt was better than the cliffhanger that led to this hour of television. "Biogenesis" seemed to pack in too much, possibly since it was the only installment of the mythology since the demise of the Syndicate in mid-season. While "Biogenesis" introduced a trio of doctors, the returns of Krycek and Fowley, a token Cigarette Smoking Man appearance, a spaceship buried in the sand, and a brief appearance by Albert Hosteen, this episode actually felt like it gave the story a chance to breath and played out at a slower pace.

Many installments of the mythology have featured two different storylines, for example Mulder darts off to investigate a UFO that was underwater while Scully is doing sciency lab work, and "The Sixth Extinction" is much the same. However I noticed it's actually a role reversal, where this time Scully is off to a faraway location to investigate a UFO, and Mulder is stuck in the middle of the sciency lab work. What makes it even better is that it's Skinner who gets a chance to shine, as he brings back Season 5's Michael Kritschgau, and they work to solve Mulder's mysterious brain trauma. Mulder is injected with a drug and is active long enough to play 'Simon' with a few computer monitors to test his ESP level, and I liked his little bee-bop slappiness. After that medication wore off, Mulder was back to his vegetative state and Kritschgau wanted to inject with him more, and Skinner objected sayingt hat Kritschgau wants to use Mulder since he's now proof of alien life. I think that would be a cool plot development to explore later, perhaps if Kritschgau would use Mulder to be in league with Krycek or the Cigarette Smoking Man. However it's Diana Fowler who returns, and while Mulder used his ESP to sense she's on the Dark Side, she still professes her love for him. Oh boy. Here I go thinking about stories that will never happen, but that would be cool if Cigarette Smoking Man were to ditch her for being "soft" on Mulder like his son was, so he kills her and sides with Kritschgau. Oh well, still a cool episode regardless of where they go for "Part 3."

As for Scully, she's finally out getting to have the kind of fun that Mulder usually does in these episodes. They've swapped out bees for locusts and other plagues, also adding machetes and Biblical writings on a spaceship. The best part of all is that Scully gets to knock a guy out with a chair! Gillian gets to do all of the cool stuff on The X-Files. I don't see how the spaceship that affected Mulder's brain can also be the cure for what ails him, though, so I have no idea how they get out of this mess. Especially with that spaceship disappearing at the end. So the spaceship brought the African Man back to life yet didn't bring the Doctor back? I did like the chaos the spaceship caused and the idea that our "God" is really from outer space, but maybe Carter didn't know where else to take it beyond that, so he's moving on to the the next story. It does seem like it's for the best since the series' best moments typically come in the form of the personal character moments than from the spacey, high-concepts; with examples being "One Breath" and "Redux II." No aliens were present in those episodes, just good ol' fashioned guns drawn and plenty of hospital beds to go around.

Only time will tell, but I actually enjoyed this episode more than most season premieres, as I'd put it ahead of "Little Green Men", "Herrenvolk", and "The Beginning" (just based on my initial reactions to these episodes.) With "The Sixth Extinction", Season 7 is off to a fine start and although I know how it ends, there are enough "new" episodes spread throughout the season to hopefully sustain my excitement.