"Closure"

"I have this powerful feeling and I can't explain it, but that this is the end of the road and I've been brought here to learn the truth."
Originally Aired 2/13/00

...I liked it, I truly do. After so many years of stories and "what if's", and even reading so much discussion on the internet of this episode's outcome, it seemed like it would be an impossible feat to please the majority of X-Files fans. Heck, I'm even in the camp that wished "Redux II" would be true and that perhaps Samantha had some kind of "Stockholm Syndrome" from living with the Smoking Man following her abduction as a child. It's almost like the TV series Lost, where there was just so much mystery building for 6 seasons that it toppled like a house of cards, leaving many unsatisfied when that series' finale aired in 2010 (myself included.) One friend thought for sure the island was actually a submerged space ship with an island on top and that's how it was able to move across the ocean and never appeared on any maps. Another friend had a theory that everyone was dead following the plane crash and the island was really Purgatory; he was right in a sense that the final season's alternate timeline was indeed Purgatory. My theory that I wanted to see occur was that another plane would crash and the series' events repeats itself in a cycle, given that two ancient characters on the island said it would happen again. I'm sure many other X-Files fans had their own theories too over seven seasons of television.

Like many installments on the series' mythology, Mulder and Scully have separate investigations, and in this instance Scully returns to Washington D.C., in what seemed like a reversal of a prior episode "Orison" when Mulder said the case was over. This time, she had another series villain waiting for her in her apartment, the ultimate villain in fact, the Cigarette Smoking Man. However this time he wasn't a villain, and that's what I enjoyed most of "Closure." He informs Scully that Samatha is in fact dead, and when she questions why, he says that he wanted to give Mulder hope. Everyone needs hope, which is what some find in a belief in God and religion, and Mulder is just like everyone else with a need to believe. The Cigarette Smoking Man even made mention in a previous episode that his belief is his religion. If the Cigarette Smoking Man is indeed Mulder's father, then it's unfortunate that he loved him more than Jeffrey- he gave Mulder hope but then shot his other son. Not so much of a good guy after all.

Another interesting aspect of this episode is the inclusion of the character of Harold Piller, a police psychic, played by Anthony Heald. Like Mulder, he's struggling with the disappearance of his son, and both loses are what has driven each character. At first he appears as another in a long line of reluctant psychics, like Season 3's Clyde Bruckman, and he even states maybe he was given his gift to help others cope with their loss. Instead, I've realized he serves a different purpose upon conclusion of this episode- that he is in fact the opposite of Mulder. He represents the old Mulder we're used to. Season One's "Deep Throat" had Mulder being led to an air force base only to return after dark. This time, it's Harold who leads Mulder there and they both return after dark to hop a fence and sneak in. Our Mulder has changed so much over seven years. At the beginning of the episode he said he just wanted it to end, to find his sister, and by the end he accepts her fate and moves forward. It's Harold who refuses to believe.

To add humor to a heavy episode like this, and also to further another connection to Lost, I think Lost got it's awful "flashback toupee" from The X-Files. Maybe they even bought it from one of those celebrity prop online auctions.

As for the conclusion to the Samantha storyline, I really don't see another way it could end. The events of Season 6's "One Son" spell out her fate without implicitly stating, that she was really taken by the Syndicate as a sacrifice. While Season 4's "Paper Hearts" did toy with this possibility, that she was abducted by a criminal, I think that might actually be cheating the fans in the end if that's what actually happened. That would be the ultimate bait and switch- "we've told you this happened all along, but nope, just some random murderer did it." Instead, while it wasn't aliens, being abducted by the series' true villain serves the series and it's fans much better. The Smoking Man confronting Scully even foreshadows an upcoming episode of this season, "En Ami", written by the Smoking man himself- William B. Davis. That episode was probably in scripting stages while this episode was created, so I'm sure Carter added this scene to set the stage for further events. Too bad that forward thinking was happening less and less over the years.

The only fault with "Closure" could be the "star dust/starlight" theory, especially since Samantha was taken into starlight after all of this testing at the April Air Force Base. Why not take her sooner? I don't find this 'gimmick' to be offensive though, since it allows Mulder to finally see his sister almost 30 years later when she appears with the starlight children. And isn't there a theory, the Big Bang Theory (not the tv show), that we were created from star dust? Nothing is out of the realm of possibility on The X-Files. During Season 5's "Redux" episodes, I even said I liked the smaller, more personal episodes and if anything, Season 7 has been a return to those episodes. Maybe there was forward thinking from Chris Carter after all. If Season 6 is when they "blew it up", then it makes sense for Season 7 to return to being about the core characters. Mulder was even watching Planet Of The Apes... "you blew it up, you maniacs!!"

"Sein Und Zeit"

"I've been looking for my sister in the wrong place. That's...what my mother was trying to tell me."
Originally Aired 2/6/99

I'm not entirely certain how I feel about this episode yet. For being a serious tale about a child abduction which takes a page out of the JonBenet Ramsey case from the mid-90's, it starts out on a bizarre "meta" note and took me out of the episode. Mark Ralston (famous for roles in 80's action sequels Aliens, RoboCop 2, and Lethal Weapon 2) is seated on a couch and is watching a Chris Carter television series within another Chris Carter television series. I wondered why an actor with some credibility like that would mostly be featured in a scene where he says he enjoyed a TV program, when it dawned on me that he was actually in an episode of that other Chris Carter series, Harsh Realm. Maybe they signed him for a two-for-one special. The other weird meta reference is that the man hired to be his lawyer is named Harry Bring, which in real life is actually the name of a producer of The X-Files. Maybe not nearly as witty and as self-referential as "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" or an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but it's still strange to throw in multiple references within a dramatic episode of the mythology (which will be revealed later.) Scully even paraphrases a line from Dr. Zaius in the Planet Of The Apes, when she says "don't go looking for something you don't want to find" to increase the number of references.

I do like how this doesn't appear to be a typical hour of the series' mythology. In fact, it's more like Season 4's "Paper Hearts", when Mulder was investigating a child abductor and personalizing the case. Mulder begged Skinner to be on the case and travels across the country to California, to which he has to report back to Skinner by noon, and seems like a really short time frame to accomplish all of that traveling, investigating, and reporting. An even bigger mystery is how he discovered this case so quickly without assistance from Deep Throat or another informant sliding files underneath his door. Not only does he travel quickly from one side of the country to the other, he also makes a pit-stop to a women's prison in Idaho. I guess this was also back in a pre-9/11 world when air travel was easier. I had a similar thought when traveling by train for the first time in December, as the whole experience was very light on security as opposed to the security check points and regulations when flying on a plane.

What makes this episode more than just a typical standalone investigation is a brief appearance from Mrs. Mulder, who I believe was last seen in Season 4. I don't think she even appeared at all during Season 6's "One Son", not even in the flashback sequence that featured Bill Mulder. This proves that Mulder wasn't grasping at straws when linking the case to his sister because his mom was doing the same thing. Whatever the connection may be is not known, yet it was great enough for her to burn photographs and commit suicide. I dug the scene where Mulder comes to the conclusion that his mom was killed by the remaining members of the Syndicate, since he's lost so many loved ones that he can't bear to lose her too. His mom always appeared so cold and even slapped him during one of her appearances, yet it's still his own mother. I think his mom even appeared in that Season 4 episode, "Paper Hearts", just like she does in this episode. If this week's episode is referencing the tone of "Paper Hearts" (there's even a photo the Cigarette Smoking Man had in Season 5!), last week's episode felt like one from Season Two, and "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" felt a little like a reversal on "One Breath" with Mulder in a hospital instead of Scully, then they might as well draw from the best of the early years if they're going to be borrowing past storylines. Maybe I'm just drawing my own conclusions and believing there are connections like Mulder does on this case, and I could be wrong, but I want to believe it's that Chris Carter is trying to bring the story of Samantha full-circle. But if so, I'd prefer they went the route that could've been taken in Season 5- that Samantha is still alive and held prisoner by the Syndicate. Maybe not a "prisoner" in that she's in a jail cell or a salt mine, but similar to the Stockholm (Helsinki") Syndrome and she was brain-washed by the Smoking Man. It's just my personal preference though, since storyline-wise it makes no sense, because Smokey's "end game" was using Spender as an inside man against Mulder. If he had Samantha all along, he could've went that route instead and had easily won the battle over Mulder long ago.

As for the episode itself, the common thread that Mulder discovers is a line in a ransom note that read, "No one shoots at Santa Claus." It's revelation that some guy is using his Santa's Village disguise to videotape, and then later abduct, children is uber creepy. Even worse than Donnie Pfaster in his underwear in "Orison." After watching this episode again and completing this review, I've come to the conclusion that not only do I enjoy this episode, but it's the most solid effort of the first half of Season 7. I'd place "Sixth Extinction" and "Hungry" just behind it. The best thing of the entire episode might the name given to a character which is called "World-Weary Dad"; where the heck does Chris Carter come up with these names?! I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this two-parter in next week's "Closure" and also the rest of February. All four episodes this month are "new" to me, and not only that, but "X-Cops" is one I must watch with my grandma since she's mentioned it a few times over the years that I've been watching the series in order. Following February, only four more new episodes will remain this season.

"Signs & Wonders"

"You're saying that you, Fox Mulder, would welcome someone telling you what to believe?"
Originally Aired 1/23/00

It never fails. No matter how long or short the season is, I always fall behind by this time of year. I even lost track of more time than I realized, as this episode aired two weeks ago; not last week as I was originally thinking. I suppose that makes sense because The X-Files aired Sundays and last weekend was the Super Bowl. No one is going head to head with that ratings juggernaut.

As for "Signs & Wonders" its another 'back to basics' horror story. Season 7 seems to be stuck in that groove of an episode that tries to push the boundaries like a Season 6 episode, but then it's followed up by a return to the "catch the monster" flavor of the early years. I feel like The X-Files is unsure of what it wants to be- capture our imagination with inventive stories or thrill us with things that go bump in the night, and I'm sure that the rest of Season 7 will be the same way. At least we're back to Mulder's office as he presents her with the case file- a man was bitten by 50 snakes! Eegads! (not to be confused with Ee-gah, for the one person who might get that reference.) With that, Mulder and Scully are off to Tennessee, and in a stretch by the writers to work in the episode's title, the Church of God with Signs & Wonders. Why not just "The Church of Signs Wonders"? Otherwise, it's a mouthful. There's another church within the community, just like every town in America has multiple churches, and while both believe in the same God, they have radical differences. There's even a sequence that highlights the differences- both are preaching the same Bible passage, that god hates the lukewarm. The snake charmer church preacher is doing the typical "Praise the Lord!" televangelist routine and shouts that "God wants you on fire!", while the church across town is actually being treated to a rather luke-warm reading of the Bible. The choice in editing here is superb as it cuts back and forth several times between both churches.

The real villain of "Signs & Wonders" is this lady's hair!

There are a few recognizable faces this hour. The girlfriend of the deceased has played crazy chicks on other Fox Network dramas- Millennium and Beverly Hills 90210- yet she's mostly tame in "Signs & Wonders". I believe her name is Tracy Middendorf. Her father, the Reverend Enoch O'Connor, actually is crazy and he's played chillingly by Michaels Childers. While he's not a recognizable face, he does remind me a lot of a real-life Dale Gribble from King Of The Hill, though in appearance only. The other notable face is Beth Grant, playing the church-going Iris Finster, whom I recall seeing in the overrated movie Donnie Darko and the underrated TV series Yes, Dear.

The snakes are a neat gimmick, like the snake crawling out of a sink, though I'm left feeling like this is a more serious version of Season Two's "Die Hand Die Verletzt." The baddie shows up, "raises hell", and then leaves without a trace. There's even an incest element in both episodes, which both are eventually revealed to hold no truth. Another similarity in both episodes is that a father is visited by a snake while in captivity- in "Die Hand Die Verletzt" it was a snake attack in a basement; "Signs & Wonders" is a reptile in a jail cell. I prefer the former episode over this entry into the series, and it's a "wonder" what happened with Jeffrey Bell's script. In Season 6 as in this current season, his first entry is a whimsical, almost fairy tale-styled entry, only to be followed up by a serious monster tale. I guess both of these monster episodes, "Signs & Wonders" and Season 6's "Alpha", feature a monster that is more than meets the eye, so there is a common thread shared by these episodes. I just feel like something was lost in translation. And it's never a good "sign" of an episode's quality when I'm hard-pressed to find a quote to feature for my review. At least February should improve the quality of this season