"My Struggle II"

Aired 2/22/16

When this X-Files "6-episode" mini-series was announced in the spring of 2015, I thought it was just that, a mini-series to wrap up the conspiracy. As the time counted down closer and closer to the re-launch, I possibly read too much. At first I wanted to avoid spoilers, except after it was announced the Smoking Man was returning, I had to know how that could be! His character was engulfed in flames by a missile when last seen in Season 9, so I assumed it had to be through flashbacks. Then I discovered who was returning on the production side, as well as more familiar on-screen faces. I even learned this was ending on a cliffhanger at the end of the 6th episode. My grandma likened it to being prepared a feast, then having it taken away from you just after it's served. For a perfect example of how to end a science fiction show on a cliffhanger, I look to Fringe, especially Season 3. Those guys weren't sure if they would be returning for another season, so they closed the door on the current storyline, only leaving a hint of what's to come. Carter did the opposite, perhaps to stir up the fans so they'd demand a swift return?

I feel like ending it the way this mini-series did, now properly titled Season 10, is a risk that Chris Carter shouldn't have taken. When the series wrapped for the first time back in 2002, they had hoped to launch a series of movies, which never happened until the lone sequel in 2008. Nothing was in the works until 2015, almost 7 years later. I just wonder how many chances Chris Carter will receive? I'd have just thrown all of my eggs into one basket, went full-tilt, and delivered a conspiracy-heavy string of episodes. It certainly seemed like Chris Carter had enough threads of the mythology for a full 6 episodes, only it was condensed to 2. This make room for other writers to return and add their own personal touches, which is actually something that was lacking in the previous movie, I Want To Believe. So if this does get a Season 11 sooner rather than later, I hope the supporting writers are shuffled around, giving all of the alumni a chance to return.

I've only talked about the conclusion. As for the actual 40-some odd minutes that preceded it, there was much that I did enjoy, including the Smoking Man's return. While he was briefly teased in "My Struggle", here he receives plenty of screen time in both the past and the present. My question of how he survived yet another "death" was answered, through an injection of alien DNA that was a major focal point in this episode. Former X-Files investigator Monica Reyes is summoned by Smoking Man's minions and she is offered a chance to join him, so she too will receive this alien DNA in return for lighting his smokes. Seems like a fair trade. It's actually the best use of Monica in the entire season (and some odd episodes) she appeared in, since I cannot recall other "evil" agents aligned with him having any sort of motivation for doing so. Krycek, Marita, and Diana Fowley were already under his thumb in secret when they first appeared. Both Krycek and Marita were responsible for one of his "deaths" and Fowley turned on him, only to be killed off-screen. So I can assume that Monica will suffer a similar fate now that she's spilled the beans to Scully about his plot to wipe out humanity like a Bond villain.

The Smoking Man's make-up effects are pretty cool too, as he still has his neck hole, but now he has a detachable nose piece. Maybe he should be renamed Mr. Potato Head, and next time he'll attach a bright clown nose onto his face. The best of all was the close-up on his two fingers, motioning for a cigarette, all while confined to a hospital bed. That finger rubbing scene oozed creepiness.

Like many installments of the mythology, Mulder and Scully are separated. Mulder is searching for answers from the Smoking Man, while Scully teams up with the new kids on the block, spending most of that time with Einstein. What a lousy name. I really liked how this episode ramped up the suspense as the victims of a plague begin to line up at Scully's hospital, with Tad O'Malley popping in for reports that this incident is NOT confined to the Washington D.C. area. His pop-in reports reminded me a lot of Orson Welles' War Of The Worlds broadcast, and I like how O'Malley is increasingly becoming infected until he likely keeled over too. I'm not sure if O'Malley is a modern version of Mulder's informant character or his new tech friend to replace the deceased Lone Gunmen character. Either way, I like Joel McHale as O'Malley, since he brings a modern feel to this 1990's show that seems desperate to be relevant throughout Season 10.

It was stated before that this alien DNA wrinkle in the mythology may be a way to clean the slate and "reboot" the mythology but I still believe it has it's roots in the old conspiracy tales. The Smoking Man and his Syndicate pals were revealed to have an "alliance" of sorts with alien colonists that were going to reclaim planet Earth. It was never stated how they were going to survive an apocalypse, just that one day they would be spared as part of the plan, though the Syndicate worked against them in secret. I feel like these alien DNA injections were their way of surviving, leaving the Smoking Man to inject whomever he saw fit to continue the human race with him. The episode ends with a UFO overhead and I feel like it's the alien colonists returning to finish the job. If this UFO was zooming to the rescue of the FBI agents on the bridge, then why would it blow up Svetta in the premiere? I guess we will find out in 5 years. See ya then.