"Existence"

"I'm the one who kept you alive, praying you'd win somehow."
Originally Aired 5/20/01

The previous episode, "Essence", had me once again pumped up for The X-Files. It showed there were still mysteries left to be unraveled in this series, such as the Syndicate's work continuing without them and how it related to Scully. The re-emergence of Krycek was also exciting, which is actually what served as my introduction to the character way back in 2008. Here in "Existence", Krycek is clearly out for himself only, as he avoids the rampaging Billy Miles, then holds Mulder at gunpoint in another tense parking garage scene. I feel like every crucial moment in the history of the series has taken place in a darkened, empty parking garage, and if it didn't take place in one, then it's not worth mentioning.

On one hand I feel sorry that the character of Krycek was practically killed in cold-blood by Skinner. It seems more like he should have died as a result of one of his betrayals, possibly even back in Season 6 when the Faceless Aliens were lighting Syndicate members on fire with their caddle prod sticks. Yet, with David Duchovny leaving the series following this episode, it's fitting that his nemesis should exit with him. It seemed like they never fully committed to making him a true formidable foe for Mulder anyways, since Season 6 shifted to gears to make him more of an enemy of Skinner instead, after he had gained some form of upper-hand over the Assistant FBI Director through the use of the nanobot device. Perhaps leaving Krycek for dead with a bullet in his head is just payback for Krycek leading Mulder to his possible death in the woods in last season's finale.

Yet there are other characters in this final hour of Season 8, such as Agent Reyes, whose "whale song" is even worse in hindsight. I just feel like they weren't even trying with this character at all. She's basically the 'Phoebe Buffay' of The X-Files, if she were played by one of the least interesting actresses they could find. Maybe this 'new age' character made more sense from the 1990's state-of-mind, but in the 21st century, it hasn't aged well at all.

Doggett is once again the most interesting aspect of the episode. He knows from the get-go he's being played by his former buddy Knowle Rohrer and doesn't budge at all in giving out the secret location of Scully's hiding spot. He even gets a cool parking garage scene of his own, when his former FBI Agent buddy-turned Super Soldier hangs onto the side of his SUV and is taken for a wild ride. Following the episode's climax, Doggett even calls out his boss and tells Kersh that he's under investigation, which left me mega pumped for Season 9 back when I first saw this scene. While I am fully aware now how Season 9 ended, Doggett and Kersh on-screen together is always a great moment. Even Doggett and Rohrer, played by Adam Baldwin, have a great scene together that is full of necessary exposition. They lay out the entire conspiracy behind this current season for anyone who was still slightly confused as to what's really going on- Scully's abduction in Season 2 was a military operation to install a chip, which has now become active, triggering her pregnancy. She was part of the Syndicate's experiments, while Billy Miles is part of the alien colonists' experiments, which they see Scully's baby as a threat because he would be immune to them as a true human-alien hybrid. What I still don't get 8 years later is why the Soldiers just suddenly back away and let the baby live?

The best sequence of the entire episode for me as a viewer and also a fan of Doggett, is the scene with his 'heart to heart' with Mulder, coincidentally is also in a parking garage. I think Fox may have saved a lot of money by using the same parking garage over and over again this season. Over the years so many characters have asked "HOW FAR WOULD MULDER GO?", which is practically the same exact quote from 4 or 5 different characters. Even Scully asked Mulder why he's still searching for answers two years ago in the Season 6 finale. This time, it's actually Doggett who turns the tables and asks Mulder when his search will end. For this entire season, Agent Doggett has been on the receiving end of Scully's advice, and this moment with Mulder seems to be a defining moment for the guy I once called "Dick Doggett." He asks, "How long until the next Billy Miles rears his head? The next threat? The next phantom? When will it end?" Mulder, the selfish jerk that he is, just smirks and says "maybe it doesn't." Maybe he really should have been abducted for good so he wasn't ruining more lives and getting even more people killed. As one of my good friends always says, "Mulder is the worst." Now *I* believe.

While this is a somewhat weak ending for Season 8, I really enjoyed the second half of this season's episodes as they were all given a sense of purpose. Everything was driven toward the birth of Scully's baby, which brought back Krycek, introduced new enemies in the form of alien replicants, and also closed the door on the Syndicate's mysterious experiments. Nearly all of my favorite episodes are found in the second half of the season, though the first half did offer plenty of scares and a greater focus on eerie cases of the week.

Top 5 of Season 8
1. Via Negativa
2. Vienen
3. Three Words
4. Essence
5. Empedocles

"Essence"

"Hey, look who's back."
Originally Aired 5/13/01

I had recently been exchanging messages with a friend about nearing the end of The X-Files, that I couldn't believe I only had one season left, and he laughed that I should quit before the series finale. "Can't do it anymore, too burned out" were his exact words, which actually seemed to be true now as I'm not even finished with the 8th season! I was already losing interest during the opening moments of this episode as Scully was finally having her baby shower, following her never-ending pregnancy. I'm not nearly as annoyed with stretching out the pregnancy for the length of the entire season as I am with creating the illusion that Scully has friends. I had thought it had long been established that neither Mulder nor Scully had much of a life outside of their work on the X-Files.

Throughout this entire season there has been two separate stories, one with Scully's pregnancy and the second being the coming invasion of "super soldiers." Cult leader Absalom attempted to use Doggett to thwart the efforts of the soldiers, which later ended with Doggett's mysterious friend being revealed as one of them. Billy Miles was also returned from his abduction and transformed into one of these soldiers. "Essence" is an attempt to merge both of these stories into one and Chris Carter actually does an impressive job of tying these two threads together, in a blending of present storylines with past conspiracies. It became apparent when Billy Miles showed up and whacked one of the doctors who was trying to create alien babies.

In a scene that gave me a momentary feeling of deja vu, Mulder showed up at Doggett's house and instructed him into flip the television to a newscast. It reminded me a lot of Season 1's finale, "The Erlenmeyer Flask", when Deep Throat gave Mulder a late night tip to watch the local news. I like Mulder in this pseudo role of Deep Throat to Agent Doggett. The lab filled with these little aliens in jars is kind of like "The Erlenmeyer Flask" too, when Scully recovered the fetus, only this is multiplied for extra creepy effect. It's hard to fully compare this to past mythology installments where Mulder was battling the clock to find a cure for Scully's cancer or racing against an actual ticking timebomb aboard a train, because Billy Miles attacking doctors almost feels like a low-grade version of the alien bounty hunter. However, the bromance of Mulder and Doggett continues to grow and it's refreshing to see Mulder have an ally for more than a single episode. If you recall, Krycek appeared to be an ally but was revealed as a spy of the Smoking Man by the end of that very episode. Then Jeffrey Spender was quickly killed off the moment he joined Team Mulder.

During the course of these 8 years of watching The X-Files in order, I'd often wondered what happened to all of these men and women working for the Syndicate. We know they employed "men in black" like Krycek and even X to carry out the dirty work of assassinations and sneaky things like that, but what about all of the doctors and scientists? There were experiments on bees, cloning, hybrids, and creating a vaccine to the black oil. I feel like while the Smoking Man was in charge of the men in black, perhaps the Well-Manicured Man was possibly in charge of overseeing several experiments. And now that the Syndicate has been burnt to a crisp going on two years, did the doctors keep working? Did the checks stop coming? Finally, I get my answers! While I did remember Billy Miles' rampage in this episode, I guess in the 8 years since I last watched "Essence" I apparently forgot one key scene. The nurse who was going to assist Scully at home as a nanny was actually revealed as an undercover agent of the project doctors. She shares vital information with Team Mulder that though the men in charge had been long deceased, the doctors continued their work in creating alien baby hybrids. BOOM. My mind was completely blown away that Carter actually came through on a two-year long story and connected everything, although I should be fully aware by now that's his m.o.

Before that revelation by Scully's nurse named Lizzy, I was even thinking that this episode was starting to feel a little like a retread of "One Son." Billy Miles was essentially wiping out the remaining traces of the doctors' experiments, much like the Faceless Aliens were destroying the Syndicate members and ending their union with the colonists. Now it makes even more sense why it appeared to be a retread. It wasn't a retread, it was more that Carter was finally closing the book on the entire Syndicate storyline for good. Compared to past mythology two-part bonanzas that brought back members of the Mulder family, Syndicate baddies, and aliens, "Essence" was lighter on characters but made up for it with an emphasis on action and surprises. "Essence" stands as a satisfying latter-day X-Files episode. Bring on the season finale, which is odd to say, given my stance on this episode during the lame baby shower.

"Alone"

"You re-gifted."
Originally Aired 5/6/01

As Season 8 nears its finale, "Alone" holds the distinction of being the final standalone episode starring David Duchovny. That is until this year, when FOX re-launched The X-Files as a 6-episode "event" series. Even if that fact is now erased, "Alone" is also known for being the first episode directed by long-time series writer, Frank Spotnitz. He's also contributed a few other spooky scripts this season, including "The Gift" and "Via Negativa", but this marks his first attempt at a comedic episode. While I think he did a great job in some aspects, it didn't provide enough humor or enough scares to call it a "classic."

I've only watched this episode once before, back in 2008, and I recall having a strong dislike for it's attempts at being funny. However, 8 years later, that "light-hearted" tone would be the reason why I enjoyed it. What seemed "nerdy" before, now feels endearing. Much of the comedic moments come from Doggett's new partner, Leyla Harrison, who isn't really an FBI agent; she's an accountant. It reminded me a little of the Dirty Harry sequel, The Enforcer, when grizzled detective Callahan is paired with a young cop. I felt that this "gimmick" could have continued longer with Doggett getting a new partner every week in the same way that Spinal Tap goes through drummers. My other idea was that Season 9 should have been Doggett going solo on his X-Files investigations, with Scully aiding him and performing autopsies, much like Mulder in the early portion of Season One. As I was typing this, I dreamt up another scenario for Season 9 where Doggett is actually partnered with Agent Emma Hollis from X-Files' sister series, Millennium. Hollis would be able to bring similar expertise to the cases as Reyes, yet she'd already have a built in character that they could expand on. That concludes my fan-fic portion of this review; moving on.

"Alone" doesn't offer many "classic" X-Files scares, but there is a bit of an atmosphere that is unique to this episode. I liked the use of music and camera angles when Doggett is investigating a creepy old house and the grounds surrounding it. They even added a reference to last season with a book titled The Sixth Extinction, which fits well with all of the dialogue referencing past X-Files investigations. Doggett's repeated descent down a well was fun, too. The poor guy has spent all season being vomited up by a creature, sent on a mission into a humid subway tunnel, held hostage by Absalom, and now he's knocked down a well. He's now The X-Files' personal pin cushion.

However, the ending felt a little abrupt, when Mulder came to Doggett's rescue. The bad guy just lets Mulder into the tunnel where he's been keeping Doggett and his partner, with Mulder just strolling in, while the door appears to lock behind him. D'oh! You'd think Mulder would be smarter than that since he was the one who deduced the creepy homeowner was hiding something in the first place. The wacky ending aside, I still enjoyed this episode of The X-Files, and it feels like the writer Frank Spotnitz is as much of a fan of the series as its viewers. Leyla Harrison's references to past cases is what I find myself doing while watching many episodes of not just The X-Files, but other movies and television shows. It definitely is not the worst episode of the season as I had previously believed and I'm glad I was able to view it with this new perspective. Only two episodes remain in Season 8, the two-part finale, "Essence" and "Existence", which I'm sad is coming to an end.

"Vienen"

"And you'd love to help but you left your lightsaber at home."
(Originally Aired 4/29/01)

In this week's episode we have more of the Doggett-Mulder duo, "As The X-Files Turns", or in this case, Die Hard on a oil rig. Doggett is sent by Kersh to quickly investigate the death of a worker on an oil rig, which was a case that Mulder was looking into, so naturally he shows up and beats Doggett to the punch. Meanwhile, Scully and Skinner remain on land to perform an autopsy on that oil worker.

Scully told Mulder that this isn't like old times, except it is, with the two of them investigating the same case from different locations. It also feels like the old days, when the agents face resistance from an oil company executive, much like when Mulder and Scully encountered a local police officer who resented their investigation. To give it even more of that old feeling of nostalgia, the episode's villain is the black oil, last seen in the movie Fight The Future. Season 5 would be it's last series appearance, when the Syndicate attempted to create a vaccine in "The Red and The Black." This was actually the first episode I had watched with the oil, so I wasn't aware of how differently it acts in each appearance. The version in "Vienen" is more like it's original incarnation, which was also found under the sea, and would take over a person's body and irradiate anyone who got in it's way.

 
Revisiting this for the first time in 8 years, it feels slightly less exciting than I remembered. Possibly it's because Mulder has done so much in the past to skate on thin ice at the FBI, that this can't be what gets him dismissed for good by Kersh. On the other hand, Kersh now has another guy in the X-Files that he can manipulate to take the fall, making Mulder expendable. This also feels slightly less exciting because most scenes feature Doggett and Mulder walking around the oil rig; I guess they had to make the most of the oil rig they had rented. The set piece of the oil rig also gives it an old school X-Files environment, too. I was reminded of the early years where they created paranoia by isolating Mulder and Scully in a remote location in episodes like "Ice" and "Darkness Falls."

I love how Season 8 appears to be the "Year of the B-Players", with the best episodes of this season coming from unlikely writers. First was David Amann's "Invocation", which attempted to provide a backstory for Agent Doggett and the mystery surrounding his son. Frequent mythology co-conspirator Frank Spotnitz provided the script for "Via Negativa", which featured Doggett's descent into madness when investigating a creepy cult leader. Last week's was Greg Walker's "Empedocles", again centering the episode's mystery around Doggett's past, and now this episode's Doggett-Mulder bromance aboard an oil rig was written by Steven Maeda. "Vienen" is also noteworthy among the series' mythology because it's one of the very few to have not been written by either Carter, Spotnitz, nor the duos of Morgan-Wong and Gordon-Gansa. I feel like these writers were given the spotlight this season because Vince Gilligan and John Shiban were tied up with the Lone Gunmen spin-off, though their absence adds to the unique atmosphere that is Season 8.

Only one standalone episode remains before the season ending two-parter, with "Alone" being another script from Frank Spotnitz. I'm curious how well it has aged since I recall hating it the first time around. "Vienen" remains strong, still among the best that Season 8 had to offer.