X-Files Rerun: "End Game"

"It's over, the fat lady is singing."
Originally Aired 2/17/95

The follow-up to "Colony" features another extended monologue to Mulder about clones and hybrid experiments, this time from his "sister" Samantha. She seems far less believable than CIA Agent Ambrose Chapel, but with Scully now a prisoner of the Alien Bounty Hunter, who does he have left to turn to? Skinner even put his ass on the line for Mulder not once, but twice, after telling him to drop the case last week when an FBI agent turned up dead because of him. So with Skinner on his side, the two Mulder kids meet the Bounty Hunter at a bridge for a switcheroo to get Scully back. Mulder tells his "sister" not to take any risks when she's handed over to the Bounty Hunter, but she doesn't listen and tries to stab him with the alien ice pick stiletto. The two topple over the edge and into the watery depths below... leaving Mulder without his sister, again. And not just that, Papa Mulder is pissed too, so Mulder's quest to find is sister is intensified and nearly leaves him dead by episode's end. Now the opening to "Colony" makes sense.

I've realized Mulder is such a glutton for punishment. He's used by Samantha this week, just like Ambrose Chapel last week, played for a fool by Krycek and the Smoking Man, and even Deep Throat misled him in last season's "E.B.E." At least the mysterious Mr. X isn't pretending to be his friend during their late night meetings. Mulder's always led around with the vague promise of answers to alien existence like one of those carrots dangling on a string, and while he always winds up being empty-handed 45 minutes later, we're always given interesting moments along the way. So really, he can't "trust no one" or he'd betray his quest for the truth, so really he wasn't joking when he stated it's trust everyone.

The highlight of "End Game" is the meeting between Scully and X, and later Skinner and X; though they appear to have met before this elevator encounter. Scully uses Mulder's method of taping an "X" on the window and draws out the mysterious informant, and I love how he blows off Scully once he realizes he's the one who's been misled. I want to believe that Scully didn't know Skinner was was going to be waiting outside of that elevator for X. Skinner acting as a bad ass, head-butting guardian angel of Mulder and Scully is a more satisfying belief, and it makes sense given what he'd do later in Season 4 for Scully.

While I'm still not a fan of the way Mulder's family was introduced in this two-parter, I love the introduction of the Bounty Hunter, and more appearances by Skinner and X in "End Game" make this installment of the mythology a winner. There's even three separate brawls, likely an all-time high that's never topped in the following seven seasons, so I hope the stuntmen (and woman) were paid handsomely. Season Two is a still a little rough around the edges as The X-Files was forming a mythology, but it remains a favorite of mine for the way it laid the groundwork for future seasons. Most of the key players were introduced this season- Krycek, X, the Alien Bounty Hunter, and while Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man first appeared in Season One, their personalities were fleshed out during this season. Skinner as the stern boss, though he is always looking out for Mulder; while the Smoking Man is actually much more sinister than a man who leans on a filing cabinet in someone else's office.