This conclusion to last season's cliff-hanger was written by CC and directed by R.W. Goodwin. Instead of picking up the story at the deserted warehouse, we begin in Vancouver, Alberta, with a telephone repairman climbing a pole, getting stung by a bee and falling to his eventual death while 5 identical little blonde boys look on. After the opening credits, which include another tagline buzzword (Everything Dies), we pick up the story with the Alien Bounty Hunter (ABH from here on) heading straight for Jeremiah Smith, with his skull-piercing weapon at the ready.
When I review episodes from the Alien/Government Conspiracy theme, I look at things from the perspective of questions and answers; what new revelations are presented to us, and what new questions are raised.
For the second consecutive year, the season-opener was, for me, a major disappointment. We spend almost 5 full minutes watching ABH chase JS through the warehouse, with Mulder tagging along, hoping to keep Jeremiah alive, so that JS can heal Ma Mulder. What was supposed to be suspenseful turned into tedium. It was ludicrous that Mulder could be running around in a dark, deserted building for 3 minutes, and then call out to Jeremiah, "This way!" How could he have such a heightened sense of direction, when all through the chase, he was concentrating on saving JS, as opposed to learning his way around?
The scene when Mulder stabs ABH was sooooo predictable. When the green blood oozed back into the alien's body, was there anybody watching who didn't know we'd see ABH grabbing Scully, a la the movie Wait Until Dark?
Mulder and Jeremiah had several hours together on the boat and on the plane to Vancouver. Why didn't JS at least give Mulder some inclination of what he was going to see in Canada? What did they talk about on their cross-continental flight if not that? Why did Jeremiah insist on taking Mulder to the bee farm with promises to explain everything, and then tell Mulder virtually nothing? Why didn't they take the telephone line worker's truck with them to drive the remaining distance to the farm? Better still, why did they not head for that truck after they escaped from ABH? How are we expected to believe that Jeremiah found a gas can and gas after telling Mulder that there were no parents on the farm? If there were no adults, why was there gas around? And the biggest question of all, why was ABH driving the telephone repairman's truck when he caught up with Mulder and Jeremiah? What happened to his car, which was on the premises?
Let's look at the overall picture of the A/GC arc. So far we have seen alien technology ("Deep Throat"), an invisible alien ("Fallen Angel"), shape-shifting Amish-aliens ("Genderbender"), grays ("Duane Barry"/"Ascension" and "Paper Clip"), stick-figure aliens ("Little Green Men"), oil-slick aliens ("Piper Maru"/"Apochrypha"), robotic aliens ("War of the Copaphrages") and something from the bowels of the earth ("Jose Chung"). This is not counting the green-blooded aliens from "Colony"/"End Game", "The Ehrlenmeyer Flask" and now "Talitha Cumi" and "Herrenvolk", nor any of the others which I might have overlooked from taxing my long-term memory. What is this? Does CC want to propose that Earth is something akin to an inter-galactic truck stop? ;-) Just how many species are involved here?
To his credit, CC does at least tie in this 2-parter with the ABC trilogy from last year. My own speculation is that the alien life form with which the Consortium is cooperating has a problem with small pox. My evidence is Mulder's examination of several of the bodies which were eventually burned in the railroad car in "Anasazi". This is why proof of smallpox inoculation is critical to The Project. An alien cannot be combined with a human who hasn't had a smallpox inoculation because smallpox is fatal to the alien life form. The Smallpox Eradication Program was thus a cornerstone of the conspiracy and The Project. But X's declaration that "You're going in the wrong direction," to Scully after explaining what SEP meant seems to contradict this. Yet with his dying breath, X crawls along the floor and writes in his own blood, the letters "SRSG". We later learn that this stands for Special Representative to the Secretary General (of the United Nations). Since the UN is based in New York City, and we have seen Mulder meet with the Well Manicured Man in NYC, it is logical to assume that the UN is in on the conspiracy. If you watched carefully, you should have noticed that when Mulder meets with the pretty blonde lady at the end, he says that he's met with several other SRSGs and has not had any luck. It would appear to me then, that the group of men which we on the list refer to as "The Consortium" are members of several world governments and they are all assigned to the UN as SRSGs. By inference, then, CC is extending the range of the conspiracy from the US government to the world government, or the closest thing we have to a world government, the United Nations. Those in power will retain their power in the New World Order, as payment for their cooperation. It brings to mind the Nazi collaborators of World War II, and we know what happened to them, don't we?
The acting in this episode was, at best, below average. While Gillian Anderson was competent, her role was too small to make a difference. David Duchovny's concerned son/concerned brother act has just about played itself out for me. DD lacked the fire and passion that is so sorely needed when you have a weak script and plodding direction.
Mitch Pileggi had little more than a walk-on part, and he was pretty mechanical in his on-screen moments. Roy Thinnes, as Jeremiah Smith, seemed to be able to alternately display terror, horror, fear and anxiety, and little else. Steven Williams, in his farewell appearance as X, was at least given the opportunity to excel in his limited screen time. His performance shone through against the backdrop of the lackluster script and tepid performances of the principals. He will be missed.
From my recap of the various species of aliens (albeit incomplete), I have this mental picture of CC and Company having painted themselves into a corner. They've introduced a lot of aliens, and seem to be resigned to the fact that they can't explain them all, so they're going to concentrate on one or two. I get the feeling that there was no master plan for the A/GC arc, and that Chris and the boys are just making this up as they go along. How else can you explain them trying to get us to swallow The Invasion of the Killer Bees from Outer Space as the "exciting conclusion to last season's cliff-hanger?" Sure, we have the promise of a romantic interest for Mulder, and the teaser that Mulder is important to the success of The Project, but there was precious little else to further the mythology.
I wanted to like this episode. But I just couldn't get past the flaws and the general feeling that the writers are saying to themselves, "We can throw just about any garbage at these fans and they'll eat it up." Sorry, guys, but I'm fasting this week. ;-)
My Score: A very generous 5 out of 10.