X-Files Episode Guide: The End

Written by Chris Carter

Directed by R.W. Goodwin

By now, the series has gotten to the point where it seems to be playing to the whims of its fanbase. The episode opens with an assassination of a Russian grandmaster playing a chess match in Vancouver, which only makes sense when we realize that the city where the series has been shot in for the last five years is playing itself for the first time. The title of The End only makes sense when you consider that it is meant to be a reference to the end of 'The X-Files' time filming in Canada. (It's also the end of a couple of other key bits of business, but we'll get to that in a minute.)

As is the case with these season finales, we're back in the mytharc. However, as with so many things forced upon us by a shorter fifth season, the impact is somewhat minimized. The CSM is officially back from the dead, and by the end of this episode, has resumed his place in the conspiracy hierarchy. One wonders what the point of killing him off was, if only to produce the moments of awkwardness among the Elders. Krycek is back, now apparently working as an assassin and messenger to the Well-Manicured Man, thus completely throwing out the window any chance we might have had for his character to make sense in this story. And there are some new elements as well: Jeffrey Spender seems to be building a career in the Bureau with the help of Smoking Man, which comes as a shock to him.  He's called into investigate a case, which centers around a twelve-year old chess prodigy named Gibson Praise, whose telepathic abilities would seem to make him - all together now-  "the key to everything in the X-Files". And just to make things even more interesting, there's a new face and an old face with the arrival of Diana Fowley, that utter rarity, someone who supported Mulder's work way back when he was getting started with the X-Files seven years ago. She's played at sympathetic for this episode, but by this point, we've come to distrust anyone  who might be on Mulder and Scully's side. (Then again, maybe it's just because she calls him "Fox".)

\And just to make things perfectly clear that this is a climax to something, once again the X-Files are put in jeopardy. We're not entirely sure why the Attorney General needed to be informed of this threat, nor why, when everything inevitably goes to hell in the final act, this is strictly Mulder's fault. In any case, it happens so quickly, that we, much like our heroes, have almost no time to process. What finally registers in a way that just hasn't for the series is the threat is finally made physical when the Smoking Man comes down to the basement and sets it on fire. It's something so shocking and final that one almost forgets that this will somehow be fixed by next season. (We think.)

All in all, this is so much of a mish-mash that you'd be astonished that any of it would be effective at all. And yet, there are several elements of 'The End' that play very well indeed. There's the fact that the CSM seems to emerge from his hiatus, crackling with anger. He no longer tries to toady to his bosses, particular the Well-Manicured Man, and is blatantly hostile and no longer engaging in euphemisms when it comes to what he does. William B. Davis plays the role with a certain amount of relish that has, frankly, been missing from his character for the last couple of years. And yet there seems a rare humanity to his behavior, when he finally lets down his guard enough to expose himself to Spender in the next-to-last scene and say he's his father.

Then there's the interplay between Mulder and Scully. For much of the season, they've been at odds, mainly because of the differing paths that they have been traveling for much of the year. It takes the joint arrival of Diana Fowley and Gibson Praise to really put this into focus however. Up until now, the fans have been holding on to Carter's assurances that Mulder and Scully will never, ever get together. The End is the first sign that the characters maybe wobbling. Seeing an agent as attractive as the one Mimi Rogers plays maybe a ham-handed way of introducing a threat to Scully and Mulder 's relationship; what makes it work is the fact that Fowley is intellectually closer to Mulder's wavelength. The fact that Scully has been working herself closer to Mulder's way of thinking is an irony not lost on the viewer - as well as the fact that her determination to prove herself may be what puts the X-Files in danger in the first place.

But it takes Gibson to really put into focus. Frankly, he's a comparative cypher as characters go, but what makes him work- at least in this episode- is the fact that he seems determined to lay bare to the audience, as well as our heroes, the way that they may feel to each other. It almost makes him seem less like a deux ex machina, and more like a boy who just wants to tell the truth, and honestly not want to hear these thoughts.

Most of the performances in the episodes are good, even if the story is something of a hodgepodge. But 'The End' is an appropriate title for this episode. This is a transition not only from Vancouver to Hollywood, but an end to the traditional structure. From this point on, 'The X-Files' will take on a significant change in tone and production. It's not entirely unwelcome, and it will keep the series going for awhile. But it will also be an end of even the attempt of a sensible narrative for the mytharc, and that will be a blow from which the series will never completely recover from.

My score: 3 stars.

Season 5: 3.25 stars.