X-Files Episode Guide: The Sixth Extinction

Written by Chris Carter

Directed by Kim Manners

Strangely enough, after nearly four seasons of the mythology episodes taking on such a house style that there was little originality to them, as the series entering (what many thought) was its final phase, Carter and company seemed determined to take the mythos in a different direction. Some elements would remain the same - yet again, we have another episode starting with Scully delivering a Carter-speak voiceover - but at least, after years of giving us tell instead of show, the writers seemed to realize that they were going to give us a bigger picture. If it seemed even more over the top than could be considered credible, at this point, any loyal X-phile would've taken what they could get.

So as Sixth Extinction begins with Scully standing over a UFO with some kind of alien writings on it, the effects department seems determined to make this seem even more remarkable than it should. We get what appear to be equal parts of the ten plagues - locusts, boiling sea, the waters turning into blood - and the New Testament , which ultimately climaxed with a murdered man rising from the dead. As if we're not  being given enough on that end, Scully finds herself encountering the rogue Dr. Barnes from the previous episode, who helps translate the writing on the craft as including the human genetic map, passages from the Bible and the Koran, and numerous other things that just don't seem to belong on an alien spaceship. No wonder Dr. Barnes seems to go mad from the discovery. I'd feel sorry for the man, but you know, he is a double murderer, who kind of deserved what he got. To top the whole thing off, Scully sees a mysterious African bushman repeatedly, whose sole purpose seems to be to warn her that 'some truths are not for you. I have to hand it to Gillian Anderson, for managing to keep her performance all together throughout this episode. Only her rigorous personality - measured with the skepticism that is finally starting to erode - could manage to handle all this without going over the top.

Considering that she seems to be doing all of this for Mulder, there's a certain irony in that the entire episode of the ship doesn't seem to offer a single, pertinent solution to what is happening to him. As the increasingly frenetic brain activity has essentially rendered Mulder catatonic, it falls upon Skinner to be the one to essentially try to save him. One also has to give Carter credit; after nearly a year of giving Mitch Pileggi essentially nothing to work with, he finally seems willing to give the character room to do something more than growl authoritatively. One wonders why Mulder would have him turned to Michael Kritschgau of all people in order to save his life, especially considering that he's one of the few people in the mytharc who had no belief in aliens at all, but considering that he manages to do more to help him than any of the doctors in this episode, it does seem like Mulder hasn't fried his entire brain yet.

The episode is a definite improvement over where we seemed to leave things in Biogenesis, but where it starts to break down is by having the character shifts that we see seem a little too unbelievable at times.  Scully's is completely buyable. Considering what she has been through in Africa, the moment when she finally tells Skinner that what is causing Mulder's illness is extraterrestrial in origin seems powerful, because it seems so irrelevant given the state of Mulder's health. What is far less believable is watching Barnes, who we knew from the previous episode thought his colleagues beliefs were laughable, accept it so completely. Its only remotely plausible because it helps drive him mad. Kritschgau's is even harder to stomach - he spent his entire career, believing that alien life was propaganda, and now after a couple of hours with Mulder, he seems all too willing to dump everything that he once worked for.

Where this episode is better is the way that the characters seem to be finally breaking through. Anderson, big surprise, is remarkable in every element of her performance. Mimi Rogers finally allows Fowley a little room for growth, when she shows that she doesn't care for the conspiracy either, but only for Mulder. And even though Duchovny doesn't have a lot to work with, the fact is he seems to have made his choice as to whose confession to believe -  in the sea of voices that are deluging him, he can still find Scully's anywhere. It's a bit that will be played out a little too much, in the conclusion of the episode.

Of course, because this is a mythology episode, there's very little going on that will be held to, even at this late date. You'd think if everybody thought the series was going to end this season, they'd want to wrap things up here, but Scully, as always, loses any proof that she might have that this alien ship exists. The illness, even as it pertains to Mulder will be handled - or not handled, the writers never worked that out satisfactorily. Even the ship will be simply washed away by the tides, only to come back yet again when its least expected (or wanted, by that point). We're prepared to give Sixth Extinction a little more rope, because we are, at least, seeing character growth, something the series has been very begrudging in giving. This is definitely a step in the right direction. It's just a little disappointing its starting to come now.

My score:3.25 stars.