X-Files Episode Guide: Je Souhaite

Written & Directed by Vince Gilligan

At this juncture of the series, the only writer who is making X-Files still watchable is Vince Gilligan. Considering how relatively late he joined the series, it's fairly remarkable that he seems to be capable of giving the fans what they want, the only one who can see a future for it. So it seems particularly fitting, in what at the time many thought would be the penultimate episode of the entire series, that he decides to expand his horizons still further and take on the task of directing. The episode he creates is a small gem.

Admittedly, this may have been more for his own process than anything else - the experience he would take would lead to his expanding his role on Breaking Bad several years later. But beyond this, he seems to recognize that Je Souhaite is the end of an era. Even if he didn't know the future of this series, he seems to realize that this could be the last time we really see Mulder and Scully at peace, seeing them in what is, for all intents and purposes, the last standalone episode they will ever do, the last case they will investigate together.

And in an episode that is all about the failure of wish fulfillment, something that fans of the series have been struggling with, in a way, he gives both our heroes exactly what they've always wanted, even if in typical fashion, its taken away before they can show it to the world. The scene where Scully finds herself examining an invisible body is one of Gillian Anderson's most remarkable scenes all year - after years of second guessing, even this season, she finally seems to find the proof of the paranormal that she's been looking for the last seven seasons for. Her childlike joy as she observes the invisible corpse of Anson Stokes is rather stunning, as is her delightful breakdown when she realizes that the body is gone. It may be somewhat frustrating to see Scully go back to her self-doubting ways when the body's gone, but there's something rather wonderful about that as well - this is the last time she will ever find herself doubting the paranormal for the remainder of the series, and there's a fair amount of nostalgia in it to it.

Mulder also gets what he's always wanted -  not just proof of the supernatural, but rather being able to do something with it. There's something rather enjoyable when he finally realizes that he has three wishes to do something with, and something Mulder-like in the fact that he tries to do the right thing with it, rather than dealing with the selfishness that everybody else in the episode has had to deal with. One can even see, if you want to, that's he trying to break away from the power that all the conspirators in this series have tried to hold over the entire world, and do something good with it. Of course, it turns out that the end result is pretty much the same - he wishes for peace on earth, and all that does is erase every human being from the planet. And just like he has done every other time on this series, it is Scully who brings about the way to guide him back to what the right thing to do is.

Admittedly, the theme for the episode is somewhat of a stretch, even for the X-Files. A genie, even given the very broad scope of the series, doesn't really fit into what Mulder and Scully have been chasing for the last seven years - and its very telling that Mulder has to go to a Barbara Eden sitcom just to come up with something that the Stokes brothers can comprehend. But in a larger sense, there's a certain logic to it - Mulder and Scully have become so much a part of the firmament the same way that the mythos of the genie once has.  And in a sense, they need to understand this because there is a transition between how foolish mankind has been. The argument is aided immensely by the forcefield of stupidity that seems to surround the Stokes brothers, who seem terminally impossible of comprehending anything. Given all the power in the world, Anson can't seem to think of anything to help his brother out of a wheelchair - it would be cruel, except Leslie can't either.(Attention should be paid to the superb comic performances of Kevin Weisman and Will Sasso as the Stokes') For half a millennium, the genie tells them, mankind has done nothing but make the wrong wish. Put in the word 'choice' for 'wish', and you can see the mythos of the X-Files writ large.

And what this all does is prove (though the series still doesn't seem to get the message) is that the X-Files was never really about changing the world or bringing about the truth. Given every option that Mulder can have to better mankind, he chooses instead to grant the genie her freedom, and watch Caddyshack with his partner. Admittedly, it seems to go against everything we've seen the last seven seasons, but Gilligan was never that big into the mythos anyway.

If Je Souhaite had been the last standalone episode - and no doubt everybody working for the series may have thought or even hoped it would - it would've been a perfect final statement for what the series could be. (God knows, a lot of X-philes really wished that they had just stopped there) It's quietly funny without being obnoxious as so many of the comedies this year have been, and it ends with a note of hope that so much of the series. As it is, this is a note of sublime peace that the series won't be able to (or for that matter, really try) to match again.

My score: 5 stars.