X-Files Episode Guide: Vienen

Written by Steven Maeda

Directed by Rod Hardy

Admittedly, its a little telling that after all these years of dealing with the black oil, we've never had an episode which really tried to deal where it came from. But that's really about the only truly ambitious thing about Vienen, which arguably is one of the most confusing episode we've had in quite some time.

And there's a very good reason for that. Considering that the mythology has been moving, if not in the most constructive direction plot-wise, at least  a more emotional and energetic one. To go back to the black oil, something which the X-Files hasn't even tried to deal with in more than three years, seems more than a little ridiculous. It's telling when Doggett tells the story of what he thinks the black oil's purpose was, that he can barely manage to contain  his skepticism; at this point, he might as well be the casual viewer thinking how absurd the storyline has really been.  And having Mulder trying to bring this story to the attention of the FBI seems more like the series laboring to get back to the 'heyday' of the mythos, when in fact that was one of the least interesting and coherent things about the backstory.

Admittedly, this may not be Vienen's purpose. What the story seems to be trying to do is bring Mulder and Doggett to work together towards a common goal. This would make a certain amount of sense if the series were planning to have the two of them on the series full time, but we know that's not going to be the case. (We'll get to the problems this leads to in a minute.) We already know that the two of them have been at loggerheads since Mulder came back from the dead; to have them to rely only on each other would be an interesting point, if it didn't carry all the necessary baggage from the mytharc behind it. And there's so little of the black oil story that makes any real sense when connected to the mythology that one wonders why Maeda's doing it in the first place.

 Apparently all of the people working on the oil rig that has tapped into the black oil reserve have been infected with the exception of two mixed Mexican workers who somehow are immune to infection. Now apparently, the virus, which has never shown any evidence before, can't infect certain people. And the members of the oil rig are trying to use the radio in order to get in touch with the alien mothership. Yeah. Even the most loyal fan of the series has to wonder what's going on. So when the episode reaches its climax with everybody on the rig trying to break into the radio room, Mulder then smashes the radio to make sure they can't make contact with the aliens. And we don't even have time to deal with that before all these alien-possessed workers decide to blow the rig. Which makes even less sense than them trying to phone home in the first place.

All of this would be hard enough to deal with on its own, but by this point, we've given up on any possibility of the mythology making sense. What makes it just even harder to tolerate is the fact that the entire plot is basically a smokescreen.  The writers (and one has to assume that Carter had something to do with it, considering that Maeda would never deal with the mythos again) know that they have to find a way to write Mulder off the show. So they create Vienen as a way to get him kicked out of the FBI for good. They have Mulder violate protocol with some kind of kerfuffle with an oil executive, they have him hitch a rid on to the oil rig along with Doggett, they have him put Scully and Skinner in peril with Kersh, because they seem to be following his lead. But Mulder's done so much worse things in the past, that this barely would rate as a blip on the radar. The idea that somehow this case being handled in such a way is so inexcusable is practically laughable.  And its even more ridiculous that Mulder would decide to take the fall for all this, under the heading that Doggett is now a far more credible source for the X-Files than Mulder is at this point. Which would be believable except that Doggett will never believe in aliens for his entire tenure on the show, and that none of the mythology will ever resemble this kind of story again. Considering that Carter has more than a season to figure out how to write Duchovny out of the series, this may be the weakest possible exit he could've managed. (And considering that we still have three episodes of Season 8 to go, its not even handled that well, considering that no one yet knew whether there would even be a Season 9.)

So basically Vienen's purpose is to take the X-Files with Mulder handing it over to Doggett in the final minute.  Which is hard enough to believe, given what we see in Vienen. They spend almost the entire episode in complete disagreement, there's no evidence that they've come to some kind of understanding, about the only thing they do that has any connection is that they jump off an exploding oil rig together, a la Butch and Sundance.  That this is supposed to be part of some symbolic moment doesn't fly at all. That it comes on top of a mythology that we really hoped the series left behind is even harder to tolerate. Considering the breath of fresh air that Robert Patrick has breathed into the series, you'd think that he - and the viewer - would be entitled to something better.

My score: 2 stars.