X-Files Episode Guide: Alone

Written & Directed by Frank Spotnitz

If the eighth season has been mostly hit or miss, one of the few positives to come out of it is the genuine skill of Frank Spotnitz. Though by this point he had been with The X-Files longer than any writer other than Carter, it has been harder to get a handle on a specific style of his writing then say, Vince Gilligan or Howard Gordon. And that's mainly because he has specialized almost entirely in the mythology episodes, which have increasingly been the bete noire of the series. It's true to a certain extent of this season as well, but he has taken an increasing role in the nature of how the series proceeds, and been one of the greater bulwarks of the writing staff. Even the mythos episodes have become more emotionally driven, and have become a strength of the series (so far).

So there's a certain sense that in the episode that he makes his directorial debut that Spotnitz manages to demonstrate that he has an understanding of the X-Files far better than you would've expected. Alone is essentially a story about nostalgia, representative of (what everybody on the series had reason to believe) the end of an era. Scully has finally begun her maternity leave, and goes digging through her desk for memorabilia of past episodes, finally settling on the Apollo 11 keychain that Mulder gave her way back in Tempus Fugit as a farewell gift to Doggett. (The way she very pointedly refuses to answer whether she's ever coming back is very telling.) Doggett is then promptly given a new partner, an inexperienced agent from the accounting department, who is one of the rare people who seems to have admired Mulder and Scully's work. (Even her name, Leyla Harrison, is a tribute of sorts; Harrison was the name of a prolific X-Files fanfic author.) A true innocent abroad,  she is clearly there to represent all of the dedicated fans of the series.

Its something of a shame that the case that they have been chosen to investigated is, like so many of the Season 8 stories, so much old style folderol. The idea of a giant reptile creature that has killing people and trying to digest their bodies is one that we've seen before (even Harrison seems able to point that out), and its hard to figure out whether there's anything that makes more plausible that the manbat that was Doggett and Scully's first case together. In a way, though, this may be part of Spotnitz's point. Alone is meant to be about the familiar, and how the X-Files has been less about find paranormal creatures and more about how the characters work together. Scully, even looking as pregnant as she is, can't stop her feelings of concerns for Doggett when he goes missing looking into the investigation. Mulder may not like Doggett, but he respects him enough (and perhaps has a lot of ire towards the FBI at this point) to go on to the scene and try and find him. And in a way, this episode is supposed to be more about closure that Vienen never quite managed; Scully's back at the autopsy bay, slicing up one last corpse. Mulder's on one last stakeout, spitting his ubiquitous sunflower seeds on the lawn of a suspect he doesn't like, and giving one more thumbing of his nose at the man who fired him. And in a way that Vienen never quite pulled off, Alone manages to show a certain amount of teamwork between Doggett and Mulder. In the climactic moments, when the Sites monster seems on the verge of devouring them, Doggett is almost completely blind, and must rely entirely on Mulder in order to save their lives. The ability to see through a different point of view has been a recurring, albeit subtle theme of Season 8, and it reaches a certain climax when Mulder has to do it for Doggett.

It's also good that Alone is a lot lighter in tone than this particular dark season has been. I don't mean that its a comedy - Spotnitz was never very good at those - but there's a certain level of relaxation and looseness among all of the leads that has been missing for almost all of Season 8. And even if you don't really believe that this episode accomplishes much, it is much better at the symbolic passing of the torch than last week was. Spotnitz also throws the fans who have been suffering with the series for this point in the final scene, when Leyla Harrison, in a room alone with her idols, asks them a question about one of the biggest plotholes in Fight the Future, and has the joy of seeing Scully and Mulder fall into an argument like an older married couple about what actually happened. That by now they should be able to agree on this is not the point; its the idea of wish fulfillment that we have been hoping for.

Alone is far from a perfect episode, and if it was meant to be the final standalone (you've got to wonder if once again, Carter and company had any idea if the series had a future), it suffers immensely in comparison with last year Je Souhaite, mainly because Vince Gilligan is still a better writer than Spotnitz. But for a series that has been struggling for tone and subject almost all season, its a light touch that is definitely needed before we dive once more into the morass of the mythology, where things are about to reach a level of confusion that, unfortunately, The X-Files has become known for.

My score: 4 stars.