Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners
The X-Files has done a lot of
episodes when they promised us closure when it came to things, and more often
than not, its been meaningless. Hell, we were promised a wrap up of the
conspiracy way back when Two Fathers came up, but the mythology has lumbered
on, despite the deaths of almost every relevant regular. But now that the series
has an end date, now that every ad is
trumpeting the 'End Game', you think Carter and Co. would finally be willing to
come up with some kind of conclusion to this mess that the mythology had
become. No such luck.
No, now that the X-Files is coming
to an end they seem determined to drag the mythology as long as they possibly
can. We have rubbings of an alien spacecraft that seem to connect to the spaceship we saw back in Season 7, but no,
its connected to a different UFO,
that seems to have been buried in Canada
for some reason. (I'd consider that maybe Carter is making an in-joke to the
series Canadian origins, but as has been demonstrated over and over, when it
comes to the conspiracy, Carter has no sense of humor). We have a whole new set
of conspirators within the FBI, we have a UFO cult that seems to come out of
nowhere, and its very telling when we are now looking at Kersh as the most
familiar face when it comes to the government. We have an artifact that now
seems to have healing capabilities (its the complete opposite of what the
rubbings did to Mulder, but what does continuity have to do with the X-Files),
and somehow is attracted to William. And now, apparently after ignoring the
opportunity to take Scully's baby back in Season 8, now everybody in the world
wants to get their hands on this kid.
This is a horrible mess. But its to
be expected by this point; Carter and company have tried to reinvent the
mythology of this series so many times that we should hardly be surprised that
they're incapable of neatening. What makes this even worse is the fact that its
rendering every character connected with the series completely illogical.
Gillian Anderson's had to use the angst-card over and over throughout the
series run; very few characters have been made to suffer as much in any TV
show. In the past, we were willing to put up with because we cared for Scully
so much, and the majority of it had to do with Mulder, who we cared about
immensely as well. But ever since Scully's pregnancy, her character has become
loaded down with a huge amount of baggage. It got increasingly hard to deal
with last season, but the payoff seemed
to be enough to be worth it. Since Carter couldn't leave well enough alone, the
angst now has to do with a completely absent Mulder, and a baby. We saw in Trust No 1 just how badly Mulder's
absence was reducing Scully's character; Provenance takes it to even lower
level, if such a thing were possible. Its bad enough that Carter can't seem to
agree whether or not William is Mulder's child; now he seems determined to make
this child some kind of alien/human hybrid/miracle child/does he even know what
at this point. And now Scully seems only interesting in looking in cases that
seem to directly affect her child, and where her worldview had expanded
immensely in Season 7 and 8, now she seems to be seeing signs for her baby
everywhere. Much of the series since Season 5 has been about Scully trying to
become a mother. She seems to be doing a piss-poor job of it.
The destruction of Scully's character
is reprehensible. But its barely noticeable in this episode because Carter
& Spotnitz seem determined to do the same level of wreckage on the
characters they've spent the last couple of years building up. Skinner's
emotional and psychological growth was one of the highpoints of Season 8; now
he's keeping secrets from his agents, especially Scully, and seems shocked -
shocked! - at even the suggestion of
corruption within the Bureau. Doggett has been the cool-headed, voice of reason
ever since he was introduced; now he's disobeying direct orders from superiors,
and breaking into Skinner's office. Even Mulder at his most extreme wouldn't
push this hard. The Lone Gunmen, who haven't been seen the season began, are
now being relied on to protect William. It takes them barely two minutes after
getting possession of him for them to be trapped and captured by the enemy.
They've never been good for a great deal outside of comic relief, but it
doesn't say much that the 'only people left who we can trust' are revealed for
true incompetence now. Oh, and Mulder's dead. Maybe. Now, Carter can't even be
bothered to arrange his own writing with his press releases. It's already been
announced that Duchovny was going to make a return in the final episode, which
makes this cliffhanger, not much. This would've worked even a couple of
episodes ago; here's its just another waste of energy.
With everything that's been going
wrong with the mythology - especially this year - one has to wonder why Carter
is so determined to make an episode like Provenance, especially one that has to
be resolved in a two-parter. The X-Files has never done particularly well with
its two-parters - the first part would traditionally start like gangbuster, and
than part two would end up with no resolution at all. But at least in the first
part, they managed to promise that there would be something interesting to see.
Now that the series is reaching its end (it seems) Carter can't even be
bothered with that. Even the threat to William doesn't seem to have much oomph
to it. Right now, the only real cliffhanger at the end of the episode would
seem to be: can things get any worse?
My score: 1 star.
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