I’m not going to leave you in suspense any longer; Mulder gets safely back to land, but then he’s chased down by men with guns. Shocking, I know. Pendrell has a gunshot wound to his chest and his shooter – Scott Garrett -- gets away. Local cops arrive pretty quickly so that’s a plus. Scully tries to convince Pendrell to live for her. And just when we finally forget about Dana's illness, she gets a nosebleed. Maybe they’re stress-related. 
Sgt. Louis Frisch seems perplexed about how the gunman (lone, but not one of the Lone Gunmen) found him so quickly. He clearly doesn’t know just how resourceful the government is when it wants to be. Assistant Director Skinner arrives at the bar, but Scully doesn’t have any real answers for him. He has a few for her, though, Frisch is being arrested by military police under suspicion of murder. How’s that for a turnaround? Can’t assassinate the man, so let’s frame him. … Someone above both their pay grades also decided Fox should be arrested too. Skinner deflects by focusing on Scully's health. But how did he know she had a nosebleed? Dana already cleared away the blood from under her nose and the blood on her tissue could have been Pendrell’s. See? Walter is just that good… Scully picks up Mulder and they discuss the military taking responsibility for the downing of Flight 549 and Sgt. Frisch’s story variations. The whole conversation takes place while Fox changes out of prisoner greens into one of his trademark suits and coat. Dana respectfully manages to avert her eyes the entire time. I guess she knows if he’s the boxer or briefs type. I think he’s too uptight to wear boxers. Mulder likes being in control. He shows Scully the radiation burns on his forehead that he thinks came from the aircraft he found in the lake. Dana one-ups Fox in the shocking news department by first revealing Sharon Graffia is not Max’s sister, then informing him Agent Pendrell died of his injuries. Scully asks the million-dollar question: Is everyone dying for the truth or the lies? Whether intentional or not, Mulder makes it sound like these deaths are the current platform for his truth crusade. It’s good to have goals, Fox.
Sculder go to Max’s trailer, which still looks like a paranoid conspiracy theorist’s dream home. Mulder plays one of Max’s videos, which sounds pretty out there until it’s interspersed with the military doing the same thing Max talks about them doing. Even the sickly grey alien makes an appearance in a body bag at the site. Here’s a question for you: There are six body bags similar in size to the alien. Does that mean there were six alien bodies recovered? Apparently radiation is still a factor because the clandestine divers keep getting exposed and suffering from burns. And looming above them all is Pendrell’s shooter. For a minute there I expected Cancer Man.Mike Millar is addressing his fellow NTSB investigators for the last time. He seems disenchanted with the Air Force’s explanation of the cause of the crash, even though he doesn’t let the others know. They get their pats on the backs and he releases them from the investigation. Sculder compare notes with Millar. Fox thinks Max was carrying proof of alien existence, which would explain the radiation blisters visible on Fenig's face in the flight flashbacks. Mulder also suspects an assassin was on board, but I honestly don’t remember how he came to that theory since the gun the would-be assassin was going to use ended up removed from the crash site by the conspiracy clean-up crew. Max’s plane was intercepted by an alien craft which begs the question, why would they now choose to take Fenig when he’s surrounded by more than 100 people?
According to Fox's theory, the aliens didn’t intend to crash the plane. Then those two aircraft were intercepted by the good ol’ military plane, which had to go and screw up a perfectly innocent alien abduction. Millar has a little trouble believing Max was removed from the plane without physical evidence. But then Fenig was returned to the cabin of the plane, time began again and all hell broke loose. Now here’s a more important question: How do the toddler actors in these terrifying, chaotic scenes know this is not a real plane crash or other traumatic event? I’ll bet at least one of those kids grew up terrified of flying, heights or enclosed spaces. Maybe all three.Millar is still struggling with Mulder’s wild speculation, but Scully gets Mike to focus on the facts, like the radiation readings around Max’s seat. Turns out, Millar’s crew recovered Fenig's bag (and NICAP cap) but no evidence was inside. Dana reminds Fox his “house of cards” is “built on a shaky foundation." (I unknowingly used Scully’s line to describe DC’s plans for Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice to be the tent pole for the Justice League movie franchise.) Mulder returns to Max's trailer, which has since been trashed. He finds a letter Fenig mailed to himself as Paul Gidney, his frequent alias. Inside, Fox finds something useful -- a baggage claim ticket.
At the mental institution, Scully sees Sharon Graffia has the same blisters on her face as Max. Sharon stole alien technology from work to prove Fenig right. They both had a piece of it. Mulder goes to Syracuse Airport and claims Max's bag, but he has to find another way out because other men in suits are blocking his exit. Dana calls to update Fox about the potentially radioactive contents in the bag, but their connection is pretty pathetic. Mulder runs it through the airport X-ray machine – I’m sure all of the civilians who are not carrying radioactive alien technology were thrilled about that – and describes it to Scully. Of course, Mulder is stupid enough to get on a plane with the bag. And guess which assassin happens to be on the same plane … there’s a Lariat rental car station right there, Fox!During the flight, Garrett sits next to Mulder, who subtly points his gun at the assassin. They engage in a nice conversation about what is in humanity’s best interest. After "securing" Garrett in one of the bathrooms, Fox calls Dana to tell her Pendrell’s killer is on board and she should notify Skinner. Mulder realizes his watch has stopped and tries to warn a flight attendant, but Garrett escapes and gets Fox to put down the bag by pointing his customized gun at him. Then the flight is intercepted by a bright light and turbulence. Garrett doesn’t listen as Mulder tells him to let go of the bag and the emergency door silently opens. Boy I hope this turns out differently for Flight 501 than it did for Flight 549.
It does, the flight lands safely in Washington, D.C. without Garrett or the bag. And Fox's Swiss Army watch is now running nine minutes slow. Maybe he should switch to Timex. No one else on the plane acts like anything weird happened. How come Mulder gets to retain the memories? Sculder later meet with Sharon at Max’s trailer. They allow her to take possession of his property and Fox gives Sharon some sound financial advice. Maybe he can also refer her to a dermatologist for the radiation burns. By the way, Scully, while you’re mourning the loss of Pendrell, the co-worker you treated like a co-worker and not a friend, remember his first name is ... um ... I think it’s ... Agent?
Sestra Professional:
It's so rare that one of our heroes is in the teaser, although amusing that in an episode entitled "Max" we didn't actually get to see Fenig until almost 13 minutes into the show. I was glad to see Fox, the novice diver, back on land because while he was down in the depths, it was kind of taking me out of the action. He really shouldn't have been able to breathe with equipment he hadn't used before, let alone evade the pro divers.
I don't think it was that tough of a supposition with Walter asking Dana if she was all right. She had a tissue with some blood on it, but not as much as she might have had for trying to stop the Pendrell gusher. I guess we were due for a reminder that Scully's sick.What are these people dying for, is it for the truth or for the lies? The show took a nice beat in initially addressing the death of Pendrell, even though we don't actually see it on camera. He didn't have a lot of air time in his short run on the show, but it was easy to get attached to him because his interest in Dana, in some ways, echoes our own. Plus he probably saved Scully's life, even if it was inadvertent.
I totally agree with Sestra Am about how "the kook on the video" just seemed like he was ridiculously ranting and raving until his words mirrored the military's actions. The script -- again by show creator Chris Carter and right-hand man Frank Spotnitz -- give Fenig (and Scott Bellis in the process) some perfect bits about not being afraid of a few CIA spooks when he faces the possibility of getting kidnapped by a bunch of "little grey dudes" every single day.
We get less of the investigation leader Mike Millar this time. His disappointment is palpable in addressing his team by saying the probe into the crash has been completed, even though he knows there's more to the story that can't be documented and wouldn't be believed in Washington. His primary function in "Max" is to be a listening board to Mulder's explanation of events. And although he hasn't completely come around, it's still nice to see someone in his position actually give Fox a chance to lay out his hypothesis.Where I come from that's what we call a whopper: I also concur with Sestra Am when it comes to Mulder guessing about the hitman. But even though that's jarring, I still completely bought into one of the big set pieces -- the abduction and attempted return of Max. Director Kim Manners was becoming more ensconced in the mythology episodes and he was able to deliver action sequences and key conversations with equal weight. The "UFO tractor beam" with Mulder's voiceover is just fascinating. I'm still not really sure why the aliens took him at that time and place, but I didn't mind going along for the ride.
So the plutonium Max was carrying was the same thing as the alien energy source Fox had on his flight, only Mulder's was packaged better? It was pretty scary when Fox boarded the next plane with Max's bag, seeming more like genuine danger than his deep sea dive. And that's not even considering the fact that the miraculously healed hitman dude was aboard as well.
We all expected another alien intercept, I'm sure, and they're just lucky they didn't suffer the same fate, I suppose. Perhaps off screen, CSM gave an order not to shoot down his son -- a lot happened off screen in this one. I don't think Mulder did retain what happened in the lost minutes, Sestra Am. Garrett was there and then he was gone, so Fox just made one of those Mulderrific guesses about the gunman catching the connecting flight.So we circle back to the Apollo 11 keychain at the end, which gives Dana a chance to pontificate about how the success on the moon reminds us to dream, work hard and remember no one gets there alone. Which is probably what Fox had in mind, but since she said it so well, he went for the joke -- "I just thought it was a pretty cool keychain." He should have gotten her a hankie for when she has to attend to her nose.
Miss meta manners: In The Complete X-Files, Kim Manners detailed the friendly competition that sprung up between himself and Rob Bowman, who directed the previous episode "Tempus Fugit." "I would look at his dailies and I'd say 'That dirty rat bastard' because he'd come up with a great shot, a great performance. He'd see my dailies and he'd come down and go 'You son of a bitch.'" ... David Duchovny described the action-packed two-parter perfectly in the official fourth-season episode guide: "The episodes were fun to watch. They're ... big production numbers. It's like Vegas; you bring all the showgirls out and all the hardware. Then you light 'em good and you get some real entertainment." ... In the guide, Manners said the full-scale cabin mockup was a "violent ride." The camera operators wore helmets and 80 extras were shaken -- and not lightly -- for three days. ... Soul Coughing's "Unmarked Helicopters," heard a couple times so perfectly in the background at Max's mobile home, had been on the The X-Files-inspired Songs in the Key of X compilation that came out a year before. ... Manners shot Fenig's home videos himself.
Guest star of the week: Scott Bellis becomes the second repeat honoree, and the first for playing the same role. There's something completely unique about Max Fenig, the way he's written and the manner in which he's played. We have three Lone Gunmen on the canvas now who weren't around for Max's original incarnation in Season 1. Perhaps it's the abductee aspect that sets him apart or Bellis' ebullient take on a doomed man. Sure wish I could get a look at the Max Fenig Rolling Multimedia Library and Archive with "Unmarked Helicopters" playing in the background.
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