X-Files S11E10: Our final 'Struggle'

Sestra Amateur: 

Well, we made it! A little more than seven years, 217 episodes, two movies and an X-Fest that resulted in the epic cover photo on the Sibling Cinema Facebook page. At times it was a … struggle … but this was quality time with my Sestra, so it was totally worth it. 😊

How does it end for FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully? "My Struggle IV" already has a giant negative against it; "My Struggle III" (Season 11, Episode 1) revealed Cigarette Smoking Man to be William’s father, not our long-suffering hero, Fox. Some of you may be surprised to see me writing something positive about Mulder, whose actions I’ve called on the carpet more times than not. But at least he loves Dana and had a consensual sexual relationship with her. Cancer Man’s actions toward Scully over the course of this series are beyond reprehensible. 

I can’t even imagine the existence of a fan base that “ships” Scully and CSM. (Skullsmoking? Cancerly?) William’s paternity is a plot twist “worthy” of a writers’ strike scab. (Need examples? Think of your favorite show’s storylines from the 1988 and 2007-'08 TV seasons. Some never survived. RIP Pushing Daisies.) But The X-Files' creator himself, Chris Carter, has the sole writing credit on "My Struggle III" and "IV." How did he plan to fix this mess? Did he think he would have the time and broadcasting ability to right (write?) this wrong in Season 12? Well, let’s jump in and see what Carter does. Or did.

There’s a frantic pace to this episode. I know it was written that way but after lollygagging in bottle episodes since "Ghouli" (S11E5), which advanced William’s story, this feels unnecessarily forced. As I mentioned earlier, we’re not off to a great start. I’m currently enduring what will hopefully be the final voiceover of the rewatch. Teenaged William is the offender this time. He’s explaining his psychic connection to birth mother Dana, his happy childhood, his growing powers. From visions, William knows CSM is his father. At least he despises the old man even if he doesn’t really know why. Meanwhile, drama is playing out between Cancer Man and his eldest son, Fox, but we’ll come back to that. Instead, we flash back to Agent Mulder hunting down William in a cheap motel in Norfolk, Virginia.

At FBI Headquarters, Assistant Director Walter Skinner is having a bad day. Deputy Director Alvin Kersh is giving him an earful about Mulder encouraging Tad O’Malley’s conspiracy theories. (You remember Tad, don’t cha? Played by the always-entertaining Joel McHale, we last saw him in S10E6's "My Struggle II"). Kersh is being his usual rigid self; he wants the X-files closed – again! – and Team Sculder fired from the FBI – again! (I know James Pickens, Jr. is capable of so much range. I never understood why XF writers chose not to take advantage of it more often.) 

Cancer Man taunts Walter on the phone about releasing the contagion unless Skinner finds William. Finally, Scully corrals Walter, begging for his help because Mulder and William are being pursued. Dana takes credit for the alarmist comments attributed to Fox on O’Malley’s web show. Flash back even further and we see Team Sculder are receiving information from former ally Monica Reyes about William’s whereabouts. Monica hangs up then pleads ignorance when CSM asks her whether she has any information about his son. Maybe we’re finally seeing the real Monica Reyes again. I certainly hope so.

Mulder attempts to locate William but gets accosted by Mr. Y’s security team. Remember Mr. Y? He was working with Erika Price (Barbara Hershey) in "My Struggle III." Surprisingly, Fox gets the jump on them and holds Mr. Y at gunpoint. The man claims people will kill to have what William has. Then Mulder kills another guard and – before he can obtain more information – Mr. Y. Dana’s investigation leads Fox to a convenience store in Tennessee. Someone puts a tracker on Mulder's Mustang while Fox follows his next lead: William hitched a ride with a trucker.

Scully calls O’Malley to tell him about the impending unleashed virus. He, of course, wants her to go on the record. Mulder finds the 18-wheeler but William is gone. Probably because the kid terrorized the truck driver. I think that’ll be the last hitchhiker he ever picks up. Dana tries to warn Fox about the future but he’s obsessed with finding “his” son. Meanwhile, the man who was tracking Mulder stumbles across William and offers him a ride. William heads to his ex-girlfriend’s house. You'll remember her from "Ghouli." Actually, there are two ex-girlfriends; William goes to see Sarah Turner while Fox ends up at Brianna Stapleton’s house. Brianna isn’t very helpful but Sarah agrees to meet William (aka Jackson) at a nearby motel. Mulder gets to Sarah’s house, and when he tells her he's William's father, she gives him her ex’s hiding location. 

Fox arrives at the motel in Norfolk and hugs the boy after saying he's William’s father. Meanwhile, Erika finds what’s left of the tracker who gave William a ride. Kind of looks like William did more than scare his driver this time. William expresses his frustration to Mulder about the future. The kid thinks his own death will prevent it from happening. Unfortunately, that’s when Erika and her men break into the motel room. Mulder nobly tries to save William but the teen can take care of himself. He explodes Erika and her three henchmen with his mind. (The cleaning deposit is not going to cover that.) William takes off and a devastated Fox calls Scully. Instead of firing Dana, Skinner drives her to Norfolk.

You’ve got to give O’Malley’s followers credit; he already has video footage of the bloody motel room slaughter. Back in his car, Mulder calls Sarah to help him find William. She directs him to a sugar factory near the docks. While Team Sculner head toward Mulder, Walter tells Dana the truth about William’s father. Mulder flies past them with Scully and Skinner in hot pursuit. After they arrive at the factory, Dana searches for Fox and her son while Walter investigates an occupied vehicle nearby. Scully finds Mulder; Skinner finds Cancer Man and Reyes. CSM makes Monica speed toward Walter and he shoots at the driver. Yes, Skinner killed Reyes. (So much for her redemption. Who’s going to tell John Doggett?) The speeding car then careens into Skinner. Congratulations, Mr. Carter. You managed to make a bad storyline much, much worse.

Back to the Sculder drama; Fox tries to convince Dana to let William go. Actually, it’s William glamouring himself as Mulder. (Remember, he can look like anyone.) Fox arrives and the chase continues. Meanwhile, Cigarette Smoking Man, barely fazed by the car crash, picks up Skinner’s gun. During the chase, William changes back into Mulder. That’s when Cancer Man finds him and holds “Fox” at gunpoint. William keeps up the charade until CBG Spender shoots him in the head. “Mulder’s” body falls into the water while the real Fox shoots his father several times then pushes him into the water. (Right, because measly bullets are going to kill a man who was literally blown to pieces and still came back to life.) Scully finally catches up to Mulder. They cry over William for about 12 seconds, then Dana reveals she’s pregnant. But William’s not actually dead. He doesn’t even look like he took a bullet to the head. Guess he'll get his wish to be left alone. Now will somebody please go check on Skinner?!?!

Sestra Professional: 

It's all come down to this. Or more appropriately, it's all come down to this?!?!

When The X-Files started, Dana Scully was a beacon. In the Clarice Starling/The Silence of the Lambs mold, she exhibited smarts while being able to hold her own in an environment largely dominated by men. Not only did she inspire women to get into her chosen field(s), be it medicine or law enforcement, she sparked the rest of us to follow in her "little feet" -- Mulder's words from S3E13's "Szyzygy," not mine -- to have faith and do what's right. In the end, "what's right" wasn't done by her.

This may be your last good chance: Monica Reyes has gotten the short end of the stick as well. When we blogged the final episode of the original series run, I said I found her to be the most standup character of the entire series. She told the truth in "The Truth" (S9E19) no matter what it was going to cost her, because that's who she was as a person. We've never gotten a satisfactory answer about why she worked for the Cigarette Smoking Man. And to me, this oversight is just as egregious. I can't forgive or overlook these offenses because the insipid "My Struggle" saga tainted one of my favorite shows of all time.

But back to Scully, this woman is so attuned to her son that she foresaw the pandemic through William's eyes. That was a lot more on target than the purported alien invasion of Dec. 22, 2012, once allegedly soooo important to the series but never referenced again after that date passed. And now our big finale starts with a voiceover by Jackson/William. I could buy this particular bit of business if there was a revival/reboot centered around his antics, but as a capper to our 11 years/two movies of pain and suffering, uh, nope.

I had some payback to pay back: And somehow Dana gets pushed to the side as "My Struggle IV" largely becomes about fathers and sons. We've already seen the Fox/CGB dynamic play out many times. Not to mention Kersh calling for Mulder and Scully's badges and Skinner trying to cover for them ... nice to see you guys, but yeah, another big ol' yawn. Apparently Chris Carter's at the bottom of his writing bag of tricks (it wasn't that big to begin with). Now he's got Mulder shooting guns more than shooting off his mouth. Talk is cheap in the finale.

Except where Dana's concerned, because she gets to play whistleblower and give Tad O'Malley the exclusive he's been jonesing for since we first heard of him. Although that wasn't real, that was what the future might be, right? Now I'm all mixed up. Oh well, nevermind. Meanwhile, William's got his own soap opera going on with two girls willing to cover for him as much as they can, even though they both seem to know things aren't going to pan out with him. Our only smile of the episode probably is David Duchovny's daughter, West, as Sarah's friend saying the line: "I don't believe you're his father."

Death will hunt you down: I guess I just don't understand the point of chasing the kid when they know they can't contain him and he'll just make them implode or explode. They must have been just hoping against hope for containment. Baddies like Mr. Y and Erika Price didn't display much personality, but they used to come across with more definition in the days of the Well-Manicured Man. In fact, I think we got better motivation from Season 1 Monsters of the Week. There was no investment in these people, so we aren't bothered when their heads get squeezed like grapes. (That last bit is not of my invention, but from a review I read at the time that seems to be lost in the ethers. It's still in my mind, though. Maybe it's the Mengele Effect ... or the Mandela Effect.)

Sestra Am rightfully points out that we indeed didn't get justice for Monica, nor any justification we were looking for in regard to her uncharacteristic flip to the dark side. Those of us who care about such things probably still think CSM was holding the welfare of John Doggett over her head, because personal safety wasn't something the show's more forthright character seemed to be more concerned about. I might kind of buy it if her rationalization was still Mulder and Scully, as her impassioned speech during "The Truth" showed how outraged she was at the treatment they were getting after all they did for humanity. And no one thinks Skinner's really kaput, right?

It's more than impossible: As for Mulder-CSM's final standoff, apparently no one but Fox thought CGB wouldn't shoot his first-born son. And as Sestra Am pointed out, no one's going to buy his death from a few bullets and a push off a pier when ultimate evil survived inflagration from a rocket. These things are no more or less believable than Dana and Fox getting a second chance at having a kid. A normal one at that. So with that eye-rolling plot device, the Sculder story comes to a conclusion. Except our heroes don't even get the last shot of their show, because there's William's noggin emerging from the water. So a pandemic is still on the way, and unlike the 2012 alien invasion, that one actually happened.

How to get past all of this? I'll start with rewatches that don't include the Season 11 "My Struggle" components. I have so many great memories associated with The X-Files -- among them, attending the X-Files Expo in Miami in 1998, going to see Fight the Future in the theater and having pizza afterward to discuss every little moment, the frenetic "It's Krycek!" phone calls during the commercials of the original airing of "S.R. 819" (S6E9),  podcasting with the dedicated denizens of X-Cast and meeting so many fellow X-Philes at the X-Fests, the fun of getting autograph additions for the "yearbook" (my copy of The Complete X-Files) and the ultimate capper, seven-plus years of this rewatch blog with my amazing Sestra (she's a pro!) 

The X-Files' future remains up in the air, but we will be back. Perhaps that revival/reboot will come to pass, but we'll definitely have a rewatch blog for the spinoff Lone Gunmen series. The truth is out there, and we want to help find it.

Guest star of the week: Disappointment in the last show was all about the story, not the performances, but seriously, what a waste of Oscar nominee Barbara Hershey as Erika Price. Still, William/Jackson was set up well to be the centerpiece of a reboot, and Miles Robbins seemed more than up to that task. With very little to go on, he became part of this franchise and a possible face for fighting the future.