201. Untitled - 2 Hour Series Finale (1)


The finale will be an authoritative version of the history of the show.


b: 19-May-02 pc: 9ABX19 w: Chris Carter d: Kim Manners

Mulder is accused of murder and faces a military tribunal where he must prove the existance of extraterrestrials.

Oh ••••...I would think by now everyone in Washington D.C. would have seen either a bunch of black goo, a faceless guy with a pointy stick in his hand or a shapeshifter with a big bump on his neck. I'll be glad when this series is finally put out of its misery. R.I.P.X.

Well, I must say, that wasn't too bad.

So, good old Cancerman survived his little trip down the stairs. I hope that they managed to kill him this time since his skull appeared when the missile hit.

Then again, he's been killed a coule times before...

It was nice seeing all those old people again. Krychek, Mr X, the Lone Gunmen, Spender, etc.

Sweet ending, and it's open-ended. I can't wait for the next couple of films, to see if and how Mulder and Scully end up saving the world from the alien invasion.

nah. it was okay at best.

Ah a fan of the show that enjoyed the early conspiracy years I was a bit disappointed by it all.

Kinda nice for Mulder and Scully to end it together in bed, like some many wanted and predicted.

RIP The X-Files

Consider me part of the group of viewers/fans who disliked the series finale. What a lame way to end a nine-year show. It did not conclude anything. In fact, it raises more questions than answers them. They build up the suspension regarding this big truth that Mulder could not reveal to Scully (notice how he called her Dana?), of all people. What is the truth? The alien invasion is set to occur in the not-so-distant future. Have we not known this for at least five years of the show? I have some major points to make--and perhaps more of ask. Beware, there are spoilers plentiful to follow.

What ever became of the Cigarette-Smoking Man's plans of and apparently ongoing research conducted into developing a vaccine against the alien colonists' virus? He has something of a cure extracted from Mulder and injected into him. Additionally, the Cigarette-Smoking Man clearly organized some type of panel of conspirators to continue the Syndicate's efforts, as seen in part one of the Mulder "dream life sequence" episode. Speaking of C. G. B. Spender, what was the purpose of bringing him back only to have him meet his untimely demise? And trust me, he is very much dead. He was incinerated by the missile. Furthermore, are we to believe that he had kept Mulder alive for nine years just to one day break his will/spirit and gain a chuckle over his so-called victory? Well, at least if there is a tombstone for Cancer Man, we will hopefully get to see his real full name (no initials).

Was it ever answered exactly as to how Skinner and Kersh knew and were evidently involved with people such as the Cigarette-Smoking Man? Both Assistant Directors seemed to be privy to special knowledge every step of the way. I am not so sure about Kersh now.

What is it with Mulder and interacting with the dead? He dies twice--the first time speaking with his father, who lied about Samantha's being alive, and Deep Throat--and the second time after having already reunited with his deceased sister. Now, he communicates with the ghosts of X and Krycek. Why? They tell him because he cannot do it alone. Do what exactly? That reminds me, X gives Mulder a slip of paper that Mulder is still holding in his hand after X dematerializes. However, in the long run, it was pleasant to have a visit from three familiar faces in Mulder's past. One thing did enter my mind during that military tribunal: did no one ever wonder about how Mulder, found dead and subsequently buried, came back to life inexplicably and beyond medical reason? Perhaps what he is saying holds some truth.

So I gather Mulder and Scully are just going to neglect their son, William, and not bother to retrieve him. Meanwhile, what is the deal with Gibson? So what will become of him and what made him so important, anyway? And what will become of Skinner, Kersh, Doggett, and Reyes?

The number one question they have still yet to answer: WHO THE BLAZING DEVIL ARE THOSE FACELESS REBELS?! The issue with the blood (green toxic blood as opposed to pathogenic, DNA-coding black goo) and what the Syndicate every really sought to accomplish.

Did this episode not remind any one of "The Outer Limits" series finale with Amanda Plummer and Charleston Heston, to name a few? It was the one with the time-traveler put on trial for using and promoting technology in a future that has since banished its existence and to this day refuses to advocate, even recognize, that it will inevitably emerge. Wait a minute, that sounds a bit like tonight's episode. Could there be a tad bit of plagiarism in the air, Mr. Carter? I do not blame you, though, Mr. Carter, for you are making money off this franchise. Go ahead and continue the series in the movies, but do not make claims, such as in the recent TV Guide, that this series finale would mark the end of the mythology.

Here is what I was expecting to hear, which would have been shocking and satisfying for me, from the Cigarette-Smoking Man: "So, Mulder, you have not told your most beloved partner about the truth yet? What truth, Fox? Yes, Mulder, tell her the truth...tell her that you've been searching for the very thing that you've known yourself to be all along. Tell her the truth. Dana, I...I'm one of them. I'm an alien. My mother was an alien. It was why my father couldn't live with all that had transpired. Samantha wasn't abducted; she was returned home." That is how I would have concluded the series.

It kind of reminded me of Seinfeld finale with the trial and all. I keep thinking to myself that I hope that Skinner calls in the Soup Nazi as his next witness. :-)

Nice touch... they make their escape in a Ford Escape.

I think Scully and Mulder got away in an Excursion. Brings me to a question and possible nit - I thought I saw Dogget get into the black Excursion before the attack helicopters did their run, then he was in the silver Explorer. Mulder and Scully got into the Excursion.

To the person who said the Lone Gunmen would be back for the final show was correct, but since Mulder was seeing 'dead people' it looks like they are realing not with us any more.

I thought the super soldier/Marine (Adam Baldwin) was dressed as a Marine offier, then at the gate when he drove in, the guard said Master Sergeant, not sir. Did I hear right?

No... I wasn't talking about at the pueblo. I was talking about the escape from the prison. That SUV (which they drove to NM) was an Escape.

How could it be a military tribunal if the tribunal panel was composed of FBI personnel?

Because the military guy agreed to have it tried ny the FBI at the military locale.

I saw the ghosts that Mulder talked to as less than ghosts - more like symbols/Mulder talking to himself. That is, until one actually gave him a piece of paper. No explanation for that, is there?

As to the future, I'd heard the upcoming movie will NOT be an arc movie. which, IMHO, is fine with me. While I don' thtink the arc is quite as screwed up as most people - I think it's almost besides the point by now. For me, the fun was the mystery of the arc. Now that most of the answers are out there, to resolve them, we'd need a Sci-Fi adventure movie. That might be nice to wrap things up - but it wouldn't be the X-Files that I;ve loved over the years. So I'm fine with just a standalone movie.

HOWEVER - by placing the invasion 10 years from now, that gives them plenty of time to try 1, 2 or more standalone movies and THEN do an arc movie if they wanted to.

Okay, though they are in love, Mulder and Scully still refer to each other by their last names. Given, Mulder calls Scully Dana once or twice, but she never calls him Fox. Maybe they're just impulses ;p though Reyes usually calls Doggett John and vice versa.

But I don't see any reason for Mulder hallucinating/having ghost visitations, though it does give us a good line from Frohike: 'For Christ's sake, turn around!'

Right now I'll mention I wouldn't be surprised if any supposedly dead characters show up in the movies, since I've concluded that we can't confirm someone's death until we actually see his skin disintegrating right off his face.

And in reference to the movie, I've heard that the it may actually take place in the middle of the series, instead of after it, but that may just be a rumour.

Okay, though they are in love, Mulder and Scully still refer to each other by their last names.

Habit. It's what they're used to after 9 years.

Exactly Scott. Besdies, Mulder said in a first season episode that he "even made my parents call me Mulder" because he never liked his first name.

Scully and Mulder got away in a 2003 model Ford Expedition. As big as the Expedition is, the Excursion is bigger. (The Escape is a small SUV that was recalled quite a few times in its first year.) The Expedition received a new grille and other changes for 2003. As much product placement in the finale as the Oldsmobile Intrigue was in the movie. (Olds had a major tie-in with the "X-Files" movie, giving away jackets amd movie tickets. Also, the Olds brand dies in 2004.)
Why would this series finale end anything? A second movie is in the works. Did you really think?

I'm talking about the entire group of 6 escaping from the military base. If you look at the rear windows, it has angled glass, similar to that of a Mercedes 300M series.

If you go to Ford's Virtual Showroom, and look at the Escape, you'll see that the rear window configuration is the one used when they escape the military base. This is also the car that Reyes and Doggett escape the pueblo in. Mulder and Scully escape in the supersoldier's SUV (either an Expedition or an Excursion).

Re: Mulder calling Scully Dana--
Notice he only called her Dana when he was still play-acting crazy in the presence of the military soldiers. It was to clue them/us in that something weren't right there. I think it's cool that they still call each other Mulder and Scully. Their own style of affection.

I did expect them to make some progress in the fight against the alien invasion, but overall I'm okay with the "flashback" ending, knowing there will be movies. I especially liked the final scene.

Re: the importance of Gibson
D. Stuart asked what was so important about him:
Since Gibson can read minds, he can identify which of the "replacement people" are really aliens. It's been shown previously also that he can locate and communicate to some degree with the truly alien, aliens.

I also thought it was lame to bring back CSM only to kill him again. It might be funny, though, to keep bringing him back in each of the movies only to keep killing him...again.

Oh My G-d, they killed Cancerman!
Those B*****DS!

Well, as my luck would have it, I got in a fender bender on the way home and missed the whole damned thing. So, did Scully tell Mulder she ditched their kid? Was there a bedroom scene? Where exactly was Mulder all that time? Questions, questions, questions. If it's not too much trouble, could somebody post a nice synopsis? Muchas gracias

Like all X-Files of the last few years, it was kind of
bland and rehashed and somehow lacking in vitality. One thing's for sure -
I'm glad Mulder and Scully went all those years without consummating their
relationship, because they have zero charisma as kissy-face lovers.
And yeah, they didn't really answer anything. They also forgot much of
what we already knew. What about the antigen Cancerman had implanted in
himself (come to think of it, he should definitely be dead, because he was
dying even when Krycek pushed him down the stairs). Weirdness prevails:
Kersh changes sides for no apparent reason. Doggett and Reyes have no
discernable function in the episode at all (to a lesser extent, you could
say the same of Scully). Spender, Marita, Gibson... they all just pop up to
tell us what we already knew about them. No thanks. Some of the
hallucinations were nicely lyrical, though - I liked the Lone Gunmen one
particularly.
Worst of all, I thought, Duchovny seemed completely disinterested,
mumbling incoherently through half the episode... almost as if he was trying
to sabotage the end of the series he'd learned to hate.

Re: telling Mulder she ditched the kid
Yes, Scully tearfully told him that she gave him up for adoption. If I recall right, he somehow already knew and said he understood.

Re: bedroom scene
Yes, at the end, but no making love. There was some kissing earlier and some cuddling in the last scene.

Re: where was Mulder?
Apparently in New Mexico with Gibson for at least some of the time.

Synopsis--spoilers--

Mulder gets into a military facility and learns the date of the alien invasion will be Dec.22, 2012. During a chase, he "kills" Noel, the alien replacement guy. Mulder's put on trial for murder, by a secret military tribunal. The FBI, however, are the ones trying him. Skinner is his "defense attorney".

Witnesses include Scully, Doggett, Reyes, the disfigured Spender, Marita Corvarrubias, and Gibson. There are flashbacks to go with their testimony explaining what's been happening over the last 9 years.

Doggett finally locates Noel's "corpse" and they are able to prove it is not his. Mulder is nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection. His friends and even DA Kirsch end up breaking him out of prison.

Mulder keeps seeing ghosts from the past: Krychek, Mr. X, and the LGM who advise and help him. Instead of going to Canada and escaping, he & Scully go back to New Mexico to see the "wise man" at an Anasazi pueblo ruin who had sent him the key and the info to get into the secret military facility at the beginning. The "wise man" turns out to be the CSM.

Doggett and Reyes arrive to warn M/S they are in danger. Supersoldier/alien Noel attacks and is destroyed by the magnatite ore deposits at the site. Black helicopters come and blow up the pueblo, killing the CSM--again.

M/S escape. Last scene is in a motel room in Roswell, NM. M/S are talking much like in the pilot. Mulder feels like he has failed, but Scully tells him she knows he won't give up. They talk about what they still believe in: Mulder says he believes that the dead are not lost to them but speak to them as part of something greater than themselves or the alien invasion. Mulder looks at Scully's cross that she always wore and she agrees that they believe in the same thing. Then he climbs onto the bed with Scully, saying that maybe there still is hope...

Hope that helps. Others can fill in where I've missed.

Too bad they didn't have the 'ghost' of Deep Throat, though we saw him in flashback.

Why would this series finale end anything? A second movie is in the works. Did you really think?
I was hoping for more of, "This is the truth..." and the movies would show, "What are they gonna do about it?"
The movies could also tie in some of the apparently "standalone" episodes of the series. I missed the recent Brady Bunch Fan episode, and maybe he has some tenuous connection with the aliens which the movies could show us. I don't know that that's a likely or desirable thing, I'm just giving possible answers to that question.

I agreed with D. Stuart's feelings about it.

Is Deep Throat supposed to be the same person as the Watergate figure? I wonder if they tied Watergate into the X-Files thing?

Maybe we can suppose that at the moment before they died, the Cigarette-Smoking Man and the Lone Gunmen were taken aboard an alien spacecraft... ? (Don't ask me why... )

I liked this finale... until the end, if you can call it that. I really think they did a pretty good job of tying it all together. I thought Duchovney's performance was pretty good. It looked like, to me at least, he enjoyed playing Mulder for once. I loved seeing X again (Whoohoo!) and seeing Krychek was alright. Unfortunatley it would be an understatement to say that they left a h*ll of a lot open, which stinks.
We don't know what happened to Kersh or Skinner. That guy that Gibson IDed as an alien didn't seem that important.
There was no closure for Doggett and Reyes. They just drove off.
We don't know where Gibson is.
So, did the aliens write the bible or not?
I have to admit, I didn't see the CSM's appearance coming. I expected Hosteen or something.
They never explained why Samantha's label was over Fox's in "Paper Clip" if she was dead the entire time.
I was hoping that Deep Throat's ghost would make an appearance. Oh well.
At least we got the invasion's official date.
I'm kind of disappointed to see the X-Files themselves gone for good (at least they left the poster)

One question, does William still have his powers? I know Spender injected him with something that was supposed to take them away but didn't his mobile still move at the end of the episode? I can't remember if it did or not.

As I said, I was enjoying this episode. And then the series ended.

I think the mobile over Williams crib in Farmland U.S.A. was the wind-up kind, so I don't think he was making it whirl. One thing that did amaze me was the director getting a baby to smile on cue (at least I think it was a smile - maybe it was just gas). I wonder how long it took them to film that shot. My kid never smiles when I want him to - he'll cry, scream and spit up green gunk (I'm pretty sure he's not an alien), but he won't smile! )

supercooladdict: Ah a fan of the show that enjoyed the early conspiracy years I was a bit disappointed by it all.

I heartily agree!!! I enjoyed getting a little piece of the puzzle each episode. The problem is that, as the show went on, the pieces gradually stopped being important because the puzzle changed too much. It starts out being about a man trying to discover the truth behind the existence of ET's. He discovers that (1) they are here, (2) a conspiracy exists to prevent the public from knowing (but that same conspiracy is a double-edged weapon), and (3) they have plans to colonize.

So:

-What about the supersoldiers?
-What about the faceless rebels? Where did they come from?
-What is the deal with baby William? Why is his birth such a mystery?
-Why should I care about Doggett and Reyes? I mean, should I have cared about Capt. Jellico if he had become Picard's permanent replacement in TNG "Chain of Command"? (On the same note, who really cared about Ezri Dax from 7th-season DS9?)

You can't spend FIVE seasons and one movie establishing the parameters and spend the next four seasons completely changing them. And if you have developed a following of MILLIONS of viewers who have patiently been waiting for the truth for nine years, professional integrity demands that you don't let them down. (It makes me feel a bit like Arthur Dent and company in "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" after discovering that God's Final Message to His Creation is 'We apologize for the inconvenience.' Better yet, the inhabitants of the planet that waited millions of years for their computer Deep Thought to tell them the answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything, only to find out that it is "42".)

I believe that was actually only 7,000 years.

This wasn't as disappointing as the Xena finale.

I just watched the episode on tape and I wanted to compare it to some previous comments I posted in March:

OK, I need help here. I have been watching this show since season 2. I have tried my best to keep up with all the twists and turns of the conspiracy, but until recently, they never did a "Previously, on the X-File" promo. They would refer to something in season 6 that was in season 2. I don't remember all this stuff. So, can someone post an answer that ties up ALL the plot turns like Gibson Praise, Jeremiah Smith, the bees, the Syndicate, Marita Covarubias, Mr. X, Scully's baby, the Billy guy from the first show who tried to kill Scully's baby, the frozen embryo that was stolen, the alien/human hybrids in the West Virginia mountain, Dana's chip implant, Agent Spender's mom, Mulder's dad, the Nazi Scientists, Cancerman, the codetalkers, why Skinner did some dirty work for Cancerman, Ratboy, the spaceship in Africa, why Mulder went insane, the black oil, the shapeshifting soldiers, the soldiers with no eyes who burn people, where Skinner was when he did the Masked Magician Episodes (just seeing if you were awake), the clone of Samantha that was in the car with Cancerman, what happened to Mulder when he was missing, AD Fulmer (the Dread Pirate Roberts) and his connection to this, AD Kirsch, the Thinker, etc.?

I am sitting here thinking of everything that has happened. I am a dot my i's and cross my t's kind of guy. Can someone tie this thing up to make some sense?

Is it just me, or does anyone think that Carter made up a great deal of this one the fly?

BTW: I did see the Full Disclosure Episode - a couple of years ago when it aired. I remember a few things.


Most of this was answered. I agree with previous posters in that the puzzle was changed during the course of the show. While I really enjoyed this show, my bigest complaint, as I mentioned above, was that they would refer to previous events that happened years ago. I had a hard time remembering these clues over the years.

Some questions still remain:

Who is The Syndicate now, and why is Marita still afraid of them?

How was William Mulder the savior of the aliens?

I have seen the previous comments by others about Gibson. I seem to remember some talk of him being an alien/human hybrid. Am I wrong?

What was the deal with the cloning?

What was the deal with the bees? A method to deliver the antidote to the virus?

There are a few other questions from my above post, like the story with Jeremiah Smith, that were also not answered.

All in all, a pretty good show. I enjoyed seeing the Lone Gunmen again. I'm still very angry that they killed them off, though.

I also wonder why we didn't see Deep Throat or Mulder's dad, though.

I found this interesting article on the science of the X-files which answers a few questions. It's at Wired Magazine online:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,52606,00.html

The bees picked up the virus from engineered pollen, and delivered the virus.

Another thing from the article I hadn't heard before was the aliens were coming back home from space to avoid an ice age millions of years ago! I hadn't known about that twist before.

But a nit with that one is there have been lots of ice ages. Which ice age were they avoiding?

"They never explained why Samantha's label was over Fox's in "Paper Clip" if she was dead the entire time."

I didn't understand this one either, until I watched the extras on the season 5 DVD set. Chris Carter says Mulder had to deal with the knowledge that HE was the one that was suppose to be taken by the aliens when he was a child, not Samantha. As Carter said this, they showed the clip of Mulder peeling the label off the file.

They said that Mulder was the one to be taken in one of the episodes and in this one--when they did the "review"

HK: Who is The Syndicate now, and why is Marita still afraid of them?

The impression I got was that the NEW Syndicate is a completely different animal than the first. The first was a group of powerful men working with the aliens. After their death, the aliens inserted "human replacement" aliens into high places on Earth. (Skinner refers to "the shadow government" being installed at Mt. Weather, and the Marine general in the beginning told DD Kersch that "you and I both know that there are forces in the government now" that would not tolerate Kersch's refusal to try Mulder. Who else could these forces be? Later on, during the trial, Skinner asserts that the "new conspiracy" is full of men like Knowle Rohr, who is a human-looking alien, or "human replacement.") The new conspiracy would then be the human-looking aliens who control society. So...

Under the old Syndicate, the US elects a new president in 2004. Shortly after s/he takes office, the Cigarette-Smoking Man would drop in for a visit and tell the new president the truth about aliens. (CSM has a line in this episode when he says that his stories have frightened "every president since Truman".) The Syndicate would use this fear to pull the strings of power.

Under the new Syndicate--if my impressions were correct--the newly elected president would be replaced with an alien lookalike who would control things directly. So, in essence, the aliens decided to eliminate the middlemen and take control of human society directly. And why not? The Syndicate WAS secretly working against them.

I thought Agent Spender was dead, shot by his dad in season 6. What season, what episode did he come back? Why is he all burned in this show? Thanks.

He returned about 2 or 3 eps before this one. Turns out he didn't die when he was shot.

It seemed at the end Mulder was just weary and accepting of the whole thing. I mean, if aliens are already here among us, in the government, EVERYWHERE, and they're going to colonize, and there aint a damned thing you can do about it, then why bother? That was sort of the feeling. He was just tired of the whole thing. And by the end of it, so am I.

Another discrepancy with Mulder's otherworldly encounter with Krycek and X: Krycek was the one who closed the metal door during the beginning of the episode and just after that Nole supersoldier tossed Mulder through the glass view screen. Perhaps it was really Mulder, but the paper X gave to Mulder remained in his hand. Something to ponder, at least.

Okay...I believe it is safe to say CSM is DEAD. He WILL NOT be coming back. Too bad, tho.

2nd--How much did this episode S**K?????? It left plot holes only one more season and 3 movies could fill!! As a 'Shipper, I wanted to see at least ONE tender Reyes/Doggett moment. I am greatly dissappointed, here. Pray that the movie comes out in early 2004.

This was basically a massive-ass clip show with a big fat question mark at the end. It felt like "Mulder and Scully, this is your life!" where they bring out or mention every single major character and event over the past nine years. I'm sure at least half of it was clips from previous shows in chronological order. It was like they panicked and threw in random bits of information to fill time. "Uhh...and this also has to do with the conspiracy!" I was left feeling extraordinarily let down. "Neh? That's it?" That's not a good thing. At least with the Xena series finale I was involved enough to feel outrage and chagrin. I had a reaction to it. With this episode, I just felt sort of bored as they paraded clip after clip on the screen. The only notable event was CSM's death, and even that was old hat. "Yawn, they're killing him again." Isn't this like the eighth time we've been shown and/or threated with his death?

Although it is sort of funny that the only way we'd believe CMS's death is if we actually see his skull being burned to a crisp. Nice touch, that.

Funny, I just thought about something apropos of this episode. I cannot believe it had not struck me until just this moment, but anyone recall the series finale to the TV show "Seinfeld"? Perhaps the committee hearing was a tribunal about nothing. Heh, heh.

By the way, what ever became of Strunghold? And why is it that it was often insinuated that the Well-Manicured Man was the real man in charge? Who was in charge for sure? If Strunghold, we never saw him again after the movie. He ought to return for the next movie they release and have him reminiscent of the Cigarette-Smoking Man, while good old Cancer Man was still at his zenith of appeal. That is, when he remained menacing and mysterious.

I thought Strughold was killed by one of the faceless aliens?

Having just got the seadon finale here in Ireland, and having not really watched the show since Mulder was abducted - apart from the odd episode - can I just ask - what has happened to this once fantastic series?

This ep was full of really lame, self important speeches (who talks like that??!!) and 'explanations' of the most incoherant conspiracy that I really think the creators went out of their way to complicate. I used to love the episodes about the alien arc. They used to be the best episodes. Remember when Deep Throat was shot, Samantha came back (for the first time), oh my Gosh, Anasazi, and of course, you can't beat the dramatic tension of Scully being abducted. But then somewhere round season four when they started adding bees and black oil and stuff, they started becoming so dull, you'd cry out for another Jose Chung or Clive Bruckman.

There have been sooo many brilliant, brilliant X-Files episodes that, to be honest, watching this one kind of made me sad to think of how bad it's gotten. Doggett and Reyes? Who are these people? And can someone please tell me how Mulder is the father of Scully's baby? Seriously, please enlighten me, because I thought they didn't get together and do the bold thing until the baby was already born. And the show when she had her baby seemed to suggest that she had had an immaculate conception, and that her child was some sort of saviour (delusions of graduer or what? That's what I mean about the show becoming very self important).

As for all the constant babblings about the truth, and the seriously corney speeches to each other and in the courtroom, they just really annoyed me. Give me an episode with Mulder yelling "Women, get in here and mke me a sandwich!" any day of the week!

As far as I'm concerned, a world without Krychek is like a world without sunshine...you can keep Doggett, Reyes, CSM and the rest, but Mr. K was just plain sexy (even with one arm). Too bad they offed him for good (I guess. Nobody really dies on the Xfiles, they live eternally in flashback).

Does anybody really care about this second movie anymore? I just thought this whole ep was a total snooze, and everybody in it seemed to be tired and sick of the whole thing. I know I am.

**Who are these people? And can someone please tell me how Mulder is the father of Scully's baby? Seriously, please enlighten me, because I thought they didn't get together and do the bold thing until the baby was already born.**

Well actually there is a line in there somewhere about how Mulder and Scully were lonely one night and she "invited him into her bed." Yeee-ha. Nine years of waiting for them to do the nasty and that's the best they can do.

***Funny, I just thought about something apropos of this episode. I cannot believe it had not struck me until just this moment, but anyone recall the series finale to the TV show "Seinfeld"? Perhaps the committee hearing was a tribunal about nothing. Heh, heh. ****

Yeah, it was a Seinfeld episode! And William isn't in a crib in Kansas...a DINGO took the bay-bee!

Something struck me when I re-watched this ep. Consider:

Mulder is arrested for "murdering" Knowle Rohrer. He is then put on trial in a military court with nonmilitary federal agents serving as judges.

Now, as I understand it, the jurisdiction of military courts is pretty narrow. A civilian can never be tried in a military court; the court system's jurisdiction extends solely to military personnel. (For instance, in a 1994 case, an Air Force officer sued the President because the President discharged him from the Air Force after he violated a direct order. The U.S. Court of Military Appeals ruled against the President, but the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the appeals court, stating that the military court had no authority or jurisdiction over the President and thus had no standing to hear any case involving him.) Both federal and state law are clear on this matter. At best, Mulder could have been tried in federal court for some trespassing and murder violation, though if there was no applicable statute (I don't know if there is a federal murder statute) they might choose to try him under state law in federal court. So this court has no right to even try Mulder.

Second, even if it did, a military court is presided over by a military officer. The court system also functions independently, like a civilian court. That is, the court cannot be controlled, suborned, or ordered about by a superior officer. (In other words, a senior military officer under investigation cannot use his rank to order the court officials not to proceed.) So this Marine Corps general cannot simply "annoint" the FBI officials as court judges (and Kersh as the court president). Even if he could, how exactly is Mulder supposed to get a fair trial unless DD Kersh and the four other judges are fully familiar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)?

Third, another FBI agent from the LA field office serves as prosecutor. For who? Did the Department of Justice authorize him to appear for the United States?

Now, I know that most people reading this think I am missing the point. They say, "Mulder's trial was never supposed to be legal. It was always a sham from the beginning." And they're right. I am making this point about the illegality of this trial to further a larger point: the military's trial of Mulder makes absolutely no sense.

Historically, throughout the X-Files Mulder has been untouchable. This has been especially true since "Paper Clip," when Skinner made a "deal" with CSM to keep M&S safe. Therefore, to get at them, the Consortium has always had to resort to deceptive methods. Attempting to frame him has been a favorite tool of theirs. With this episode, we are expected to believe that the "establishment" has finally nailed him. Setting aside the fact that this conspiracy is entirely different from the old Consortium, the trial is pointless.

OK, they want Mulder dead. So kill him. Why try him? In totalitarian societies, trials are used for two purposes: (1) to serve as a warning to the populace, and (2) to protect the regime by at least acting like the regime is law-abiding. But this trial can serve neither purpose. In order to serve as a warning, the trial has to be public. The USSR often conducted public "trials" of people whose fates were determined before the court ever convened. This was to warn Soviet citizens of what happens when someone decides to be a traitor. For this to work, though, the citizens of the USSR had to be able to read about the trial in their daily papers. Since the military court is not public (and is not even keeping a record of its proceedings), it cannot be serving the purpose of warning people. The government should have just killed Mulder and gotten it over with.

The ep strongly suggests, though, that the purpose of the trial is #2 listed above. Namely, that the trial is being conducted to kill Mulder while still maintaining the appearance of following the proper legal procedures (fair trial and all that). However, as shown above, this trial is completely unfair and illegal. Thus, no one who champions Mulder's cause will ever look at the trial and say, "Well, at least he had a fair hearing." Actually, there is not a single person who would have watched this trial and thought so. It cannot be maintaining any spectre of legality, so why go through the time and expense of a mock hearing?

This is esp. true in Mulder's case. Governments are often leery to allow crackpots to have any kind of forum for spreading their ideas. This trial does nothing more than give Mulder a chance to parade his supporters in and make the case for aliens. Isn't this potentially damaging to the government?

Btw, §854.54(a) and §854.54(b) require that a record of the proceedings of ANY military court be kept by a court recorder. So Kersh's assertion that "this is a military court" and his claim that there is no record do not jibe.

OT, but what the hey...

The U.S. Court of Military Appeals ruled against the President, but the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the appeals court, stating that the military court had no authority or jurisdiction over the President

It would seem to me that in this particular case, the military court would have jurisdiction, since in this case, the President was acting in his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

So did Samantha die in 1979 or 1987?

Also, it was never Mulder they were after as it was the CSM. Notice they only care of destroying the new "shadow government"--which is exactly the alien posing as FBI judge wanted.