Is this the season finale?

Yes.

Is this, also, the Series Finale????

No one knows. They sure aren't promoting it like that.

does anyone know if they got them both for next season?

And is there going to be another movie?

its all still up in the air as far as I've read- She's signed, He isn't. He wants them to settle up his lawsuit over reruns before he'll sign. They may have a partial 8th season with both and/or just her. Last I heard there WILL be nother movie..eventually. :^)

I know that PAL. This is obviously a conspiracy episode... we've got CSM, Krychek, and Marita. But what I can't tell from the previews is if this is followup to Pilot or to Deep Throat.

The Pilot, I believe.

Last night on Letterman (I was flipping channels, I'm a Leno/Conan person), Anderson was saying they filmed two versions of the ending. One for if they come back, one for if they don't. Which I find kind sad. How can you end a show like the X-Files with a small dialog change from a season finale. Oh well, can't blame 'em. It has been a long ride.

AS of 5/18, USA Today reported that Fox was working on a deal for Duchovny to return to 8 to 11 episodes.

The 5/18/00 USA Today has this short item (SPOILER AHEAD):

"David Duchovny agreed late Wednesday to return to Fox's The X-Files for six to 11 episodes spread through next season. Because of the uncertainty of the contract talks, Sunday's season finale ends with the abduction of Duchovny's Agent Mulder."

You know, I had had this thought that having Mulder abducted would be a way to keep his character alive for future movies AND to continue the show without him. If he didn't sign, they could have had Scully searching for him all season which would have been an interesting role reversal. Plus, to appease fans who would probably have the knives out for any guy they would team with Scully to be her new partner, they could have teamed her with a FEMALE partner. Any thoughts?

That would be an interesting situation, to say the least.

SPOILER (Check this out):

http://www.fandom.com/X-Files/editorial.asp?action=page&obj_id=184480

Okay, fair enough, but there`s more to the story, from Daily Variety:

While Fox only has The X-Files for one more year, next season`s story arcs may open the door to additional years of the skein, according to Fox Television Entertaiment Group chairman Sandy Grushow.

"The intent of this (upcoming) season is to add some new characters and elements so this show could go to a ninth year and beyond," he said.

A new partner is expected to be introduced for Anderson`s FBI agent Dana Scully, along with other new characters. In life-imitates-art fashion, Scully`s hunt for Mulder may well serve as the crux of next season`s plot line.

Please, not more than 8 seasons, please no new partner for Scully. Change is good but not that much change.

Alright! Please forgive me on this, I haven't been able to see all of the episodes this past season. I take it I missed alot. (spoilers)
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Did I hear right? Did Scully say she is pregnant?
Who did she date this past season?

GREAT continuity! We need to get Rick Berman on Chris Carter's schedule.

Did you see the size of that needle the nurse was pulling from CSM's arm? It must've been two inches! Any longer and she'd be out the other side. (Great make-up on CSM, btw.)

So what was supposed to have happened to Barubius (sp) that made Krycek surprised to see her? And how did he end up in prison anyway? Forgot those plot points.

I figured out Scully's pregnancy halfway through the episode. If I were her though, I wouldn't be too happy about it; who knows what she's pregnant with.

Wow! Thats all I can say...

Warning!!! If you haven't seen the episode, don't read on!!!!!!


Mulder disapeared, Scully's pregnant, our good buddy Cancerman is Dead, maybe.
It was neat to see the X on the road from the pilot. I will be waiting with baited breath for the next season, time to go eat a bucket of worms.

A cute Carter moment right at the beginning, when the police dispatcher reports a 1013.

The only nits I could spot were dubious at best. Mulder notes the X he drew to mark where he began experiencing weird effects seven years ago. The sheriff then points to his skidmarks, starting very close by. We're supposed to gather that weird things are happening in the exact same spot -- except that he wouldn't have been skidding that close to where he lost control of his car. He didn't swerve for several seconds after the lights went out.

And I saw Cancerman's eyelid twitch at the bottom of the stairs .... We have not seen the last of him.

(And I noticed Marita picked up on Phil's nickname for him. Chris Carter is listening to us! The truth has been revealed!)

As for the episode itself ... whoa. It's going to be a long wait until October.

I just remembered something!!! When the flashlight heats up, the light stays on. If the case was hot enought to glow, why didn't the bulb break or the lens melt?

Wouldn't that spray-painted X have faded away after seven years?

That was a neat effect with the lasers stopping in mid air.

Yes, it's a long wait until october! However, I also must have missed some plot points. What did Ratboy sell of Cancerman's that landed him in jail? How did Marita recover? The last time I saw her she was in a hospital. Is the prison in Tunisia anywhere near Foum Tatouine :-)? And, Cancerman's aide sounded a lot like Diana when you first heard her talk. I liked the accelerated time (was it from the temporal kinesis episode this season?) And, of course, Cancerman doesn't die. And, will Scully obtain any prenatal care? (Since, we have no idea how she got pregnant)

Yes, Jason, I noticed the light still going after the flashlight was fully ignighted. I also thought it should have been burned out as well. It would have really eerie, if when they did find the burn husk of the flashlight, that the bulb was still shinning brightly.

J Gordon wrote

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Quote:

And, will Scully obtain any prenatal care? (Since, we have no idea how she got pregnant)

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Her and Mulder have been rather chummy this season. And as Phil has said, the only kind of time they don't show us is 'that' kind of time.

Well, there goes the neighborhood. All past abductees are being "collected" ... but was Mulder ever an abductee? Or did the rebel alien just want him along for the ride? Didn't he try to kill Mulder before?
I guess the line that Gillian mentioned on the Late Night show if David wasn't coming back would be something like "We will continue the search ... I have to" instead of "We will find him" eh.
It would be curious to see if the baby Scully is carrying is Mulder's. After all, they have been spending a lot of time together this season.
Well, apparently CSM is running out of allies. He's turning to Covarubbias (sp?) and Krychek for help. Must be very desperate. Or is it? ... Could be just his double and he wants to see where everyone's loyalty lie.
I guess Krychek cashed in on Skinner's debt of gratitude eh? Does he still have that control though, to activate the nanoprobes?
Wow, 7 years before auditors caught up ... I know there's a lot of paperwork but I thought finance people were always sharp when it comes to money. I remember Dilbert having to justify every line of his expense report ... or was it Wally? But then maybe CSM had a hand in this, too.
Aside from the flashlight still being on and glass not cracking, I was amazed that the metal didn't warp when it burst into flames.

Now, on to my questions
Can anyone answer me these ...
Are the rebels trying to prevent the aliens from coming? Are they on humanity's side? They killed the Syndicate, took Cassandra and now the abductees and Mulder. For what purpose? And why leave Scully behind? She mentioned in this episode that the barrier didn't want to take her. Why?
What's the black oil again? And I suppose judging from Covarrubias that the antidote works 'coz she was looking pretty bad in One Son.
Wonder who Krychek works for ... the rebels?

Ooh, I missed this ... when the detective (or was it sheriff?) stepped on the green slime, why didn't he react to it. Wasn't it suppose to be foul or something? Even when he sees the shot deputy with green slime coming out of him.
Ok, that's it for now from me. Good night.

Cancerman done in a la Kiss of Death! I love it!

There was some great continuity from "Pilot" with
the spray painted "x" on the road. I was expecting
to hear the same squeal of radio interference from
that episode, as well.

Hmm... methinks that we'll see Cassandra Spender
again in the future. Very soon indeed, I think.

Scully pregnant? From when? My first reaction was
that it might have happened on the ship in "Fight
the Future," but that was too long ago. Perhaps
from when she got scrambled by the ship's cloak?
(That was a cool effect, too, by the way.)

Scully's got a new ally: Skinner. Love it.

Great cast shot: Marita, Krychek, Skinner, Scully,
Mulder, Lone Gunme

Gee, I guess that cancer cure from "En Ami" didn't work too good, did it, Mr. CGB Spender?

Great Scene - CSM's nurse lighting a Morley for him so he can put it into his tracheotomy.

-12-

Just so you all know, Oregon is pronounced with a "gun" not a "gone," you FBI doofuses! Go be abducted and learn how to pronounce it right!

I've always wondered why the shapeshifting alien picks a particular human form as his default shape. Don't the shapeshifting aliens acutally look like Greys for real? Mark is so confused.

Count how many times you can yell "You're pregnant" during the long pause at the end of the last scene. I got six. And they pause, and they pause...

We're all backwoods and hick here in Oregon, but I would hope that even in the middle of nowhere they repave the roads at least once in seven years! I mean, highway funds are a little strained, but still...

Aliens sure are alien. They have at least one ship, with a cloaking device, that can reassemble itself when damaged. Their technology is nothing short of amazing. There is no longer a conspiracy of men trying to delay them with stalling tactics. What's holding up the invasion? I'm thinking they could pretty much whomp on us.

Very good episode, but I am seriously glad they didn't end the series that way. I hope when they do end the series, it's knowing they are going to end the series and they really pull out all the stops.

I think Cancerman implanted an embryo into Scully when he took her for that little ride (can't remember the ep title). She did end up unconscious at one point. It's probably his clone or something.

He was pretending to be sympathietic to her, and he knew she couldn't get pregnant, so he decided to play God. After all, mysterious pregnancy is the only thing the X-Files hasn't covered.

I don't think Cancerman is dead yet (but he's getting there). We've seen him "die" before, I see no reason to believe why this is any different (and it was a season finale then too)

Was this the first time Mulder faced a detailed audit over his expenses?

A pretty good episode and season finale, but it still leaves me with a lot of questions:

Why didn't Krychek and Marita go with Mulder and Skinner? Seems like numbers would have helped. And what did they intend to do, anyway, once they found the ship? "Stop. We found you. You can't leave now."

Once Mulder knew the Bounty Hunter was involved, why didn't he dig out his "icepick"?

And why would the aliens be "mopping up the evidence"? I thought the rebels won.

And where was the military? Even if the local sheriff was not helpful, you'd think they'd still be looking around. Talk about budget constraints.

And why would Mulder just walk through the force field without alerting Skinner? And why just go with the other abductees and the Bounty Hunter? Was he under some kind of mind control at that point? I would have liked for him to see his sister there.

Some nice moments between Mulder and Scully. A super revelation about Scully's pregnancy.

And why would Mulder just walk through the force field without alerting Skinner?

I think he stuck his hand in and got sucked through.

Alright, as usual, this might not be correct, but it looked to me like genius-flashlight boy had to *look* at his flashlight before he realized it was hot. I'm not sure, but I thought he jumped back after staring at the flashlight for a minute. Wouldn't he feel the heat before he turned and looked at it?

No doubt it's more of that strange alien technology, but I am amazed and astounded that no forrest fires were started in this episode. (Who says these aliens are bad? They've obviously made friends with Smokey the Bear and know Only They can prevent forrest fires.)

When have Mulder and Scully encountered the burn mark before? This is more a question, not a nit, but when they walk in, Scully says something like "oh, we've seen this before" in regards to the burn on the carpet from the alien blood. It wouldn't surprise me if they said they'd seen the acid blood before, but have they really seen what it does to a nice cream-colored carpet?

The alien bounty hunter changes characters in this episode. First, when he is being Theresa's husband, he says nothing, making her realize it's not him, but when he's Billy's father, he talks to him. What gives?

Loved the return of Krycek and Marita!!!!

I think that spending money on Mulder to find the truth of alien beings is still cheaper than sending unmanned space crafts ... how much was the Martian Polar Lander again? ;-)

Ahh, Chris Carter, master of bizarre silliness. Let's see here...random thoughts.

*For some reason, I predicted Scully's final announcement before Skinner did.
*I've come to the conclusion that CSM is merely a place for Chris Carter to put banal quotes that don't make any sense. "What you do to me and Mulder, Alex, you do to all humanity." For some reason, that made me want to chuckle.
*When "Tunisia" came up, I thought we were going to see Herr Strughold again. Blast.
*I'm waiting for plot closure for Krycek's control of Skinner. Next season, right?
*I cracked up on that long pan of characters--the Lone Gunmen, Krycek, Skinner, Marita...you almost expected CSM to enter to make it an official "Recurring Character Party".
*That guy at the beginning, the pencil-pusher, he was cool in an annoying way.
*I wanted the "chhk" sound effect for an icepick in this episode. Blast again!
*The "death" (kaff kaff) of CSM was done very well, but I hope he stays dead this time. Not that I don't like the character, but--

:)

I have read that Duchovney is coming back for 11 episodes next year and that he's being paid-this be high- around $300,000 per ep. Also, the Lone Gunmen spinoff is supposed to start mid-season next year.
Anyway, onto the nits:
I loved this episode. I thought it was strange to see Skinner cry. That's a pretty rare occasion. I didn't know that the bounty hunter was still alive. I thought that the rebels killed him in that truck. I guess they decided not to bring back Gibson after all. I wonder why Ratboy was incarcerated. I can't believe that Marita is all healthy and pretty again. Maybe they stopped testing her after the Syndicate was burned. If the CSM is dead, it's about time. I'm glad he's joining some of my favorite dead guys: X, Deep Throat, Well Manicured Man. At the end, I was expecting the militairy to come and blow up the UFO that Mulder was in. I thought that it would have been cool if the rebels had destroyed that UFO, too. Finally, I wonder if Scully's is impregnated with some baby that will be the human race's only hope or something.

*When "Tunisia" came up, I thought we were going to see Herr Strughold again. Blast.

I thought the faceless alien rebels killed Strughold?

I guess they decided not to bring back Gibson after all.

Yeah, I wonder if TPTB even remember that they left him in a nuke plant with a Gray.

Strughold's not dead!

Anyway, does anyone actually think Scully's going to be pregnant past the premiere? Can you really see them extending this storyline out nine months? My guess is no way -- by the end of the episode, something will happen, she won't have the baby, and this "important" plot point will be forgotten.

I had the same fears about Mulder, although the stories listed above kind of alleviate them somewhat. Mulder not being around for the first half of the season because he's been abducted is dramatically compelling. Mulder returning by the end of the premiere and just happening to not be around for half of next year's episodes is not. Let's hope they make the right choice!

Incidentally, I had been avoiding spoilers for the end of the season, and didn't realize this was the finale. When I saw in the TV book that they were returning to Bellefleur, I thought that was really cool -- a return to the pilot! Then, when I saw the loooong opening credits, and realized it had to be the season finale, it was somewhat less inspired. By the time I realized the episode must've been intended as a possible series finale, I was pratically disappointed. Anyone can think to return to the pilot for your series finale. Bah.

Anyway, the only real nits with the episode are overarching ones that make me question why they'd want to tie the pilot into the mytharc. The aliens in "Pilot" were VERY different than the ones we've seen since then. If they're planning on explaining the pilot away as examples of either the Consortium's or the Bounty Hunter's power, they have to explain why we've only rarely seen this time stopping power from them since then. I have my doubts.

Anyway, it WAS an interesting episode, but a lot relies on the resolution...and after "The Beginning" and "Amor Fati", I'm less than hopeful. We shall see!

Everyone beat me to the punch on the flashlight nits...and Mark Morgan caught the Oregon-bashing and mispronunciation of same. Points for Skinner, as he was the only person who pronounced it correctly!!!
There were two different eps this season where I could have sworn Mulder and Scully slept together, but I don't know the names of the eps... one was pretty recent, the one where scully had a spiritual moment in front of the Bhudda, and the other one was when Mulder's mom died and scully stayed with him to comfort him.
Of course, the possibility of her being pregnant as the result of CSM's sinister mechanizations is lots more interesting.
Oh yeah, for the record, Most Oregon towns are not quaint little towns full of inbreeds, smack dab in the middle of verdant stands of Climactic Old Growth Forests. If they were going to depict Oregon honestly, they would have had to at least
had the Woods be a little 2acre patch in back of a strip mall somewhere, and the inbreeds would have to all be wearing dirty undershirts and no shoes and drinking from cans of Hamm's. And the cops would all be fat. and...and...
okay enough silliness for now.

Next question: Why didn't we see Diana Fowley??

-- Aaron

Because, Mr. Nadler, Dear Diana is dead, killed in "Amor Fati".

-12-

Really? I don't remember that. Could someone please describe this scene?

-- Aaron

"Amor Fati" doesn't show it but it is mentioned that she was killed for helping Scully find Mulder.

So the Aliens have spaceships, but they still only use switchblades(Which don't always work) and those torch candlelighters. Is it just me or does the Alien plot seem infeasable. There trying to take over the universe, their ships can crash, they don't send backup, rebels can threaten them, and their negotiating with humans to create a slave race for some blue spect.

This was kind of a boring episode, but not bad.


Anyway, when the flashlight becomes hot (appartently) from radiation, howcome we don't
see radiation burns all over the hands of the person holding it, and why didn't the geiger-counter burn up the same way (unless it was a targeted beam?)?

Just to be be precise, and place blame where blame is due, here are the "Oregon" pronunciation scores:

Mulder -- *EEHHHP!*-- wrong!
CSM -- *EEHHHP!*-- wrong!
Skinner -- RIGHT!

Since a lot of people outside Oregon do pronounce it incorrectly, it would probably have been unrealistic for everyone to get it right. Mulder, however, should know better.

Allegra:
Scully and Mulder sleeping together (which I won't believe happened) has nothing to do with Scully's pregnancy. The government harvested all her ova, remember? They don't just grow back.

I thought CSM might have given Scully some of her ova back, during that ep where she went to sleep in the car with CSM, and woke up in a log home, in her PJs.
It's apparently "the whole idea" to be deliberately vague about the whole pregnancy thang. Now we just gotta find out. I've just thrown in my 3 cents.

Aaron--

At the end of "Amor Fati", when Scully comes to Mulder's apartment, one of the first things she tells him is: "This morning Agent Fowley was found murdered in her apartment." The implication of course is that Cancerman's people did her in since she gave her access card to Scully, enabling her to rescue Mulder.

and that means....

I loved this!!! I was screaming about her pregnancy from the first moment she had her little chilly spell in the hotel. And I had to wonder if she and Mulder were together as they were darn cuddly in the hotel...I've been rather out of touch with this season and it would not surprise me if somehow Cancerman had decided to be nice and give her back some of her ova...After all, he threw away the disk with the cure to all diseases...

S. Wong: Are the rebels trying to prevent the aliens from coming? Are they on humanity's side? [...] What's the black oil again?
Those aren't the rebels, they're the bounty hunters who work for the Greys I believe. I wouldn't say they're on humanity's side, just against the Colonists. I don't know what you mean by your other question.

trekkerxphile: When have Mulder and Scully encountered the burn mark before?
They've seen burns caused by the acid blood multiple times, including just a bit ago on the road by the X.

ScottN: I thought the faceless alien rebels killed Strughold?
He wasn't there, nor was an actor who looked like him for replacement.

Matt Pesti: So the Aliens have spaceships, but they still only use switchblades(Which don't always work) and those torch candlelighters... They're trying to take over the universe...
You make some good points but I think the icepick things were only used on other aliens, and they were just trying to re-claim Earth since they were here before.

I'm glad to see one salvageable nit after all these years! Scully finds shell casings in the road and says they're .38 Super, which the deputy says they use there. The problem here is that .38S is only used by professional marksmen during competitions, and even then it's rare! They're too expensive and too hard to find for regular use by cops, especially since that same deputy points a Berretta 92F at what looked like his father, which comes in 9mm, and I'm confidant in saying that company doesn't even make guns in that caliber.

Mulder's curiosity and wonder takes over everything he's already experienced. I mean his sister was abducted, later returned, had experiments on her, and this "spirit race" rescued her-- nevermind what also happened to Scully and to others-- black oil, alien-human hybrids, colonizations and cloning, etc. and yet Mulder WILLINGLY goes with the other abductees to be taken away in a spaceship, knowing this is what's in for him. I mean WTF? Talk about a self-asphyxiacian prophecy (granted without the sex). :P