The Grand X-Periment Day 3

10/3/11

During the week, I will only be watching two episodes a night but that will be plenty, I think.

10) Ascension- Season 2, Episode 6- Following the cliffhanger of Duane Berry, we get the episode where the very pregnant Gillian Anderson is written out for a few hours to have her baby. Mulder and Ratboy (as Krycek is known in fan circles) are hot on Duane Berry's trail after he shoots a state trooper in Virginia. By the halfway mark, Krycek has told his superiors where Scully is, Mulder has caught up to Berry and Scully has vanished in a flash of bright light. We see the hint of the craft from Deep Throat that the military has been testing. Mulder is exhausted and angry, which makes tonight a nice little two-part arc I call "The Last Temptation of Mulder."

Trying to get info from Berry, Mulder throttles him and almost kills him. When Berry turns up dead of asphyxiation a few minutes later, Mulder is the natural suspect. In this packed episode, Mulder figures out that Krycek was the man who sold him out. Not believing for one second that aliens took his partner, Mulder is sure it is the work of Cancer Man (aka Cigarette man). Krycek vanishes and Skinner reopens the X-Files.

This abduction scenario was a nice way to write out Anderson for a few weeks. It fits with the conspiracy's plans to dissuade Mulder. Again, someone brings up the idea of just killing him and Cancer Man states the reason that they can't most clearly...he would be a martyr to his cause. We haven't really seen much of this but everyone from senators to computer hackers have this adoration for Mulder. The little glimpses we get are kind of cool. X shows up for the first time in a mythology episode and lets Mulder know his buddy, the Senator, can't help him anymore. All avenues are being closed to Mulder and the only real ally he has is Skinner, who is a known associate of Cancer Man. Things are looking bad.

11) One Breath- Season 2, Episode 8- One episode passes with solo Mulder action before Scully turns up in a hospital in a deep coma. This one turns out to be a great episode (in my opinion). Mulder is given several chances in this episode to enact revenge on those who took his partner. But he has to be willing to kill. In the heat of the moment, in the line of duty, Mulder isn't shy to take action but these situations are all about premeditation and cold-blooded ruthlessness.

X and Skinner give him leads to find Cancer Man's house (he even watches movies about smoking!) and the men who actually abducted Scully. Will he take the high road and spare the lives of these villains? Are they even villains at all? There is a great conversation here between Mulder and Cancer Man where CM declares that every move he makes is justified in that he believes in his cause. We still don't know what his cause is that allows him to use people like Duane Berry as pawns, kidnap innocent people and murder anyone who finds proof of his work.

The climactic decision of the episode is kind of great. X tells Mulder that the men who kidnapped Scully will be raiding Mulder's apartment looking for some McGuffin while they believe he is out of the country. All Mulder has to do is sit in the dark with a gun and shoot them when they come in. Scully's sister shows up to tell Mulder that Scully's condition is worsening and she will probably be dead soon. Mulder can either go be by his partner's side as she dies or stay home and kill some faceless bad guys.

Of course, he chooses to be with Scully. When he returns home to find his place has been ransacked he just breaks down completely. His partner is dying and he can do nothing to even avenge her. The end of the episode takes on a weird religious twist but it introduces the idea of Scully's Christian faith. Her one non-skeptical belief is the one Mulder just can't abide. Really good hour of TV all around that pretty much gets us back to the status quo of the X-Files being open with Mulder and Scully on them. The Lone Gunmen, Skinner and X are all established supporting players now. We even have a defined bad guy in Cancer Man (with Ratboy not too far behind). Now the show can really begin...but will it?