…eat his own desk” if the The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. co-star Bruce Campbell will not become a television star of the first magnitude. It was not stated whether consumption took place, but it was The X-Files, not The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., that turned out to be the biggest hit in the history of the studio.

TV Series

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The pilot of the X-files aired on September 10, 1993: no one at the time expected that this extraordinary media phenomenon would lead to the spread of phrases such as “Trust no one” or “The truth is out there” or I want to believe”.  Nobody even dared to assume that such a huge group of loyal fans (X-phils) of the series and actors appearing in it would arise (suffice it to mention Gillian Anderson’s Testosterone Brigade or David Duchovny’s Estrogen Brigade); that the X-Files will receive (among other things) a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Achievement in Television Series Dramaturgy and Fox Broadcasting’s first ever Emmy nomination (in the end, The X-Files received fourteen Emmys and 61 different awards overall, out of 141 nominations ).

Chris Carter dreamed of creating a series that would echo the TV movies of his early youth: The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and most notably Kolchak: The Night Stalker. At the same time, however, it was to be a completely fresh creation, and the adventures of the main characters were to be devoid of unnecessary randomness. Ultimately, it’s hard to believe that the common man accidentally stumbles upon UFOs and the paranormal.

The idea was given to Carter by the Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs – the key to opening the door to the paranormal world was to become the FBI. This is how the series was based on the idea of a special unit for unexplained phenomena in the FBI, which would be run by a pair of agents with extremely different approaches to these phenomena. He steadfastly believes and looks for evidence, and he is personally motivated – as a child he witnessed the abduction of his sister. She, a doctor with a strict mind, controls her partner’s actions and looks for rational explanations. In addition, they both share a special kind of platonic flirtation.

The X-Files ran for eleven seasons – the last episode was broadcast on May 19, 2002 – thus becoming one of the longest-running sci-fi series in American television history. In addition to the so-called “investigative” episodes, devoted to broadly understood paranormal phenomena, there are interconnected “mythological” episodes, the content of which is a great government conspiracy, the existence of a powerful, secret organization that manipulates public opinion and hides from it the truth about the existence of extraterrestrial civilization and what’s more – about the aggressive plans that this civilization has for the Earth. This idea was intriguing not only to the die-hard conspiracy theorists, who smell deceit in absolutely everything, but also to ordinary bread eaters who throughout history have felt to a greater or lesser extent deceived, manipulated, disappointed and disregarded.

Who among us can say with full satisfaction that he has full confidence in the authorities and the people at the top? That he is fully convinced that this group at the helm provides him with security and comfort, honestly fulfilling the duties imposed by the office? Two agents opposing the dark Consortium in their quest to reveal the Truth are the materialization of human desires for clarity and clarity of principles. They act on our behalf as advocates of justice, whether we believe in UFOs or not.

However, since man is an ambiguous being, his needs are not necessarily one-sided. Thus, even if we are suspicious of enigmatic “people in power”, we still have a deep-seated need for security. Convincing ourselves that even if evil is a lesser evil, and if something threatens us – there will be someone who will stand up for us. Yes, that’s right – “I want to believe”! Hence the informants, opposing Syndicate politics and helping Mulder in his crusade. Hence, over time, the evolution of presenting the Syndicate itself: no longer as a group of selfish careerists caring about saving their own butts by collaborating with the future occupier (sounds familiar, right?), but playing for time to find a way out of the situation and save humanity from annihilation . It is no coincidence that when the egocentrism of individual members of the group comes to the fore, when their mission threatens to collapse – the Syndicate is destroyed, and the New Syndicate that appears in its place is something completely different: it consists of transformed aliens, not real ones. people with specific responsibility.

So, summarizing this thread – we can look at the government with suspicion and reluctance, we support Mulder and Scully on their way to discover the facts (i.e. “tell us, we have the right to know”) but at the same time we still hope that you are, after all, who resist (“then if that’s the truth, for Heaven’s sake, do something about it – what are you there for!”). A failure of trust at such a time is a total failure. Aliens and their colonization plans are a powerful, terrifying, mind-incapable threat: we want to make sure that we do not turn out to be defenseless and helpless in the face of such a threat. That someone will protect us. Then that trust returns, because we demand immediate solutions – now they are simply really necessary, when everything, our whole world and life so far can come crashing down. This is where we need power – someone who can tell us what to do.

We love to criticize it and many times we have reasons to do so – Mulder and Scully are digging in search of the origins of her manipulations and smokescreens and isolating the citizen from the proper truth, they want to bring to light the facts to which we as a society have a right. But when it comes to light that corruption, Vietnam and Watergate are small mics in relation to what is about to happen to us – we naturally look to the only people who can provide it for us. Hence Carter’s psychologically justified attempt to whiten the Consortium a bit, to see positive and prospective elements in their activities. Looking at this, let’s remember that the main audience of the series was supposed to be the American society, which, through periodically coming to light scams (suffice it to mention Watergate), still loses trust in people at the top, but at the same time still firmly believes that America is a force and an inviolable power, that America cannot be destroyed, because there will always be “a way”. So, again – “I want to believe”. Such a layout in the series (drawing the Syndicate’s dirt – but also the desire for the same Syndicate to protect us) turned out to be perfectly inscribed in the viewers’ assessment and their own beliefs.

The second element that keeps the audience glued to the screen is the element of horror and eerieness, crossing the borders of what is verifiable and real, reaching dangerous and unexplored regions. The fascination with such topics results from at least several reasons. First, it satisfies the craving for the amazing and delivers the thrill. Secondly, it suggests that the world we live in is not so bad in its gray ordinariness. Thirdly, crossing the limits of intelligible perception brings hope to extend also the limits of possibilities available to us so far. The X-Files plays on many people’s fears and needs. These may be the fear of death, strong phobias that we are unable to control, the fear of darkness that has always been characteristic of humans, associated with danger and evil, and further – the need to believe that life is not the end of everything, that one day we will meet our relatives.

Both these fears and needs are presented in the series in the context of paranormal phenomena, but despite this, they strongly appeal to the viewer, arousing fear in him (milder, after all, because of something that is “impossible”; plus satisfaction, because for this short moment managed to be “above him”) and hope (“maybe there is something in what they say about ghosts/life after death/reincarnation…”). We feel in a strangely paradoxical way that our phobias are, after all, so ordinary and so human.

In addition, the series does not shy away from addressing the topic of universal truths, from delving into the meanders of considerations about the randomness and purposefulness of things, the very opposition between the pair of heroes looks like a clash of the empirical school with the rationalist one. The theme of God, faith, reconciling faith with science, the clash of the forces of good and evil, and in all this, a single man lost and uncertain which path to follow and whether by choosing a certain path he made a good and conscious decision or was deceived and deceived, is constantly present. These are problems that have always been present in human life, thanks to which we see the heroes of the Archive not as superheroes, but flesh and blood people who are not spared the obstacles and troubles that are common to all of us.

And finally, the last element, perhaps the most important: Mulder and Scully themselves. In most series of this type, the private and spiritual life of the characters is either absent or separated from the main theme by a clear and strong line. Here, however, it is different: their lives are intertwined with what they do, and their spiritual reflections have a significant impact on how they act. The development of their mutual intimacy is also intriguing (until the screenwriters, resigning from the rightly adopted concept at the beginning, decided to make Mulder and Scully a couple). Their relationship develops in two ways. The first track – how step by step they become the center of the world for themselves, they become addicted to their partnership. Several times Scully tries to build her own life, but without success. Their mutual intimacy based on absolute trust grows, they blindly rely on each other, they temper their partnership in the most dramatic situations: life threat, professional defeat, personal tragedy. At some point, they discover the emptiness around – they have moved away from others so much that they have only themselves. The second track is the fascination between them, the elusive erotic tension that gives the series a nice mole.

And finally, each of them – whom we so easily endowed with sympathy – is in some way a tragic figure. Mulder lives only for his obsession to know the ultimate Truth, motivated by the painful loss of his sister Samantha in childhood. He never got over this tragedy, never allowed himself to think that it was a loss forever, for years he struggled with guilt and a survivor complex. Perhaps, subconsciously, he hopes that this mistake will be corrected and that he will take Samantha’s place wherever she is. That’s why he doesn’t get attached to anything, doesn’t lead an organized life, he still exists in the atmosphere of the temporary. He does not accumulate anything that he would not be reluctant to abandon. His life is the X-Files and only thanks to it does he feel truly free and on the right track, closer to the Truth and closer to Samantha. His belief in everything unexplained is a kind of religion. It is she who gives him hope and motivates him in his mission.

The central character, however, is Scully, because in her case everything is much more complex and maybe even more difficult. She is not as sure as her partner that they lead the life they should lead. She doesn’t know 100 percent whether it actually suits her – how much she makes her choices herself, and how much out of loyalty to Mulder. His mission need not be hers as well. He suffers the tragedy of a mother who loses her daughter. She is torn between what her mind, which she has always trusted, tells her, and what she had the opportunity to look at while working at the Archive. Science is no longer her ally, and Scully has a hard time coming to terms with it. She is lost, full of doubts, and is haunted by an inner sadness. Through her experiences – abduction, humiliating tests, taking away her ability to bear children, and then an illness that leads her to the brink of death – she sees everything from a different point of view. She had the opportunity to feel completely vulnerable, she had to accept her weakness and lack of control. Admit to yourself that you have failed.

She is not just self-sufficient and independent, she is not only an efficient and organized worker – but also a woman. And finally, religion, which should give it strength, but mainly brings doubt, uncertainty about God’s intentions for it, and whether it is always able to recognize the right way to act, or whether it believes excessively in the power of reason and in the truth science loses sight of something important and thereby makes mistakes that distance it from God? He fears that “God speaks to us constantly – but we do not listen to Him.” But where, in times when threats are multiplying at an alarming rate and the world seems to be falling apart from scratch (when The X-Files was created – it was a special moment of reckoning and summing up and fear of the New Millennium), where to look for an element of certainty? Should God be completely silent for all of us, contaminated by a rationalist vision of the world pushing towards progress and perhaps at the same time towards destruction? Is it by closing our eyes to the truths of reason, turning to the things that reason cannot grasp, that we can find hope and peace?

An element hard to miss in a comprehensive view of The X-Files is the undeniable messianic element. Fox Mulder, in his search for the Truth, over time becomes more than just an enthusiast motivated by personal experiences. It turns into a real Voice, whose mission is not only to enlighten humanity, but also to save it from destruction. Mulder becomes the last righteous person persecuted for his faith. His crusade leads to a voluntary sacrifice, and the sacrifice to a martyr’s death, after which – after all – he was resurrected. It should be remembered that what we associate today with abductions and UFOs, a few centuries ago would be described as visitations by angels – luminous figures coming from the stars and giving their message. If you get rid of the whole mythological-colonization shell, what is the birth of William – Scully’s child, if not an immaculate conception (understood here as a “miraculous” birth, not the Catholic dogma of freedom from original sin)?

However, since we are at William, it should be noted that the X-Files in the last two seasons fell into a form quite indigestible in its extreme. Partly because of Mulder’s martyrdom and the birth of William – the savior. This intrusive symbolism stands in opposition to the current concept of the series, making the main characters artificial icons, adding a pseudo-religious ideology to what was previously a natural and psychologically justified action. The eighth season is largely based on John Doggett, the pregnant Scully struggles with the depressions of the mother-to-be, and their relationship – overcoming distrust and gradually growing mutual dependence – are just washings from the analogous evolution of the Mulder-Scully relationship. Although Doggett himself is quite an interesting character (mainly due to the great Robert Patrick), it is obvious that he was appointed only to fill the void left by Mulder. Even the plot of personal experiences affecting work (kidnapping and death of his son) brings to mind Mulder’s struggle with painful memories of his sister.

However, while the eighth season is still defending itself, the ninth is already a clear decline in form. First of all – the character of agent Monika Reyes does not work at all, her cooperation with Doggett and the repetition of the clash of skepticism with openness to the unknown is like a fairy tale that is repeated ad nauseam. Secondly – the subject of the investigative episodes is unbearably stretched, as if the ideas have already run out. All the freshness, verve, brilliance have disappeared somewhere, there is a lack of lightness and humor. There isn’t a single special that compares to gems like Humbug or the Post-Modern Prometheus. There are no sparkling dialogues with specific humor. Reflective comments, if they appear, are no longer an accurate summary of the plot, but art for art’s sake, and for the most part boring and bloated.

Fortunately, a certain … flash in the thickets of darkness … is the end of the whole thing. The Truth is an episode referring to the best mythological traditions of the X-Files. As a proper series finale, it works well. The characters who accompanied us on the way to the Truth return, flashbacks from previous seasons and the production and scripting treatments characteristic of the series: Mulder’s stubbornness, consistent disregard for the rules, pursuit of the goal despite the danger, the final summary of the complicated relationship with the Smoker, even flashes of old humor . The rehabilitation of Kersh and Krycek may seem a bit surprising, but it makes significant sense in the context of the final solution and “hope after all” – even the “bad guys” in a situation of global threat are now on the same side of the barricade as the “good guys”.

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Fox Mulder

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David Duchovny

Born October 13, 1961 to William (Bill) Mulder and Teena Mulder. He had a younger sister, Samantha, by four years. He was raised in Chilmark, Massachusetts. Apparently his first words were “JFK”. Everything indicates that his childhood was happy. Until November 27, 1973, when he witnessed the disappearance of his sister from the family home. It was just the two of them in the apartment at the time, playing a board game. This case became a great trauma for both Fox and his parents. They divorced soon after. The investigation yielded no results and was discontinued – as we learn in Closure, it was ordered by the Smoker, possibly at Teena Mulder’s request. Fox’s memories of his sister’s disappearance are not entirely credible. In the first season pilot, he mentions that Samantha “just disappeared”. Maybe he’s saying that because he doesn’t trust Scully yet. Under hypnosis, he described the blinding light and the freezing of time – the same image came to him in a dream in Little Green Men. It is unknown how accurate these memories are, Mulder himself surmised that they may be the product of constant brooding and guilt, or perhaps they were fabricated by someone who wanted to hide the truth.

In 1983, Mulder began studying psychology at Oxford. He graduated with the highest honors and entered the Quantico Academy. After completing the course, he joined BSI as a profiler under agent Bill Patterson. Mulder’s ability to read the minds of serial killers soon became legendary and earned him a well-deserved reputation, but at the same time, he was nicknamed “Spooky” by his peers for his often out-of-the-box ideas and belief in the paranormal. Then Mulder went to work in the homicide department, under Reggie Purdue. For the first time, Scully’s future partner began to show a tendency to break the rules and insubordination to superiors – he felt guilty after stubborn adherence to FBI protocol prevented him from actions that could have saved his colleague’s life.

In 1989, Mulder was given an experimental drug that caused him hallucinations and persecution mania. He changed a lot after that experience. He developed an obsession with extraterrestrial civilizations and government conspiracies. From former FBI agent Arthur Dales he heard about a certain X-Files – a unit set up to investigate unexplained phenomena. In 1991, Mulder, with the approval of his superiors, reactivated the X-Files with his then-partner Diana Fowley. After Fowley left, he ran the Archives alone until 1992, when he was assigned a new partner – Dana Scully, a medical doctor who would give paranormal investigations the necessary skepticism.

Mulder’s stubborn pursuit of the Truth has put his life in danger many times. However, he did not stop trying to obtain proof of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and it can be said that he succeeded in a rather perverse way, since he almost turned himself into an alien. Ultimately, he became a wanted criminal with a conviction for (alleged) murder – nevertheless, just as he once “wanted to believe”, now he wants to “hope”.

Some interesting facts about Mulder:

• has a penchant for biting sunflower seeds – apparently he inherited it from his father
• he hates his name
• he is color-blind
• he watched Plan 9 from Outer Space 42 times
• he really likes movies
• several times in the series it is implied that he is a big amateur of porn
• his apartment is number 42
• he enjoys basketball and baseball, and regularly jogs
• he rarely sleeps in bed: usually on the couch, with the TV on and often with clothes on
• He has an excellent photographic memory
• as a child he was afraid of insects
• he has a distinctive, sardonic sense of humor
• has blood group O
• badge number JTT047101111

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Dana Scully

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Gillian Anderson

Born February 23, 1964 to William and Margareth Scully. She was the third child after William Jr. and Melissa. She also has a younger brother, Charles. The Scully family is deeply religious. Restrictive religious upbringing and the strictness of her father, a naval officer, caused Dana to rebel and rebel against parental authority as she grew up. She graduated from the Medical Academy and initially saw her future in practical medicine, but as a result of personal experiences – the end of a long-term affair with a married lecturer – she gave it up and chose a career in the FBI. Scully’s rational and rigorous mind, specializing in pathology and forensics, attracted the attention of the Syndicate, which decided to use Scully to supervise Fox Mulder, assigning her as his partner to the X-Files. a bond of trust that ruined the Syndicate’s plans. Scully was abducted by Duane Barry and given to the “Aliens” by him. Thus, it became part of extraterrestrial colonization plans – tests were carried out on it to create a successful hybrid of a human and an Alien.

She was returned in a comatose state, and some time after her recovery, she discovered the presence of an implant on the back of her neck. Its removal led to the rapid development of cancer. In Christmas, Carol Scully found out that she had a daughter – Emily, in fact an experimental hybrid, but she died quickly, which was a great psychological shock for Scully. This is another close person she lost during the series. The father died of a heart attack (Beyond the Sea) and the sister, Melissa, was mistakenly murdered (Blessing Way). Similar experiences happened to Mulder: his father was killed by Alex Krycek (Anasazi) and his mother committed suicide (Sein und Zeit). After the experiments conducted during the kidnapping, Scully became infertile, but she desperately wanted to become a mother, hence the attempt to undergo in-vitro fertilization, with Mulder as the donor.

Around the same time, her relationship with Mulder took a more intimate form. Sometime after Fox’s disappearance, Scully discovered that the conception had been successful. Her son, William, became the focus of the New Syndicate even before he was born. The prophecy associated with him and the constant attempts on his life eventually prompted Scully to give William up for adoption. At the conclusion of season nine, Mulder and Scully, officially missing, remain in hiding, their outlaw future uncertain.

Some interesting facts about Scully:

• she does not part with a small gold cross that her mother gave her on her fifteenth birthday
• her father affectionately called her “Starbuck” (she called him Ahab – both names taken from “Moby Dick”)
• her favorite movie is The Exorcist
• two clues to Scully’s possible immortality emerge during the course of the series. Clyde Bruckman, gifted with the ability to predict the circumstances of human death, states that Scully will “never die”. In the episode Tithonus, the samething happens to her as it used to happen to the main character – Death takes someone else instead of her, ergo – like him, she may be doomed to be immortal
• in college she was associated with anti-nuclear opposition movements
• badge number 2317-616

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FBI Agents

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Walter Skinner

Mitch Pileggi

Walter Skinner was the deputy director of the FBI (until season eight, when he is replaced by Brad Follmer) and was Mulder and Scully’s immediate superior. He is a former Marine and Vietnam War veteran. In Avatar, we learn that he had a wife, whom he divorced after seventeen years of marriage. He suffers from sleep disorders and recurring nightmares.

Muscular and athletic, he does jogging and boxing. His role in Cell X was quite complex. Initially, he had a strictly professional attitude towards his subordinates. With time, however, he became more and more clearly transformed into their ally. The extent of his dependence on the Syndicate and the extent of the influence the Smoker had over him was not entirely clear. Undoubtedly, he had to reckon with the Syndicate’s ordinances, and more than once he obeyed them against his will. However, he often rebelled and opposed the will of the shadow people, usually paying a high price for it. He risked his entire career to get a cure for Scully’s cancer. Since the enactment of Law 819, nanotechnology has placed him at the mercy of Alex Krycek, who blackmailed and controlled him. In season eight, he killed Krycek when he made an attempt on Mulder’s life. In the final episode of the ninth season, he led the defense in Mulder’s trial.

John Doggett

Robert Patrick

Retired Marine Sergeant, discharged in 1983. He earned a master’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University and was hired by the NYPD. Soon, his eight-year-old son Luke was kidnapped and murdered by an unknown assailant. This tragedy left a strong mark on Doggett and led to the breakdown of his marriage. In 1995, he entered the Quantico Academy and after graduating he went to work as an FBI agent.

In 2000, he was commissioned by director Alvin Kersh to lead the investigation to find Fox Mulder. Since, in the opinion of his superiors, he did not fulfill this duty properly, he was sent to the X-Files as a punishment for Dana Scully’s new partner. Their initial dislike for each other soon turned into friendly intimacy. Doggett is a cool skeptic, accepting only rational explanations. After Mulder was miraculously brought back from the dead and away from the X-Files, and Scully retired from active duty to pursue a teaching career at Quantico Academy and raise her son, Doggett’s partner was Monica Reyes.

Monica Reyes

Annabeth Gish

Monica was adopted as a toddler and never met her biological parents. She grew up in Mexico. She studied cultural anthropology and is a specialist in mythology and magical rituals. She joined the FBI in 1990, initially investigating crimes related to satanic rituals. She also investigated the kidnapping of eight-year-old Luke, John Doggett’s son.

In 1999, she transferred to the New Orleans unit and remained there until John Doggett persuaded her to join him in the X-Files. Unlike her partner, she is open to the paranormal and explanations that transcend the boundaries of science; he also seems to have some extrasensory abilities, or at least a very strong intuition. At the end of the ninth season, there are subtle hints of a romantic relationship between Reyes and Doggett.

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Enemies

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C.G.B Spender, Cigarette Smoking – Man, Cancer Man

William B. Davies

A high-ranking member of the Syndicate and the immediate superior of the Men in Black. His nickname comes from his habit of firing one Morley from another. He held a high position in the Consortium and had access to the most secret information, however, he was not very accepted by the other members of the group, as a result he was considered undesirable and was sentenced to death. The Smoker’s main goal was to delay colonization as much as possible so that the vaccine could be properly refined in the meantime. The means to achieve that goal were of little consequence to him, and he quickly became the main villain of the series. He was the actual assassin of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

He collaborated with Mulder’s father; he also had an affair with Fox’s mother, and there are many indications that he may have been Fox’s biological father as well. His wife Cassandra became the first successful – that is, completely immune to the Black Cancer – human-Alien hybrid. He ordered Scully’s abduction. He did not hesitate to try to kill his son, Jeffrey Spender when he failed his hopes, and to expose him to black virus vaccine tests that left Jeffrey horribly disfigured. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he forced the Rebel Alien, Jeremiah Smith, to cure him of the disease. However, the disease returned and the Smoker remained confined to a wheelchair. After the dissolution of the Syndicate, which was murdered by the rebels, he tried to continue secretly working for the conspiracy. He was tracked down by Alex Krycek and was thought to be dead for two years. Found by Mulder in New Mexico, where he was hiding from the New Syndicate and the aliens slowly coming to power, he revealed the final truth to his supposed son – the date of the start of the proper colonization. Soon after, he died – it seemed that this time rather for good. Playing the role of C.G.B. Spender, William B. Davis is a non-smoker.

Alex Krycek

Nicholas Lea

Deadly handsome and deadly dangerous, Alex Krycek is perhaps the most ambiguous character on the show. Little is known about him, except that his parents were Russians who emigrated during the Cold War. He first appeared as Mulder’s new partner in Sleepless, but was quickly revealed to be a spy in the Syndicate’s favor. What Krycek’s true intentions really were is unknown. He was loyal to no one except himself. He was present at Scully’s abduction. He killed Mulder’s father. Together with Luis Cardinale, he ambushed Scully’s life, but then her sister Melissa was killed by mistake. Although it was Cardinale who shot Melissa, the Syndicate held Krycek responsible and sentenced him to death. Krycek came into possession of secret data stolen by the Thinker, which he tried to use for his own purposes by selling them in Hong Kong. He was infected with Black Cancer. Captured by the Syndicate, he was imprisoned in North Dakota. However, he managed to escape from there.

He accompanied Mulder as an interpreter on a trip to Tunguska, but both were soon captured by the Russians and imprisoned in the Gulag. Krycek’s quick release proved his contacts with the Russian conspiracy. Mulder escaped from the gulag with Krycek as a hostage, but Rat, as befits a Rat, quickly eluded him. Imprisoned by Russian partisans, he lost his arm, which the oppositionists amputated against his will. We met him again as a double agent working for both the Russians and the Syndicate. He was commissioned to find the Smoker who was hiding. In the last episode of the seventh season (Requiem), he made an attempt on the Smoker’s life by pushing his wheelchair down the stairs. In the episode, Deadalive offered Skinner the vaccine necessary to save Mulder’s life in exchange for the life of Scully’s baby, who, in his words, “is a danger to humanity” and “cannot be born”. Skinner refused. In Existence, Krycek tried to kill Mulder and was shot by Skinner. He will also appear as a ghost in the series ending The Truth, helping Mulder escape. Presumably, Krycek had an undefined emotional relationship with Marita Covarrubias. Nicholas Lea appeared in The X-Files in a completely different role in Gender Bender.

Knowle Rohrer

Adam Baldwin

Knowle Rohrer was a Marine who served with John Doggett and Shannon McMahon in Beirut. Rohrer and Shannon were the first people to be transformed into Super Soldiers – a new type of hybrids that would eventually become slaves subject to extraterrestrial colonizers. After leaving active duty in the field, he continued his career in the Department of Defense.

John Doggett reconnected with him after he joined the X-Files. However, he soon realized that Rohrer was an enemy, not an ally. In the second episode of the ninth season, Rohrer – it seemed – was killed by Shannon McMahon (who also paid for it with her life). However, this is only appearances: Rohrer has returned and in The Truth there was a clash with Mulder. Their struggle resulted in Rohrer’s close contact with live wires and Fox being charged with alleged murder.

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Informants

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Lone Gunmen

T O M  BR A I D W O O D , D E A N  H A G L U N D , B R U C E  H A R W O O D

The name used by Mulder’s trio of closest friends refers to a conspiracy theory involving an unidentified shooter in the assassination of President Kennedy. They were all obsessed believers in conspiracy theories of history, accomplished hackers and tireless researchers of the latest technologies. They repeatedly helped Mulder circumvent the law and provided him with behind-the-scenes information obtained by more or less legal methods. The oldest of the three was Melvin Frohike, a self-confessed radical in the 1960s, a specialist in bypassing blockades and system security, and a talented photographer. Known for his crude sense of humor and abstract adoration of the fair sex, he missed no opportunity to seduce Agent Scully. However, he had the soul of a romantic and was, in fact, very emotional. He took Scully’s illness and Mulder’s (alleged) death tremendously.

John Fitzgerald Byers, christened by his parents in honor of the president because he was born on the exact day of the assassination, is the only one of the three who dressed in a conventional suit and looked well-groomed. He used to work as a civil servant and secretly dreamed of a quiet and gray family life. Richard Langly was a self-confessed punk, competing with Frohik over who was the better hacker. He was a fan of computer games and the Ramones group. The Lone Gunners and Mulder met in 1989 through an assignment given to the Gunners by “Holly” Susanne Modeski. All three died in the ninth season of The X-Files, in episode Jump the Shark, sacrificing their own lives for the good of humanity. They made a cameo appearance as apparitions in The Truth, warning Mulder about going to New Mexico.

Deep Throat

R O B E R T  H A R D I N

Mulder’s first informant. He was a member of the Syndicate and believed that the truth about extraterrestrial colonization he was hiding should be revealed. His choice fell on Mulder as the most suitable person for the job. The information he provided was sometimes very enigmatic and coded, because Deep Throat also cared about its own safety. He seemed to play fair most of the time, although he is known to have deliberately cheated Mulder on at least one occasion.

Deep Throat’s motivations were fully known only to himself. By his own admission, he felt deeply guilty after being tasked by the Syndicate to murder an Alien captured from a UFO crashed over Hanoi. In addition, he was disaffected by the Syndicate’s practices, although for reasons known only to himself, he still remained a member. Deep Throat was eliminated in the final episode of the first season, The Erlenmeyer Flask.

X

S T E V E N  W I L L I A M S

He belonged to a group of Men in Black, working for the Syndicate and responsible for the security of the conspiracy. Compared to its predecessor, Deep Throat, it was much more enigmatic and mysterious. He often refused Mulder’s help or did not respond to a signaled request for a meeting (two X-crossed strips of paper glued to the window).

But perhaps he cared for Mulder more than he wanted to show. He definitely wanted to save him from death. In episode 731, he saved his life. He paid the ultimate price for his disloyalty to the Syndicate. Before he died, he wrote his last message to Mulder in his own blood, pointing him to his next informant – Marita Covarrubias.

Marita Covarrubias

L A U R I E  H O L D E N

Mulder’s informant, who was referred to her by X just before his death. Employed at the UN General Secretariat, but her actual superior is the Smoker. When the Syndicate discovered her betrayal, she was included in a group of guinea pigs as punishment for the Black Cancer vaccine. Long-term tests nearly led to her death.

Closely associated with Alex Krycek, with whom she shared a fiery affair, she helped him orchestrate the attempt on the Smoker’s life in the seventh season. In the ninth season, he testifies as a defense witness at Mulder’s trial.

Well – Manicured Man

J O H N  N E V I L L E

He was British, one of the high-ranking members of the Consortium. He was friends with Bill Mulder for many years. Averse to all physical violence, he believed that greater benefits could be achieved through psychological manipulation. Same with Scully and Mulder – the Well-Manicured Man was an advocate of keeping them a secret, believing that by keeping them close you could control their actions more effectively.

In addition, he was in opposition to the Burner, to whom he had a rather reluctant attitude and whose actions he disapproved of. The Distinguished One’s final appearance was in the theatrical Fight the Future when he helped Mulder deliver a vaccine infected with Scully’s extraterrestrial virus. Then he died in a car explosion, theoretically planned by himself.

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X-files mythology

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One face of the X-Files are the so-called “investigative” episodes. They’re all about paranormal, unusual events, mind control, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and so on and so forth. However, the axis of the whole series, what keeps the whole concept linear, the core and essence of The X-Files are the “mythological” episodes – there are several of them in each season, and little by little they discover this “truth” that lies “out there” and which Mulder is trying to X-ray at all costs. The mythology of the Archive is so complex and twisted, often full of contradictions and paradoxes, that it is easy to get lost in it. Even Chris Carter doesn’t claim to know all the answers. In short, the X-Files mythology is a theory about the existence of a powerful conspiracy, formed by people from the highest circles of power, associated in an international group of “shadow people”, also known as the “Syndicate” or “Consortium”. We know very little about them, and individual pieces of the puzzle appear in subsequent seasons, gradually building a more complete picture of this conspiracy – its causes, foundations, goals and threats.

Everything begins in the pilot of the first season, when with the silent approval of one of (as it later turns out) high-ranking “shadow people” – a certain C.G.B. Spender, also known as the Cigarette Smoking-Man or Cancer-Man, agent Dana Scully, a medical doctor, is assigned to the “X-Files” as Fox Mulder’s partner. Mulder is known for his extraordinary theories and his steadfast belief in UFOs. Scully, a scientist with a balanced and cool mind, is supposed to watch over his partner and make sure he doesn’t discover too much. In a word, she is to be a spy by his side. Time would show that it was not the right choice. The second episode of the first season, Deep Throat, introduces a new character – and he is part of a group of conspirators, but for reasons that are not entirely clear, he decides to play the role of Mulder’s secret informant.

Hence his nickname – “Deep Throat”, as a reference to the pseudonym of the mysterious informant Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, journalists who fell on the trail of the Watergate scandal. In the next mythological episode, E.B.E., Lone Gunners appear for the first time – Byers, Langly and Frohike, who blindly believe in the conspiracy theory of history, computer geniuses, for whom breaking codes and bypassing blockades is child’s play. They will often be of great help to Mulder.

With Scully failing as a conspiracy spy, the X-Files are threatened with closure. A preview of this we have in Tooms, which is also the episode where the Smoker says his first line (“of course I believe”). In the last episode of the first season, The Erlenmeyer Flask, for the first time we meet human-alien hybrids whose blood is green and highly toxic. Mulder has the opportunity to find out the hard way. Scully, with the support of Deep Throat, steals an Alien embryo preserved in liquid nitrogen – this exhibit is to be ransom for Mulder’s life. At the end of this episode, Deep Throat is murdered. “Trust no one” – these are his last words. Skinner, on the other hand, is ordered by his superiors to shut down the X-Files. Viewers, on the other hand, know more or less what they knew at the beginning.

Things get even more complicated in season two. We see the effects, we still know nothing about the causes. Removed from the X-Files, the agents go about their routine – Scully takes up a career as a lecturer, Mulder gets bored doing other things. Until Senator Matheson, who sympathizes with Mulder, directs him to Arecibo. All this happens in the opening episode of the second season – Little Green Men. The announced “contact” actually takes place – but the evidence turns out to be faulty and again Mulder has nothing certain in his hand. However, he finds faith in the meaning of his work – and cooperation, of course with Scully. In this season’s second episode of The Host, there’s an announcement of a new informant coming onto the scene.

Dark “X” is supposedly the successor of Deep Throat, but it is quite an ambiguous character. The Syndicate, in the person of Smoker, makes another attempt to spy on Mulder, thanks to his new partner, Alex Krycek (Sleepless episode). Fox rightly distrusts the zealous young man. Anyway, the future was to show that Krycek’s proper principal – the Burner – should not have trusted him either. Krycek, affectionately known on the Internet as Rat (Ratboy), is a double agent – he also spies for the Russians (however, we will only learn about this in the episodes Tunguska and Terma).

Duane Barry, the protagonist of the episode of the same title, is a former FBI agent with a paranoid fear of “Aliens”. As it turns out, he has an implant with an unrecognizable structure implanted in his neck. Duane kidnaps Scully, intending to offer her to the “Aliens” as, perhaps, the best word for it, a bribe… Mulder locates Duane, but fails to find Scully (Ascension). Scully appears on her own, only in a state of deep coma (One Breath). While she experiences unusual visions (featuring the caring figure of an unidentified nurse), Mulder loses his mind, threatens the Smoker with a gun, and goes out of his way altogether. Since Scully has expressed such a will in her will, the doctors do not want to artificially support her life. Surprisingly, however, after disconnecting from the apparatus, Scully awakens from the coma.

She remembers practically nothing. Colony seems to be a light in the darkness: Samantha, Mulder’s sister, once abducted before his eyes by what he believed to be aliens, appears. Did she actually survive? However, Samantha turns out to be a green-blooded hybrid, in addition – one of many identical-looking clones. A threat to them is a mysterious hunter with a deadly spike (because the only way to kill a hybrid is to stick the spike into its neck). Hunter, popularly known as “Pilot”, will appear many more times over the next seasons. The final episode of the second season is considered by many to be the best mythological episode ever. It is titled Anasazi.

A computer hacker nicknamed “Thinker” breaks into classified files of the Department of Defense, containing information about hiding evidence of extraterrestrial life, details of medical experiments on abductees and much more. The priceless tape ends up in the hands of Mulder, who is followed by a real manhunt, led by Smoker. Mulder discovers that the data is encrypted in the Navajo language. In Anasazi we also learn that the Burner worked in the Department of Defense with Bill Mulder – Fox’s father. Meanwhile, Fox is acting weirder and seems unbalanced. His father tries to tell him the truth about his government job, but he is murdered by Krycek beforehand. Mulder is weak and has a high fever, Scully discovers that the water in his apartment has been poisoned with drugs.

Dana introduces her partner to Albert Hosteen. During World War II, he encrypted military communications using the Navajo language. He tells Mulder about the Anasazi tribe, which disappeared without a trace six hundred years ago, abducted by mysterious “guests”. Albert’s grandson leads Mulder to a cold storage car full of alien bodies. On the body of one of them there is a trace of smallpox vaccination. Helicopters land on the spot, and Smoker gets out of one of them. The wagon is set on fire, but there is no sign of Mulder anywhere. He is declared missing.

The plot continues in the third season. In The Blessing Way, the Smoker continues to try to recover files containing evidence of UFOs. Scully fails to protect them. She gets a reprimand from Skinner, she’s depressed, she thinks she’s failed. Meanwhile, Mulder is found half dead by the Indians, pinned down by rocks. Albert and the other elders offer healing prayers over him. Mulder turns back from the road and regains consciousness. Scully accidentally discovers the presence of an implant in her body. It is surgically removed. At Bill Mulder’s funeral, Scully gets a warning from a man known by fans as “Distinguished” or “Well-Manicured Man”. He tells her that someone he knows and trusts is after her life.

He also mentions the existence of a consortium of “shadow people” who are “fabricating the truth”. In this episode, Scully’s sister Melissa is fatally shot – by mistake, as Krycek and his companion were lying in wait for Dana. In the next one, Paper Clip, Melissa dies in the hospital. Scully and Mulder drive to an abandoned mine in West Virginia. There are cabinets full of medical records. They have Scully’s name on them, and also Samantha Mulder’s name – although it seems Fox was originally going to be taken, not his sister. At one point, several small and small figures run past, Mulder sees the huge silhouette of a spaceship, and Scully – the outline of an alien in a flash of bright light.

From a Well-Manicured Man, agents learn about experiments conducted by Nazi scientists in 1947, immediately after the Roswell disaster. In exchange for an amnesty, they devoted themselves to research into the creation of a human-alien hybrid. Samantha’s kidnapping was intended as a warning to Mulder’s father, who wanted to reveal the truth. It was probably Bill who made the choice between son and daughter. In Nisei, however, we have Scully’s meeting with eleven women, each of whom in a hypnotic trance told about the kidnapping and the experiments performed on her body. They all had implants in their necks, like the one in Dana’s neck. And they all die of rapidly progressing cancer. In Piper, Maru Skinner pays almost the ultimate price for refusing to stop the investigation into Melissa’s death.

The French ship “Piper Maru” picks up a strange object from the ocean. It turns out to be the source of an oily black substance known as “Black Cancer”. The provenance of this substance is obviously extraterrestrial. Moreover, she is endowed with intelligence. Through successive carriers, which he fully controls, “Black Cancer” gets out into the wild and sets off into the world. Until, finally, he comes across a truly intriguing victim – “Rat” Krycek, who is still in possession of the Majestic file cassette containing the data captured by the Thinker and then stored by Skinner. The Smoker retrieves this tape in “Apocrypha”. Infected with “Black Cancer”, Krycek is transported to North Dakota. The last episode – Talitha Cumi – reveals the real revelation – The Smoker had an affair with Mulder’s mother! Their meeting after many years is by no means a tender spinning of sentimental memories – shortly after, Mulder’s mother suffers a massive stroke. Surprisingly, it is the Smoker who saves her life by persuading Jeremiah Smith to help her. Apparently because “the most dangerous opponent is a man who has nothing to lose”, and Mulder would become such after the death of his mother.

Before that happens, in Herrenvolk, Jeremiah Smith – an extraterrestrial healer – leads Fox to a huge bee farm tended by Samantha’s clones of various ages. As usual, at the crucial moment, the Pilot appears and wreaks death and destruction. X is exposed as a double agent and eliminated. Before he dies, however, he directs Mulder to another informant – this time it is a woman working at the UN, Marita Covarrubias. Tunguskai Terma could almost function as standalone episodes, in fact, they were even released separately on video. Krycek and Mulder travel to Tunguska, where the meteorite crashed, and are captured and imprisoned. Mulder becomes infected with the oily black muck. It turns out, however, that the Russians have developed a vaccine against “Black Cancer” and Mulder’s life is saved. Again. Krycek escapes Mulder’s thirst for revenge, but falls into the hands of the guerrillas, who cut off his arm up to the elbow.

Scully is worse off. In Memento Mori, her cancer is already very advanced. There seems to be no help for her. And if anyone knows how to save her, it’s the Smoker. Skinner conducts tiresome negotiations with him to save the agent’s life. He puts his entire career at risk, even obliterating evidence in the case of a mysterious death at Zero Sum. Help in finding a remedy is also offered by a certain Michael Kritschgau, an employee of the Department of Defense, who also wants to find a cure for his son, suffering from the Persian Gulf Syndrome. The same Kritschgau tells Mulder and Scully that all the knowledge they have gathered so far is one big pack of lies and that someone is skillfully manipulating them. The frozen alien corpse found in Gethsemane is also a big hoax, according to Kritschgau. At this point, it is completely unknown where to look for the truth.

The three-part opening for season five shows us Mulder on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He’s hallucinating, he’s out of control. He breaks into the Department of Defense, obtains a vial of Scully’s supposed cancer cure, but it turns out to be only water. It seems that all the evidence points to the UFO being nothing but a government hoax. Scully ends up in the hospital, she’s getting worse. And it is the Smoker who gives Mulder the cure – a microchip, the same as the implant she unwisely removed from the back of her neck. What’s more, the cure works as Scully’s condition unexpectedly improves. In Redux II, Kritschgau’s son dies. The smoker introduces Mulder to a woman who considers him her father and who would be the real Samantha, the prototype of all subsequent clones.

Finally, the Smoker is shot – we don’t know if he survived. The subject of human-Alien hybrids is far from over. In Christmas, Carol Scully receives a call… On the other end of the line, she hears the voice of her dead sister, Melissa, who begs Dana to look after a little girl named Emily. And in fact such a girl is found in the apartment from which the call was made. Based on the physical resemblance, Scully thinks she is dealing with her sister’s daughter. However, it soon turns out that this is a mistake – she herself is the girl’s mother. How is this possible?

The mystery is revealed in the next episode, Emily. The girl is a hybrid, perhaps it was the collection of cells that were used to combine with the alien genetic matter that caused Scully’s infertility. A wound appears on Emily’s neck, and a green substance oozes out of it. She cannot be saved and soon dies, which Scully is absolutely devastated. In Patient X, the topic of alien colonization plans for Earth and a government conspiracy to hide evidence returns again. Scully meets a woman who has been reportedly abducted multiple times. This is Cassandra Spender, the Smoker’s ex-wife, the first successful – that is, completely resistant to the black plague – human-Alien hybrid. People who admit to such experiences are eliminated – burned alive – by sinister faceless beings.

They are rebels opposing colonization plans. Cassandra is abducted again. The smoker turns out to be alive, and what’s more, thanks to the disclosure of his family status – the existence of an ex-wife and son, arrogant FBI agent Jeffrey Spender – we finally learn what his last name is. The End features twelve-year-old prodigy Gibson Prais, a boy who can read minds. He’s probably part alien. A valuable asset to the Syndicate, although at first he seemed only an inconvenient witness. Also in The End, which concludes the fifth season, the Burner sets Mulder’s office on fire and the X-Files are shut down once again.

And immediately afterwards it was restarted, but with a new personnel cast. Jeffrey Spender and Diane Fowley are at the helm in The Beginning. A rookie couple (well, let’s say Diane already has her X-Files experience) travel to a nuclear power plant where an alien responsible for the Phoenix killings is said to be hiding. Smoker wants to use Gibson Prais’ abilities to find the Alien. Mulder and Scully also go to the place, contrary to the prohibition of the authorities from above. In the end, everything ends in a fiasco, and in addition, Gibson seems to melt in the fog. And so, in pain and hardship, getting lost in successive pieces of a gigantic puzzle, we finally come to a two-part whole: Two Fathers and One Son, which finally explain what this government conspiracy is all about. Aliens whose essence materializes into a substance known to us as “Black Cancer” claim our planet. A group of top government officials, a Syndicate, Consortium or if you prefer Shadow People, cooperates with an alien civilization, hoping that their lives will be spared in return.

They agree to undertake a human-alien crossing experiment. To do this, they get a sample of extraterrestrial DNA – it’s the very embryo Scully stole at the Erlenmeyer Flask. In return, the Syndicate gave the aliens their family members. It is likely that extraterrestrials are conducting their own experiments on these people for the same purpose – to create hybrids. Some of the abductees returned, and sometimes were taken several times (like Cassandra or Max Fennig), others, like Mulder’s sister, never returned. It was Bill Mulder who proposed using alien DNA to create a vaccine against “Black Cancer”. The trial was partially successful – the vaccine works only if it is administered within the first four days. However, there is more than one alien race. In addition to the aggressors, there are also rebels who oppose the colonization plans. In One Son, a group of rebels steal the embryo and kill most of the Shadow People. Cassandra, who as the first successful hybrid is a key person for colonization purposes, is also probably dead.

So some questions have found their answers, but what next? In fact, where does this ownership that aliens claim our planet come from? Or is it because life on Earth was created by extraterrestrial interference? This seems to be indicated by items found in Africa in the episode Biogenesis, which ends the sixth season. This is the first part of a three-part mythological whole. At the end of the sixth season, Mulder shows symptoms of a strange disease that causes his brain to become hyperactive. In the seventh season, this theme is continued in Sixth Extinction, and then in Sixth Extinction – Amor Fati. Mulder makes a suicide attempt, he is tormented by strange visions, neither real nor imaginary. Scully investigates the remains of a space wreck found in Africa and the mysterious inscriptions on them. The running of the mythological thread in the seventh season disappointed the fans as a breakdown of the previous concept. Among the meanders of truth and falsehood, sometimes straying a bit from the path, we constantly circled around one topic: the alien colonization plans and the government conspiracy associated with them.

Meanwhile, after the suspension of the topic in One Son – when Cassandra is officially dead and placed under the guardianship of the rebels, and the Consortium is almost wiped out – suddenly there is nothing more to add. The topic of Aliens still appears, but in a completely changed context. Moreover, Chris Carter challenges several motives that until now seemed obvious. For example, the fate of Mulder’s sister – Closure presents us with a completely different version than the one that was an important element of the whole conspiracy-colonization theory. The somewhat surreal atmosphere of Amor Fati introduces a pathetic tone: Mulder at the crossroads has to choose between comfortable overlooking and the hard fate of a seeker of truth. But this truth is beginning to have a name. Mulder as the savior of the world?

And so the story comes full circle – we come to the end of the seventh season and we find ourselves again in Oregon, where it all began. In Requiem, Mulder disappears from the scene, voluntarily boarding a spaceship, witnessed by Skinner. Scully discovers that – against all laws of logic – she is pregnant. The smoker is murdered – or so it seems.

What have we learned in total over these seven seasons?

1. The aliens planned to colonize the Earth with a host of human-alien hybrids resistant to the “Black Cancer”. The project was code-named “Cleanliness Control”.

2. A group of people from the highest circles of power formed the Consortium, which began cooperation with the aliens to ensure their survival. It all started in Roswell in 1947/48, and the first scientists working on the project were Nazi scientists.

3. The aliens, through the Hunters, maintained control over the population of hybrids and their clones, reckoning with the possibility of rebellion.

4. The syndicate used a smoke screen to distract the public. One of its elements were unidentified flying objects appearing here and there.

5. However, the Syndicate also attempts to protect humanity from slavery, which would occur at the time of the invasion of the aggressor. This attempt is to create a vaccine that would make people immune to “Black Cancer”.

6. There are several alien races – we’ve met some of them, there are probably more of them. The first are humanoids, able to change their appearance, incredibly resistant and durable, they have green blood with poisonous properties – such as the Pilot. Similar to them, though not as hardy, are representatives of the race represented by Jeremiah Smith. Hybrids and clones of these also have green and poisonous blood, but do not have the ability to change their appearance. There are also classic Grays, more or less slender. The most aggressive variety of them are the hypothetical colonizers. The essence of their vitality is blood – a black substance endowed with intelligence that can take over the human body and control the mind of the host, leading him to extreme exhaustion. Under favorable conditions, infection may result in the transformation of a human into an Alien.

7. The creation of hybrids is done through continuous experimentation on abducted people. It’s hard to tell when a hybrid is successful and when it’s not. We also do not fully know what determines the selection and elimination of some of them. Perhaps a truly successful hybrid should be virtually indestructible, resistant to injuries and devoid of the so-called human feelings. Like the Super Soldiers we’ll meet in Seasons Eight and Nine. She should certainly be immune to the Black Cancer, but it wasn’t until Cassandra Spender did that.

8. Each kidnapped is implanted with an implant, the removal of which causes the rapid development of cancer. The role of the implant is not clear. Perhaps thanks to this, the unit can be tracked at any time.

9. The colonization of the Earth would have to involve the extermination of all representatives of the human race. For example, with the help of mutated bees – carriers of deadly diseases like smallpox. On the other hand, are aliens really immune to such smallpox? Probably the Syndicate was trying to find out.

For many The X-Files fans, the show ended with its seventh season. Mulder’s departure was a blow to the very idea of the Archive. Pregnant Scully is assigned a new partner – John Doggett, a former US Marine Corps soldier. Initially, he is only to deal with the search for Mulder, but his superiors, dissatisfied with his unconventional report, direct him to the X-Files as a punishment. Skeptical and cold, he is to be a counterbalance to Scully, who, for her part, takes over the current role of Mulder – she is the one who shows an open mind and comes up with unconventional solutions. The heart of the eighth season is the search for Mulder’s traces – Scully hopes to get him back. Mulder actually returns, like many others, being intercepted by what appears to be a cult group that is dedicated to healing survivors. Their leader, Jeremiah Smith, however, disappeared before he could help Mulder, who dies and is buried in a family grave in Raleigh.

However, Skinner, guided by the case of Billy Miles – who had the same experience as Mulder and began to show signs of life – orders the exhumation of the body, as it turns out – rightly so. Scully does everything possible and impossible to bring Mulder out of this half-death state before he undergoes a metamorphosis like the other “returned” and turns into an Alien. So, after Mulder’s messianic destiny was suggested to us in season seven, we have his resurrection on top of that in season eight. Returned to life, albeit ousted from the X-Files, Mulder throws himself into the search for evidence of a planned extraterrestrial invasion with renewed vigor.

The second leitmotif of x-files mythology in the eighth and ninth seasons is William – Scully’s son. There are hints in the series both of in-vitro fertilization (Mulder would then be the donor) and of an alleged romance between the pair of agents. Scully, however, was infertile after the kidnapping. The artificial insemination she underwent seemed to be a fiasco and is certainly not part of an experiment to create natural hybrids. Undoubtedly, however, this is an extraordinary child. Both the rebels and the members of the New Syndicate are very interested in him – an organization composed almost exclusively of a special type of hybrids, commonly known as Super Soldiers. The organization took over the role of the former Syndicate, after its dissolution in the seventh season, and is working towards the implementation of colonization plans.

For a time, William showed clear paranormal abilities, including telekinetic. He was also kidnapped by a sect of UFO cultists who believed that he should be protected as the future leader of a group of Super Soldiers. In “William”, a man with a horribly disfigured face appears out of nowhere and gives the boy a mysterious injection supposedly to save him from fulfilling the prophecy. The man turns out to be Jeffrey Spender, and the coincidence of his DNA with Mulder’s DNA seems to finally confirm who Fox’s real father was. Scully, realizing that she is unable to keep her son safe, gives him up for adoption.

While the eighth season revolved mainly around the Mulder plot, the ninth one delves into the super-soldier issue. It does so in such a muddled and convoluted way that it is completely unclear what it is all about. The X-Files are taken over by John Doggett and his partner Monica Reyes. Mulder, who disappears at the beginning of the ninth season so as not to endanger Scully and the baby, learns about the date of the planned colonization. And so – again in pain and hardship – we come to the end of the whole in the two-part finale of The Truth, where we laboriously collect a complete set of knowledge, sometimes consistent with what we have been told so far, and sometimes not. In Bluemont, Virginia, Mulder sneaks into a government building and begins an inspection. At one point, however, he is surprised by Knowle Rohrer – as we already know, a Super Soldier and member of the New Syndicate, practically indestructible.

Krycek’s ghost helps Mulder fight Rohrer. Dropped onto electrical cables, Rohrer appears to be dead, so Mulder is promptly arrested on murder charges. The trial that follows, and the testimonies of the defense witnesses, serve to recapitulate the entire history of the X-Files Great Mythology. Scully is the first to testify. From what he says, it appears that millions of years ago, via a meteor, a virus that transformed our ancestors into aliens got to Earth (why some infected actually transform, and others die of exhaustion – it is not known). After the ice age came, the virus was preserved. Since the virus is intelligent, it has contacted an extraterrestrial civilization. In 1947, a UFO crashed in Roswell. At that time, the American government learned of the alien colonization plans.

From the witness to Scully Spender, we learn that a Conspiracy has been formed, and that each of its members has given the aliens someone belonging to their family as collateral. Bill Mulder then sacrificed his daughter Samantha. After Spender is discredited by the prosecutor, Marita Covarrubias enters the witness box and talks about the Syndicate’s experiments to produce a vaccine for the black virus. He also talks about the Aliens – the rebels who destroyed the Syndicate and wiped out its members almost to the bone, and about the Syndicate’s successors – the Super Soldiers, that is, the aliens who look like humans who move the colonization plans forward.

Doggett testifies that the supposedly murdered Rohrer was just such a Super Soldier. Monica Reyes, on the other hand, recalls the circumstances of William’s birth and the fact that Scully was once kidnapped by the government for experimental breeding of human slaves. It follows that this is what hybrids were supposed to be – slaves in the service of aliens. Despite all these testimonies, Mulder is sentenced to death, but the cooperation of all his friends (even Kersh!) leads to his escape. He and Scully travel to New Mexico and there they find Smoker – almost completely eaten away by cancer. He hides in fear of those who are slowly coming to power – the Aliens. Zero hour will occur on December 22, 2012. And that’s the whole truth we’ve been looking for for so many years.

The eighth and ninth seasons, then, return to the slightly neglected government conspiracy and colonization plot – but they lack the spark. Some treatments are hard to understand. It is also difficult to keep up with the sense of the actions of the so-called. Supersoldiers and determine with absolute certainty what they really are – that is, what exactly is the difference between creating a hybrid and turning a human into an Alien. William’s plot is unclear. The prophecy supposedly points to him as the future leader of the Super Soldiers. However, it may turn out to be exactly the opposite – in the spirit of his father, Mulder, he will lead the rebels opposing the Invasion. What this would lead to is unknown. But somehow it has to be made clear that the New Syndicate is hunting William when they should rather be protecting him as their future leader. So we’re being told he’s hunting because Mulder couldn’t be killed. Rather far-fetched.

Also unclear is the question of turning people into hybrids by modifying their genetic combination, and what is the actual involvement of the government in creating Super Soldiers for military purposes (e.g. in the Persian Gulf). Generally, you can get lost, who wants to colonize us and how! The concept seems to be exhausted, there is little to come up with a new one. Too much pathos and big words in these final two seasons, and the characters are completely different from the ones we knew and liked. While the reflective episodes with Scully in the lead role were interesting as interludes, Scully constantly immersed in reflection, sluggish and devoid of energy, tearful and prone to hysteria is hardly digestible. Monica Reyes is no match for the old Scully and is a poor replacement. Dotting over and over Mulder and Scully’s emotional relationship didn’t do the show any good either. It was the climate of tension and understatement between them that was really intriguing and attractive. Like everything else, the mythology of the X-Files in the final two seasons turned into cliché and cliché. It’s a pity.

SUMMARY (WHERE POSSIBLE)

that is, an attempt to finally put the facts in order

1. On Earth, near Siberia, a meteorite crashes containing an organic life form, intelligent and able to take over the bodies of its carriers.

2. The alien life form known to us as the Black Cancer has been dormant since the Ice Age, waiting for the day of its liberation.

3. In the 1940s, as part of Operation Paperclip, Nazi scientists specializing in eugenics research are flown to the United States and engaged in a new project. This group also includes Victor Klemper, a pioneer in research into the connection of human and extraterrestrial DNA.

4. In 1945, a B-29 plane carrying an atomic bomb collides with a UFO. The American submarine Zeus Faber is looking for traces of a broken wreck. The crew suffers horrific burns, while the first mate is possessed by the Black Cancer and starts behaving strangely. Of the entire crew, only seven soldiers survived.

5. In 1947, a UFO crashes in the Roswell, New Mexico area. The government acquires samples of extraterrestrial DNA. In the same year, initial contact is made between the colonizers and the government. Also in 1947, the Majestic project is launched.

6. In the 1950s, Alvin Kurtzweil and Bill Mulder are involved in a secret government project. The first of them quickly resigned and devoted himself to making humanity aware of the threat of the coming Armageddon. The second remained faithful to the project for many years, despite numerous ethical doubts.

7. Information about the Soviet experiments on eugenics encourage American scientists who manage to clone two people: a man and a woman. The male clones are named Adam and the female clones are named Eve. Over time, it turned out that the clones are imperfect: they have outstanding intelligence, but also strong suicidal and murderous instincts.

8. In 1953, the Majestic cell begins flight tests of aircraft based on UFO technology, probably acquired in Roswell.

9. Around the same time, the Russian “Gregor” human cloning project ends successfully.

10. Takeo Ishimaru, one of the Japanese scientists involved in the Paperclip Project, under a changed name, continues research into the possible connection of human and alien DNA. People subjected to his experiments suffer extensive burns, which may be the result of exposure to UFO radiation.

11. 1973 – cooperation is established between the members of the Project and an alien civilization. The actual Consortium is formed, which gains knowledge of the plans to colonize Earth and agrees to conduct research into creating a human/Alien hybrid that would be immune to Black Cancer. This approval was an attempt to gain time so that an effective vaccine could be prepared. Bill Mulder suggests using alien-provided DNA to develop it. As collateral for cooperation, each member of the Consortium gives the Aliens a member of their family. All are to be returned when colonization begins, and each is to eventually become a hybrid. It is unknown why the aliens made such a deal. The created hybrids would prepare the ground for colonization and in the future become slaves working for the Aliens.

12. Samantha Mulder and Cassandra Spender are abducted. Both then go through a series of experiments, tests, and research to make them hybrids. After hybridization, Samantha is cloned.

13. A meteorite containing an extraterrestrial organism later named “Black Cancer” crashes in Tunguska. The Russians are conducting research on obtaining a possible vaccine, which was partially successful.

Research into the creation of a human-Alien hybrid leads to the creation of such, but still not entirely immune to the Black Cancer. The first hybrid to show complete resistance is Cassandra Spender, which the Consortium tries hard to hide from the colonizers.

14. The experiments involve the abduction of people from whom genetic material is taken. The abduction takes place in cooperation with the Aliens and the Consortium.

15. There are few original hybrids, most of them are clones.

16. In relation to the alien colonization plans, a rebellion of other aliens is developing, who stand in the way of the experiments, preventing mass abductions.

17. When rogue aliens bring about the destruction of the Consortium, the hybrid development comes to a standstill, forcing the colonizers to come up with an alternative plan that is in no way dependent on human cooperation.

18. This alternative is the formation of the New Syndicate, formed by replicants otherwise known as Super Soldiers, virtually indestructible. The replicants infiltrate the government, military and security agencies to ensure the progress of colonization plans.

19. The transformation of a human into a replicant takes place in several stages: first, he is abducted and subjected to painful tests. Then – subjected to the Black Cancer. He is then returned in a half-life, half-death state, and after the appropriate amount of time has passed, he transforms into a Super Soldier.

20. An element of the Super Soldiers program is also the artificial insemination of selected women by taking eggs from their bodies, inserting extraterrestrial DNA into them and re-implanting them.

21. Scully became pregnant using an egg that had been harvested from her body and manipulated to become a Super Soldier if fertilized. Actually, by chance, it was this cell that was used during the insemination. Although at first it seemed that the attempt failed, after some time it turns out that it was successful (due to the presence of extraterrestrial DNA in the cell, the fertilization effect is delayed).

22. Thus, William is born a child prodigy whom the replicants see as their spiritual guru and future savior. There is one condition: he cannot be raised by Mulder, so Mulder must die. And if Mulder can’t be killed, William must die.

23. William is the first Super Soldier born without deliberate experimentation, naturally. His birth is surprising and accidental. In particular, because Scully was part of the research from the previous stage of colonization – the creation of hybrids – and other women who will become mothers of Super Soldiers are already part of a new special experimental program.

24. The injection of the only agent capable of defeating the Supersoldier’s genes, given to William by Spender, deprives him of his extraordinary properties. William is now a normal child.

25. The success of the experiment to create the Super Soldiers heralds the timely start of colonization: December 22, 2012. On this date, the Mayan calendar ends, and members of the Red Museum sect define it as the beginning of the New Age.

26. We still believe there is hope for humanity…

… 2012 has come and gone and somehow humanity is still functioning. Have colonization plans gone awry? The tenth season of The X-Files completely changes the approach to existing mythology and creates the outline of a new one. According to all the writers of the series, the theme of the Syndicate and colonization has been exploited in one hundred percent (maybe even in two hundred, eating its own tail and contradicting itself at the end). The time has come for changes and a fresh concept. Already in the first episode of the season, My Struggle, Mulder comes to the conclusion that the whole big colonization truth was a double-bottomed drink to divert everyone’s attention from the point of things. During a meeting with a woman named Sveta, the agents learn that they have been led by the nose for years. Yes, there is a conspiracy – but people from the highest circles of power are responsible for it. Using extraterrestrial technology and experimenting on living victims under the guise of alleged abductions, they plan an attack on the United States, which will be the first stage of taking over the world.

The implantation of extraterrestrial DNA, for example under the guise of vaccinations or blood donations, is supposed to enable the conspirators (Mulder calls them fascists) to manipulate society as needed. They can be exterminated at any time by a deadly virus, but they can also be genetically modified in such a way as to be immune to it, and additionally show extraordinary abilities useful to the conspirators. It all depends on the genetic combination used. The smoker seems to have a lot of knowledge about this, which Monica Reyes tries to use, agreeing in return to the humiliating role of the caretaker of the indestructible Spender. The messianic theme also returns, with not only William, but also Scully at the center this time. What’s next? Could the season finale suggest that help will come from the least expected direction? Could the aliens, instead of colonizing the Earth, want to protect humanity, and if so, how will they do it?

The fact that the tenth season is so short did not do the show any good. Little time, many threads and an attempt to cram them into two episodes – it could not end well. The concept seems chaotic, not fully thought out and far-fetched. In terms of mythology, the return of The X-Files failed miserably. The eleventh season, according to the announcement, will focus on investigative episodes and will be a proper rebirth. Premiere – January 3, 2018.

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Quotes

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As you know, the heart of the entire X-Files universe is the relationship between Mulder, who is constantly looking for alternative solutions, and the sensible and scientifically approached Dana Scully. Her succinct summaries of Mulder’s theories are an art in themselves.

Here is a small overview of Mulder’s ideas as seen through his partner’s eyes:

“You missed your chance for a grand entrance, Mulder. You could have crushed him

and even tell him who the wanted murderer is, this, um… Jersey Devil”

(1/04, Jersey Devil)

“Let’s say a miracle happens, you convince Michelle’s mother and under hypnosis

you will get confirmation that the little one is the reincarnation of Charlie Morris.

Can you tell me what court would consider something like that as evidence in a case?”

(1/21, Born Again)

“Mulder, mushrooms are not medicine. They taste good in hamburgers,

but they will not raise anyone from the dead!” (2/11, Excelsius Dei)

“Influencing someone to buy hair dye is a little different,

than to get him to drive straight into a speeding truck” (3/17, Pusher)

“You’ll end up just like him. Listening only to yourself,

in hopes of catching a glimpse of truth, devil knows what for” (3/22, Quagmire)

“Mulder, I can finally agree that this woman practiced some form

black magic. But to return something, you have to swallow it first!” (4/06, Sanguinarium)

“You’re not implying that a decapitated body walked out of the morgue on its own…

are you implying?” (4/14, Leonard Betts)

“You say I hit him twice (…) and then he jumped on me

like a flying squirrel?” (5/12, Bad Blood)

“Okay, I admit it – I’m scared. But it’s not rational!”

(6/08, How the Ghosts Stole Christmas)

“Mulder, I don’t even know what to say to that. People don’t live forever!” (6/09, Tithonus)

“What he meant was that when he heard stories about sea monsters

I do not automatically recognize them as God’s revealed truth” (6/14, Agua Mala)

“Mulder, couldn’t you for once… just to see what it’s like… take the simplest

and the most logical solution, instead of immediately thinking about UFOs, Big Feet and such…?”

(6/21, Field Trip)

“Mulder, instead of blaming the ghosts right away, maybe at least initially

should we just ask his buddies?” (7/06, Rush)

“Humans can’t rise from the dead, Mulder. These ghost and zombie stories are just a manifestation

our repressed cannibalistic and sexual fears and desires” (7/18, Hollywood A.D.)

(about Mulder) “Yeah, I can guess what he’ll say. He’ll say you’re some kind of genie

from One Thousand and One Nights or something like that and that you grant people’s wishes” (7/21, Je Souhaite)

and:

(after giving a long and complicated scientific argument, seeing Mulder’s face)

“Okay. What’s your theory?” (1-7, at least a dozen times on different occasions)

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Season 1

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PILOT

Mythological episode – click to read

1. DEEP THROAT

Mythological episode – click to read

2. SQUEEZE

The X-Files agents pursue Eugene Tooms, a mutant killer with the ability to squeeze himself into the smallest and narrowest crevices, and who wakes up from hibernation once every thirty years to taste human liver. Doug Hutchinson, who plays Tooms, is actually a vegetarian. As thanks for his cooperation, he sent Chris Carter a frozen veal liver.

3. CONDUIT

Ruby Morris, the daughter of a woman who reported a UFO sighting in 1967, disappears from the campsite where she was sleeping with her little brother. The brother, on the other hand, begins obsessively typing out long sequences of binary numbers that, viewed from above, form a portrait of a missing girl. When Ruby is found, her physical condition indicates that she has been in weightlessness for a long time. However, her mother does not wish the investigation to continue.

4. JERSEY DEVIL

The brutal killings of people whose bodies were found half-eaten are attributed to a dangerous animal by the police. Mulder, however, suggests that it may be the work of the legendary Jersey Devil. The beast is located and killed, it turns out to be a woman – possibly miraculously surviving the missing evolutionary link.

5. SHADOWS

Lauren Kyte is recovering from the suicide of her boss and friend Howard Graves. As she leaves the office and walks down a dark street, she is ambushed by two men. However, an invisible force stands in her defense. It soon turns out that Graves did not commit suicide, but was murdered, and his accomplice Dorland is to blame. Anyone who threatens Lauren dies a miserable death. Is it Graves who looks after the subordinate who reminded him so much of his dead daughter from beyond the grave?

6. GHOST IN THE MACHINE

At the enterprise “Eurisko” work is being carried out on the creation of artificial intelligence – a computer with the ability to learn. When the project manager orders its termination, people start to die. The computer kills to defend itself.

7.ICE

Episode inspired by John Carpenter’s famous The Thing. The action takes place in Alaska, where Mulder and Scully, along with a group of scientists, are trapped in the Arctic. Contact with an unknown organism, so far resting under a layer of ice, brings a deadly threat to everyone. The larva hatches in the host’s brain, causing an uncontrollable increase in aggressive behavior. It is not known who in the group has been infected, and due to the storm, outside help cannot be called…

8. SPACE

The idea of making an episode based on the myth of the “face from Mars” came to Chris Carter in a hotel room. He imagined how he’d feel if that face suddenly descended on him from the ceiling. In Space, this is the visualization of a mysterious force sabotaging the space program. This force guides the actions of a man who has been plagued by terrifying hallucinations since his journey into space. Could he have been possessed by something he encountered in extraterrestrial space?

9. FALLEN ANGEL

Mythological episode – click to read

10. EVE

Mythological episode – click to read

11. FIRE

In this episode, we learn that Mulder even had a private life in the old days. We meet his college girlfriend, Phoebe Green. Phoebe is protecting an English lord on vacation in America. She is concerned because several Members of Parliament have just been murdered. They burned alive, so Mulder suspects that a pyrokinetic – a man with the ability to set fire from a distance – may be the culprit.

12. BEYOND THE SEA

Scully’s father dies of a heart attack. Moments before his death, he visits his daughter in a dream. Luther Lee Boggs, a serial killer sentenced to the electric chair, claims that his clairvoyant powers may be helpful in locating two kidnapped teenagers. Mulder is skeptical and thinks Boggs is just trying to gain a few more days of life. However, Scully does not share her partner’s doubts – Boggs seems to know too much about her past and promises to give her a message from her late father.

13. GENDER BENDER

The corpses of young, healthy people who died of a massive heart attack, probably during orgasm, are found in hotel rooms. The autopsy showed the presence of a huge amount of pheromones, a substance that causes uncontrollable desire, in all of them. Security tapes recorded that although a woman entered the room of one of the victims, a man came out. Mulder suspects the killer is a “walking aphrodisiac”. The trail leads to the “Family” sect that lives in seclusion and cuts itself off from the achievements of civilization. This episode stars Nicholas Lea as the would-be victim, who later returned to the series as Alex Krycek.

14. LAZARUS

During a shootout at a bank, attacker Warren Dupree and Scully’s ex-boyfriend Jack Willis are shot. Jack comes back to life after a long resuscitation. But is it really him?

15. YOUNG AT HEART

Reggie Purdue, Mulder’s former boss, calls him to a jewelry store where a theft has taken place. A note left on the spot mentioning a “fox” is a clear signal pointing to John Barnett, a criminal whom Mulder once put in prison. However, according to prison records, Barnett has been dead for four years. Dr. Ridley, who signed the death certificate, was disbarred for experimenting to reverse the aging process. Now he admits that Barnett is his last living patient, in addition to having stolen priceless medical records from the doctor, which may be the key to the secret of longevity.

16. E.B.E.

Mythological episode – click to read

17. MIRACLE MAN

A young boy lays hands on the terminally ill during special meetings at the evangelical Church of Miracles. Unfortunately, some of them die soon after. While neither Scully nor Mulder believes the boy to be a murderer, Mulder believes his gift has been corrupted and wants to voluntarily submit to punishment. Is Samuel just a clever trickster or a true miracle worker who has been favored by God? If he’s not the murderer, then who cares to discredit and destroy him?

18. SHAPES

On the Browning Indian Reservation, a father and son are attacked by a wolf-like beast. They kill it, but on closer inspection they find that it is not a beast, but a man. The younger Indian, Lyle Parker, is injured. In the course of the investigation, Mulder mentions the legend of Indians who could transform into wolves. Meanwhile, an elderly Parker is found torn apart.

19. DARKNESS FALLS

Something is attacking lumberjacks in Olympia National Forest Park. The forest guard believes that it is the work of eco-terrorists, until the body of one of the lumberjacks is found – wrapped in a white cocoon and deprived of body fluids. One eco-terrorist claims that the felling of centuries-old trees released ancient mites trapped in their trunks, which “woke up hungry”.

20. TOOMS

The second part of Squeeze. Tooms, a serial killer who wakes up from hibernation every thirty years and kills five people to devour their livers, is in a sanatorium for the mentally ill. A special commission interrogates him and concludes that he has been cured and can return to the bosom of society. In vain, Mulder tries to convince the respected scientists that Tooms will not give up killing because it is his life’s need. This is the first episode in which Vice Principal Skinner appears, and the enigmatic Smoker uses his vocal cords for the first time (“Of course I believe”).

21. BORN AGAIN

A little girl named Michelle ends up in the Buffalo Police Department after being found wandering around the city. The girl is interrogated by Inspector Barbala. Moments later, he is thrown out of the window with great force. Michelle describes the perpetrator as a young man with a mustache, and the sketch created from her testimony matches that of Charlie Morris, a police officer who was murdered nine years earlier, allegedly by Chinatown mobsters. Could Charlie have returned from the dead to punish the real culprits?

22. ROLAND

Scientists involved in the work on the construction of the latest generation engine are dying. Each time, a retarded servant, Roland, is mysteriously involved in their deaths. It turns out that Arthur Grable, the head of the project who died in a car accident, is Roland’s twin brother. Mulder believes that the cryogenic process – Arthur’s head is frozen in liquid nitrogen – has strengthened the natural psychic bond between the brothers and that Grable is manipulating Roland into committing murders.

23. THE ERLENMEYER MASK

Tagline: Trust No One

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 2

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1. LITTLE GREEN MEN

Mythological episode – click to read

2. THE HOST

A Russian sailor is sucked into the ship’s sewage system. Inside his body, Scully finds a large flatworm. Soon after, an employee of the city’s cleaning services becomes the target of the attack. A survey of a sewage treatment plant leads to the capture of a creature that looks like a large humanoid leech/fluke/liver fluke. During transport, the monster escapes. Mulder wants to get the creature before it makes its way through the sewers to the sea. Eventually, they manage to stop them. Scully suggests that this mutant creature was born in radioactive sewage – the tanker the first victim served on was disposing of Chernobyl waste. The last scenes suggest that the monster, although dismembered, managed to survive. Darin Morgan, who played the role of Leechman, later became a writer for The X-Files – and a very, very talented one at that. He wrote the screenplays for Humbug and Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose, among others. He also returned in the tenth season with the best of six episodes: Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster.

3. BLOOD

Decent citizens go on a killing spree when the screens of seemingly innocent electrical devices start flashing bloody “kill them all” messages. Mulder suspects that the insecticides used in the area to dust the crops may have side effects: all perpetrators are found to have an unusual overproduction of adrenaline; and they all suffered from obsessive fears and phobias, which the messages on the screens uncontrollably reinforced. Is someone trying to cover up more experiments on unsuspecting citizens, or is it just a regrettable accident?

4. SLEEPLESS

While Agent Scully is away, Mulder is assigned a new partner: Alex Krycek. He seems to be fascinated by Mulder and eager to both learn and explore the “truth”. Fox is not happy with the company and shuns Krycek as much as he can, but to no avail. Together, they investigate the mysterious deaths of veterans of the Vietnam War. They all fell victim to something that was only happening in their imagination or was strongly suggested to them, defying all the rules of logic, leaving physical effects despite the absence of a physical event. Mulder discovers that the victim, who died of burns from a non-existent fire, was responsible for the project to create the “perfect soldier” – by cutting the right connections in the brain, the participants of the experiment were completely deprived of the need for sleep.

Has anyone decided to settle accounts after years? Only one name stands out from the list of surviving soldiers. Has “Preacher” – “Preacher” – decided to prove to his colleagues and superiors that they will not be spared the judgment for their sins? Unfortunately, Krycek turns out to be a plug in the “shadow people”. At the end of the episode, he gives the Stoker the investigation report he stole from Mulder. All the witnesses are dead, the evidence is gone – another case has been covered up…

5. DUANE BARRY

Mythological episode – click to read

6. ASCENSION

Tagline: Deny Everything

Mythological episode – click to read

7.3

In the absence of the abducted Scully, Mulder investigates six murders whose victims have been drained of blood. One of the suspects named John is captured. Thinking that, convinced that he is a vampire, the prisoner afraid of the sun will start talking, Mulder puts him in an open cell. However, the first rays of the sun cause John to suffer fatal burns. Inspired by a tattoo on a suspect’s arm, Mulder ends up in an eccentric club where he meets an attractive girl named Kristen. Are we dealing with a blood cult cult, or are we talking about real cases of vampirism? In episode 3, there are a lot of references to both Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Francis Ford Coppola’s film based on it.

8. ONE BREATH

Mythological episode – click to read

9. FIREWALKER

A group of volcanologists conducting research using a robot called Firewalker sends a distress signal. One of their crew members was murdered. When Scully and Mulder arrive, they notice a great deal of nervousness among the crew. Everyone is afraid of Daniel Trepkos, the head of the expedition, who, as they say, has gone mad. Trepkos’ notes suggest that he discovered an unknown silicon-based life form by analyzing samples that Firewalker extracted from the volcano.

10. RED MUSEUM

In Delta Glen, Wisconsin, a teenager disappears and is found dead with “He is One” written on his back. The local police focus their suspicions on members of the Red Museum sect. But from an old man on a nearby farm, Mulder and Scully learn that the genetically engineered growth hormone injected into cows is not as innocent as the government claims. Eating the meat of these cows is supposed to increase bad instincts in people. Further investigation reveals that all abductees were administered vitamin injections with alien DNA. Someone is trying to cover up the traces of the experiment being conducted.

11. EXCELSIUS DEI

A nurse at the Excelsius Dei Nursing Home for the Elderly is attacked and raped by a disembodied entity. Of course, no one wants to believe her stories, especially since she blames one of the more elderly and infirm patients of the facility. She claims to have recognized his smell and touch. During the investigation, it turns out that the patients treated at the center, suffering from Alzheimer’s, show remarkable progress. Is it the result of conventional therapy, or is it the merit of a Malaysian paramedic who gives patients mysterious pills based on dried mushrooms? The paramedic admits to unofficial methods, but adds something else: the deceased patients who suffered in this hospital during their lifetime do not want to leave it … and seek revenge. Eventually, the Asian is deported, the disembodied beings disappear, and the patients, subjected to conventional treatment, succumb to the disease again.

12. AUBREY

The theme of the episode is genetic memory. Aubrey’s local homicide cop, B.J., has an affair with her married boss and becomes pregnant by him. They arrange to meet at the hotel, but arriving at B.J. she falls into a strange trance and has a vision that leads her to the location of the corpse, buried there forty years earlier. The corpse belongs to a police officer who once investigated a serial killer who carved the word “sister” into his victims’ chests. Someone has taken up the work of a killer from years ago: more murders are committed in the same way. Is it possible that the decrepit old man, who is now a former murderer, can start his work anew? Or is the key to the only person who survived his attack – an aged lady who for years hid the truth about the birth of a child – the fruit of rape? Can murderous tendencies manifest themselves in the genes and reveal themselves in the next generation?

13. IRRESISTIBLE

Morgue worker Donnie Pfaster is surprised by his boss as he cuts a dead woman’s hair. Mulder and Scully are called in to inspect a desecrated grave. Mulder speculates that the perpetrator’s fetishism for the hair and nails of the dead will eventually drive him to murder. A prostitute is soon murdered. A suspect emerges and the police arrest him, but Mulder has doubts about the right man. However, he does not know that the wanted murderer is in a cell opposite the wrongly arrested. Detained for soliciting a friend from the course, Pfaster is soon released, but he already knows Scully’s name and, obsessed with the agent’s beautiful red hair, sets a trap for her.

14. DIE HAND DIE VERLETZ

“Die Hand Die Verletz” loosely translates to “his is the hand that hurts”. This is the phrase spoken in the episode’s prologue by the teachers during an occult ceremony. Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a teenager found in the woods near what is believed to be a satanic altar in the city. The boy’s eyes and heart had been ripped out. Our agents aren’t too keen on the concept of ritual murder, though. The testimony of a girl who accompanied the victim that night with two other teenagers only complicates the matter. Was she really a victim of her stepfather’s satanic practices, or was she subjected to homemade hypnosis? And how did the strange teacher in town come to replace the sick biology teacher? Is this really the incarnation of the Evil One who decided to punish his followers for nonchalance? The inscription on the board at the end of the episode (“goodbye – it was nice working with you”), a perverse message for Mulder and Scully, is also a symbolic farewell to the screenwriters – Glen Morgan and James Wong – from the X-Files team. After this episode, they temporarily took up another project Fox studios. The idea for Die Hand Die Verletz began with a vision of a snake devouring a man.

15. FRESH BONES

In a Haitian refugee camp, mysterious deaths occur among the soldiers serving there. One of them crashed with the car against a tree. Although the command maintains that it was a suicide, Mulder shares the belief of the dead soldier’s wife, who suspects a voodoo curse. Was someone turning these soldiers into the living dead?

16. COLONS

Mythological episode – click to read

17. END GAME

Mythological episode – click to read

18. FEARFUL SYMMETRIES

Animals disappear from a zoo in Fairfield, Idaho, only to reappear in a completely different place. As it turns out, all the females are pregnant, although they have not been mated before. Based on what the sign-language gorilla Sophie, who is “afraid of the light”, signals, Mulder constructs a theory. He believes that animals are abducted by aliens who artificially inseminate them and then take the fetus. Does an extraterrestrial civilization relieve us of a duty that we are unable to meet – to protect animals from extinction and extinction? The title Fearful Symmetry is taken from William Blake’s poem The Tiger.

19. ADD KALM

The crew of a US Navy destroyer leaves the ship and is found in a lifeboat eighteen hours later. The soldiers, although metrically in their twenties, look several times older. Mulder suggests that there may be a so-called “time ripple” at this point on the globe. The ship is so corroded as if it had been rusting for many years. It soon becomes apparent that our agents are far from immune to rapid aging.

20. HUMBUG

One of the truly pearly episodes in the history of the series. In a circus town, a retired artist dies in an unusual way. Footprints resembling monkey footprints were found near the body. Mulder’s first association is with the legendary Fijian Mermaid. There are a lot of original types around, among which stand out Conudrum – the Omnivorous Freak, Nutt, the midget agent, and Lanny, from whose side grows a twin brother. Even the sheriff used to perform in the circus as Jim Dogface. Suspicion falls on Dr. Blockhead when a nail belonging to his professional equipment is found in the hand of one of the victims. But is he really the murderer?

21. THE CAUSARI

The term Calusari is used to describe the elders in Romanian communities, experts in tradition and traditional rituals. The episode begins with a family staying at an amusement park. Father, mother and two children, younger only two years old. The two-year-old drops the balloon from his hand, which annoys the slightly older one, claiming ownership of the balloon. A moment later, a tragedy occurs: little Tommy not only freed himself from the protective harness, but also followed the balloon moving against all the rules of physics and went onto the tracks, where he died under the wheels of the train. In the photo of the accident, you can see a concentration of energy near the boy. Was it an accident or a sophisticated murder? Scully suspects that the children in this family may be victims of the practices of a person suffering from Munchhausen’s syndrome. The boys’ grandmother, a superstitious Romanian woman, seems especially suspicious to her, repeating strange sentences about being possessed by the devil and consulting Calusari behind the back of the lady of the house. However, Mulder claims that the older boy, Charlie, is at the center of everything. What force is causing misery in this family, and could Charlie’s twin brother, who died at birth, have something to do with it?

Fox censors had a big problem with this episode, due to the death of a small child shown in the prologue and the generally gloomy atmosphere. Chris Carter eventually had to make some compromises, including the scene where Charlie’s father died, forgoing a close-up of his face. The Calusari was inspired by The Omen and The Exorcist. The phrase spoken by Michael over his dying grandmother means “too late – you can’t stop us now”.

22. F. EMASCULATA

Extremely disgusting episode. A disease spreading at the speed of a plague causes the deaths of ten prisoners in Virginia. On the body of the infected, rapidly swelling ulcers appear, which, bursting, gush out a pus-like substance. Anyone who comes in contact with it becomes infected. Meanwhile, two prisoners escape, threatening to spread the epidemic outside. Scully discovers that someone may have deliberately started a plague in Cumberland.

23. SOFT LIGHT

Nuclear physicist Dr. Banton was conducting experiments with dark matter and during one of them he was trapped in a particle accelerator. From now on, he can only stay in diffuse light, as his shadow has become something like a black hole and is a deadly threat to anyone who gets close to Banton. In the role of Banton – Tony Shalhoub.

24. OUR TOWN

Federal Inspector George Kearns investigates alleged hygiene deficiencies at the Chaco Chicken facility in Arkansas. It soon disappears without a trace. The wife suspects that her fidelity-prone husband is going crazy somewhere with the latest pick-up. Soon, however, one of the plant’s employees and the granddaughter of Chaco Chickens owner, Paula, has a strange attack on the assembly line. He threatens the headmaster with a knife and takes him hostage. The sheriff fires a shot at her, which turns out to be fatal. The woman’s autopsy brings surprising results. Not only did she look incredibly young for her age, but she also suffered from Kreutzfeuldt-Jacob Syndrome, an extremely rare condition that Kearns also happened to have. Mulder suspects that ritual cannibalism is practiced in the town.

25. ANASAZI

Tagline: éí ‘aaníígÓÓ ‘áhoot’é (The Truth is Far from Here)

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 3

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1. THE BLESSING AWAY

Mythological episode – click to read

2. PAPER-CLIP

Mythological episode – click to read

3. D.P.O.

A young boy from a small town has an extraordinary skill – he can attract lightning. He uses them to deal with anyone who steps on his toes. This ability gives him a sense of power and the awareness of superiority over everyone. It is a distinguishing factor and makes the title D.P.O. ceases to be a gray, average loser. However, even the power to wield thunder does not give him what he wants most – the attention of his boss’s wife teacher. In fact, even Zeus the Stormcloak had to resort to stratagems to seduce the women he chose… The great Giovanni Ribisi played the title role, and Jack Black played the role of his best friend.

4. CLYDE BRUCKMAN’S FINAL REPOSE

If I had to choose one favorite among all the X-Files episodes, my choice would be this one. And not because of the strictly plot layer, which does not differ from typical solutions in this series, but because of the reflections that this episode brings with it. The main character is Clyde Bruckman – a modest insurance agent, endowed with an extraordinary ability to examine the circumstances of someone’s death. He accidentally gets entangled in Scully and Mulder’s murder case of fortune tellers and tarot readers. What, in fact, is human free will if the circumstances of our lives are foreseeable in advance, and therefore predetermined? If we are given a glimpse into the future, is our only choice to interpret – do we think that we will die or how much happiness we had before? If Clyde Bruckman knew how he was going to die, how conscious was his choice? Did he have any choice at all? Coin toss or blind luck, chance or destiny – do they really guide our lives, or do we only sometimes have this impression? Or do they only drive if we let them? Since everything happens for a reason – somewhere this chain of causes must have its beginning – or its end. More about this episode – click to read.

5. THE LIST

Moments before execution, the convict in the electric chair announces that he will return from beyond the grave to wreak bloody vengeance in a fiery anger on all those who had a connection with his conviction. And it could be considered the delusions of a madman, were it not for the fact that the prophecy is beginning to come true.

6. TOO SHY

Women suffering from their fatness and looking for love via the Internet find an interlocutor who seems to fulfill their dream of an ideal man. He seems to be a shy, calm and affectionate individual who accepts them for who they are, including their overweight. Unfortunately, the online heart hunter is by no means a prince charming, but a serial killer who needs to survive what used to make poor women complex – their extensive adipose tissue.

7. THE WALK

High-ranking officers – war veterans from Korea – are haunted by bad luck. They describe encounters with a spectral soldier who apparently has one goal – to take revenge by taking everything they love from his victims, and not let them die, lest they manage to free themselves from this nightmare. Why does one of the soldiers staying at the veterans’ care facility stubbornly refuse to undergo any treatment and refuses to put on prosthetics in place of amputated arms and legs? Mulder suspects that this crippled man may have acquired the ability to leave his own body.

8. OUBLIETTE

The word “oubliette” comes from the French “oublier” meaning to forget. The word itself is also a term for a dungeon or bunker that can only be accessed from above. When a young girl is abducted from her home by a psychopath obsessed with her, miles away, fast-food worker Lucy Householder collapses to the ground in a faint. He has a severe nosebleed and mumbles the words “no one will destroy us”. It turns out that the woman herself was once a victim of kidnapping and for years her torturer imprisoned her in the basement. Scully suspects that the woman was involved in the kidnapping, but Mulder’s theory is different – he believes that Lucy has a strange psychic connection with the abducted girl, that she can experience her emotions and may be the only person who will lead the agents to the kidnapper. However, Lucy does not want to cooperate with the FBI – the memories are too painful for her and she wants to finally forget about her experiences.

9. NISEI

Mythological episode – click to read

10.731

Tagline: Apology Is Policy

Mythological episode – click to read

11. REVELATIONS

There is a series of murders of preachers who, during sermons, kidnapped the faithful with both inspired words and stigmata appearing on their hands. All of these instances of alleged blessing turn out to be forgeries. However, the little boy Kevin, whose hands also showed the wounds of the crucified Christ, is by no means a fraud. Maybe he is the one marked? Agents Mulder and Scully take it upon themselves to protect a boy from a mysterious maniac killer. For Scully, this is an opportunity to come to terms with her own faith and reflect on what religion really means to her. Did some higher power actually assign an agent to protect Kevin? Are we really dealing with manifestations of holiness and damnation, or are they just manifestations of religious mania? The demonic figure of the “respectable man” who will come to “bring the doom” bears the name of Gates. This is a clear allusion to the conspiracy theory that sees Billy Gates as the incarnation of the new Antichrist.

12. WAR OF THE COPROPHAGES

Mulder investigates wave deaths in a small town. All the corpses were covered with an abundance of cockroaches. While Washington-based Scully has a scientific explanation for each case, Mulder – looking closely at the case and in the pleasant company of entomologist Dr. Bambi Berenbaum – believes that the insects may be of extraterrestrial origin.

13. SYZYGY

From the Latin “syzygia” – conjunction, connection. A series of strange deaths occur among young people in a small town. Mulder and Scully are tasked with investigating whether this has anything to do with Satan worship. It turns out, however, that not Satanists, but cosmic energy are behind the events in the town. The extremely rare conjunction of Mercury, Mars and Uranus triggers strange instincts in everyone, and it centers precisely on two teenagers born on the same day in 1979 with an extremely biting opposition of Jupiter and Uranus in the horoscope.

14. GROTESQUE

A very dark episode showing the danger of staring into the eye of madness. After a long and exhausting investigation, Mulder’s former supervisor from the Quantico days has finally caught the culprit in a series of extremely brutal murders of young men. However, the nightmare is not over yet – someone is continuing the murderer’s work. Mulder undertakes to solve the mystery, coming face to face with the darkest demons inhabiting the human mind.

15. PIPER MARU

Mythological episode – click to read

16. APOCRYPHA

Mythological episode – click to read

17. PUSHER

Robert Moddell, who openly admits to having committed more than a dozen contract murders, inexplicably manipulates the people around him, persuading them to do things they don’t want to do. An analysis of Moddell’s medical records reveals that he is suffering from a brain tumor and is, according to Scully, practically dying. Because he knows this, he is a formidable opponent – he has nothing to lose. He soon draws Mulder into a dangerous game.

18. TESO DOS BICHOS

An urn with the ashes of the legendary shaman Amaru is discovered during an excavation in Ecuador. Despite the opposition of the local community, which considers disturbing the peace of the deceased to be unacceptable, the urn ends up in the museum. Soon, people who had contact with Amaru’s remains begin to die.

19. HELL MONEY

“Devil’s money” given by the Chinese to demons, according to local beliefs, are supposed to appease the spirits and provide peace to the living. The episode deals with an investigation in Chinatown where people with a mysterious commonality are dying – everyone is missing an organ. It turns out, however, that there is more to the case than just the “ordinary” trade in organs on the black market. Driven to the extreme, people take part in a terrifying lottery in which their own lives and health are at stake. One of them is Hsin, ready to risk everything to enable the treatment of his seriously ill daughter. One of the roles was played by the then virtually unknown Lucy Liu (as Lucy Alexis Liu).

20. JOSE CHUNG’S “FROM OUTER SPACE”

An excellent and incredibly funny episode that is equal parts self-parody, mockery and perversely cynical analysis of the phenomena that underlie the premise of the series – UFOs, abductions and a government conspiracy to hide evidence of extraterrestrial life. Popular writer Jose Chung plans to write a book about the UFO phenomenon at the request of publishers. To this end, he discusses with an admirer of his work – agent Dana Scully – the details of a recent investigation into the alleged abduction of two teenagers by aliens. This episode is a satire of everything: abduction accounts, conspiracy-obsessed maniacs, New Age, misinterpretation of the truth and government manipulation.

21. AVATAR

Vice Principal Skinner finds himself in a lot of trouble. A chance encounter with a woman he met in a bar ends up being charged with murder. Mulder and Scully seek to clear their superior’s name, and learn a great deal about Skinner’s private life while pondering jealous demons and trouble sleeping. The basic conclusion, however, is one – someone is manipulating the evidence and wants to frame the protector of the X-Files.

22. QUAGMIRE

Local legends in a certain lakeside town are full of tales of a water monster that attacks those who unwittingly venture into its territory. However, it seems that the monster has expanded the limits of its operation and is no longer limited to water, but also attacks on land. The sad reason may be the increasingly strong human interference in the environment, which has upset the balance of the ecosystem.

23. WETWIRED

To what extent is mind control possible with subliminal information, and whether the government has undertaken (or is undertaking) such experiments on citizens is one of the more popular issues considered by conspiracy theorists. In this episode of the X-Files, there is a suggestion that subliminal information in high concentration can fuel subconscious fears and fears so much that they materialize in a visible form. In the course of the investigation, Scully also becomes a victim of such manipulation. Her trust in Mulder is severely tested.

24. TALITHA CUMI

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 4

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1. HERRENVOLK

Tagline: Everything Dies

Mythological episode – click to read

2. UNRUHE

A young woman takes a passport photo. She states that she forgot her wallet and goes to get the money from the car. There, she discovers that her companion is dead, and soon after, someone drugs her. The pharmacist, developing the photos, is shocked – on the film you can see the image of the same woman, but screaming in horror. Mulder believes that the killer can unknowingly record his thoughts on photographic film. Meanwhile, a kidnapped woman is found by the side of the road – someone lobotomized her in an amateur way.

3.HOME

The episode is widely regarded as the most brutal in the history of the series. A murder takes place in Home, Pennsylvania. While investigating the case, the agents stumble upon a local family where multi-generational incest has led to horrific body deformities. The episode brings to mind Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes.

4. TELIKO

Tagline: Deceive Inveigle Obfuscate

In African mythology, Teliko are the spirits of the air, able to move through the smallest gaps and threatening anyone who sees them. Agents of the X-Files investigate the deaths of black men whose bodies were found completely stripped of pigment.

5. THE FIELD WHERE I DIED

A telephone call draws the FBI’s attention to the Ephesian sect and begins a years-long investigation. Apparently, in the area inhabited by the sect, there is a whole arsenal of weapons hidden. Unfortunately, the raid on the church has no effect. If within a dozen or so hours the FBI does not obtain information as to where the arsenal is hidden, the sect’s leader will be released – and then tragedy and collective suicide may occur. Among the guru’s seven wives, a certain Melissa stands out – in moments of stress, she assumes various personalities that Mulder believes are remnants of her past lives. Surprisingly, Mulder and Melissa have a lot in common. One of the best episodes of the season.

6. SANGUINARY

In a plastic surgery ward, doctors go into a strange trance during surgery and perform compulsive acts that lead to the death of patients. Then they are unable to explain the reasons for their behavior. Mulder notes that each of the dead had a birthday on a day that corresponded to the traditional date of the witches’ Sabbath. Is there anyone in the ward who has harnessed black magic in their efforts to look youthful?

7. MUSINGS OF THE CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN

Mythological episode – click to read

8. PAPER HEARTS

Mulder has an incredibly realistic dream. Following his instructions, she discovers a girl’s corpse buried in the park. This is yet another victim of an incarcerated pedophile criminal who kept cloth hearts cut from his victims’ pajamas as a trophy. The pervert, who is being questioned in the case, amuses himself by suggesting to Mulder that one of the murdered girls is Samantha.

9. TUNGUSKA

Mythological episode – click to read

10. THERM

Tagline: E pur si muove (And Still It Moves)

Mythological episode – click to read

11. EL MUNDO GIRA

This, in turn, is one of the weaker episodes of the season, and even in the history of the series in general. In a camp for Mexican refugees, a strange phenomenon occurs – streams of yellow rain fall from the sky. Soon after, a local girl, Maria, the object of a rivalry between two brothers who are in love with her, is found dead. Her body is covered with a strange greenish coating. Mexicans see in this the activity of the legendary beast – the goat-eater, called El Chupacabra.

12. KADDISH

Three teenagers rob a shop and kill the owner, a young Jew. Since nothing was stolen, it is a crime committed purely out of hatred. The fiancée of the deceased mourns his loss. Soon, however, someone begins to eliminate the perpetrators of the attack. The fingerprints belong to the murdered man. A conversation with a learned specialist leads Mulder to the idea that someone close to the deceased brought a golem to life.

13. NEVER AGAIN

Depressed by a painful divorce, a man, Ed, consoles himself by flooding a worm in a diner. In an alcoholic intoxication, he decides to get a tattoo with a picture of the cartoon Betty and the words “Never Again”. However, he soon discovers that the tattooed figure speaks to him and refuses to be silent. Also, when Ed starts a romantic relationship with Scully, whom he met by chance, Betty begins to manifest jealousy. Betty’s voice belongs to Jodie Foster.

14. LEONARD BETTS

Nurse Leonard Betts is killed in an accident. Shortly after, his body disappears from the morgue, and it appears that it came out of the morgue itself. Since Leonard lost his head in the accident, Scully proceeds to medically examine it. It turns out that Leonardo’s head is almost entirely made of cancerous tissue. Mulder speculates that Leonardo’s extraordinary ability to diagnose patients’ illnesses may have resulted from his evolutionary adaptation, and employment in the oncology ward guaranteed him constant access to food. As a consequence, Leonard, who feeds on cancerous tissue, may have incredible regenerative abilities, Mulder concludes. A close encounter of the third kind with Leonard almost ends tragically for Scully. Does she actually have something Betts needs? During the night, Scully gets a nose bleed…

15. MEMENTO MORI

Mythological episode – click to read

16. UNREQUIRED

Officially dead, a Vietnam veteran takes revenge on those who faked his death years ago to wipe out a particularly shameful page of American history. Protecting officers at risk is extremely difficult, as the determined assassin has mastered the ability to navigate the eye’s blind zone and thus become invisible.

17. TEMPUS FUGIT

Mythological episode – click to read

18. MAX

Mythological episode – click to read

19. SYNCHRONES

Two passionately debating young scientists are approached by an elderly man and he conjures one of them to be careful, because in a moment he will be hit by a bus. His prediction comes true. The other young man is accused of murder because the bus driver swears he pushed his victim in front of the hood. Who was the old man who came with the warning? Does this have anything to do with research into the possibility of time travel?

20. SMALL POTATOES

A cute and funny episode. Babies with small, neat tails are born in close proximity. DNA tests show that they all have one father – the hospital caretaker, Eddie. However, none of the women had sex with anyone but her husband, and the only one who is not married claims that the father of her child is … Luke Skywalker. It turns out that a certain genetic anomaly allows Eddie to modify his appearance according to his needs. In the role of Eddie – Darin Morgan.

21. ZERO SUM

The mail sorting worker sneaks off to the bathroom for a quick smoke. There, she is attacked by a swarm of bloodthirsty wasps. To our amazement, we see Skinner busily obliterating the evidence in this case. Had he gone to the wrong side of the barricade? Or is she fulfilling the terms of her deal with the Smoker to find a way to save Scully, who is suffering from cancer?

22. ELEGY

The owner of a bowling alley sees the apparition of a girl with her throat cut, mumbling some unintelligible words. In fact, the same girl’s body is found nearby. A mentally challenged bowling alley employee with an excellent memory for numbers is implicated in the case. Scully also sees a similar apparition moments before finding another corpse… Could it be true that only those who are alone near the edge of death can see departing souls?

23. DEMONS

Mythological episode – click to read

24. GETHSEMANE

Tagline: Believe The Lie

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 5

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1. UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

Mythological episode – click to read

2. REDUX

Tagline: All Lies Lead To The Truth

Mythological episode – click to read

3. REDUX 2

Mythological episode – click to read

4. DETOUR

Mulder and Scully head unenthusiastically to an FBI conference intended to improve their team skills. However, on the way, they encounter an unexpected obstacle in the form of strange disappearances in an ancient forest. Who or what is the creature that moves through a network of underground tunnels and, in defense of its territory, lures people into a trap?

5. POST-MODERN PROMETHEUS

Shot in black and white, the episode is a variation on Frankenstein, The Elephant Man and Mask with Cher in the lead role. The agents are summoned to a backwater town by an admirer of Jerry Springer who claims she was impregnated by an otherworldly creature.

More about this episode – click to read

6. CHRISTMAS CAROL

Mythological episode – click to read

7. EMILY

Mythological episode – click. to read

8. KITSUNEGARI

Continued Pusher. Robert Moddell, who consistently refuses to die, escapes from prison. He quickly goes back to his old tricks – bending people to his will. Plus, he has a partner. And he’s not going to forgive Mulder for the defeat he caused him.

9. SCHIZOGENY

After a heated argument with his stepson, a burly farmer is attacked and literally dragged underground. Suspicion immediately falls on the stepson, though Mulder doubts the skinny kid has a chance against his mighty stepfather. Soon, the father of the boy’s closest friend also dies. Closer investigation reveals that the two teenagers were under the care of the same psychologist who, having suffered childhood abuse, sees experiences similar to hers everywhere around her. A local freak draws the agents’ attention to the bleeding trees.

10. CHINGA

One of the grimmest episodes of the season, and no wonder, since the script for it was written by Stephen King himself. Since the death of her father, the little girl has almost completely withdrawn into herself. However, he does not part with the doll that the same father fished out of the sea just before his mysterious descent. When the doll opens its eyes and declares that it “want to play”, you know someone is going to be in trouble. Scully, spending a well-deserved weekend off in Maine, unfortunately can’t make the most of her vacation despite her best efforts. This is how it ends when someone chooses a state that is a breeding ground for all kinds of crime for the holiday season! Mulder, on the other hand, is carelessly bored at the same time.

11. KILL SWITCH

This episode was written by William Gibson and Tom Maddox. Someone lures some criminals from the underworld and the police to a certain bar. A shootout ensues, in which everyone present dies. Mulder suspects that the actual target was none of them, but a certain Donald Gellman – a computer genius who developed software for it before the Internet, and then mysteriously disappeared. Through the data from Gellman’s personal computer, the agents find a girl who tells them that the murdered computer scientist has done the unimaginable – he created a system of viruses that, when released into the network, began to evolve spontaneously and show not only awareness, but also will.

12. BAD BLOOD

A very funny episode dealing with the subject of vampirism in a perverse way. In a quaint Texas town, a few cows and one tourist fall prey to someone’s voracious fangs. Mulder and Scully investigate closely, which ends up killing the alleged vampire with a stake. Scully then concludes that vampire fangs are fake. As Mulder gets carried away, there is a threat of suing the FBI by the unfortunate’s family. Pondering the details of the case before submitting the report reveals that the memories of the pair of agents differ significantly from each other. Luke Wilson guest stars as the sheriff who had (or didn’t have) a horse’s jaw.

13. PATIENT “X”

Mythological episode – click to read

14. THE RED AND THE BLACK

Tagline: Resist Or Serve

Mythological episode – click to read

15. TRAVELERS

Mythological episode – click to read

16. MIND’S EYES

A blind girl has a vision that leads her to a crime scene. Since she has blood on her hands, she is immediately arrested and found guilty of the crime. However, Mulder suspects that the girl is not so much responsible for the crime as she has a strong psychic connection with the right perpetrator. Lily Taylor played the role of the blind visionary.

17. ALL SOULS

In remote parts of the country, deceptively similar events occur – crippled girls leave the bed on their own and are found in a pose of prayerful worship, with their eyes burnt out. Scully, who has a personal connection to the matter, quickly finds connections to the apocrypha about children begotten by a mortal woman by an angel-seraph. Such children have the souls of angels but handicapped bodies. Scully suspects that the winged father wants to intercept his children before Satan gets on their trail.

18. PINE BLUFF VARIANT

While investigating a terrorist organization, Mulder behaves strangely. Looks like he helped the suspect get away. Scully begins to suspect whether his involvement in the activities of the surveillance cell is just part of the strategy, or whether Mulder is playing both sides.

19. FOILS AND DEUX

When someone constantly sees big talking cauliflowers around them, and you’re around them and you start seeing them too, that’s folie a deux. A marketing employee of a large company believes that his boss is a cruel demon with the body of a huge insect, hidden from the sight of the casual observer under a deceptively human mask, who wants to slowly turn employees into soulless zombies. The situation is supposedly brought under control, and the alleged madman is shot dead. But now Mulder, too, begins to see the insect’s shadow following the CEO.

20. THE END

Tagline: The End

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 6

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1. THE BEGINNING

Mythological episode – click to read

2. DRIVE

One of the TV stations is reporting live the pursuit of a car that is driving west at high speed. Stopped by a police roadblock, the driver becomes hysterical, and his wife, believed to be a hostage, dies in a matter of minutes when her middle ear literally explodes. Driving at a furious pace westward is the only way to stabilize the increasing pressure in the ear canal and the accompanying unbearable headache.

3. TRIANGLES

Tagline: Die Wahrheit ist irgendwo da draußen (The Truth Is Out There Somewhere)

Episode also known as Ghost Ship. There was no way that the Bermuda Triangle wouldn’t also appear in a series with such a theme. And indeed it appears, and specifically in its area is Mulder, transferred in the whirl of space-time to the ship “Queen Ann”, lost in 1939. Mulder is astonished to see that there are a lot of familiar faces among the ship’s passengers: Skinner, Kersh, Smoker, Spender, and even Scully. Moreover, the fate of the world is at stake. If the German-captured ship doesn’t turn off course, Hitler will win the war. Meanwhile, Scully and the Lone Gunmen try to find Mulder. When they succeed and the conspiracy and mystery seeker finally ends up in the hospital, no one wants to believe his stories from the past. Even Scully takes a disarming declaration of love as a sign of Mulder’s mental confusion…

4. DREAMLAND

Mulder drags Scully to the Area 51, where he has arranged to meet an informant belonging to the Majestic group. The informant fails to appear, the agents are apprehended by several local employees and Morris Fletcher, also a member of Majestic. At the same moment, a huge luminous object arrives and a shockwave appears, resulting in a body swap between Mulder and Fletcher. And so Mulder suddenly becomes an employee of a super-secret government cell, in the middle of a marital crisis, unsure of the names of his children, and Fletcher enjoys the freedoms and freedoms of a bachelor life. Scully is a little amazed at her partner’s transformation, but she doesn’t believe what Mulder-Fletcher is trying to explain to her. On top of that, Fletcher’s wife is wildly jealous of the mysterious Dana.

5. DREAMLAND II

Fletcher-Mulder’s heady date with Scully ends with the unlucky suitor being bedridden. Scully is no longer in any doubt that a switch has indeed taken place. Now the only question is how to reverse this process?

6. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT

The demon also wants a family. He would like to father a son, and even a daughter, if only without horns and a tail. Unfortunately, subsequent attempts still end in fiasco and the unlucky demon is forced, with a heartache, to kill his offspring. Until a determined woman appears on his way, ready to even face the forces of hell to achieve her goal. In the role of a demon with a paternal instinct – Bruce Campbell. Episode inspired by Rosemary’s Baby.

7. RAIN KING

Strange meteorological variations all concentrated in one place bring Mulder and Scully to a town where a man known for his supposed ability to make rain operates. It turns out that it is actually about influencing the weather, but in a completely different way. Everything is accompanied by emotional perturbations of the characters. A very nice and cheerful episode, although I realize that it is not one of the most liked ones.

8. HOW THE GHOSTS STOLE CHRISTMAS

On Christmas Eve, Mulder stands watch in a gloomy mansion where, according to tradition, a pair of lovers haunts. During the Great War, this couple committed suicide, swearing eternal fidelity to each other and that they would meet in this house every Christmas. Scully, in spite of herself, resigns from the family Christmas feast and joins her partner in his ghost hunt. Which actually manifest themselves, although in a somewhat surprising form. Contact with the apparitions of lovers from years ago (Ed Asner, Lily Tomlin) becomes a real lesson for the pair of agents about the meaning and content of Christmas. A warm, wise, Dickensian episode.

9. TITHONUS

While Mulder deals with routine tests and other paperwork, Scully gets another chance from Kersh. She is assigned to assist Agent Ritter as he investigates a police photographer suspected of murder. Strangely enough, this man is always the first to arrive at the place where someone dies, and immediately takes a picture of the body from which the life is drained. Mulder, unable to accept his inaction, intercepts the case reports and thus becomes a valuable help to his partner.

10. S.R. 819

Skinner is on the verge of collapse – something inexplicably caused numerous blockages to form in his veins. Mulder and Scully race against time to save their boss – thus unraveling the conspiracy behind Bill 819, which authorizes the export of officially non-existent technology.

11. TWO FATHERS

Mythological episode – click to read

12. ONE SON

Mythological episode – click to read

13. ARCADIA

For the purposes of the investigation, Mulder and Scully transform into a married couple, which provokes many funny situations. They move into a house on a super-luxurious estate – its previous inhabitants disappeared without a trace in mysterious circumstances. The life of the Arcadia estate is determined by a series of strict rules and regulations to ensure order, cleanliness and order. However, it is not only the rule of law of the inhabitants and the charisma of the founder that ensure that these rules are not broken. Someone – or something – makes sure everything runs like clockwork.

14. AGUA MALA

Mulder and Scully travel to Florida to investigate the disappearance of two marine biologists and their son. A hurricane is sweeping over Florida, and a bloodthirsty sea monster moves through the sewer lines of a building.

15. MONDAY

Variation on Groundhog Day. Mulder relives the same day over and over again to finally make the right use of the chance to prevent events that shouldn’t have happened.

16. ALPHA

A dangerous animal, supposedly a representative of an officially extinct species of canine, escapes from a cage transported on a ship. He is driven by an insatiable lust to kill for no apparent reason. There are various gloomy legends about this animal, one of them says that it can suddenly disappear, as well as assume various forms. However, it has long been known that only one animal on this planet kills for the sake of killing – it’s man.

17. TREVOR

A convict in prison, due to a conflict with the manager, is placed in solitary confinement just before the arrival of a hurricane, which seems to condemn him to certain death. After passing the element, the prisoner, whether alive or dead, is not found, while the manager is found halfway. The other half is missing. It seems that the punished convict managed to get free. He roams America, destroying everyone and everything that stands in his way to “take back what belongs to him”. Is it the money from the robbery he went to jail for, or is it some other kind of property?

18. MILAGRO

Another Scully-centric episode, and probably the best episode of its kind in the entire series. Agents investigate a case of serial killings whose victims had their hearts removed. Meanwhile, a writer who is clearly romantically interested in a red-haired agent moves into Mulder’s neighborhood. The novel he creates, however, reconstructs the exact details of the murders that the agents of the X-Files are trying to solve in a disturbing way. What finale is the author planning for his main character?

19. THREE OF A KIND

During a DEF-COM conference in Las Vegas, the Lone Gunners and Mulder stumble upon Susanne Modeski, the woman who once brought them together and mysteriously disappeared soon after. Particularly interested in revealing the truth is Byers, who had very warm feelings for Susanne.

20. THE UNNATURAL

Tagline: In The Big Inning

Could the great figures of American history, such as legendary athletes, really be visitors from another dimension who tasted earthly passion and did not want to give it up? Mulder talks to an aged ex-cop who witnessed some extraordinary events years ago and learned the identity of one of the transformed aliens, moreover, he was also his friend. Episode directed by David Duchovny.

21. FIELD TRIP

An extremely twisted episode, because its content is actually one big hallucination. While investigating skeletons found near Brown Mountain, Scully and Mulder find themselves trapped in a vast subterranean mycelium that slowly digests its victims while regaling them with very real visions. But you have to be Dana Scully to come to the conclusion that a hallucination is a hallucination by scientific analysis!

22. BIOGENESIS

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 7

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1. HUNGRY

A brainless man is found in the trunk of an abandoned car. A plaque lying next to the body leads the agents to a local fast-food joint called “Lucky Boy”. Suspicion falls on one of the employees who has a past sentence, but the truth is much more complex and tragic.

2. THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS

A poker game in the luxurious headquarters of a mafia boss, a certain Cutron. An inconspicuous and slightly nervous man, Henry, who seems to be playing for the first time, collects a small poker in his hand and wins a hundred thousand dollars. The mafia, convinced that Henry tricked her, throws the unfortunate man out of the window on the thirtieth floor. Strangely, however, the man emerges from the fall unscathed. Who is this lucky guy, and how does his extraordinary luck reflect on those around him?

3. SIXTH EXTINCTION

Mythological episode – click to read

4. SIXTH EXTINCTION: AMOR FATI

Tagline: Amor Fati (Love Of Fate)

Mythological episode – click to read

5. MILLENIUM

An episode referring to another series from Chris Carter’s stable – Millennium. It features Frank Black, whom Scully and Mulder turn to for help in solving several cases of desecration of the graves of former FBI agents who committed suicide. Traces of magical rites near the graves indicate that the Millennium group did not stop their pursuit of Armageddon with the advent of the year 2000, and that someone wants to raise the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the dead, who will lead the resurrection of the other dead on Judgment Day.

6. RUSH

On the outskirts of a peaceful town lie sunken caves and hidden chasms that seem to harbor a powerful electromagnetic force. Using it grants abilities far beyond those normally possessed by the human body, but if given to an irresponsible person, the results can be dire.

7. ORISON

Continuation of the plot from the episode Irresistible from the second season of X-Files. Life-sentenced serial killer and necrophiliac Donnie Pfaster, from whose hands Scully once narrowly escaped with his life, escapes from prison thanks to the hypnotic properties of the prison chaplain. He is tormented by a long fast and wants to satisfy his lust for killing as soon as possible, and above all – to finish what he was not allowed to do years ago. Haunted by the song “Don’t Look Any Further”, Scully once again feels as if the forces of good and evil clash in her life. However, it is not certain that it is always caused by this right force.

8. THE AMAZING MALEENI

A magician named Amazing Maleeni gives a show in which the main point of the program is a 360-degree head turn. However, right after that, he is found dead in his car, his head separated from his torso. It turns out that the unfortunate illusionist had a twin brother, and since we don’t know what’s going on, it’s probably about money, and the essence of the matter is based on the basic magic trick – distraction.

9. SIGNS AND WONDERS

A young member of the local community, small and gathered around the local parish, dies from the bites of rattlesnakes. It turns out that together with his girlfriend who is expecting a child, he recently left the assembly of the Church of the God of Signs and Miracles, where a dance with poisonous snakes is an element of the liturgy. But are those who appear to be the most obvious suspects actually guilty? Or is there really some strange test of faith going on here?

10. SEIN UND ZEIT

The first part of a two-part whole. Little Amber Lynn LaPiere’s parents are freaked out when their daughter suddenly disappears from the bedroom. There are a lot of strange elements in the case – the father has a vision in which he sees Amber dead, and the mother in a kind of trance writes a letter allegedly from the kidnapper. It is this letter that leads Mulder to a connection to an old closed boy abduction case in which his mother was found guilty. The case proves to be an ordeal for Mulder, as it reminds him of the case of the disappearance of his sister Samantha. These two episodes are a kind of tribute to the families of abducted and murdered children. The LaPiere’s daughter is named after Amber Hagerman, the girl whose kidnapping and murder prompted the so-called Amber Alert: the immediate notification to the media and through the public of any child disappearance that may be related to kidnapping.

The disappearance of a child from his own bedroom, practically under the nose of his parents, brings to mind the case of Polly Klaas. And the letter, the author of which is suspected to be the mother of the missing girl, as well as the person of Santa Claus, is associated with the brutal death of the little beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey.

11. CLOSURE

Tagline: Believe To Understand

Continuation of threads from the previous episode. Mulder struggles with the painful realization that his mother’s suicide has kept them from clearing things up, and that she knew more about Samantha’s kidnapping than she had ever told him. With the help of a clairvoyant whose powers awoke after a personal tragedy – when his son disappeared without a trace – Mulder rebuilds the events from years ago step by step. When he finally comes to a solution, he finally finds the peace he has sought for so long.

12. X-COPS

An ingenious episode modeled on the documentary series Cops, in which the camera accompanies the actions of American police officers live during their service. The object of the investigation is an unidentified creature, prowling during the full moon, which can take any form that is most terrifying for the victim at the moment. Fear is so real it can kill.

13. FIRST PERSON SHOOTER

A disturbing bug creeps into a computer game being tested just before release. Suddenly, a beautiful and indestructible superwoman appears in the game, who will finish off opponents without hesitation. The problem, however, is that they do not only die in the virtual world, and their in-game injuries are real. The Lone Gunners involved in the project turn to Cell X for help. When Mulder is trapped in the virtual world, Scully declares war on a dangerous version of Lara Croft.

14. THEEF

Using folk magic, a man takes revenge on a doctor he believes is responsible for his daughter’s death. She wants to punish him by bringing rare and difficult to cure diseases to the family of the object of her hatred.

15. EN AMI

Mythological episode – click to read

16. CHIMERA

In this episode, the agents split up, conducting separate investigations. Scully spends his time tediously observing in an unheated building, longing for a good bath and a warm bed, while Mulder investigates the brutal murders that precede the appearance of the raven. The secrets of the local sheriff may be the key to solving the mystery.

17. ALL THINGS

A reflective episode whose main character is Scully. An accidental meeting with a man who was her lecturer, with whom she had a great feeling and from whom she gave up her medical practice for the FBI, becomes a reason for the agent to consider the legitimacy of her life choices and the rightness of the path she finally chose. Episode directed by Gillian Anderson.

18. HOLLYWOOD A.D.

Delegated to investigate a case of vandalism and an explosive charge in the basement of a church owned by one of the most powerful archbishops, Mulder and Scully endure the annoying presence of a Hollywood screenwriter. The screenwriter, a fellow student of Skinner’s year, is planning to make a movie about the FBI. The X-Files agents become heroes, but they have trouble recognizing themselves in the characters from the screen. Scully in the film was played by Tea Leone – privately the wife of David Duchovny (they divorced in 2014), who directed this episode. Minnie Driver is also seen in a snapshot episode.

19. BRAND X

A former employee of the Morley tobacco company dies a dramatic death just before giving evidence incriminating the company. Initial suspicions that he was murdered turn out to be unfounded when more victims appear. The cause may be a genetically mutated insect that feeds on tobacco – the tobacco warbler, whose larvae get into the respiratory system with cigarette smoke. Mulder is unexpectedly among those in mortal danger. Breaking Morley’s conspiracy of silence is the only way to save him.

20. FIGHT CLUB

Two identical-looking women seem to be connected by a strange force field. If they find themselves in each other’s neighborhood, pandemonium erupts around them: fights, explosions and accidents. The real problem comes when they both fall in love with the same man.

21. JE SOUHAITE

In an abandoned warehouse lies an ancient rug with the truest genie wrapped in it. This genie – or rather this one, because she’s a woman – has the ability to grant all kinds of wishes to the person who pulls her out of the rug. Years of communing with human greed and selfishness, however, deprived the genie of any illusions about the nature of man. Screenwriter Vince Gilligan‘s feature directorial debut.

22. REQUIEM

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 8

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1. WITHIN

Mythological episode – click to read

2. WITHOUT

Mythological episode – click to read

3. PATIENCE

Scully and Doggett investigate attacks by a giant bat-like creature that has apparently been dormant for decades. Scully feels that her loyalty to Mulder also requires that she reject the limitations of science and open her mind to what seems impossible. Doggett takes the role of the skeptic, although his perspective changes a bit when he himself is attacked.

4. ROADRUNNERS

Scully is captured by a small-town cult that worships a snail-like creature. The parasnail needs a host, and currently the man infected with it is apparently on the verge of collapse. Scully is to take his place. Luckily, Doggett manages to locate his mate just in time. This experience teaches Scully an important lesson – she realizes she must learn to trust Doggett.

5. INVOCATION

A boy who mysteriously disappeared ten years earlier reappears out of nowhere alive and well, though not a day older. Doggett hopes to locate the kidnapper, but subsequent events lead him to doubt the boy’s identity. In addition, the circumstances of the case painfully remind him of his own family tragedy.

6. REDRUM

A man is accused of killing his wife. However, he presents an amazing story: he claims that time is running in the opposite direction for him and he has been given this chance to fix the mistakes he made. However, it is not easy for him to convince Scully and Dogett to his version. He has trouble with them… every time.

7. VIA NEGATIVA

Scully has health problems and is hospitalized for observation. Left alone, Doggett becomes involved in the investigation into the deaths of twenty cult members and two FBI agents. It seems that the guru of the sect has mastered the ability to influence people’s minds with the concentrated energy of the so-called third eye.

8. SUREKILL

A man dies – the killer hit perfectly, although he could not see his victim. Due to the technical circumstances of the case, Scully comes to the conclusion that the perpetrator of the homicide can see through walls. Doggett’s suspicions center on two brothers who run a rat extermination business together.

9. SALVAGE

A certain Ray Pearce loses his life – according to his wife’s opinion, it was her husband’s participation in the Persian Gulf operation that was to blame. But when Pearce’s friend is also killed, Scully and Doggett begin to doubt that Ray is actually dead. Their investigation leads them to Chambers Technologies, where research into smart metal is being conducted. Has someone become a victim of an experiment and wants to take revenge on those who ruined his life?

10. BADLAA

A man who has just returned from a trip to India dies in a hotel room. The post-mortem examination proves the existence of extensive injuries in the victim’s body, and in addition, the degree of rigor mortis suggests an earlier time of death than would be suggested by witnesses. Scully theorizes that someone (or something) hid inside the man and then broke free. Could the figure of a silent dwarf without legs, recalled by witnesses, be the key to the mystery?

11. THE GIFT

Doggett investigates the circumstances of a trip Mulder undertook shortly before his disappearance. It seems that he sought help from a legendary creature that has the power to heal all diseases. However, contact with this creature made Mulder realize that every cured disease the healer takes on himself and thus his life is one great suffering. That’s why he tried to kill the creature to relieve it. Doggett takes action more in line with formal procedure. But it pays with life. Is bringing Doggett back from the dead a chance for the unfortunate creature to finally die in peace?

12. MEDUSA

A police officer patrolling a subway platform is attacked and dies a violent death. There are traces of a corrosive substance on his body. The chief of police is very reluctant to the FBI-ordered stoppage of trains. Doggett explores the underground subway and finds more corpses, while Scully takes turns battling the dim-witted warden as he searches for a possible explanation for the mysterious deaths.

13. PER MANUM

Mythological episode – click to read

14. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING

Mythological episode – click to read

15. DEADLY

Mythological episode – click to read

16. THREE WORDS

Mythological episode – click to read

17. EMPEDOCLES

Monica Reyes has flashes of strange visions. He investigates the case of an alleged fit of madness that Jeb Dukes suffered – fired from his job, after a while he returned to the building and murdered his current bosses. Looking at the corpse, Monica has the impression for a moment that it is charred. This reminds her of a case she and Doggett once handled.

18. VIENEN

Mythological episode – click to read

19. ALONE

Scully goes on maternity leave, and Doggett is assigned a temporary partner, Leyla Harrison, to replace her. He and Doggett investigate deaths in which lizard venom seems to play a role. Soon after, they both disappear. Mulder joins the case and finds a pair of unlucky agents trapped in a cave and blinded by the venom. A mutated lizardman is circling nearby, apparently hungry.

20. ESSENCE

Mythological episode – click to read

21. EXISTENCE

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 9

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1. NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY

Tagline: Nothing Important Happened Today

Mythological episode – click to read

2. NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY II

Mythological episode – click to read

3. DAEMONICUS

A series of ritual killings appears to be related to a Satanic cult, but Doggett’s suspicions turn to a charismatic professor incarcerated in a mental institution. There are many indications that he possessed the ability to manipulate minds at a distance and materialize ectoplasm. Reyes suggests that this may be a case of pure evil possession.

4. 4-D

Tagline: erehT tuO si hturT ehT (The Truth is Out There backwards)

Monica Reyes is dead, Doggett is shot and fights death… But in fact everything happens in an alternate reality. While Doggett barely lives under the apparatus, Monica comes up with the idea that there may have been an intersection between the real and the alternate reality and the presumed killer has the ability to move between one time dimension and another.

5. LORD OF THE FLIES

One boy seems to control the behavior of the flies and subject them to his will. Doggett and Reyes try to figure out how conscious his actions are.

6. TRUST NO 1

Tagline: They Are Watching

Mythological episode – click to read

7. JOHN DOE

It happened to Mulder once, why shouldn’t it happen to Doggett, his successor… Doggett wakes up somewhere in Mexico, completely forgetting who he is and where he came from. In flashes, a vision of a little boy returns to him – this is his murdered son.

8. HELLBOUND

Reyes investigates homicides where victims are skinned alive. Similar cases occurred in the 1960s and even earlier. Could it be that the current victims are reincarnations of the killers of the time? And could Reyes also have some connection to past events?

9. PROVENANCE

Mythological episode – click to read

10. PROVIDENCE

Mythological episode – click to read

11. AUDREY PAULEY

Monica Reyes is in a coma after a car accident. While Doggett frets at her bedside, she wakes up in an abandoned building that looks like a hospital. Of the two other patients present, one soon dies. Only a cleaning lady working in an intensive care unit has access to a world where the souls of people on the verge of life and death reside… and only she can send the message to Doggett that someone is illegally experimenting on the sick.

12. UNDERNEATH

A serial killer arrested thirteen years ago is released. DNA analysis showed he was innocent. Doggett, who personally captured the maniac, however, has doubts about the result of these tests. It seems that the killer can take the form of two different men, depending on the needs, thus providing himself with an ironclad alibi.

13. IMPROBABLE

Tagline: Dio Ti Ama (God Loves You)

An investigation jointly led by Reyes and Scully. Reyes, a specialist in ritual murders, suggests numerology is the key to solving serial deaths. Scully discovers that each victim’s body is branded with the 666 mark. The situation turns critical when both agents are trapped in a huge underground parking lot, where a psychopathic killer is also hiding. Burt Reynolds makes a guest appearance.

14. SCARY MONSTERS

One little boy, kept in isolation and confinement by his father, recounts with conviction that his mother was attacked by terrifying monsters. Everyone will recognize this as a manifestation of a child’s overactive imagination. And it is indeed exuberant, but in a slightly different way than you might think. The creations of the boy’s imagination become real as soon as he draws them.

15. JUMP THE SHARK

Mythological episode – click to read

16. WILLIAM

Mythological episode – click to read

17. RELEASE

The episode in which Doggett finally learns the truth about the circumstances of his son’s death and finds final peace when the guilty of this crime finally receives the punishment he deserves, even if not necessarily in the majesty of the law.

18. SUNSHINE DAYS

A man with extraordinary telekinetic abilities agrees to undergo a thorough examination in Washington. Is it finally an opportunity to obtain convincing proof of the actual existence of paranormal and extrasensory phenomena? Not necessarily: any use of telekinesis undermines a man’s health. Fearing for his life, the X-Files crew refrains from conducting further research.

19. THE TRUTH (I & II)

Mythological episode – click to read

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Season 10

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1. MY STRUGGLE

The opening and closing episodes bear the same title, referring to personal dilemmas – first Mulder, then Scully. It also outlines the new mythology of the series. Fourteen years after the closure of the X-Files, Scully contacts Mulder at Skinner’s behest, and together they meet up with influential vlogger Tad O’Malley. O’Malley drives them to meet a woman who claims she has been kidnapped multiple times and has extraterrestrial DNA in her body – Scully is there to investigate. Mulder, on the other hand, sees a model of a triangular spaceship and concludes that the entire colonization mythology was just a smokescreen.

2. FOUNDER’S MUTATION

Dr. Sanjay, an employee of Nugenics Technology, is tired of the sound growing in his head, which eventually becomes unbearable – the doctor locks himself in the server room and starts deleting data, finally, unable to bear the insistent sound, he commits suicide. Mulder and Scully investigate as part of the revived X-Files – Mulder discovers that Sanjay has been hiding a lover named Gupta from the world, to whom he confided his concern for “his dying children”. Is anyone conducting experiments on children suffering from genetic conditions? What other secrets may be hidden in the genes passed on to them?

3. MULDER AND SCULLY MEET THE WERE-MONSTER

An episode that deserves a separate analysis, filled with references to the history of the series, themes, characters, various plots, and even people related to its creation. The investigation focuses on a lizard man suspected of committing a series of murders. The suspect has a lot of thoughts about human nature, tolerance, acceptance of otherness and disregard for harm. Like everyone, he wants to feel safe with himself, with all the benefits of inventory. Confessions and narration of the main character is a show of Darin Morgan’s writing skills. The best episode of the season, referring to the best traditions. Comedian Kumail Nanjiani, known (among others for his colorful activity on Twitter), made a guest appearance.

4. HOME AGAIN

While investigating the mysterious death of a high-ranking City Hall employee, Scully receives a call from her brother, William. Her mother is in the hospital on a ventilator and what’s more, she has changed her wishes in case of collapse – she does not want to be resuscitated. Scully watches over her mother’s hospital bed as she regains consciousness and asks to speak to her estranged son Charlie. Her last words are to Mulder and are “my son’s name is also William”. To take his mind off his grief, Scully returns to work. The perpetrator of repeated crimes may turn out to be a strange creature born from the imagination of a street artist, defending the homeless.

5. BABYLON

The most controversial episode of the season, mainly due to the naive and dummy presentation of Muslims and Islam. A young boy suspected of involvement in a suicide bombing lies in a coma. It is feared that he was a member of a cell planning further attacks. Mulder wants to communicate with him at a higher level of consciousness and, under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms, delves into a vision full of symbolism, abstraction and absurdity – a bit scary, a bit funny. He even meets the Lone Gunners and the Smoker in it. The episode debuts a pair of young agents: Miller (Robbie Amell) and the insufferable Einstein (Lauren Ambrose).

6. MY STRUGGLE II

Episode tagline: This Is the End. Six weeks have passed since the events of the first episode of the season. Mulder suddenly disappears when we see him again, trying to leave Washington and in very bad shape. O’Malley meets with Scully and informs her that every American has been implanted with extraterrestrial DNA, which is intended to facilitate the spread of the virus known as Spartan, which completely destroys the immune system. A pandemic is fast approaching. Agent Miller tries to track down Mulder, while Agent Einstein questions Scully’s medical theories, prompting her to reconsider her position. Scully receives a phone call from Agent Reyes suggesting she has the information needed to develop a vaccine. Reyes is revealed to have spent many years as the Burner’s personal assistant and nurse, attempting to conduct an internal investigation into the invasion and colonization. Scully’s DNA turns out to be crucial in the development of a vaccine. Mulder quickly sinks into illness and is on the verge of death, his only chance is a stem cell transplant from William. The episode ends with the appearance of a spaceship and the suggestion that Scully and her associates may be abducted.

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Season 11

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We’re in this together again

Mulder sits by the unconscious Scully’s bed… Season 11. The X-Files picks up right after the end of the Season 10 finale. But it brings to mind something else entirely: all the times Mulder watched over Scully in the past.

First after the abduction, then when she was fighting cancer… we’ve seen it already and thanks to that we know: a great revolution is about to take place in the relationship between these two and a breakthrough in the knowledge they are gaining with such difficulty. Always been like that.

This coming full circle also seems to suggest that Chris Carter himself wasn’t entirely convinced that the outline of the mythology presented in season 10 was conducted in the right way. In an attempt to refresh the convention and introduce something completely new, he strayed too far from the axis of the series, from what once held it upright and set the tone. So he took a few steps back and focused on a different distribution of mythological accents, giving more space to investigative episodes. And it was no doubt a hit, as season 11 beats 10 by the head, dancing out of the doldrums and showing how much spirit is still in Carter and his associates (as usual, Darin Morgan shines the brightest: the episode The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat inspired by the phenomenon of the Mandela Effect, contains everything that has always been the best of the series).

The first episode of the season rediscovers the hope that was lost somewhere along the way, overwhelmed by bitterness, disappointment and sadness. Hope that humanity still has some control, that destiny is not set in stone, that there are individuals who care and who still “want to believe” – and act. Mulder and Scully clearly have a new energy, they take a deep breath, they refrain, at least for the moment, from constantly scratching their past wounds, and they allow themselves to think that the future may be different than they thought, and it is because of them personally (and not least thanks to the wonder of their enigmatic son, the messiah William, who, by the way, has finally gained some personality.)

It should be made clear that the opening and closing episodes (My Struggle IV) of the season are, after all, the weakest as a whole. It’s a stubborn piece of fabric that keeps coming apart at the seams. The X-Files mythology changed direction several times, sprouted new branches, and sometimes confused the tracks, and so for 9 (!) seasons. It’s hard to control it by squeezing the revolution into a few episodes. The new face of mythology looks like a theory presented in a discussion, like one of the possible solutions, not yet fully refined, like testing different pieces of a puzzle – do they fit the whole or maybe not? The problem is that even if they would not fit in the long run, there was not enough time to finally reject them.

The mythology of seasons 10 and 11 should therefore be treated more like a curiosity than an independent, polished and full-scale creation. It also has an additional role: it evokes old, well-known heroes and weaves them into relationships with new ones. Especially with Mulder and Scully, it works well, adding dynamism to their mutual relationships, which somewhere along the line, between seasons, burned out and twisted. We can witness a “reboot” of their partnership according to fresh rules, and for anyone who has been rooting for the pair of agents for years, this will be a very satisfying closure of the chapter.

However, the primary advantage of season 11 over 10 is the quality of the investigative episodes. In the previous season, practically only Darin Morgan’s episode stood out on the plus side, while the rest had a good, but still average level, sticking to safe ruts, tested many times before. These episodes are rather sad, grey, the same spirit of doubt and fatigue hovering over them that hung over the entire season.

Well, it was, it’s gone. Season 11 is different, and you can feel it right at the beginning of the first investigative episode, This, when Scully and Mulder transform back into a pair of perfectly synchronized operatives, decimating a group of attacking cutthroats. That shootout at the beginning (plus Scully’s spectacular slide under the table) is like a breath of fresh air. Another is an exchange of words over the graves of the Lone Gunners in Arlington Cemetery. And the ending? Like Bob’s giggle in Twin Peaks…

Why do I need Google when I have Scully?

What can happen when a doppelgänger stands in our way? This line fascinated Edgar Allan Poe and inspired episode number 3, Plus One. A careful observer will also notice subtle “returns to the past”, echoes of such episodes as Fight Club, The Walk or even Eve (the icing on the cake is also the presence of Karin Konoval, or Madame Zelma from Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose and the spooky mom from Home, this time in a wonderful double role).

As if in the background, there are subtle signs of deepening intimacy in Mulder and Scully’s friendly relationship, without declarations or fireworks, only due to neat dialogues. In addition where Mulder theorizes about the presence of ghosts, Scully sees a rather specific activity going on in the forebrain. You can recall dozens of similar disputes from the past – and thanks to that you will really feel homely and cozy.

Episode 4 is Darin Morgan’s big, big show as a writer, no doubt his X-Files magnum opus. We will find here a lot of references to old episodes of the series, including Tooms, Small Potatoes, Teso Dos Bichos and Unusual Suspects. The episode is both a tender self-parody and a beautiful closure. Morgan bids farewell to the X-files universe in his own unmistakable style. And it’s hard to imagine a more beautiful, and above all – a better-suited farewell.

Another particularly noteworthy episode is Rm9sbG93ZXJz, in which The X-Files becomes for a moment another installment of the gloomy reality straight from Black Mirror. Artificial intelligence that learns by watching people is completely skewed… why? Conversely, to what extent is our progressive addiction to ubiquitous technology distorting us? Minimal dialogue further reinforces the message of this brilliant episode, directed by Glen Morgan but written (with Shannon Hamblin) by her wife, Kristen Cloke, whom we know as Melissa from The Field Where I Died, Fox Mulder’s soul mate from his previous incarnations.

Familiar plot motifs are found in almost every episode. It’s not just about references, more or less direct, to the subject matter itself, but also to the motifs that are the distinguishing features of Mulder and Scully and their relationship. Scully’s faith and Mulder’s atheism. Her scientific coolness and his enthusiasm of an always open mind. The similarities and differences in their approach to relationships, family, passing years and aging, woven into a strong knot of shared attachment to the son. In Season 11, Mulder and Scully are once again full-blown, alive and poignantly genuine, and humor, detachment and a penchant for banter return to their conversations.

However, there is a certain, not insignificant, “but”. The problem with the last season of The X-Files is that it is very clearly, even unambiguously addressed to fans of the series, to those who fell in love with it back in 1993. I’m not sure if it will reach the casual viewer who vaguely associates a couple of agents, so he decided to watch one or two episodes out of curiosity. From the perspective of new customers, this can therefore be considered a disadvantage.

But is she really? Depends on how you look at it, because the 11th season of The X-Files is primarily a beautiful love letter addressed to those most faithful of the faithful and a wonderful reward at the end for all those who have never, ever lost faith.

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Bibliography and special thanks

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The following resources have been of great help to me:

Books:

Brian Lowry, The X-Files Official Guide

DaCapo Publishing House, Warsaw 1997

Websites:

The X-Files Timeline www.themareks.com/xf/1970.shtml

The X-Files 101 – The Big Picture www.turning-pages.com/xf101/xf101_bigpic.htm

The Mythology of The X-Files www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/9013/myth.html

The X-Files DVD Screen Grab Archive https://xfphotos.fredfarm.com