Year 7 in Review

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At the beginning of Season 7, many fans were divided almost right down the middle whether their favorite series should continue. However, as many of the earlier episodes were somewhat average or questionable in quality, fans were starting to grow wary of the inconsistencies involved with the series. If the quality seemed to degrade with each episode, the media was more than gleefully making the general public aware of the disillusionment of the two main stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, as well as series creator, Chris Carter, for doing yet another season of a show seeming to be past its prime.

Yet, with all the problems that Season 7 appeared to inflict on the stars and fans alike, many of the episodes were generally watchable and comparable in quality to many of the series' finest. Of course, there were many more duds this season than usual ("Fight Club" and "First Person Shooter" quickly come to mind). Yet, the cast and crew at Ten-Thirteen did more than an admirable job in ensuring the best quality possible under some very stressful and uncertain times this past year.

The season definitely started off with a dual bang of "Sixth Extinction" and "Amor Fati." The dilemma that our two heroes had to endure were as epic as any classic conspiracy episode of seasons past. Individually, Mulder and Scully discovered a realization about their importance to both their work and to each other. Mulder only became more certain that his current path is the correct one to follow even with all the sacrifices to his own happiness, while Scully's faith in everything that she holds dear is sorely tested upon closer inspection of a tangible UFO on the shores of West Africa. Yet, their individual experiences only lead them down the same path: each other. How epic indeed!

The next few episodes were mediocre to say the least. The most memorable was undoubtedly "Millennium." Though the episode was supposed to help wrap up any loose ends from Carter's other series, even a casual viewer of that show as myself could not follow what tied up everything. But I claim to be no expert on the Millennium series in the slightest. The meeting of two of the F.B.I.'s best criminal profilers, Mulder and Frank Black, was very tense to put it mildly. Yet, Black was obviously hiding much more than he was revealing to our heroes about his former partnership with the Millennium group. The eventual outcome was reminscent of the creepiness of classic episodes as "Home" and "Die Hand Die Verletzt." It was a nice change from the numerous light episodes of Season 6 and the conspiracy-laden premiere episodes.

Yet, "Millennium" will forever be remembered for the event you see next to this paragraph. Mulder and Scully kiss. Now, it certainly seemed innocent enough since the pretense was the traditional greeting for the New Year. And I have to admit that even though it was in that context, I still found it odd that a kiss would come about after Mulder's near-demise by zombies. How many times has either Mulder or Scully found themselves in those near-death situations? Too many to even recount, yet none of those scenarios ended with a kiss. Why should this one? Again, I am not really protesting the action of the kiss. I am just wondering if it was appropriate for the situation, and the writers tried to answer that with the dawning of the New Year. Hmmmm....it kind of makes you wonder why it took an *extra* season after the movie to finally finish the kiss that was started in Mulder's hallway not to mention that there have been *other* New Year celebrations for our hapless duo. If that thought was not nagging enough, nary a mention of this intimate moment was ever brought up for the rest of the season!

Since the season opener started in November, which is the latest that it has ever started, many of the better episodes were during that month, including "Millennium." As the Christmas hiatus came and went, the beginning of the year brought about another exceptional episode, "Orison." For only the third time in the series history, Carter and crew decide to come back with a classic villain from their past, Donnie Pfaster. For all of you that may have came to the party a bit later, Donnie is a death fetishist that was originally seen in Season 2's "Irresistible." It was a memorable episode in that besides Donnie's demonic presence, Scully finally showed the frightened young woman behind the tough exterior she displays on a daily basis to Mulder. It was a very sobering experience for both the fans and Mulder.

"Orison" brought about the return of Donnie after five years of thinking about the one who got away: Scully. Just watching the teaser fully shows the creepiness factor that Nick Chinlund excellently brings to the character of Donnie. It is obvious that five years of incarceration has not tempered the pure evil that is so inherent in him. As soon as he escapes from prison, Donnie is on the lookout for young women in need of a manicure and a hot bath, particularly red-headed women. The episode's climax was so shocking that even Mulder felt the need to protect his partner from any criminal action on her part. It would have been more of a phenomenal episode if not for the fact that the writers had to place a very weak sub-plot involving the preacher that bears the title of the episode. Donnie Pfaster was more than enough to chew in this classic, yet the writers thought otherwise. After such a rush of an episode and a highly controversial ending, the producers followed up with "The Amazing Maleeni," an episode with no connection to "Orison" and was not really an x-file in the broadest definition of the term.

February sweeps period came along and brought us two incredible and, again, highly controversial episodes: "Sein Und Zeit" and "Closure." These episodes closed the holy grail of all x-files for Mulder: the disappearance of his sister, Samantha. However, I personally have a beef with these two since they seem to throw out the book in regards to all the earlier clues left behind by Samantha's abduction as well as Mulder's and Scully's previous cases involving Samantha (i.e. "Paper Clip," "Colony," "End Game"). As I mentioned before in my review of "Closure," it seems as though Carter and crew bit off more than they could chew and felt the need to wrap up Samantha's whereabouts these last 27 years in two episodes. Other than a couple of the worst episodes ever associated with the series this season, these two episodes definitely get my vote as a total crock. However, they were very compelling stories on their own merit without even trying to figure out the whole "starlight" explanation. Also, the episodes marked the passing of yet another recurring character, Mrs. Mulder.

For once, I did not mind an episode that did not continue any of the plot points brought up by "Sein Und Zeit" and "Closure" as Vince Gilligan's "X-Cops" breaks yet another barrier in the originality of the series. A premise that the Fox network has thrived on for well over 10 years gets a fresh face when the "X-Files" borrows the premise and places their own unique prints all over it. The look and feel were as close to the real "Cops" as anyone who has ever watched it can agree. Mulder and Scully were very much in character except that it was amusing to note how uncomfortable Scully felt in front of the cameras. While Mulder acted as though he was giving his own dissertation in the paranormal to a very captive audience without the slightest hint of embarrassment. Well...there was the gay couple.

After some forgettable episodes, we were treated to the writing efforts of three of the actors: William B. Davis, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. Davis' episode, "En Ami," was very Scully-centric and hinted further of the conspiracy that his character, Smoking Man, has played a key role in the past seven seasons. What struck me about the episode was how well Davis knew the characters. It is obvious that he pays attention to their mannerisms and their strengths and weaknesses, which is something that some of the newer writers need to polish up on. Gillian's own episode, "all things," was a bit more tough for her, since she was also directing the episode. It was much more spiritual in nature and as the underlying theme of the series itself, ponders fate. We just take it for granted that Scully is a doctor and an F.B.I. agent, but Gillian wanted to explore why Scully is who she is. Deep is a good word for this episode and just like "Amor Fati," Scully ends up realizing that she is very much on the correct path in her life and that includes being with Mulder. I'll talk about that nice little teaser that was the rave of X-File bulletin boards the world over just a little bit later.

David's second written/directed effort, "Hollywood A.D.," was much more lighter in tone than his previous effort, "The Unnatural." However, David not only brings up a rather interesting X-File with the Lazarus Bowl, but he also perpetuates a trend that he continues from his earlier effort in showing Mulder and Scully having fun. That seems like a simple enough agenda, but since he unabashedly shows it by having them laugh, visit each other in the middle of the night, take a vacation together and hold hands prior to an undoubtedly fun evening yet to come, David only pushes the envelope of how platonic the relationship truly is after seven years of very close and personal experiences. Though David did cleverly add the sub-plot of a hollywood movie based on the X-Files and have Mulder and Scully be played by his best friend and his wife, respectively, the heart of the episode is the incredibly strong bond that the two characters have developed that allows them to be more intimate and personal with each other than ever before.

Of course, all this leads up to an excellent season finale in "Requiem." It is rather odd that when Fox was still very much in the middle of negotiations with both Chris and David, this episode was being filmed. The eleventh hour was very much close at hand, yet this exceptional episode is being produced. After viewing it a few times (you just have to!), it never ceases to amaze me how brilliant Carter is. He was able to come up with this gorgeous script and have the ending imply a continuation without question. At the time, Chris obviously had no idea whether it would be for Season 8 or for an upcoming feature film franchise. Yet, "Requiem" solidified that the show still had many directions it can take without being a farce of itself.

Which takes me to analyzing the main themes brought about by the finale and why Season 8 should be a very good one...

With Mulder's abduction and the incredible announcement of Scully's pregnancy, the series does an interesting twist on itself for the new upcoming season. The abduction obviously will allow a focus for the series that was sorely missing in Season 7. It also allows elements that have been brought up from classic mytharc episodes to return in full force and again have Carter and crew coming up with clever ways to keep the show interesting while one of its main principals, David, is out for the first half of the season. Some of the most compelling episodes were in the beginning of Season 2 when Gillian was very much deep into her pregnancy. For the most part, David had to carry the show, and the stories were rich with originality and drama. Lest we forget, Gillian can pretty much carry her own as her Emmy and SAG awards attest to her enviable skills as an actress. Also, the series will finally go back to the dramatic roots that the producers and writers appeared to almost have abandoned for the last two seasons outside of the sweeps. I remember how disappointed I felt that the series garnered nary a single Emmy nomination in the dramatic fields that it had owned for the past six years. I also wasn't surprised. How could I with the likes of "Arcadia," "Rain King," "The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas," and other light fluff were so predominant during the season?

Scully's pregnancy also stirs up soap opera-like themes as well as Maddie's pregnancy in "Moonlighting." But unlike that series, we really have no clue as to how Scully got pregnant or by whom. Now, I have read numerous accounts of Chris mentioning the "lost scene" in Gillian's episode, "all things," where we found Mulder in bed while Scully was very much adjusting her clothes in his open-door bathroom. Does that necessarily mean they had sex? Nothing about the rest of the episode, which all precedes that moment, gives a clue if the event did occur. I find it difficult to believe that Scully would fall asleep on Mulder's sofa and then sneak into Mulder's bed with him in it to finally consummate their passions for each other. Particularly since none of the other episodes that followed it mentioned the scenario at all. Wouldn't the bathtub scene in "Hollywood A.D." be just a bit different if they did get together? Not to mention that the last scene in "Je Souhaite" would have them in bed eating popcorn and drinking beer while watching "Caddyshack." Since we all know that Mulder will eventually return to Scully, the big question that will linger for the next six months is the paternal identity of Scully's baby.

If those two elements does not propel the series into further heights of legendary status, then it should have ended at Season 5 just before the feature film. Because heaven knows that many of the episodes in the last two seasons did not have to materialize at all. Don't you reckon?

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