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PLOT: Doggett and Reyes uncover more of the conspiracy while Scully is worried about the origins of little William.
Super soldiers and a worried mother. That's the basic plot line of "Nothing Important Happened Today II."
I guess this is the final part of a four-episode arc that started with "Essence" and "Existence" last season. Some of the pieces from the previous episodes are starting to make sense, but as usual, not enough was revealed to make real sense. The super soldier angle is consistent with what has been revealed before. The chloramine is literally and figuratively an additive that is still a bit fuzzy. While little William's evolving "talents" are making a certain mother wonder what is going on. So are the rest of us.
I admit that this episode had much more going on than the last one. The naval ship holding secret experiments on human ova was a nice touch. It falls within Carter's idea of "mobile labs" as in the train in "731". I'm waiting for the airplane mobile lab next. Sarcasm aside, that was the first real clue to the whole conspiracy of breeding genetic super soldiers in the fashion of Shannon McMahon and Knowle Rohr or "Adam and Eve." It's interesting that grown human adults were tested and experimented on while the supposedly new generation of super soldiers are being manipulated from the very first stage of reproduction.
It is a credit to Carter and Spotnitz to actually have plot expositions in the episode. If you are just skimming the episode, the scenes between Shannon and Doggett in his apartment right after she pulled him out of the water, the scene between Skinner and Scully at her apartment, the scene with Shannon explaining chloramine and the super soldier conspiracy to Scully, Reyes and Doggett and the final one with Doggett and Kersh are the most telling.
If we take Shannon's explanation at face value, it makes sense with what has been going on. Though it still doesn't explain why she had to kill two people and then tell Doggett or how any of this is linked to Deputy Director Kersh, even if we all wish that there was something that tied in to him. The ship returning to port does not tell us anything. The only change is Knowle Rohr forcing himself on the ship. It eventually gets blown up, but that doesn't let us know who wanted it destroyed or if it was at all connected to within the FBI.
Scully's fear for Mulder's safety is definitely something that is consistent from last season, particularly since he has much more to lose this time than ever before. Yet, how is Mulder's life in danger but not Scully's or little William? Again, I thing it would have been a much better plot point to have them go with Mulder for at least a few episodes to make Doggett and Reyes establish themselves better within the X-Files mythos. Also, it would have been a much more compelling plot point than everyone scratching their heads over Mulder's disappearance. He has certainly had his life on the line many times before, so this would not have been any different.
Skinner's confusion in Scully's change of heart in Doggett's investigation is the same as ours. If she is so concerned about Mulder, why is she allowing Doggett to pursue with his investigation? She claims that it is too dangerous for Mulder to come back. Yet, she is endangering herself and William at the same time.
The chloramine angle is still fuzzy in how it prepares for future generation of super soldiers. It certainly makes it less horrible than a swarm of bees inflicting a virus. If Shannon is telling the truth, then an unsuspecting population is being molded to become petrie dishes for a group of crazy military scientists. As usual, Scully does not go ahead and believe anything Shannon says outright. She is obviously concerned with how it is directly linked to William. Time will tell if Carter and company can come up with a rational and believable link.
I must admit that the whole super soldier plot is a bit out there. Why in the world would the military want super soldiers with free will? They can end up like Shannon and foil their plans in the long run. Considering that they have no fear of death, then it's even more of a ridiculous notion to have them.
Since the last episode was fairly lacking in any real action, it was nice to know that Ten Thirteen can still show some excitement within their aging genre. I don't think I've seen Doggett look even more scared than when he realized that his old buddy, Knowle Rohr, would not die no matter how many slugs he fired. Even Shannon's last minute beheading didn't do anything to deter Rohr. Where exactly is that plot going then?
The manipulation of human ova was a nice angle for Scully's sake. It is very consistent from the very early seasons of the X-Files to show that there are always some kind of human tests going on without the public's knowledge. Since this particular experiment may cast some doubt at how normal William may be, Scully was more determined than ever to find out for herself even to the point of risking her own life and the lives of her partners.
The last scene with Kersh and Doggett was really telling in that Kersh is not exactly what we thought he was. He seems to be standing on the fence like Skinner did in the beginning. Is he really a good guy or a bad guy? The revelation by Kersh that he *told* Mulder to leave because his life was in danger is hard to believe unless Kersh personally was putting him in danger. Even then, considering the history between Mulder and Kersh, why would Mulder even heed it? Doggett believes that Mulder left because Scully persuaded him to leave. Kersh also mentioned that his own life is in danger. Was that really true? Remember what Deep Throat said about lies? It's easy to believe a lie when it is concealed between two truths. Again, we'll have to see how this sub-plot develops as the season progresses.
One thing I noticed that is rather distracting is how often they drop Mulder's name throughout this episode. Unless Ten-Thirteen is hiding something we don't know, Duchovny is not coming back to the series. It makes it even more bittersweet to hear his character's name and realize that no such payoff will come this season. I just hope that they don't dwell on that dead horse if they want to establish this "next generation" of X-Files. We can only hope.
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