PLOT: With William missing, Scully is frustrated with the FBI's efforts and initiates her own actions in locating him.
Religion and aliens.
Those two concepts would be a strange mix in any situation, but somehow, it is the central story idea for the second installment of this two-part mythology. The teaser is a prime example of a misinterpretation of a technological genetic advancement while idealizing a religious context. The voiceover, which I am assuming is being made by the comatose Agent Comer, tells of a vision by Josepho, the cult leader mentioned in "Provenance", of an experience he had during the Gulf War. Josepho believed that he saw four soldiers or "sons of God" leading an impossible assault on an enemy position and leaving the scene unscathed.
From the images shown, we have to assume that they are "super-soldiers." Yet, we are unclear whether these super-soldiers are alien beings or genetically enhanced human hybrids. Nevertheless, Josepho believes whole heartedly that they are alien and "children of God." Upon discovering the alien vessel in Canada and interpreting the inscriptions on the vessel, he believes that little William is some kind of miracle child who will be an important leader (shades of Terminator) that needs to be protected from rebel alien forces who do not want alien colonization of Earth. Since William's father, Mulder, has always been against alien colonization, Josepho and his followers consider him a threat to William's "rightful place" with the colonists. Does all this make sense?
In one respect, it does make sense as this particular mythology dating back to Biogenesis becomes more clarified in this episode. The alien vessel is tangible evidence that aliens have been to Earth, and by the writings, which oddly enough are in the Navaho language, on the spacecraft, shows an obvious influence on not just human languages and science but human beliefs, i.e. religion. It is the interpretations by the various characters in the story that are somewhat suspect.
Even through all the other sub-plots throughout the episode, it was still very much focused on Scully's determination to find her son. She definitely can fall back on her experiences with the way the Bureau handles cases close to her own heart: Mulder's disappearance during Season 8, her sister's murder, Doggett's disappearance in "John Doe," her own abduction during Season 4. Suffice it to say that Scully does not trust her own agency to quickly find William in an acceptable and timely fashion. So she decides to take things into her own hands.
As for Reyes, I certainly don't trust Follmer, so why should Monica? It's rather strange to see her crying and saying a silent prayer for Doggett, yet easily fall into Follmer's arms. The strange thing about that scene is that Follmer is not easily readable and seems almost caring in helping out Monica. Is it possible that even through all his gruffness and rather mean-spirited treatment of Doggett in "Provenance" that this is just further display of his own deep feelings for Monica? I'm almost afraid to find out.
We see that Scully still has a grudge against Agent Comer. It's almost sadistic of Scully to "heal" him with the alien artifact only to threaten his life unless he explained the reason why William was kidnapped and why Mulder needs to be killed. It wasn't evident whether Scully truly believed him, but she definitely was not concerned about his well-being.
Meanwhile, Doggett is laying comatose in a hospital bed while trying to ensure Scully's and Reyes' safe passage to deliver William to somewhere safe. Considering that William was still taken, his efforts seem fruitless. Yet, from the vision that he experienced while in a coma, he was able to warn Scully to not trust anyone who contacts her, namely Josepho. It was almost as if Doggett was meant to be injured so that he would help Scully find a path. Ironically, this is somewhat expanding on Doggett's own latent psychic abilities that he readily denies but is again demonstrated here as it was in last season's "Empedocles."
This scene was rather strange considering that Doggett has been badly mistreated by Scully for most of this season. It was the first time Scully shows any kind of regret for her actions towards him. How often do you remember Scully praying for anyone other than Mulder? Yet, there she is crying softly next to him while he lay still. It was almost an anamoly.
So when Scully does meet Josepho, it looks like she is following her own bad habits from "Trust No 1" and going on this one alone. It seems confirmed when Josepho says that he was late to ensure that Scully wasn't followed. Yet, when he leaves, Scully immediately contacts Monica who is in a van with the Lone Gunmen nearby. It's nice to know that Scully has learned her lesson and there are people out there that she not only can trust but also willing to help her.
Though it was very nice to see that William appeared unscathed, it's still rather ominous to note that he was unscathed. Considering that every one of the cult members around him were incinerated once the spaceship took off, there is William still bundled up in his blanket and crying his little lungs out because someone probably hadn't changed his diapers in over 12 hours. Little miracles like that are not exactly something that should be overlooked, and I'm sure that Scully hasn't even though she was more than overjoyed that little William was fine.
Reyes showed in her face the same relief but also something more: the fact that in a span of only a few minutes, she witnessed a real spaceship taking off, the entire cult, including Josepho, killed, and the apparent miracle of an unharmed but crying William. I'm sure this was as much of a shock for her as finding the dead Luke Doggett some years ago. Though she doesn't appear to mention it to Doggett at the end of the episode, surely, Monica has just crossed the line from being "open minded" to being a "believer." Notice that Scully wasn't the least bit stunned with seeing the space vessel? After all, this is the third time she has actually witnessed one (after Biogenesis and This Is Not Happening).
So in the end, we do see that a super-soldier is somewhat involved, yet, we're still not 100% sure how Kersh is involved in all of this. On top of that, we see Follmer is starting to waver from just blindly believing what he wants to no matter what Reyes, Scully or Doggett tell him. He actually finds physical evidence that Agent Comer's death was not caused directly by Scully or Reyes. Yet, he is at a loss as to how Comer was doing fine one minute and then moments later, he's dead. That's certainly an X-File and Follmer is the first one to admit it.
For a mythology episode, "Providence" provided some satisfaction in clarifying a bit more of the whole colonization and rebel alien angles as well as the religion and science angle. Yet, it still does not reveal why William is special or important in the whole scheme of things and why Mulder needs to be dead when his forced hiding has not shown any clear disadvantage to either the colonists or the rebels. The clock is ticking, and we'll see whether the last episodes of the series will reveal more.
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