Season 5, Episode 14: The Red and the Black

Synopsis

The episode opens with an unseen man writing a letter to his son in a remote Canadian cabin in the snowy woods. He gives it to a young boy to deliver to the FBI. The title screen reads "Resist or Serve."

Emergency responders arrive at the Ruskin Dam in Pennsylvania, the site of the latest carnage. Scully has survived along with about 50 other people, though she's suffered from minor burns and abnormally depleted fluids. Marita's also not doing so well following her infection by the black oil. Cassandra is not found among the victims, and Spender is a little pissed at the agents. Mulder assures him she'll be found. Krycek has been captured by the Well-Manicured Man aboard the freighter, and he figures Krycek infected the boy as a safeguard and that the Russians have managed to develop a vaccine.

A UFO carrying a couple of faceless men crashes on an Air Force base, and one is captured alive. Mulder thinks Scully's implant has been a way for the government to monitor her reaction to experimental biological weapons, and that they have no qualms about killing the "experiments." The Syndicate reveal that the faceless men are alien rebels struggling against alien colonists, and that they have sealed off their orifices to prevent black oil infection. The Well-Manicured Man has retrieved the vaccine from Krycek, and the Syndicate test it out on Marita. They also debate whether or not to turn over the captured rebel to the colonists.

Scully undergoes hypnosis to recover memories from the dam, and remembers seeing a UFO and the alien rebels torching everyone. She says a second UFO vaporized the two attackers before abducting Cassandra. Mulder thinks it's a false memory along the lines of the disappearance of Samantha, though Skinner considers alien interference more plausible than a government conspiracy. Spender shows Scully a video of a hypnotherapy session he did when he was 11, and says he was only recounting a story his mother told him; he suspects Scully may have been influenced by Mulder.

Krycek confronts Mulder and tells him that the latest incidents are strikes by an alien rebellion to try to inhibit alien colonization of Earth. He warns him that the rebellion will dissolve if the captured rebel dies. Mulder and Scully check out the Air Force base, and Mulder boards a truck carrying the rebel and driven by the Alien Bounty Hunter. A UFO appears, along with another rebel alien; Mulder ends up firing a shot, but we don't see who he hits, if anyone. He loses his memory, and the rebel is gone. The vaccine works on Marita. Mulder opens an X-File on Cassandra's disappearance, and Spender gets a letter that was sent in the beginning of the episode. He returns it to the sender: Cancer Man.

Episode Body Count

At least 51 Ruskin Dam bodies: incinerated in another mass death incident. A TV broadcast, describing it as a cult suicide, says over 50 bodies have been found. They apparently include Dmitri and "Quiet Willy" the Syndicate assassin.

At least one alien rebel: killed when his ship crashes at Wiekamp Air Force Base.

Two more alien rebels: Scully recalls that they were destroyed on the dam after being bombarded by a second UFO.

Humans: 51
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 3

UNDEAD'D

Cancer Man: managed to survive an assassination attempt and relocate to a cabin in Quebec.

Humans: 1
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (111/202 episodes, 0/2 movies)

Humans: 1,371

Creatures: 88
Aliens: 60

Grand Total: 1,519