Season 11, Episode 10: My Struggle, Part IV

Synopsis

William recalls his upbringing, the development of his powers, and how he foolishly clued the Syndicate in to his abilities by playing a dumb prank on his girlfriends. He says he wants to find answers, perhaps from his mother but mostly from his father, who is indeed the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Somewhere else, CSM confronts and shoots Mulder.

Kersh, enraged that Mulder has gone on the record to Tad O'Malley about CSM's plan to release a contagion against humanity, plans to shut down the X-Files and suspend Mulder and Scully. CSM calls Skinner, demanding that he find William; Skinner asks if he'll stop the contagion if he does, but CSM doesn't make a promise.

Fifteen hours earlier, Agent Reyes contacts the agents to say that William has been picked up in Tennessee and is being transported to Maryland. She says that the person who controls William will control the future. Scully isn't sure she can trust Reyes, but doesn't stop Mulder from chasing the lead.

Mulder confronts Syndicate member Mr. Y, who says they weren't able to capture William and that the boy "has what everybody wants." He then pulls a gun on Mulder, so Mulder is forced to kill him before he can learn any more.

Scully finds that several people have won the lottery within a 10-mile radius in Tennessee, and figures that's how the Syndicate was able to find William. Mulder finds surveillance footage of William in the store that sold the ticket and begins to pursue him, unaware that a tracker has been placed on his car.

Scully lets O'Malley know about how an alien pathogen designed to decimate humanity is about to be unleashed, allowing Mulder to be his source for the information. Scully has a vision of Mulder's death and tries unsuccessfully to warn him. William, who has made it to Norfolk and is despondent about living on the run, ponders suicide and begs one of his girlfriends to help him. She agrees, but winds up letting Mulder know the motel William is staying at.

Mulder meets with William, who is reluctant to accept Mulder's help since he thinks he's a danger to those around him. William leaves Mulder behind after vaporizing a group of Syndicate pursuers. When Mulder lets Scully know, she vows to meet with him, figuring he'll listen to her. Skinner decides to help her, and lets her know how CSM is William's father.

William's other girlfriend lets him know another one of his likely hiding places at the harbor and he heads there, followed by Scully and Skinner after they spot his car. Skinner spots CSM and Reyes and manages to shoot Reyes, but is run down and apparently killed. Mulder and Scully pursue William, but CSM manages to get the drop on Mulder and shoots him in the head.

Only it turns out this was William, since Mulder then appears and guns down CSM. Scully tearfully confesses to Mulder how William wasn't truly their son, but rather an experiment. Mulder is distraught, asking what he is if not a father. Scully reveals that he is, since despite her age she's gotten pregnant (perhaps after the events of "Plus One"). We'll see how the series follows up on that, given that Gillian Anderson is leaving the show after this season.

At the end of the episode, William emerges from the water, apparently none the worse for wear.

Episode Body Count

Four Syndicate guards: Killed by Mulder as he confronts Mr. Y

Mr. Y: Shot by Mulder after he tries to pull a gun on Mulder

Syndicate pursuer: Has apparently been killed by William sometime before arriving in Norfolk

Four more Syndicate members, including Erika Price: Blown to bits by William's telekinetic powers

Monica Reyes: Shot and apparently killed by Skinner

Walter Skinner: Run over and apparently killed by Reyes

Cigarette-Smoking Man: Perhaps killed off for real this time after not one, not two, but three fake-outs; gunned down by Mulder at a Norfolk dock

There seems to be some debate over whether Skinner or even Monica wound up dead in the confrontation at the docks, but I can always pull out the UNDEAD'D if the series gets renewed and one or both of them come back.

Humans: 13
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (202/202 original episodes, 2/2 movies, 16/16 reboot episodes)

Humans: 2,524
Creatures: 134
Aliens: 66

Grand Total: 2,724

Season 11, Episode 9: Nothing Lasts Forever

Synopsis

In the Bronx, a couple of surgeons harvest organs from a kidnapped person in a warehouse. A woman named Juliet Bocanegra attacks the operation, but one of the surgeons escapes. The woman delivers a cooler of organs with the inscription "I will repay" to a hospital. The title screen reads, "I Want To Be Beautiful."

Mulder and Scully are on the case! Elsewhere, a washed-up entertainer named Barbara Beaumont and a discredited physician, Dr. Luvenis, oversee a cult whose members willingly fuse their bodies with the leaders to allow them to preserve their youthful appearance. Mulder discovers that the phrase on the cooler is from a biblical passage; he also realizes that the person who murdered the surgeons did so with metal fenceposts taken from the church.

Juliet's sister, Olivia, is one of the people who has joined the cult, and Juliet has launched a religious mission of revenge against the cult and its leaders. Mulder and Scully plant a tracker in a bait cooler of organs and trace it to Barbara's apartment building after Luvenis steals it. Barbara chooses Olivia to be the next person to be fused with Luvenis.

Mulder and Scully track the cooler to Barbara's building. They are surprised to see how young she looks, given that she's supposed to be 85 years old. Barbara attacks the agents, but is killed by Juliet. Scully is pitched down a dumbwaiter shaft in the melee.

While searching for Scully, Mulder comes across Olivia, who has been fused to Dr. Luvenis. He claims that he's uncovered the way to eternal youth, but is cut short when Juliet strikes him down. Scully is OK, too, her fall having been broken by decades of trash at the bottom of the shaft. Juliet consigns herself to the fact that she's going to prison for her murders, but is content with the choice she made to save her sister.

Meeting in a church, Scully laments how she wasn't able to protect William or commit to living with Mulder. He tells her he wished she'd left the X-Files long ago to spare herself her various hardships. Scully says she doesn't begrudge him for this, and whispers something in Mulder's ear, saying it's her "leap of faith forward" and that she'd like to to it together.

"I've always wondered how this was going to end," Mulder responds.

Episode Body Count

Robert Jenkins: a kidnapped personal trainer who dies after his organs are harvested

Dr. David Rednon and another organ harvester: killed by Juliet

Kayla: Has her throat cut by Barbara after her fusion is completed

Warren: Commits suicide to offer up his organs to Barbara

Barbara Beaumont's husband: Mulder mentions that he died in 1970

Barbara Beaumont: Killed by Juliet

Dr. Luvenis: Also killed by Juliet

Humans: 7
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (202/202 original episodes, 2/2 movies, 15/16 reboot episodes)

Humans: 2,511
Creatures: 134
Aliens: 66

Grand Total: 2,711

Season 11, Episode 8: Familiar

Synopsis

At a park in Eastwood, Connecticut, a boy named Andrew Eggers spots a live version of his creepy doll, Mr. Chuckleteeth, while playing at a park. He follows it into the woods, where he is attacked and killed.

Andrew is the son of a police officer, so the FBI becomes involved in the case. The local police suggest a coyote, or perhaps a coyote-wolf hybrid called a coyowolf, but both Mulder and Scully are skeptical. Scully comes up with a profile for a likely murder suspect, while Mulder wonders if the dark arts are involved since Eastwood had some witch trials back in the 17th century.

After examining the body, Scully figures Andrew was shaken to death and wonders if he was killed by his father, a local cop named Rick. Mulder finds salt on the boy's foot and notes how it wasn't mentioned in the police report. The police chief's five-year-old daughter, Emily Strong, also hasn't been interviewed despite witnessing Andrew's disappearance.

Chief Strong reluctantly agrees to let Mulder interview Emily, who says she saw Mr. Chuckleteeth (a character from her favorite TV show, Bibbletiggles) in the woods before Andrew went in their. Based on Scully's profile, Rick believes a sex offender named Melvin Peter may be responsible for his son's death. A search of Melvin's house finds a Mr. Chuckleteeth costume. Mulder isn't convinced that he's the perpetrator, especially after seeing a coyowolf in the forest.

Emily sees another Bibbletiggles character at the door and vanishes; her body is soon found in the forest. Mulder finds a ring of salt at the scene, which he believes is a magic circle used in witchcraft. He also finds that the site of the murders is a Puritan graveyard, and accuses the chief of covering up acts of witchcraft. The chief admits that he has sinned by committing adultery with Rick's wife, Diane, and figures the killings are punishment for his actions.

Rick brutally attacks Melvin as the angry townspeople egg him on. Melvin says his crime was statutory rape and that he hasn't hurt anyone, but Rick still shoots him in the head shortly after the agents and other local police arrive to break things up. Rick is released on a minimal bail soon after. Another police officer, sickened by the events, reveals to Mulder and Scully that he found out how Melvin (a children's performer) was out of town on the day of Andrew's death and so was not responsible.

Rick angrily confronts Diane about her affair. She storms out, but crashes her car after seeing a vision of Andrew in the road. Rick storms into the police chief's house, only to be greeted with a nightmarish vision of Mr. Chuckleteeth. He is soon shot dead by Chief Strong.

Mulder and Scully arrive at Strong's house, and Mulder realizes that a book from the chief's library on how to summon spirits and demons is missing. Strong comes across Diane's wrecked car, and finds that Diane has been killed and his wife has set up a summoning circle. It turns out that she was trying to curse Diane and her husband for their affair, but screwed it up. She manages to summon a coyowolf to kill Chief Strong, but winds up immolating herself while trying to perform another spell as the agents arrive. Scully turns the witchcraft books over to the police for evidence of a town gone mad, but also seems to be giving the witchcraft theory a little more credence.

Episode Body Count

Andrew Eggers: Killed in a park forest, apparently by a coyowolf summoned by Anne Strong

Goodie Bishop: A Puritan midwife who reportedly burst into flames in 1658, apparently in a death similar to Anna's later in the episode

Emily Strong: Also found dead in a forest, another apparent victim of the coyowolf

Melvin Peter: Murdered by Rick Eggers

Rick Eggers: Shot and killed by Chief Strong

Diane Eggers: Apparently killed by the coyowolf

Chief Strong: Yet another victim of the coyowolf

Anna Strong: Incinerates herself while trying to perform a spell

Humans: 8
Creatures: 0
Aliens: 0

Cumulative Body Count (202/202 original episodes, 2/2 movies, 14/16 reboot episodes)

Humans: 2,504
Creatures: 134
Aliens: 66

Grand Total: 2,704