Last week I left off just before the end of season 3, the reason I did this was because there was a lot of new information to cover and I did not want to confuse fans (old and newcomers alike) halfway through the breakdown.
If you missed last weeks and need to catch up, it can easily be found here:
Now back to the breakdown:
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At the end of season 3, we learn of a magic healer named Jeremiah Smith who has the ability to heal anyone with the simple touch of his hand. Agents Scully and Mulder are sent to investigate this miracle as the man has disappeared.
Meanwhile, The Smoking Man, meets with Mulder’s mother and the two argue as someone photographs of them are taken from a distance. That evening Mulder is informed his mother has had a stroke and while in the hospital, she writes the word “Palm” on a piece of paper which Mulder thinks is somehow connected to Jeremiah Smith
Smith is captured by the Smoking Man and Mulder soon realizes that “PALM” was his mothers attempt at writing “LAMP.”
Mulder destroys his home looking for an alien weapon.
The Smoking Man interrogates the real Smith who reveals that the Smoking Man is dying of lung cancer.
Mulder goes looking for Smith but finds only an impostor, an bounty hunter, who was sent to kill the real Jeremiah Smith.
Meanwhile, Mulder’s mothers condition worsens. The Smoking Man appears in the hospital room and Mulder threatens him, but The Smoking Man claims that the photographs were proof that his mother wanted information on the whereabouts of his sister Samantha.
Scully finds multiple Jeremiah Smiths working across the country, but does track down the real Smith. Smith promises her more information if she and Mulder meet later at an abandoned site. The three arrive at the same time as an alien bounty hunter.
Mulder sneaks up on the Bounty Hunter and stabs him in the neck with the alien weapon he found in the lamp.
Mulder and Jeremiah escape, leaving Scully alone with the dead Bounty Hunter.
When she approaches the body, the Bounty Hunter wakes up and chokes her, demanding to know where Mulder and Smith are going.
Jeremiah takes Mulder to a mysterious field where they find a group of identical children; the girls all resemble Samantha at the age when she was abducted. Jeremiah tells Mulder that the cloned children are mindless cattle used to tend the fields. Mulder tries to take one of the female clones with him, However, the Bounty Hunter arrives and chases them. The Bounty Hunter catches up to Mulder, Smith, and the clone and knocks Mulder unconscious.
A trap is set up in Mulder’s apartment, for Mulders new informant. The informant is shot dead and writes “SRSG” in his blood which later leads Mulder to Marita Covarrubias, the assistant to the Special Representative of the Sectretary General.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, the Smoking Man directs the Bounty Hunter to heal Mulder’s mother, telling him that the fiercest enemy is the one with nothing to lose.
While the alien human hybrid mythology is alive and well throughout season 4, I think most fans would agree that season 4 has the best “monster of the week” episodes, and it all starts with the thriller “Home.”
Season 4 Episode 2 – “Home”
“Home” is a classic for X-Files fans and considered one of the scariest episodes of all time. Fans and critics alike were critical of the amount of disturbing amount gore and violence as we saw the two agents investigate the in-bread hillbillies, better known as the Peacock family.
Mulder and Scully begin Season 4 on a good note. The two talk about genetics and (I use this term loosely), “their” future children. Scully ultimately tells Mulder she wants to have children, and Mulder is a little taken back by this.
From this point on this, motherhood becomes a major character arc for Scully.
Season 4 Episode 4 – “Unruhe”
Just when you thought this season couldn’t get any more disturbing than in-breading, Mulder and Scully start investigating an asylum. The two agents get separated and someone attempts to perform an unsuccessful autopsy on Scully. Mulder swoops in to save her, just in time.
Throughout Season 4, Mulder starts to unravel information about the Smoking Man’s mysterious past.
With the help of Mulder’s trusted fiends, The Lone Gunmen, the agents start to learn a little bit more about The Cigarette Smoking Man. We learn that Mulder’s nemesis assassinated J.F.K. and that he does in fact have intelligence leading to the proof of extraterrestrials on this planet and their plan to go ahead with alien human hybrids.
If you remember the pilot episode, Dana Scully was originally sent to “debunk” the X-Files. Well, in that scene, The Cigarette Smoking Man can be seen in the office as her boss tells her to head downstairs to meet with Mulder. This backstory on The Cigarette Smoking Man leads you to believe that it was HIS idea to have Scully work with Mulder to help “keep him quiet.” He never expected that an up and coming agent would throw away her career and agree with, “Spooky Mulder.”
After we learn a little about The Cigarette Smoking Man, Mulder heads to Russia with his not so good friend Alex Krycek. Krycek has now turned against The Cigarette Smoking Man and the two men start searching for the alien bacteria/virus, known as “The Black Oil.”
Mulder and Krycek believe this “Black Oil” is thriving in Russia in petroleum deposits. The virus is capable of entering humanoids and assuming control of their bodies. It has sentience and is capable of communicating. It was revealed to be the “life force” of the alien colonists, which they seemingly used to reproduce their kind, as well as infect other alien races in order to conquer the universe.
Mulder and Krycek fail and end up in a Russian prison and Mulder learns Krycek is actually a double agent working for the Russian Taskmasters.
Mulder escapes, but Krycek is not so lucky. Krycek is found by a group of men whose left arms have all been amputated, and has his arm forcibly severed to prevent his involvements in black oil vaccination tests.
Meanwhile, Assistant Director Skinner and Agent Scully are eagerly awaiting Mulders return as Mulder has been requested to appear before a Senate committee seeking to uncover Mulder’s whereabouts and find out what is going on in The X-Files. The committee is ultimately adjourned upon Mulder’s arrival and the two agents share a nice, long, hug.
The Agents head to Florida to follow Mulder’s lead on the “black oil” fragment. However, someone destroys the last of the oil-containing rocks seen in the previous episode in an explosion. This person returns to Russia, where it is revealed that he had been hired for this task by Krycek.
Season 4 Episode 10 – “Paper Hearts”
“Paper Hearts” is one of my favorite episodes and it does play into a little bit of the X-Files mythology as Mulder starts to doubt the existence of extraterrestrials.
The two agents start investigating a man who killed and buried multiple young girls. Mulder begins to share “brainwaves” with the serial killer and the killer tries convincing Mulder that his last victim was in fact, Mulder’s missing sister Samantha.
Season 4 Episode 13 – “Never Again”
The episode begins with Mulder and Scully arguing, showing that the two are not in a good place.
This also brings up a theory that any time Mulder starts to doubt the existence of extraterrestrials, he seems to take his anger out on Scully.
Scully begins to wonder when she will have a desk next to Mulder in their office.
Mulder tells Scully that the X-Files are HIS and this is HIS life.
Scully tries explaining that it is also her life but Mulder is convinced she doesn’t want it to be.
Scully tells him, “I wish I could say we are going in circles but we are not were going in an endless line. Two steps forward and three steps back.”
There is a long pause before Mulder says the two need to get away from each other for a while (this means to me that the two WERE together, but from this point on (in this part of the episode) they will not be).
They “officially” break up and Scully goes to Pennsylvania while Mulder goes on vacation.
Scully tells Mulder she has a date with a man, Ed Jerse, who turns out to be a bit crazy (as Jodie Foster starts talking to him through his body art).
Mulder is infuriated that Scully seems to have moved on so quickly, to the point that he punches air when he finds out.
Scully goes on her date, but is clearly depressed. She asks her date to take her to a crummy bar and she begins to talk about how she loves authority and needs approval from Mulder. We learn that she views Mulder as a father figure, not an equal.
After the case is solved and it is revealed that Scully’s new man is a killer, Mulder then gives her a hard time for her taste in men and being in an X-File for a second time (which he claims is a record).
The two share a moment of silence before Mulder shows how much he loves her by simply stating, “all this because I didn’t get you a desk?”
Fun Note: This episode was originally supposed to have special guest director Quentin Tarantino!
Season 4 Episode 14 – “Memento Mori”
JUST when Scully and Mulder are finally in a good place, the agents learn that all but one of the MUFON members Scully had met with previously have all died of cancer.
Scully heads north to visit the last surviving MUFON member, Penny Northern. The woman instantly takes to Scully and without Scully saying anything, knows Scully is an abductee as well. Scully learns Penny is sick and dying of cancer.
Scully runs some test and eventually learns she has an inoperable cancerous tumor in her brain, she checks herself into a hospital. Mulder (having no idea this is going on), brings her flowers, but claims “I stole these from some guy down the hall.”
Scully begins to tell Mulder that she has cancer, but he refuses to accept it.
Scully then tells her partner and boss, Assistant Director Skinner, that she intends to keep working as long as she can.
Mulder paces around and begs Skinner to let him deal with The Cigarette Smoking Man to save Scully, but Skinner is against it.
Scully writes a letter to Mulder about how far they’ve traveled together, but ultimately this is her fight and her body must rid the cancer, and that her abduction is not his fault.
Season 4 Episode 20 – “Small Potatoes”
“Small Potatoes” is a fan favorite! Children are born with tails due to a man by the name of Eddi Van Blundht drugging women and telling them he is Luke Skywalker.
Mulder asks Scully share a great moment where Mulder teases that the two should be picking out China patterns.
Scully ends up drugged by Blundht, who is now disguising himself as Mulder. Scully spends an evening trying to “entertain” Mulder (who is really Blundht), and she is surprised when the ACTUL Fox Mulder catches them in a compromising position on her couch.
Season 4 Episode 22 “Elegy”
“Elegy” is a great episode because it shows that after all Scully has seen, she still refuses to believe in the paranormal, even after she herself has seen a ghost. There relationship hits an all time low when Mulder learns that Scully has kept this secret from him.
Scully learns that she was given caners to make Mulder believe and that everything he thinks he knows about aliens is a lie. Season 4 ends with Mulder committing suicide in his apartment. Scully arrives to identify the body and confirms it is in fact Fox Mulder.
But come on, this is the X-Files season 4, surely Mulder can’t die seeing as there are 5 more seasons with Duchovny?
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Season 5
In fact, the man shot in Mulder’s apartment is not Fox Mulder, however Scully is sticking with her story until Mulder can uncover the real truth about extraterrestrials and the cure for Scully’s cancer.
The Smoking Man believes Mulder is still alive and starts conducting his own research to find Mulder.
Scully is called into an FBI panel and explains that Mulder was a victim of an elaborate conspiracy and that she was given a fatal disease by someone in the room, at this moment we are lead to believe that Assistant Director Skinner is the person who has betrayed the two agents. As she is about to present her evidence, her nose bleeds and she collapses.
After hearing of Scully collapsing, Mulder arrives at the hospital, but is detained by Skinner.
Mulder tells Skinner that a traitor in the FBI gave Scully her cancer.
Mulder later tells Scully that he wants to reveal the conspiracy to the public, but as he is leaving, he is greeted by The Smoking Man who tells him that he can cure Scully’s cancer with a digital chip. Scully’s mother and brother are on the defense and blame Mulder for her condition and do now want any part of his “Spooky Science.”
Scully ultimately decides to have the chip put in her neck.
The Smoking Man contacts Mulder, and Mulder meets his sister Samantha, refers to The Smoking Man as her father. Samantha claims to not remember anything about her abduction and is reluctant to stay or tell Mulder where he can find her. The next day, The Smoking Man offers Mulder the truth if he quits the FBI and comes work for him; Mulder refuses.
Mulder tells the FBI panel of the conspiracy against him and Scully and names the real traitor in the FBI.
Back at the hospital, Skinner informs Mulder that The Smoking Man, has been killed although no body was found.
Mulder tells Skinner that Scully’s cancer has gone into remission.
Season 5 Episode – “Detour”
“Detour” is one of my favorite episodes and one that cements the fact that Mulder and Scully are, in fact, a couple. The two share some food together in a motel room and Scully makes fun of the rules about them “being together.” The two start to investigate a case they find on accident on the side of the road, but unfortunately the two get trapped in the woods. Freezing Mulder invits her to get naked and sleep next to him, Scully holds him close and signs him to sleep (badly might I add).
Season 5 Episode 6 – “The Post-Modern Prometheus”
For any Universal Horror Classic Monster fans, this episode is a must! The episode is shot in black and white and loosely mimics the agents looking for a modern day Frankenstien. The episode ends with Mulder asking Scully to dance at a Cher show.
Season 5 Episode 11 – “Kill Switch”
“Kill Switch” is another one of my favorite episodes. In this episode the Agents investigate a virtual reality game that has begun to kill off its players. Mulder heads into the game and becomes trapped, Scully must head into the game to save him.
Regardless of the fact that Mulder has stated that Scully is his equal, this is the first REAL time we see Scully “kicking ass” and ultimately saving Mulder’s live.
Season 5 becomes a bit complicated as the agents start serving out a suspension (we will come back to this in season 7 as it is not relevant now) and two new agents are assigned to the X-Files, Diana Fowley and Jeffery Spender.
Mulder starts to investigate a boy named Gibson Praise, believing he is the missing link and has awakened genes that lay dormant in most humans. Mulder and Scully show Assistant Director Skinner Gibson’s extraordinary brain activity and Mulder believes Gibson is the key to everything in the X-Files. Fowey and Skinner warn Mulder that if things go wrong, the X-files will be permanently closed down.
Mulder disregards the warnings continues to look for clues as Fowley watches young Gibson. Gibson is eventually kidnapped by the Smoking Man and Mulder confronts Agent Spender as he believes he is working for the smoking man.
Skinner tells Scully that the X-Files are going to be shut down and Mulder realizes that he was a pawn in the Smoking Man’s game. The Smoking Man burns the X-Files office down, but not before removing Samantha Mulder’s file and telling Agent Spender that he is his father.
Right about this time, Fox made a major motion picture and brought The X-Files to the big screen. The film was a huge success and was easily enjoyable for both first time viewers and hard core fans alike. While Season 5 ended with the possibility that Mulder is interested in Agent Fowley, in the film he only shows interest in Scully.
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Something magical happens in season 6. The show suddenly becomes a lot more playful.
Mulder and Scully begin to have fun with each other, and in a strange way, the camera AND the viewer become somewhat of a third agent.
We see moments between the two we hadn’t had an opportunity to see up until this season.
The season beings where the movie left off. Mulder explodes at Scully for not backing up his story about a UFO (in her defense she was unconscious). Mulder once again becomes interested in Diana Fowley.
Season 6 Episode 3 – “Triangle”
“Triangle” is a wonderfully orchestrated episode in which Mulder investigates a missing ship and goes back in time to 1939. With the help of The Lone Gunmen, Scully desperately searches for him in the present while Mulder tries to survive on the infamous on a ship that has been taken over by Nazi’s.
Ironically enough, a 1930’s version of Scully is on board and Mulder immediately takes an interest in her. He goes so far to tell her that he loves her and kisses her in case he doesn’t survive the time warp back to the present day.
Season 6 Episode 4 & 5 – “Dreamland”
“Dreamland” is an awesomely fun, interesting episode. A UFO flies over and switches the bodies of Mulder and a military man by the name of Morris Fletcher. Mulder instantly notices something is wrong, but Fletcher pretends he is ACTUALLY Mulder. Mulder, in Fletchers body, heads to Fletchers home and begins to reck havoc on Fletcher’s family (when he does sleep he calls out Scully’s name and Fletchers wife thinks her husband is now having an affair).
Fletcher, in Mulder’s body, heads back to DC with Scully and tries to make the moves on her. Scully is a little upset and taken back by this as she see’s “Mulder” flirting with multiple women in this episode.
The REAL Mulder ends up getting ahold of Scully and explaining the whole situation.
Season 6 Episode 6 – “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”
This is a fantastic episode!
In fact, one of my favorite quotes from the whole series can be found here as an angry Scully tries to rationalize The X-Files as Mulder pulls her away from her family and the two spend the evening in a haunted house.
“These are tricks that the mind plays. They are ingrained cliches from a thousand different horror films. When we hear a sound, we get a chill. We-we see a shadow and we allow ourselves to imagine something that an otherwise rational person would discount out of hand. The whole… Mulder…? The whole idea of a benevolent entity fits perfectly with what I’m saying. That a spirit would materialize or return for no other purpose than to show itself is silly and ridiculous. I mean, what it really shows is how silly and ridiculous we have become in believing such things. I mean, that… That we can ignore all natural laws about the corporeal body- that-that we witness these spirits clad in-in their own shabby outfits with the same old haircuts and hairstyles never aging, never… Never in search of more comfortable surroundings– it actually ends up saying more about the living than it does about the dead.”
This is NOT your average Christmas show as the two agents end up turning on each other and killing each other (only in their minds of course).
The two Agents eventually escape from the haunted house and go back to Mulder’s apartment. Scully tells Mulder that she DID, in fact, want to be out there with him tonight and the two exchange gifts.
Season 6 Episode 8 – “The Rain King”
“The Rain King” is probably in my top 5 X-Files episodes of all time.
This episode is quite silly as it revolves around the agents believing a woman can control the weather. The agents head to Kansas to investigate and the woman somehow ends up falling in love with Mulder.
Scully becomes very jealous as she finds the two making out in the hallway.
The man Scully happens to be walking with just happens to be in love with the woman who controls the weather.
Mulder explains that he has no feelings for the weather controlling woman and the man asks Mulder for some dating advice. Scully laughs at this idea, but the man says “I’ve seen the way you two gaze at each other (meaning Scully and Mulder).”
Mulder quickly responds with, “I do not GAZE at Scully.”
Season 6 Episode 15 – “Arcadia”
Mulder and Scully are FINALLY back on the X-Files.
“Arcadia” is a fan favorite becuase in this episode, we get to see Mulder and Scully play house as husband and wife. The two agents act as newlyweds who move into a planned community to investigate a spirit which has been murdering people in the neighborhood.
Pretending to be the Rob and Laura Petrie, they convincingly act as a couple while their neighbors are watching, and “try to be cool” when no one is actually watching (acting like they disgust each other).
There is a lot of great banter between the two in this episode. Mulder teases her that they should finally make their sex tape and that she just wants to “play house.”
Season 6 Episode 18 – “Milagro”
I enjoy “Milagro” because it is the first time the world “love” is used on the X-Files.
The show opens with Mulder getting a new neighbor, Philip Padgett. Padgett is infatuated with Scully.
Scully and Padgett spend some time together and Mulder ends up catching Scully on a bed with his new neighbor.
Mulder hounds Scully and asks her if the two of them have been intimate.
Scully is a little offended and replies with, “I think you know me better than that Mulder.”
Padgett struggles with creating his next great character, but somehow brings his vision to life and his character becomes a Murderer.
Padgett is arrested and Mulder hounds him about Scully. Padgett simply states, “In my book I’ve written that agent Scully falls in love, but that is impossible… Agent Scully is already in love.”
When Padgett is released him and Mulder meet in the basement of their apartment building. Mulder confronts him as he starts to burn his book, hopefully riding the world of his “creation.”
Mulder hears gunshots coming from upstairs and runs upstairs. He finds Scully on the ground covered in blood but alive.
The lines of “reality” seem to bleed here and she realizes she was shot by a “fake character.” She awakens and reaches for Mulder. The two agents share a long hug.
Season 6 Episode 16 – “Alpha”
Alpha is a small, but monumental episode in the X-Files mythology and also plays a big part the in the theory and Mulder and Scully are in fact together. Scully beings to wonder how many women Mulder has in his life after he has been communicating with a woman online. Scully becomes very insecure, however, the next few episodes burry that insecurity and Mulder realizes Scully is the one for him.
The reason this episode is so important for the mythology is, Mulder once again starts believing in the existence of extraterrestrials and finally replaces the “I Want To Believe” poster in his office.
This once again proves the theory that when Mulder believes, the two are in a good place, when he doesn’t believe, he takes it out on Scully.
Season 6 Episode 19 – “The Unnatural”
“The Unnatural” is a fun little story about an extraterrestrial falling in love with the game of baseball. Not much happens in this episode, BUT most fans that think Mulder and Scully are together believe this is when their relationship officially starts (especially after Mulder realizes Scully TRUELY loves him in “Milagro).”
This entire episode is littered with silliness that is much different from any other X-Files episode. The two work on a Saturday and spend the day laughing and flirting about baseball… Mulder even goes so far as to tease Scully for her nonfat daily ice cream choice.
The episode ends with Mulder teaching Scully how to play baseball.
Season 6 Episode 21 – “Field Trip”
Scully is feeling bored with work and Mulder’s “crazy” theories. Mulder convinces her that while his theories are ridiculous, he does turn out to be right 98.9% of the time and that he does deserve some respect/credit due.
Scully follows Mulder to investigate the Brown Mountain Lights after two skeletal remains were found in the middle of a forest. Suddenly, everything seems to be working in Mulder’s favor. Mulder discovers and abducts and Alien to show Scully. Scully and Mudler share a great moment when they realize their life’s work is finally complete, only Mulder suddenly ends up dead.
Time starts warping and the agents soon realize that they are trapped hallucinating inside a giant mushroom that is eating them alive!
The agents survive and are pulled to safety. The two are placed in an ambulance and when the doors shut, when they think no one is looking, the two of them reach out to grab the others hand.
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Now, there is one more episode in season 6, but just like the end of season 3, it deals heavily with the first episode in season 7, which will be covered next Saturday.
As always, feel free to let me know what you thought via the comment section or via Facebook messenger! Do you agree or disagree?
The X-Files Re-Opened Documentary
The X-Files First Look Season 10
Gillian Anderson’s “Show & Tell”
