Mulder’s gone for now, but Scully and newcomer Agent Doggett are still seeking that elusive Truth. Paul Spragg went out in search of the much-vaunted new mythology.
We thought it was
all over… but it wasn’t. Although Requiem provided a neat bookend to the series (after
all, somehow it seems right that the series should end with Mulder finding the
truth he’s long sought), it also opened up several new cans of worms.
Cigarette Smoking Man dead? Scully pregnant? But more importantly, the details
of the ongoing alien war still aren’t clear, Mulder’s apparent alien
heritage remains unexplained and just who Krycek works for and why is still
shrouded in secrecy. Season eight could be a nail driven through the still
twitching corpse of The X-Files, or it could be a revitalizing potion
that allows it to make a new start.
As Mulder seems to be the center of the so-called mytharc, with him (and CSM) out of the picture, the weight of series continuity has been somewhat lifted. All we have left is how Scully can be pregnant when we were told it was impossible. Did something happen when she was off with Cancer Man in En Ami? Did Mulder tuck her into her bed after something had happened in all things? Presumably the alien DNA either of these two men would have imparted has overridden the problems leaving Scully barren. And does that mean a human/alien hybrid is growing within her? We’ll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, the supporting
characters’ roles will be beefed up to make up for David Duchovny’s
absence (hopefully meaning a lot more of Krycek and Skinner), the Lone Gunmen
will continue to put in appearances until their spin-off show starts mid-season
and we have Robert Patrick as new arrival Agent John Doggett to shake things up
a bit.
The first two episodes (unnamed at present) will be a two-parter starting the search for Mulder and introducing Doggett into the mix, who finds Scully a somewhat tricky person to relate to. These two episodes will feature David Duchovny, although some of his scenes will be the Alien Bounty Hunter impersonating Mulder; the story also concerns the search for child genius Gibson Praise, who is wanted by everyone for his alien-communing skills, and whose abilities are similar to those Mulder had in The Sixth Extinction.
Beyond this, third episode Patience sees Doggett and Scully on a case involving a man-bat creature, with suggestions that Scully is becoming more like Mulder in her way-out theories. Episode four in production order, Redrum, is about a man accused of murder who doesn’t know what he’s done; the reason being that he’s living his entire life backwards and we see events from his perspective. (This episode is now likely to be transmitted seventh, after the all-new clutch of Roadrunner, Invocation and Via Negativa - Web Ed).
“Things are getting strange, I’m starting to worry; this could be a case for Doggett and Scully…” Hmm… it might just work.
© Visual Imagination Ltd 2000
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