In The X-Files season finale recap, Scully witnesses the unleashing of a global terror meant to wipe out humanity but will she be able to save the world and Mulder?
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer @DamonMartin
The X-Files returned for six-episodes in a season labeled as a ‘revival’ but after it was all said and done, we are left with a cliffhanger.
Scully was forced to face the truth about the alien DNA hiding inside her body as a global pandemic broke out in a matter of hours that threatened to wipe out the entire world’s population minus a select few.
Mulder came face to face with the Cigarette Smoking Man again while finding out that he wasn’t on the short list of people meant to live past today.
And in the end, an alien ship (or possibly a man-made duplicate) arrived with a bright light shining down on our heroes before The X-Files season 10 (aka the revival) faded to black.
That’s the short, short version but with that said let’s recap the final episode of The X-Files titled ‘My Struggle II’ that will mark the end of the show for this year before the series undoubtedly returns for more in the future….
Outbreak
The opening this week mimicked the first episode in the season except this time around it was Scully laying out her history with the X-Files and a final revelation that she’s concerned about the alien DNA hiding inside her body that might eventually turn her into something not so human.
Following the introduction, Scully heads into work where she finds an empty seat where Mulder is supposed to be. On his computer she finds a video from Tad O’Malley, who has returned from seclusion to reveal his latest conspiracy theory about a secret organization unleashing diseases across the world that are meant to wipe out the majority of the human population.
Tad’s theory involves alien DNA — the same alien DNA he said lived inside the girl we met during the first episode as well as Scully — and he believes that the secret shadow operation behind this entire ordeal has “activated” whatever lives and breeds inside the human population and it’s finally going to wipe us out.
Scully continues to search for Mulder, only to find out that his place has been trashed and he’s still nowhere to be found. Her problems are only mounting after enlisting Agent Einstein for assistance and figuring out that a huge number of people around the city are starting to get really, really sick.
From an outbreak of anthrax to all kinds of other diseases springing up, Scully is starting to think that Tad O’Malley is onto something and considering she already confirmed the alien DNA living inside her body, it’s probably only a matter of time before she’s falling ill as well.
The Spartan Virus
While hordes of people are flooding the area hospitals with all kinds of illnesses, Scully gets a call from an old colleague, who offers her some much needed answers about everything that’s happening right now.
Enter Monica Reyes.
Reyes returns for the finale but she’s got some crucial information that she received after going to work for the Cigarette Smoking Man following the explosion that nearly took his life and burned off a significant part of his skin. He offers Reyes a chance to save her own life and many others but only if she pledges loyalty to him while becoming his right hand as this plan begins to unfold.
Reyes explains to Scully that what’s being unleashed upon the world is something called the Spartan Virus but the alien DNA isn’t what’s killing her — it’s what’s saving her.
It turns out the select few who were chosen to remain alive on Earth after this mass genocide were given the alien DNA and it protects them from this killer virus. When Scully was taken years ago, she was injected with the alien DNA that would ultimately save her life. Reyes also reveals that the Cigarette Smoking Man planned to offer the same deal to Mulder, who he loves apparently, and then they can all survive together after the rest of the world gets sick and dies.
Scully is shocked by the news but it also gives her some options now that she knows her DNA is what’s stopping the disease, which means if they can synthesize it, the rest of the world could be saved as well.
Back at the lab, Scully and Einstein try to locate the alien DNA marker but it takes several tests before they can properly discover the correct strain. Einstein is beginning to fall ill when Scully finally digs into a sample that reveals the alien DNA in her body. She moves quickly to mass produce the substance before feeding it to Einstein in an IV that will save her life.
Scully instructs Einstein to continue to duplicate the alien DNA mixture to hand out to doctors and then patients while she goes on a hunt to find Mulder.
The Chosen One
We flashback to Mulder running into the henchman sent to collect him courtesy of the Cigarette Smoking Man, who wants to inject him with the alien DNA in order to save his life. Mulder is able to get the upper hand and subdue the assailant before going on a drive all the way to South Carolina where he finally confronts his old nemesis, who is definitely looking a little worse for wear but still puffing away on those cigarettes, this time courtesy of a tracheotomy.
The Cigarette Smoking Man tells Mulder how his entire plan revolved around saving him so that he could be one of the selected people that would survive this plague to cleanse the Earth of humanity. He explains to Mulder that all the world’s problems exist in spite of him, not because of him. Global warming and all the other ecological disasters are man made and he had no hand in that.
But he will gladly take credit for what’s about to happen with the majority of the world’s population dying over the next few weeks.
Mulder refuses to play his games but the sickness that’s afflicted the rest of the world is also living deep inside of him as well. Mulder is so weak that he can’t even hold a gun on the Cigarette Smoking Man before passing out on the ground.
Just when it looks like Mulder is going to die on the floor, Agent Miller shows up out of nowhere after tracking his idol’s phone to the exact location where he’s been stashed following his hunt for the Cigarette Smoking Man. Agent Miller rescues Mulder, puts him in the car and they begin the long drive back to Washington D.C.
Saves the Day
Scully finally hears from Miller, who tells her that Mulder is very sick and barely clinging to life as they drive back to the city. Miller isn’t doing too well himself but he’s still able to drive until they get stuck in traffic on the way back.
Scully tracks them down and runs to the car where she’s ready to give Mulder the IV full of her alien DNA solution that will surely save his life. Except there’s one problem — Mulder is so sick that she’s not sure that even this miracle cure will save him.
Mulder needs to receive stem cells with the alien DNA that will help cure him but the only person who would match him is William, the son he and Scully gave up all those years ago and who has been a major player during this entire season without ever seeing him.
Scully tells Miller that they have to find William but she has no idea where to find him — and then out of nowhere, the alien vehicle that we first discovered back in the season debut shows up overhead. A spotlight shines down on Mulder and Scully and just as she looks up, blinded by the overwhelming brightness, the scene fades to black and The X-Files revival is officially at an end.
So we are left with a cliffhanger — and a really big one at that — but this all but assures us all that the X-Files will return for a second revival or a season 11, whatever you want to call it, but when that will happen is still a mystery. For now, let your imaginations run wild as we all wonder — did Mulder get saved in time? Were those the aliens or just a duplicate ship that humans replicated? Will Mulder and Scully be reunited with William?
Stay tuned because The X-Files will return — we have to believe.
