The X-Files – Founder’s Mutation

By: Kelly Kearney

“Founder’s Mutation,” the second episode of the newly revived series, focuses on human evolution: The evolution of mankind through genetic manipulation, the evolution of Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) as parents and as a couple and the evolution of a truth that they’ve been so desperately searching for. After a quick recap of the previous night’s season premiere, Mulder and Scully are back to work for the FBI and investigating the suicide of a Dr. Sanjay (Christopher Logan). Sanjay worked for Nugenics Technology, a genetic testing lab that has ties to the Department of Defense. It seems that the doctor took his own life by driving a letter opener into his brain by way of his ear. Before his tragic end, he complained about a loud, alarm like ringing in his ears and voices telling him to download top secret files from Nugenics’ server. Mulder and Scully jump right back into their rolls as, “believer,” and, “scientist,” when a confused Scully questions why The FBI was called in on an obvious suicide. Mulder seems to know more than he’s letting on and after DOD blocks their investigation, the agents think they’re on to something.

Fox Mulder (who might just be the worst FBI agent in history) steals  Sanjay’s phone and uses the deceased doctor’s fingerprint to access his personal contacts. Scully, who claims she’s “old school, pre-Google,” rattles off the cell phone evidence laws and how Mulder just broke every last one of them. I guess cell phone evidence laws mean nothing when the government is trying to genetically manipulate humans. So, Mulder searches his contacts and finds the name Gupta. Agent, “Pre-Google,” tells him that Gupta is a West Indian Marathi name for secret and Mulder hopes Gupta knows what kinds of secrets Sanjay was keeping.

Secret Lives and Secrets and Lies…

Mulder meets Gupta and after a misunderstanding in the back room of a gay bar, realizes the secret – Sanjay’s sexuality and double life. Gupta (Vik Sahay) tells Mulder he and the doctor were casually seeing each other, but lately Sanjay was distant and seemed preoccupied. Sanjay confided in Gupta that he was worried about his children and that they might die. Mulder, confused by this, questioned the children because Sanjay didn’t have any and his apartment showed no signs of kids. Gupta confesses that Sanjay had another apartment where he lived his secret life. Scully drives Mulder to Sanjay’s apartment and after almost running over a teenage boy, the two agents break into the doctor’s second home. In their search, Scully discovers photos of children with genetic mutations and files about a secret program run by Nugenics founder, Dr. Augustus Goldman (played by “Melrose Place” alum Doug Savant). Before they can continue their search, a tripped alarm sends the police to the apartment. While Scully and the officer discuss the FBI’s investigation, Mulder is crippled by the same loud alarm like ringing that caused Dr. Sanjay to kill himself. Mulder watches Scully talk to the officer and hears a voice say, “help me find her.” Back at the basement office, Scully’s going through security tapes from Nugenics and she asks Mulder what happened back at the apartment. He tells her he heard a loud ringing and she seems concerned because she didn’t hear anything. She points out that the footage right before Sanjay took his life looked identical to the scene she just witnessed with Mulder. Scully tells him this is dangerous and in true Mulder fashion, he shrugs it off and asks when is it not dangerous. Mulder notices on the security tapes a flock of crows descending on the lawn outside Nugenics at the same time Sanjay was committing suicide. Mulder brain storms reasons for these auditory assaults and wonders if someone is communicating through high frequency tones or vibrations. These same high frequency tones are similar to what drives earthworms from the ground after a storm. Scully isn’t sure but she does have a way to talk to Dr. Goldman. Goldman, a reclusive doctor, funds a program for unwed pregnant mothers and thanks to Scully’s job at Our Lady of Sorrows hospital, the agents put in a request to speak with him. While waiting to talk to Goldman, a young pregnant women named Agnes (played by “Hannibal” actress and Gillian Anderson co- star Kacey Rohl), tells the agents she’s changed her mind about giving up her baby and she wants to leave the hospital. She seems distraught and scared and when the head nun of the hospital sees Agnes talking to Mulder and Scully, Agnes back tracks and changes her story. From Agnes’s reaction it’s clear something more is going on than helping unwed mothers. Mulder is convinced that Goldman and the DOD are a part of an evil plan that goes beyond the doctor’s research. He theorizes that Goldman’s work is directly related to the government conspiracy of using women as incubators to produce test subjects that can be manipulated with alien DNA. These experiments are meant to spark a human evolution or, “Founder’s Mutation.” Scully asks if that’s what happened to her when she conceived William. In the last episode, we found out Scully has alien DNA and while that answered many questions about how her son was conceived it didn’t answer why.

A Parent’s Regret…

Scully wants her son William to be more than a government experiment and she asks Mulder, “Was I just an incubator?” Mulder responds, “You’re never just anything tome Scully.” Scully goes into her feelings of regret for giving William up to keep him safe and asks Mulder if he ever thinks about their son. Mulder says, “Yes, of course, but I feel like I’ve had to put that behind me.” Scully understands but is still obviously shaken and determined to find the answers to her own truth. She hopes that William is safe and not suffering like the children in Sanjay’s photos. Scully’s mind drifts to what it would be like if she never gave William up: William’s first day of school, his budding Mulder humor, his first broken bone and Scully’s biggest fear – William turning into an alien. All the thoughts a mother has about her child’s firsts in life tarnished by the fact his conception was a product of an alien conspiracy. The following day, Mulder and Scully meet with Dr. Augustus Goldman. He vaguely answers their questions and allows the agents to take a look at, “his children.” Behind Hannibal Lector style glass cells, the agents see children suffering from terrible genetic mutations and deformities. The children are isolated from each other and Goldman explains they were the result of unwanted pregnancies and the mothers gave them up in hopes he’d find a way to prevent these mutations. As Scully questions Dr. Goldman, a young woman is being restrained by hospital staff. She’s screaming and appears to be trying to escape the hospital ward. That’s when Scully notices she’s moving objects with her mind. Goldman quickly ushers the agents out of the ward and ignores the obvious questions surrounding the young woman’s abilities. At that moment, Mulder gets a text that Agnes was killed in a hit and run accident. Agnes left the hospital and when the agents arrive on the scene and see her body, they ask where her baby is. The officer at the scene seems clueless. Mulder assumes Agnes was murdered to keep her quiet and her baby was stolen to hide the evidence. Mulder is convinced Dr. Goldman or as his colleagues refer to him, “The Founder,” is manipulating embryos with alien DNA setting off a Founder’s Mutation and sparking the beginning of a new chapter in human evolution. Mulder wants to talk to Goldman’s wife who’s been locked away in a mental hospital after she was accused of murdering their baby.

Never Question a Mother’s Instinct…

Mrs. Goldman tells the agents her daughter was taken from her after she discovered the girl could breathe under water. She feared her husband was manipulating her pregnancies for his research. Nine months pregnant with their son, and terrified her husband would take him too, she left the doctor. Crying and frightened, she crashed her car after swerving to avoid an animal in the street. The bleeding and pregnant woman pulled herself from the wreckage when she heard the same deafening sound that Sanjay and Mulder heard. She knew it was her son telling her to release him. She cut the baby from her womb and when she woke up, she was in the hospital accused of murdering their child. She knew her son was taken just like her daughter and she remained in the hospital as a ward of the state ever since. Scully, who’s usually skeptical of these farfetched conspiracies, believes the woman since her story parallels the agent’s experiences with their own child. Mulder thinks the missing, believed to be dead son, is the key. After going through the Nugenics security footage he singles out Kyle, an adopted teen drop out that works as a janitor in both Goldman’s hospital and Eugenics where Sanjay committed suicide. Mulder and Scully set off to question Kyle, but his adopted mother won’t allow it. Mulder continues to push for Kyle’s (Jonathan Whitesell) whereabouts, but the mother becomes angry and demands both the agents off her property. Mulder instantly clutches his head in pain, the loud noises in his head worse than ever. Scully, gun out, takes off searching for the teen boy. Once Kyle is apprehended, Mulder is fine and they question the teen. Kyle admits he has no control over his powers, but didn’t kill Dr. Sanjay because he was helping him find his sister. Kyle is Goldman’s son that was assumed dead. His sister Molly is being held at the hospital as a test subject and he’s determined to find her and reunite with their mother. The agents take Kyle to Dr. Goldman who seems distant and uncaring towards his new found son. Kyle asks to see his sister Molly and the doctor introduces him to a young woman who he claims is his sister. Kyle knows right away it’s a lie and takes off through the hospital searching for her. He finds Molly in one of the glass cells and they immediately recognize each other. Molly is the girl who Scully and Mulder witnessed being restrained at the hospital earlier. It’s clear now she was trying to get their attention to help her find her brother. Molly (Megan Peta Hill) and Kyle communicate telepathically and combine their powers to shatter the glass cell so Molly can be freed. Mulder and Scully are thrown back from the siblings and Doctor Goldman’s killed by way of exploding eyes and ears thanks to the audible onslaught of his children. With the doctor dead, Kyle and Molly escape and Mulder and Scully are faced with real truths about their own son and what might have happened to him after they gave him up.

Mythology Meets The Monster…

The episode ends on a somber note with Mulder, like his partner, dreaming of a life with William: William and Mulder sharing time in front of the TV, launching toy rockets and Mulder’s biggest fear – the alien abduction of William that mirrored the abduction of Mulder’s own sister Samantha. “Founder’s Mutation” was able to combine the mythology of government conspiracies, alien hybrids and William’s creation (with the stand alone monster of the week episodes the show is famous for). For all the episodes surrounding the mythology of The X-Files, the shows heart has always been the relationship between Mulder and Scully and the search for the truths that is in them. “Founder’s Mutation,” is the spark that ignites those truths and pushes Mulder and Scully to question their place in the future evolution of humanity as a whole.