The X-Files – My Struggle II

By starrymag | February 24, 2016

By: Kelly Kearney

It’s the end of the world as we know it and none of us are feeling fine.

 

This week’s episode saw the end of the world as we know it and nobody was feeling fine except Scully, who’s alien DNA saved her and possibly the rest of the human race. In typical “The X-Files” fashion, there was government conspiracies, high drama, twists and turns and evil foes which led to the most exciting and infuriating cliff hanger Chris Carter has ever tortured his fans with. My Struggle II was the final episode in a 6-episode short return for the series and needless to say, the fans are angrily begging for more.

A follow up to episode one (My Struggle) My Struggle II centers around the end of the human race thanks to the Spartan virus which infects millions of people with various illness like Anthrax and other deadly diseases. The virus infecting the population is thanks to Mulder’s father and the show’s biggest antagonist, the Cigarette Smoking Man (or “CSM” as the fans refer to him). CSM’s is on an ultimate power trip along with a last ditch effort, to have his son and Scully join him in creating a new planet and its inhabitants. Fans may remember Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) saw CSM die in New Mexico thanks to a black hawk helicopter enacting fiery justice, but like all things on “The X-Files” nothing is as it seems.

The final episode plays like bookends to the first episode, with Scully providing some backstory through old photos and a voice over, in the same manner that Mulder recounted his life in the premiere. We find out through her monologue that Scully has gone from skeptic to believer thanks to her newly uncovered alien DNA and the discovery of alien technology being used to destroy humanity, in a push to create a new world order. Scully, like Mulder, has become a believer. From FEMA camps, to chemtrails to 9/11 conspiracies she’s come a long way in the past 23 years.

This is Not Happening…Again

The episode begins with Scully arriving late to the office at the FBI with Mulder nowhere to be found. His laptop is open to Tad O’Malley’s show, which is back on the air with a shocking news story. Tad claims that he has definitive evidence that alien DNA exists in every American citizen. As Scully is watching Tad’s show, her phone rings and speak of the devil, it’s Tad. Tad is at Mulder’s house and he needs Scully to meet him right away.

Scully rushes to Mulder’s and what she finds shakes her to the core. Mulder is missing and the inside of his house shows signs of a struggle. She wants answers from Tad (Joel McHale) and all he can offer her is that he was meeting Mulder to discuss an anomaly in his DNA. Scully shrugs off this reason by saying everybody has anomalous DNA and then calls the police to inform them of her missing partner. With Mulder’s track record and his pension for getting abducted by aliens, Scully’s not taking any chances.

Scully heads back to the office, where Skinner and Agent Einstein (Lauren Ambrose) are waiting for her. They’re both concerned about Mulder and but no more than Scully. Scully tells them she’s afraid Mulder doesn’t trust her. Her diagnosis of Mulder’s depression put a wrench in his faith in Scully and she’s not sure that’s changed. Scully tells Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Einstein the story about the anomalous DNA, but that as of now, she has no proof of its validity. Both agents head to the hospital to test Scully’s blood. Einstein, who’s now taken over the skeptic’s role, doesn’t believe the alien DNA story and is quite happy to allow science to prove Scully wrong. When they get to the hospital, the agents notice it seems busier than normal. Patients are flooding the hallways, waiting for treatment and a disoriented man with an infected lesion on his arm approaches them only to be whisked away by a nurse.

In the lab, Einstein is drawing Scully’s blood while they discuss this DNA theory. Scully tells the red headed agent about her discovery of her own alien DNA and Einstein, a woman of science, doesn’t understand why Scully was even searching for such a thing. The exchange is tense and Scully seems defensive and worried but tries explaining to Einstein how she went from skeptic to believer. Spending years on “The X-Files,” and decades running from the tragedies that occurred during those years, Scully learned that there’s more to science then what is taught in college and medical journals. While the two female agents play a round of skeptic vs. believer, Agent Miller (Robbie Amell) walks in and tells them that Tad O’Malley’s Alien DNA story has broken the internet. Tad’s streaming an interview with a doctor who’s talking about the onslaught of a massive contagion that attacks the immune system similar to the AIDS virus. This all makes sense to Scully after she finds out the disoriented and injured man who approached them is in the military. The infected lesion is Anthrax. All soldiers are given an Anthrax vaccine prior to being shipped out and with a compromised immune system, the small amount of vaccine was enough to cause a full break out.

The “Human” Disease…

Miller heads back to Mulder’s office to stream O’Malley’s show only to see Tad confirming Scully’s fear, that this contagion is being delivered to everyone through vaccinations. LET THE PANIC BEGIN! Just as Tad is dropping a Jenny McCarthy sized bomb on America, Miller notices a phone finder app on Mulder’s desktop. He gives it a try and BOOM! Mulder’s in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Finally, we see Mulder, who is looking worse for the wear, covered in bruises and abrasions, ignoring phone calls from Scully and Skinner while driving like last week’s “Trip” has yet to wear off. He’s all over the road and appears to be as sick as he is battered. He dozes off on the shoulder of the road only to be woken a short time later to the sound of sirens blazing past him. He shakes off his delirium and continues on. We don’t know where he’s going or why but he seems determined to get there.

At the hospital, Agent Einstein and Agent Scully are engaging in a Mulder/ Scully type argument about the vaccine theory. Einstein thinks the soldier’s lesions were due to a faulty vaccine while Scully is steadfast in her beliefs, while still questions the why and how. Einstein theorizes that for a total shutdown from the immune system, something would have to be extracted from the human genome not added to it by way of vaccine. Scully can’t answer to the possibilities just the facts she’s been presented with. The two go back and forth until Scully gets a call from a familiar confidant, Agent Monica Reyes (played by Annabeth Gish). Reyes doesn’t say who she is and it’s been over a decade since they’ve seen each other so Scully doesn’t recognize the voice. She tells Scully that she has information and to trust her because she’s, “Someone who was there for you when you needed help.” Intrigued and desperate for answers Scully heads off to meet the familiar informant.

The two woman meet in the rain and tentatively kiss hello. It’s a bittersweet reunion considering the gravity in which they last saw each other. With Reyes delivering Scully’s son, protecting him and then later witnessing Scully’s fight to keep him safe, these two have a painful history – at least from Scully’s point of view. Monica proved she always had Mulder and Scully’s back, but have things changed? To Scully, it sure seems so. Monica tells Scully that she quit the FBI over a decade ago when she was summoned by a man they know well, CSM. Through flashbacks, Monica tells Scully that CSM survived the firebombing in the original series finale and was receiving skin grafts and around the clock care. He offered Monica a deal, one that left her, “little choice,” to refuse. He offers to save Monica’s life in return for her companionship. To say she was offended is an understatement, but CSM explains that every human will die. He will become the most powerful man on earth and a select few will join him in building this new world order. His plan? To depopulate the earth through the very science we’ve been using since the 1950’s when the first UFO crashed on earth. He claims that this is, “not as simple as alien DNA mixed with ours,” and that humanity’s fate was sealed at birth. CSM has a god complex or maybe a devil one, either way he wants to be the sole creator of this new race and populate the earth with his chosen few.

Scully is beyond angry at Monica and calls her a coward for siding with CSM and being his personal cigarette supplier. Monica tries to calm Scully by telling her that she’s safe and protected, they both are. She’s been chosen as one of the select few to survive this depopulation and that her alien DNA will save her from this contagion spreading through the country. She tells Scully that this plan was set into motion in 2012, the year that was supposed to lead to an alien invasion that would destroy the planet. As we know, that didn’t happen and that’s when this plan was born. She also tells Scully that CSM loves Mulder and wants to protect him that’s why he sent a man to his house to offer Mulder a deal.

A Deal with The Devil…

Flashback to Mulder going Kung Fu on the guy doing the CSM’s bidding. The man breaks into the house and Mulder puts up a decent fight for a guy who recently said he was a middle aged man who know longer chases perps up flights of steps. Eventually, Mulder gets the upper hand and pins his assailant to the ground, puts a gun to his head and demands to know who sent him. Cut to the present and Mulder is standing over CSM with a gun to his head and says, “You sent for me. I’m here.” CSM tells Mulder the gun is unnecessary and brags about his involvement in Mulder’s life. He claims that he’s controlled everything, including Mulder, long before Mulder ever knew who CSM was. He is omnipotent, at least in his over bloated egotistical mind. He tells Mulder he’s trying to save him from the inevitable end of humanity so he can see Scully again. He calls Scully, Mulder’s “weakness” and unless you haven’t been following along the last 24 years, CSM is spot on. Scully has always been Mulder’s weakness, maybe more so than his search for the truth. He tells Mulder he never set out to destroy the planet, he had to just sit back and let humans do the job for him. With global warming, depletion of our natural resources, famine and war, he’s hardly had to lift a finger. Humans have destroyed the planet all on their own he just upped the timeline. He assures Mulder that he will die unless he takes his offer, of a seat at the big boys table, alongside his beloved Scully, to recreate the earth and its population. Mulder who’s showing signs of a fever appears to be in the final stages of this contagious onslaught and CSM notices Mulder doesn’t have much time left.

Back at the hospital things have gone from bad to worse. Patients are flooding the ER, the staff is dwindling and the CDC has announced a massive global contagion. Scully needs Einstein’s help and admits that while she was right about her DNA theory her science was off. Alien DNA isn’t killing people, just the opposite, its saving them. The Spartan virus is already dormant in human DNA, put there through everyone’s small pox vaccinations. If they could make a vaccine from Scully’s blood, using her alien DNA, it would fight the virus and save the world.

Mulder is now quickly declining and still refusing the help of his father, CSM. The sinister man tells Mulder that he will miss him and then removes a facial prosthetic to reveal his monstrous face. Being shot in the face with a missile tends to do that. Mulder chuckles and says he wishes Scully could see what a monster CSM became. CSM fires back with his own barb about Scully, saying that after Mulder dies, CSM is all Scully will have left.

While Mulder is dealing with the worst family issues any of us could ever dream of, Scully is at the hospital baffled by her blood results. It seems the alien DNA she previously found is now missing! The two doctor/agents have no idea what happened and proceed to debate the most confusing medical mumbo jumbo I’ve ever heard on a primetime show about the paranormal. Finally, Einstein realizes that the blood sample they took was not big enough and takes another sample, this time a much larger one. Einstein is feverish and coming down with the global illness, but fights through because Scully needs her.

Back at the CSM hell house, Agent Miller finds Mulder thanks to the mobile app finder and what he finds is not good. Mulder is barely hanging on and looming over him is CSM mocking him to his grave. This is the worst father/son reunion I’ve ever seen! Miller promises to help Mulder while the CSM tells them there’s noting that can be done, “they” planned this very well. Mulder optimistically asks if there’s a cure, something other than what his evil father is offering?

Not with a Bang, But with A Whimper…

At the hospital, Scully and Einstein have success with the new sample. The alien DNA is present and Scully works on the vaccine while a fast declining Einstein lies down to rest. Miller calls Scully to let her know he has Mulder, but he’s in bad shape and Miller isn’t feeling much better. Both agents could use a doctor, but Miller is determined to get Mulder back to Scully. The one problem? Mulder and Miller are in South Carolina and Scully is in D.C. and he’s afraid they might run out of gas. Scully tells him to keep his phone charged as she will find them. Then, Scully gives Einstein an IV with the cure and tells her to distribute the anecdotes to the hospital doctors so they can create more doses.

Tad O’Malley is still streaming his show, vowing to stay on the air as technology is shutting down and society is collapsing. He’s very ill and doesn’t look like he’s going to last very long. He tells his viewers that, “it appears we go out with a whimper.” Panic ensues, the streets are filled with distraught people resulting in a total breakdown of society. Scully stops a man from looting a local business and she tells the crowd of people  to get to the hospital, they have a cure. She hops in her SUV and speeds off down the sidewalk, dodging cars and people while talking to Agent Miller on the phone. Miller and Mulder are close and the young agent is directing Scully to their whereabouts on a bridge. The bridge is jam packed with stopped cars and wandering people so she stops driving and starts running through the crowds of searching for the two sick agents. Scully finally reaches them and she immediately checks on Mulder’s status. Mulder, always the jokester even on his death bed, says to Scully, “Old Smokey saved your life. I suppose I should thank him.” Scully is relieved he’s still finding the energy to joke, but she is equally devastated by the state of her once lover and current partner. Mulder needs more than just the alien DNA cure; his illness has progressed beyond that. Scully pulls Miller aside and tells him the cure won’t work, Mulder needs a stem cell transplant from their son William, but the only problem is nobody has a clue where William is. On cue, a bright light illuminates the bridge directly over Scully and we see a triangular shaped UFO hovering above her, targeting only her. Is this another abduction? Is this William coming to rescue Scully and Mulder aboard his new out of this world ride? We don’t know because the screen goes to black leaving “The X-Files” fans with the best or maybe the worst cliffhanger to a television series audiences have ever seen! We don’t know if Mulder lives, we don’t know if Scully saves humanity, we don’t have a clue where William is and we don’t even know if this is the end of the series…forever!

As an avid fan of the show, I expected a brutal cliffhanger. I expected to be angry. I expected it to end with more questions than answers. The search for the truth has always been at the heart of “The X-Files,” not just for the characters, but for the fans as well. I want to “believe” that we will get our answers and Mulder and Scully will get the closure they’ve been searching a decade for. “The Truth Is Out There,” and all we, as fans, can hope for is that creator Chris Carter takes pity on us and answers our questions in a follow up season. Until then xphiles, “don’t give up!”