Tonight’s episode, the second part of a two-part opener begins with a recap of the recap. Agent Mulder explains that the X-Files division brings Mulder and Scully back together, Scully has Aline DNA in her, they have a baby that is in hiding. Cut to a bloodied iris. A retinal scan, of a scientist heading into a work at a high-security facility. His day is only going to get worse. During a board meeting he begins to hear voices that pierce his sanity with words and sounds. Words and sounds that others in the room cannot hear. He suddenly runs out of the meeting screaming, “Can’t you hear that?” He is next seen in a secure server room scouring files for information. As his coworkers beg him stop what he is doing he continues his data infiltration. Then, in a fit of spastic insanity he scribbles a note on his palm, lunges for a letter opener (Why this is in a server room, we won’t ask) and jabs the sharp object into his ear, committing suicide.
The rest of this article is choice’ full of SPOILERS.
Ready?
We return from the commercial break to see a very welcome, very familiar scene; Agents Mulder and Scully picking over the scene of an incident and jabbing each other with quips, “What do you make of this Scully?”, “It seems that the Dr. had a psychotic episode and committed suicide, what with the letter opener sticking out of his head.” We learn that this is a defense facility under strict security. While Scully haggles with the supervising manager about what they can and can’t do on the campus, Mulder simply nabs the dead man’s cell phone, unlocks it with a fingerprint from the dead man’s hand, and slips the phone into his pocket.
As they are leaving Scully urges Mulder, “What are you doing Mulder? You know you aren’t supposed to take evidence from a crime scene!” in another reference to the time that has passed, Mulder retorts, “You know me, I’m old school.” The thinking is to talk to those who knew this now dead scientist. They find a gentleman by the name of Gupta and arrange to meet him at a bar. Gupta meaning “secret”.
Mulder meets Gupta at a bar and after being led to a backroom, soon finds out the nature of Gupta’s relationship with Sanjay. Meanwhile we see Scully in the coroner examination room. She comes across the scrawl on Sanjay’s hand that reads, “Founder’s Mutation”, and quickly phones Mulder, who was at the bar, consoling Sanjay’s lover over two fingers of whisky. Gupta admits, “Sanjay had become distant. He said that his children were dying.”
The two decide to investigate Sanjay’s home. Flashlights in hand, they arrive at the deceased scientist’s loft apartment. In another reference to the new world that they are living in Scully says, “It’s amazing that in 2016 he had to keep being gay a secret.” Mulder suspiciously muses, “Being gay wasn’t his only secret.” On a wall in the apartment are clinical pictures of deformed children. These are the children that Sanjay was referring to. Red and blue flashing lights flash from the street below and the police are on their way up.
As Mulder and Scully prepare to make a run for it, Mulder is crippled by the same high pitched noise that drove Sanjay to insanity. Scully meets the police, letting them know that all is well. While Mulder writhes in pain from the unrelenting sound he is looking at at Scully speaking with the police and hearing them utter mysterious words that make no sense. …and commercial break.
The two agents sit before their boss trying to explain why they were in the scientist’s apartment. across the room, a government official holds the records that were taken from Sanjay’s apartment detailing children with physical abnormalities. How these relate to Sanjay’s suicide is the mystery. The problem is that those are classified documents and are now property of the government. The official leaves the room and the real discussion begins.
Agent Skinner, Mulder and Scully’s superior snaps right back into form. “I assume you made some copies.” Skinner asks Mulder. The suspicion is that these children are genetic experiments. Scully remains skeptical but asks for time to investigate. “Welcome back you two.” Skinner says.
As Scully pores over surveillance videos, Mulder enters the room. He explains what happened at Sanjay’s apartment and tells her that he heard the words, “Save her.” They make the connection between Sanjay and Mulder’s accuse hearing. There is a moment here that is fleeting and touching. Freeze framing on Sanjay’s suicide, she says. “This could have been you Mulder.”
Mulder and Scully decide to reach out to one of the biggest donors to the hospital that Scully now calls her workplace. There they meet a troubled mother who has been told that her unborn child is deformed. As they leave Scully and Mulder again have another wonderful scene. They talk about the child that they had together, that they also put up for adoption, in a secretive manner. “He would have been 15 years old” Scully says sadly.
Then a truly brilliant flashback montage happens. We see Sully’s imagined life with this young boy. Taking him to school for the first time through to discovering her son mutating into an alien. Ah puberty.
The FBI duo then visit Dr. Goldman at his facility. Here he specializes in finding cures for the many physical abnormalities plaguing children. Here Scully suggests that Goldman is funded by the government to find the cause of physical deformation as a result of alien interaction. They are soon whisked out of the facility, but not before witnessing a demonstration of telekinesis from one of the more violent patients.
Soon the troubled mother that they met at the hospital is found dead in a hit and run, but the baby is gone. Removed by someone.
We then meet Dr. Goldman’s ex wife. She claims that Goldman had used their daughter, Molly, for experiments. In a flashback we see that, while pregnant she left her husband over the matter. During a car accident the pregnant woman free’s the baby inside of her. In a delectably gory scene the baby paws its way out of the freshly sliced belly. WOW.
Back to present day, Mulder and Scully find this child. The son of Dr. Goldman, the one who made his way out of his own mother’s stomach. He has the ability to cloud minds, to put thoughts into people’s heads. He is looking for his sister. The two agents have an idea of where they can find her.
Scully and Mulder take him to his father’s institute where a battery of test are run and blood samples are taken. Here the young man meets his sister and all telekinetic hell breaks loose. They knock everyone against walls, shatter windows and kill their human father.
We then cut to the police outside the building where Agent Skinner is explaining to Mulder and Scully that the case is no longer in their jurisdiction. After accepting defeat, Scully sees that Mulder has the vile of the young man’s blood that was taken during his examination.
The episode closes with Mulder in an imagined flashback, imagining what his life would have been with his child. Very similar to Scully’s imagining, the two are enjoying quintessential father-son moments That is, of course, until the abduction.
This episode was even better than the last, driving the history that Mulder and Scully had together, while at the same time, adding to the bigger narrative of a mutation in the human race. A mutation that could very well be something instigated by the government and aliens together.
It’s good to have them back. We can’t wait for next week!
