“My Struggle II”Scully must look within to try and find a cure when people all over the country suddenly start falling gravely ill. Less info
The mini-season of the new X-Files has come to a close. We are left with far more questions to a much greater threat than we were ever presented with in the original series. In classic X-Files fashion, we circuitously return to the “Global/Intergalactic Conspiracy” plot that the reboot has established. Written and directed once again by original series creator, Chris Carter, My Struggle 2 begins with a recap of My Struggle.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) begins in voice over with a bio of her career in the FBI, how she met Mulder and was told to debunk him. She was challenged and came to fear that the institution that she joined had been infiltrated by darker forces. She explains that she was abducted and came back with a life threatening disease. This new epidemic has been constructed to control people on a global scale. She goes on to say that they are now awaiting the brain trust that created the illness could be poised and ready to spring into action. As the voice over closes Scully explains that she has been exposed to this illness and has Alien DNA. Then this happened…
WHAT THUH FUHHHHHHHhhhh……
So now, Scully is part alien, she and Mulder are looking to find a cure, their son, and stop evil forces. We now have the new arch for the reboot of the X-Files.
Scully enters the FBI and can’t find Mulder. Inside his office his laptop is open to Tad O’Malley’s (Joel McHale) show. Scully hits play and watches a clip in which O’Malley claims that everyone in America has has been infected. The phone rings, Scully answers. It’s O’Malley who insists that Scully come to his office. Scully arrives to find O’Malley in his office with it torn apart.
Scully meets with her boss, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), and Agent Einstein (Lauren Ambrose) to go over O’Malley’s claims of a global epidemic conspiracy. There could be something to O’Malley’s claims. Scully suggests that she and Einstein visit the hospital to take blood samples from Einstein.
When they arrive at the hospital, they run into a man that is delirious. He has a wound on his left shoulder and Scully calls a nurse over. We then cut to Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) in a car, driving on a forested road. He has abrasions all over his face. The sickness or has he been roughed up? The phone rings and he glances down at the screen. It’s Skinner. Mulder declines the call and speeds up.
Back at the hospital Scully is taking a sample of Einstein’s blood. Scully confides that she tested her own blood and found something “alien”. Scully muses, “The science that we were taught, takes us only a distance to the truth.”
Einstein asks how DNA could have been introduced. Scully explains it may have been through vaccinations. Just then, Agent Miller (Robbie Amell) bursts in with a laptop. O’Malley’s show is causing public hysteria. Scully Checks with the nurse about the man she encountered on her way in. He is incoherent and Scully immediately believes he has Anthrax poisoning. Einstein and Miller ask what’s up, she tells them that they could be witnessing the first wave of global contagions.
Miller locates Mulder using phone GPS and speeds off. Meanwhile Scully and Einstein watch as the young man responds to the treatment against anthrax. Scully says “This is just the beginning” Einstein becomes slightly irate and begins arguing with her in the hallway. As Einstein speaks, Scully stares at her, suspiciously, and the sound of her Einsteins voice becomes slightly odd, muffled somehow. Felling like something isn’t right, Scully continues to look at Einstein and suddenly feigns sudden agreement with her. Scully’s phone rings. It’s a female. Scully asks who it is. “Someone who has helped you.”
Scully meets a woman, Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), out in the rain. In a flashback we see that Monica was an agent. She had visited a man who was in the hospital, badly burned. ” The man welcomes her in. “You think you know who I am.” the man in the bed says. “I thought you were dead.” Monica replies. “They haven’t killed me yet, though they have tried.” replies the bandaged man. Monica explains to Scully that she made a deal with this man in the bed. Going back to Flashback we see the man in the bed say, “How badly I want a cigarette.” It’s The Cigarette smoking Man (William B. Davis) He offers to spare her life.
Monica explains that Scully has been chosen to be spared from the epidemic. “What about Mulder?” Scully asks. “He loves Mulder” Monica explains. He sent a man to make Mulder a deal.” We then see a man sneaking into Mulder’s apartment. Mulder sneaks up behind the intruder and they fight. Through a struggle, Mulder ends up holding a gun to the mans head and asks, “Who sent you?”We then cut to the Cigarette Smoking Man sitting in his library. The barrel of a gun enters frame. It’s Mulder. “You wanted to see me? He asks.
“This is so unnecessary Fox.” The Cigarette Smoking Man says dryly. “I’ve controlled you since before you existed.”
“Now who’s controlling?” Mulder asks.
“The world is falling down around you. You may not believe this but I want to save you.”
The Cigarette Smoking man explains that he is speeding up the inevitable by killing off most of mankind to save the planet and make it livable again.
We then cut to O’Malley explaining that a conspiracy is happening in which disease is breaking out. In the meantime Scully meets Einstein back at the hospital. Einstein now suddenly believes Scully as she sees everyone around her getting sicker. Scully, after talking to Monica realizes that it’s her alien DNA that is saving her. They decide to replicate Scully’s DNA in order to give it to everyone and give them immunity. Weird. As they are attempting to do so, the nurse comes in and explains that everyone, even the doctors are getting sick.
Back in the studio we see a sick O’Malley. He is explaining that the first deaths have occurred. In the hospital, Scully is seeing everyone around her dying. Meanwhile, Agent Miller arrives at The Cigarette Smoking Man’s home to save Mulder. The Smoking Man offers the cure to Mulder and he refuses saying, “No, that’s what he would want.”. Miller helps Mulder into the car and the Cigarette Smoking Man tells Miller, “Before he dies, tell him goodbye for me”. Miller and Mulder haul ass back to the hospital in hopes that Scully can devise a cure.
As Scully and Einstein race to find the alien DNA to create a cure, Einstein begins to succumb to the sickness that is taking everyone. Scully creates a cure and gives it to Einstein. It works! Riots begin to break out in the city, there is gridlock, chaos. O’Malley live broadcasts that there may be hope as he received a text from a “Dr.” that they have found a cure.
There is too much traffic and Miller and Mulder are trapped on a bridge. Scully nimbly navigates the traffic in her SUV, meets them on the bridge. She assesses Mulder and then tells Miller that he is far more along than a normal cure will take care of. “What does he need?” Miller asks. “Something like a stem cell implant” Scully diagnoses on the bridge in the middle of a riot. Miller asks where she would get that. Scully explains that they she and Mulder had a son. That might be the answer. Just then a UFO appears love the traffic jam and shines a light on Scully. The end.
Ooooakaaaaay.
This episode had quite a bit of ground to cover. It had to wrap up a gigantic premise of a global virus conspiracy and then allow for a cliffhanger from which to launch a reboot of The X-Files. Let’s talk about the good. My Struggle 2 was able to tap into the paranoid conspiracy theories that drove the original series to success. It was also fully capable of reaching back and explaining the involvement of characters like The Cigarette Smoking Man into the bigger picture. We also saw the inclusion of new faces, Miller and Einstein. We saw their faults, we saw their strengths.
Now the bad. It suffered the Return of the Jedi syndrome. Things had to be tied up far too quickly, far too dramatically with characters making simple assumptions for the sake of time. Scully and Einstein are at just the right hospital and run into just the right patient, offering just the right cure to set the plot in motion. Why did Miller NEED to find Mulder. Wouldn’t he have just stayed to help at the hospital? Why did The Cigarette Smoking Man just let Miller into his mansion? How did Scully know exactly where to find Miller and Mulder. Finally how on earth will the government explain away the UFO that suddenly appeared during a full scale riot. Things got, to quote Scully. “Bat-crap crazy” with a far bigger mess to clean up than before. Things got so far to a point of absurdity that, well, why the heck should we care?
Still, we do care. These characters are endearing. We “want to believe” that truth will be revealed, that honesty and a sense of justice will prevail. How can it, though, when things went so bonkers. We shall see. Fox network has already expressed their interest in continuing the story. We certainly believe that there is more to tell. Please Fox, bring the show back. Give us the fun, the mystery, the scares that we had before. The genius behind this 6 episode event is that it demonstrated there is still some magic left in Chris Carter. It also proved that as long as there is mystery left in the world, Mulder and Scully are the go-to people to uncover it.
Please bring back The X-Files.
