Viviana's Review of "The Truth"

I’m going to break my review down into 4 categories: Mythology, MSR, Story/Resolution, and Miscellaneous. I think it’s better if I just attack each section separately than try to write some really long review where I try to go in order of what happened in the episode. I haven’t seen the episode since last month, but luckily, I took notes when I watched it, so this should refresh my memory. As I’m writing this, I still don’t even know if I really liked it, I’m rather torn. I guess as I start writing, I’ll formulate some final opinion. Oh, word of caution: I’m actually trying to make sense of it all and be serious, so if you notice a lack of humor, well, that’s just too damn bad!

Mythology
~ The final “truth” revealed in this episode was the date of alien colonization, when we all become slave race to the new aliens who will take over the planet and wipe us all out, December 22, 2012. I think I remember seeing heavy speculation about the importance of this date at the Haven boards, but I didn’t really care at the time, so I didn’t read anything. The date is keeping continuity with what Kurtzweil said in the movie, that it would be a holiday, when people would be away from their homes. Wow, I didn’t think 1013 knew what continuity was anymore. So colonization is 10 years away. Okay. Was this the truth we really cared about and were concerned with? Didn’t we find out “the truth” that this show started out searching for (i.e. the fate of Mulder’s sister) in season 7? After that, shouldn’t the show have ended? How did it make it to a 9th season? What good is knowing the date for colonization when no one’s going to do anything about it? Mulder and Scully sure aren’t, they said so at the end, and it’s not like they really could do anything anyways. Great, so we know when we’re all going to die. I really could care less about the date for colonization. Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen some questions answered about the jumbled mess that CC and 1013 have done with the mythology from seasons 8-9. How did Scully get pregnant when she wasn’t supposed to? What about the alien replicants? TCM: who is he working for? What happened to Mulder during his abduction? What was Mulder really up to during this entire season? Weed Hope, New Mexico = “looking for the truth”? Right….. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF INTRODUCING WILLIAM IF YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GET RID OF HIM!?!? Argh, anger management. But really, the date for colonization is quite a useless truth in my opinion.

Mulder/Scully “Stuff”
~ So they are hardcore romantically involved and totally not caring about anything else except each other and their relationship. I want to go back to my happy time during last season, when I was living in denial of the fact that anything was going on. Everyone was like, “They are soooooo having sex,” and I was like, “It’s Mulder and Scully, they are sooooo not, they would never do that!” Those days are now lost to me. So when I first saw them together and Mulder was completely expressionless and calling her “Dana,” I was LMAO at how funny and random that response was. I was thinking, “Mulder’s on drugs: cool!” And then, my theory was once again upheld by his random, completely opposite behavior the second time they were together when they were hardcore macking. I was like, “Dude, randomness much?!?” Then I watched the episode again and talked to reelgirl and realized that the reason he was putting on an act was because of the guard that was standing at the door the first time and he wanted to show that they’d successfully brainwashed him, but the second time, the guard wasn’t there, so he could just be himself. I wasn’t paying attention. Yes, made much more sense the second time around. The kiss was pretty Playboy style heavy, I do admit. I looked at my watch and wondered how long this was going to last. Actually, this episode did succeed in proving to me that Mulder and Scully really do love each other because before, I thought they were just lying or confused, but I really have no doubts know. I just don’t like the fact that they’re having sex and involved because I always thought that what made them so cool was the fact that they weren’t into that, they were more about the work than anything else and didn’t let all this romantic stuff get in the way, but now, it’s the opposite of that. They’re more concerned about this than anything else. So, I think it’s nice that they love each other and all, but I’m not all about them being together romantically.

~ Moving on to other things. I thought it was really out of place for the huge scene where Mulder finds out that Scully gave up William to be left off-screen, and also that it was Skinner who told him. I mean, this could’ve made for a great, dramatic scene if it’d be shown and it had been Scully who would’ve told him. Skinner? Look, I love Skinner, but Mulder and Scully’s kid, is well, Mulder and Scully’s business! They should be the ones dealing with it, and it’s a really private matter, I don’t see why it had to come down to Skinner to tell Mulder. It seemed to me that Skinner told Mulder of his own accord because when Scully goes to visit him, she starts to tell him, but he cuts her off and tells her that he already knows. Minus a few points for Skinman there. I wasn’t comfortable with that.

Side Note: I’m quite surprised (or maybe not) that people haven’t sprung up countless debates of what Mulder might have been mouthing to Scully in the courtroom scene where Scully’s giving her testimony. It surprises me, considering how much overanalyzation there was to the “DeadAlive” scene when Mulder opens his eyes and people started talking about how he was mouthing “I love you,” or some crap like that. Maybe there have been threads about this, but I haven’t seen them and I’m surprised obsessed shippers and/or Havenites haven’t overanalyzed this to death. I personally didn’t think anything of it, in “The Truth” or in “DeadAlive,” but I thought it was funny how people were trying to see things that weren’t there.

~ You know that scene where Scully storms into Mulder’s jail cell (this is sounding like it’s leading to porn, but it’s not!) and talks about how he should testify to get a reduced sentence and Mulder’s like, “No,” and she starts to get mad and he’s just being elusive and saying that he’d rather die? It’s a one-minute scene, but it’s so stupid. You’d think that now that they’re together, they’d act differently, you know, more concerned about their well being and being together and stuff. You’d think. But no. Mulder’s still just as self-centered and selfish as always. People, it’s called character development, big changes equal changes in behavior/attitude! They’re together, so show that it has affected them by making them more concerned! Fudge, man!

~ I really think I’ve gone on for far too long about Mulder and Scully……..

Story And How This Resolves The Series
~ The whole episode was pretty much centered around Mulder. I think David Duchovny had a hand in this. I was expecting him to help write it, but it didn’t show him in the credits. I still think he influenced this episode majorly. It’s no secret that he was disappointed with the way his character was handled last season and so I think this episode was supposed to make up for that. Hey, no problem for me, the more Mulder the merrier! I really wasn’t expecting what this episode was going to be about. I thought it was going to be some action-filled, running around, looking to stop supersoldiers, and I had some sort of vein of hope that Scully and Mulder were going to get back William. I just find it hard to accept that the William storyline has been neatly tidied up and gotten rid of. It’s so retarded. Also, I wasn’t expecting to see Mulder and Scully together until well into the second hour and five minutes into it, we already got to see them reunited. That was fast. I think it would’ve been better if three-fourths of this episode hadn’t been contrived to Mulder being in jail. I think it would’ve been cooler if Mulder and Scully had gone around, investigating something and their reunion would’ve been built up instead of just, boom, the episode starts and they’re together. It would’ve made it more suspenseful, for me at least. Another thing I didn’t like was the fact that this episode just spent most of its time going over stuff we already know. Those testimony scenes, dear God! I think any scene that states that Scully is a scientist/doctor who was assigned to the x-files is worthless and a waste of time. We know that, even people who don’t watch know that! Then there was the whole talk of how she came to believe, the alien rebels, the black oil, Gibson Praise, blah blah blah, stop telling us stuff we already know and focus on the mythology you’ve created these past two seasons!! Apparently, this repeating of crap we’ve known for years was done for people who haven’t seen the show before so they can understand for people who may have been confused. A) I really doubt non-fans were watching the finale, seriously, and b) if you’re a fan and you don’t know this crap by now, something called the Internet and x-philes would’ve explained it to you by now.

~ Finally, I really think this episode, for being the big finale of this huge show with such an involving mythology and all that is quite a letdown cause it doesn’t really say anything new. What did you learn that you didn’t already know from watching? Fine, you learned the date for colonization, but like I said before, what good is that information if nothing can be done about it? Also, Mulder and Scully, the protagonists are now reduced to leaving the continent. I know this show is all about making Mulder and Scully’s lives hard and all that, but come on. They deserved something better, some sort of redemption and vindication. Great, so they have each other, but other than that, what? No child, no job, they’re a disgrace to the FBI, hardly any family (somewhere Margaret Scully weeps), and everything else they’ve lost throughout the years. Doesn’t that just suck? I was so angry at the end, I was like, “You deserve more, you’re so cool!” So they have each other and hope (in what, I’m a bit unclear on that), and that may get them through it all, but I don’t like it. It’s like their efforts were for nothing. Nothing.

Musings And Other Things
~ So what was up with those freaky visions of Mulder? At first I was like, “What, Krycek’s alive?!?” Too bad he wasn’t, he was sexy mofo. And it’s weird that Mulder would be having visions of Krycek, someone he loathes. And X? What about Deep Throat, he was ten times cooler than X!! It seemed to me that the visions were giving him mixed signals because Mr. X gave Mulder Marita’s address, but then in the courtroom, Krycek tells Mulder to cut her off because they’ll kill her. Mixed messages a bit there?

~ Where the hell was Follmer? He was hot, and I thought this episode was supposed to be a reunion of all the characters. Follmer should’ve definitely been there, he’s old-school from November, man! Sheesh, think of it: Mulder, Follmer, hey look, their names rhyme! *Hee!*

~ One big beef I had (aside from all the other ones I’ve talked about) was during Scully’s testimony. Attorney Asshole asks for evidence of all the stuff she just talked about and wouldn’t the x-files count as evidence? All of their work is there. Then he asks for hard evidence of their cases. Well, let’s see, there’s Scully chip in her neck, which if removed, she dies. That’s hard proof right there. And what about Skinner’s nano-technology in his brain or whatever that was controlled by Krycek? That’s hard proof right there! Why wasn’t this brought up? HARD proof right there!! I do have to admit that I found it hilarious when AA said, “Isn’t it true that you and Mulder were lovers and that you had his child?” Haha, her testimony of all the stuff they’ve uncovered just flew out the window because she slept with the defendant! Good times! Speaking of this though, how did Mr. Attorney even know that they’d gotten together and had a kid? Did he ask people at the FBI about the nature of their relationship? Probably, that would make sense, huh? But why would people tell him? More questions than answers here!

~ Go Doggett and Reyes, defending Mulder and Scully in the courtroom! When Doggett’s like, “Well, let’s shove it up their asses,” I was like, “Yes, this episode need some damn action, let’s get this party started!” Reyes was by far awesome with her intense scene of bad mouthing the judges and defending M/S. Go Reyes, she definitely redeemed herself for her moronic ways during the season and annoyingness. And even good acting by Annabeth Gish! I don’t really want to see D/R in the next movie, but at least my last memory of them will be as going out in a blaze of glory defending the Mulder and Scully.

~ What was up with that busting Mulder out of the brig scene?! All of a sudden, Doggett and Skinner (the cutest couple on this show, so great seeing them together busting Spooky out of the jail!!) just show up, they somehow got into the HIGH SECURITY MILITARY JAIL and opened up his cell and boom, they’re out of there. Where did they get this? When did they plan this? Hello? Remember in “Three Words” all the security and stuff when Doggett and Mulder were trying to run away? I was so amazed at how quickly and with what ease they got Mulder out.

~ So what’s with Kersh these days? He was obviously looking to put Mulder down during the trial and then at the end, when they’re breaking him out, he’s helping him escape?! So does he believe Mulder now? What’s going on? What made him change his mind? Kersh is still a shady character in my opinion. I think he’s working with TCM. But I guess if he was, he wouldn’t have helped Mulder.

~ Where did they get those SUVs for Mulder and Scully then later for Doggett and Reyes? What the hell? What happened to their normal cars? Of course, that was just a blatant promotion for FORD who sponsored all those online events at the OS like the finale party broadcast, but still. Where does it fit in the show?

~ CSM was still alive and living in New Mexico in some rock quarry. Alright. Who was that woman taking care of him? Why was he there? Perhaps this was explained but I don’t remember. To be safe from the supersoldiers? So CSM gave Mulder the key to the facility so he could break in and find the date for colonization and then see him “weak and broken”? Gee, nice way to treat your son. Was this CSM’s plan all along? Right on! I don’t know, I prefer seeing Mulder “weak and broken” when Scully’s missing. Those were the days…. And you know what? If Mulder and Scully hadn’t gone to visit him he wouldn’t have been killed because the only reason those helicopters were there was because they were looking to kill Mulder and Scully. So damn you Mulder and Scully, you caused the death of one of the greatest villains ever!

~ Speaking of people looking to dispose of the Mulder and the Scully, who wants to kill them now and why? The new syndicate? TCM and his black helicopter cronies? And why? They know the date for colonization, “the truth,” is that why? If I were Mulder or Scully, I would expose it with proof and then no one would be able to kill me because I would be too popular and stuff to be killed. If they killed me, it would look extremely suspicious and fishy.

In the end, I think this episode didn’t really provide much closure. I mean, look at everything that was left open and up in the air; the fate of the characters, the fate of the world, a lot of unanswered questions, etc. While this is in true X-Files vein, I think that for a series finale, some exceptions should’ve been made and some sort of indication for the future should’ve been given. But I guess this is all done with a future movie in mind, which I pray every night for because I can’t accept the fact that the show is over with and that I’ll never see anything new involving Mulder and Scully again. No, that is not possible. I think “The Truth” would’ve worked better as a stand-alone mythology episode, but not THE final, culminating episode. It just spent way too much time stating things I already knew and not enough time answering a lot of my questions. I like the story of the episode, Mulder breaking into a facility, in jail, but I just don’t think it’s good as the series finale.

And as I conclude (because you’re all probably drunk or high or have a headache by now), all I want to say that I’ve probably already said is that I’ll never forget The X-Files. It’s impact on me has been like no other, the show will live on through philes like us and with reruns and DVDs, there’ll always be new fans. Its impact on me goes far beyond that of a TV watching experience. So here’s to 9 great years, well, 7 and then 2 not-so-great years, of the best TV show ever!!

The End