"The Truth Is Out There" Re-Watch: "Colony" & "End Game"

The X-Files

It feels like it's been forever since we have had legit mythology episodes, like classic two-parter mythology episodes.  So, it was nice to get back to them, especially because this is when they were actually good.

"Colony"

Dana Scully: "Our friend from the C.I.A. is about as unbelievable as his story... as is everything this case. I mean, whatever happened to "trust no one," Mulder?

Fox Mulder: "Oh, I changed it to "trust everyone." I didn't tell you?"

Notable Guest Star: Brian Thompson as the Alien Bounty Hunter

Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology

X-File of the Week: Special Agent Fox Mulder is alerted to the deaths of three doctors in different parts of the country who were working at abortion clinics. The deaths are brought to his attention because the three doctors are identical, but they aren't related at all. Mulder and Scully locate a fourth doctor and send a local FBI agent to check on him. When he turns up dead, the agents get involved in a plot that brings Mulder back to one of the most formative experiences of his life.

Sister act.

These two episodes really are some of the highest quality mythology episodes of the series run. They are early enough that the show hasn't written itself into a circle and it really feels like there are serious, series altering revelations here. From the moment the episode begins, in media res, with Mulder being rushed in to an Arctic hospital, seemingly with hypothermia, you know you're in for a ride. Not to mention, Scully busting into the place and telling them that warming up Mulder will certainly kill him. It's a great note to begin the episode and it makes you very excited and interested to find out how we will eventually get there.

You have to keep the show props for casting Brian Thompson as the Alien Bounty Hunter. If you watched any sort of genre show in the '90's, then you've seen him before. He was so great in these roles that shows would cast him to play two different characters within in the series. He was in the two-part "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" series premiere as the Master's vessel Luke and then he appeared as the Judge in season two. He played two different roles in "Charmed:" The horseman of war and Cronos the Titan. He's menacing and bulking and you would be shitting your pants if you saw someone like that heading your way. From the moment he shows up to murder that doctor, it's pretty much on.

I'm always a big fan of Mulder and Scully switching positions and we get a nice bit of this in this first episode when CIA agent Ambrose Chapel hits the scene. We all know that this is clearly the Alien Bounty Hunter in disguise, but Mulder is so quick to trust him and Scully is shook. And was there a real CIA agent Chapel that the Bounty Hunter killed and replaced or did he come up with this guy all on his own, backstory and all. Did he crafter it before coming to Earth to complete this mission? So many questions.

This is such a jam packed episode that the Samantha reveal isn't even the cliffhanger! I remember when I watched this the first time, I had to check the time left, but no. There was still like 15 minutes to go. That is bananas. This is the first time we spend some real time with Mulder's parents and I have to tell you, I love Teena Mulder. She's played by Rebecca Toolan and she is a delight mainly because she is so weird. It's like the writers have never written for an older woman before and it's all over the place. Like, when Mulder puts her to bed and she says she only needs a couple hours even though she's been up all night. That is bananas to me but I love it. Toolan plays Teena like she is always confused and unsure of where she is and what she's doing. It's kind of perfect.

The last ten minutes of the episode are super tense, from Samantha telling Mulder her abduction and return story, the revelation the clones are aliens, to the Bounty Hunter showing up at Scully's motel disguised as Mulder. I don't know how people waited a week to see the resolution.

Grade: A-

"End Game"

[Skinner enters Mulder's apartment after fighting with X]

Walter Skinner: "Agent Mulder took a commercial flight to Tacoma, Washington... there he took a military plane to Deadhorse, Alaska. Using his FBI credentials, he chartered a Raologon All-Terrain Vehicle - still a ten-mile hike across the ice. Here are the co-ordinates of his final destination."

Dana Scully: "Where did you get this?"

Walther Skinner: "Unofficial channels."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology

X-File of the Week: After her abduction by the Alien Bounty Hunter, Samantha and Mulder agree to a trade, but things go wrong, resulting in Samantha's apparent death. Samantha had disclosed to Mulder that the aliens were experimenting with the DNA of fetuses from the abortion clinic and their fellow extraterrestrials were none too pleased. So, the Alien Bounty Hunter was sent to eradicate the experiment. With Samantha gone, can Mulder stop him or is there still more to this than meets the eye?

It's Mulder's turn...

Seriously. These episodes put their foot on your throat and just don't let up. After a brief interlude with a sub in the Beaufort Sea, we are back in Scully's hotel room and there is a intense, physical altercation between Scully and the Alien Bounty Hunter. I understand why they didn't, but I can't help but think of how that scene would have played if the Bounty Hunter would have kept Mulder's appearance while he and Scully tussled. Again, I get it. It's early in the run and the last thing viewers probably wanted to see as their two protagonists and eventual lovers going at it, even if it wasn't really one of them. But man. That could have made the scene even more intense and brutal than it already was. 

Soon we are on the bridge and I have to say, this plan seems a little half cocked. I mean, would Mulder really agree this readily to have his sister, who he just got back, whose abduction he still feels immense grief and guilt and responsibility over, just sacrifice herself to the Bounty Hunter on Scully's behalf. It just feels a little wonky, but it's still pretty tense and affecting and it's kind of heart wrenching when the Bounty Hunter and Samantha fall into the drink.

I think anyone watching these episodes, even if it's the first time they've ever seen the episodes, have to know that this isn't really Mulder's sister. But I'll be damned if that matters, particularly when Scully tells Mulder that her body has been found and he has to relay the news to his dad. David Duchovny gets a lot of juicy stuff to play as Mulder. There's of course the comedy. The righteous anger. The anger. The sadness, but this is the first time we've seen him play grief at this level. The kind of grief that is so consuming that he can't even form words at points when he's talking to his dad, Bill. It is maybe Duchovny's finest acting moment on the the show so far and it also gives us our first real insight into the supremely dysfunctional father/son relationship of the Mulder's.

Even after the female clones reveal that they lied to Mulder to convince him to protect their alpha, maybe with his life, they continue to dangle knowledge of his sister's true whereabouts to keep him helping them. The Bounty Hunter dashes this, but Mulder is possessed and calls on X to tell him that as they are speaking a team is in the process of potentially destroying the ship the ABH came to Earth on. 

Speaking of X, how fucking badass is the scene between Skinner and X in the elevator. Skinner is so great. He clearly has a fatherly affection for Mulder and he is not above beating ass to get what he wants. I'm not going to lie, every time I watch that scene I get a little turned on.

Eventually, we are on the ice with Mulder and we get one of the most iconic images of "The X-Files." That sub, half submerged in the ice. Honestly, the climax of this episode is not the strongest. There is a struggle with the Bounty Hunter where he reveals that Samantha is alive. Mulder is exposed to his blood which is what led to his condition at the beginning of "Colony." In the end, these mythology episodes end how so many of them do. With any evidence of what they uncovered gone, Scully explaining it away and really even with the knowledge that we the audience and Mulder have, it kind of feels like this was all inconsequential. But as I said, this early in the game, it's not old hat to us and the adrenaline still pumping in our veins, allows us to forgive so easily.

Grade: B+

Next up, the agents have to contend with an elephant ghost and old age.

What do you all think of these? Are they some of the best mythology episodes of the series? Or do you have some complaints? Let me know in the comments.