The X-Files Season 2, Episodes 5/6: Duane Barry/Ascension

OK, this two part sequence really ups the ante, doesn't it? I feel like this is where the series goes from being merely good to great, and even spectacular.

And to think that at least some of this plot line came out of the fact that Gillian Anderson needed to take maternity leave.

Well, regardless of the reason, 'Duane Barry' was already an excellent episode, but then the last 2 minutes happened, and everything changed.

Normally, "To be continued..." are three words you really never want to see at the end of an episode of television. Thinking back to some of the cliffhangers from shows I watched as they aired, like Dollhouse and Fringe, I know that waiting a week or more for the resolution was rather nerve-wracking, much as the wait between 'Duane Barry' and 'Ascension' must have been back in 1994.

This was an exceptional 90 minutes of television, but I'll mostly start with the first 45, which were exceptional even on their own, before the shocking ending. The fact that Duane Barry is brain damaged and suffers delusions and hallucinations as a result of that brain damage plants doubts into our minds as to the veracity of his story.

Yes, we know that Scully saw and held a jar with an alien fetus in it in 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'. And I know that in The X-Files universe, aliens are very much real and have definitely visited earth (actually, maybe I don't? Maybe the entire thing is a massive practical joke?). But we aren't sure of the details, and while we've seen abduction storylines developed on the show up to this point, we've really never seen the aliens themselves, or what they do to their victims.

We don't know for sure what happened to Samantha. We only know what Mulder says he saw and had a flashback dream about in 'Little Green Men'. And the flashbacks in 'Duane Barry' all center around Duane himself, and we're told many times that he can't be trusted.

And after an already extremely tense standoff in which Mulder again does things his own way and pisses off the by-the-book types, the big reveal is that Duane was telling the truth about the dental drilling and the metal implants. It's possible there's some other explanation still, even for the drilling, which apparently could not have been performed using the available tools of the time. Maybe his teeth were just defective? At this point, I somehow doubt it. I believe his story, because it's the most logical thing to believe at this point.

The fact that Scully, probably wanting to prove that the piece of metal removed from his abdomen was simply a meaningless piece of metal, went so far as to use a grocery checkout scanner to test this theory, and then the machine went haywire, even further validating Duane's story.

And then suddenly the aliens appear at the hospital, either in Duane's vision or for real (in this case, I think the vision/memory triggered a physical response enabling him to wake up and quickly regain his strength, and that the aliens were NOT actually there) and he's assaulting an officer and running out of the hospital.

But the real moment where this show completely delivers the unexpected comes as Scully is leaving Mulder a message about her experience at the grocery store. Not only are we given the horror of seeing Duane's face peering in her window, but we're forced to listen to his assault on her through Mulder's answering machine, followed by the ominous three words, "To be continued."

And continued it is. 'Ascension' is the 'Innocence' to 'Duane Barry''s 'Surprise', in a way. As I said at the beginning, 'Duane Barry' was an exceptional episode. 'Ascension' feels like this has suddenly become a different show, and nothing will ever be the same. And it's only season two. If these are the kinds of twists and turns The X-Files can deliver early on, I admit I'm a little scared of what might happen a few seasons down the road.

So Duane has kidnapped Scully, horrifyingly locking her in her own trunk and stealing her car to drive to the destination he now remembers as being where the aliens first abducted him.

And we get an incredibly tense episode with, for the first time really, multiple intertwining plot lines.

Most important, at least to me and probably most viewers, is Mulder's attempted rescue of Scully. So what does he do? He recklessly drives a cable car up the mountain against the recommendations of the operator, and when he nears the top, Krycek tries to kill him. Well, I suppose he first tries to just strand Mulder, underestimating his determination. But I don't think what he did once Mulder was outside the cable car could be mistaken for anything else.

So Krycek isn't just crooked, he also has no conscience, because he's willing to kill Mulder despite having been instructed to keep Mulder alive and maintain his trust (I'm assuming if those were his orders later, they would have been before, as well - they certainly wouldn't have been, "Kill Mulder" or "It's OK if Mulder dies.") Of course, Mulder won't get the chance to play along, even though he discovers Krycek's connection with the Smoking Man.

Anyway, there's now that somewhat confusing scene at the top of the mountain. I've had to watch this a few times to figure out if Mulder is telling the truth. It really does look like search helicopters shining their lights down, and I think it's meant to be ambiguous.

Which brings us back to Duane Barry's story. If he's telling the truth, then there are humans from the government working with the aliens (or if he's NOT telling the truth, then it's only government officials and he's seeing aliens). Which I guess would make sense (no more or less than anything else he's said), and would probably put the Smoking Man and Krycek in that group in some way.

But that would mean that Scully was not necessarily abducted by aliens (but also not necessarily not, either). And I don't believe she was. I believe that government organisation picked her up under the cover of the bright lights of the helicopters, which of course Duane Barry would assume were alien ships. And given Krycek's conversation later with The Smoking Man, I'm leaning more and more towards this version of events. "We've taken care of [Scully]." OK, that's ominous.

Even worse, that group may have actually been at the interrogation room as Duane Barry suggested, because Krycek would certainly lie to Mulder about their presence.

And just when it appears Mulder has reached a dead end, he discovers the cigarette in Krycek's car and immediately reports to Skinner, who seems to believe Mulder, and when he finds out that Krycek has disappeared, responds by re-opening the X-Files. I swear, when I was watching this, I pumped my fist and shouted, "YES!" when he said that. This is an excellent development.

So it now appears we have at least two distinct groups working against each other, and at least Mulder and Skinner are aware that the Smoking Man may not be who he seems. As far as I can tell, there's one side of the Smoking Man and Krycek, and the other of Mulder, Skinner, and X, and presumably Scully once she returns from maternity leavewherever she's been.

Deny everything.