So, new plots now, right? It looks like we get all the resolution we'll ever need to the plots of the first five seasons in 'Two Fathers' and 'One Son'.
I liked the framing of 'Two Fathers'. This one succeeded where 'Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man' failed. And the Smoking Man, now also known as C.G.B. Spender, along with dozens of other aliases, not only reveals almost everything to the viewer at least, but proves himself to be a more dangerous and persistent villain than any of the rest of the Syndicate, who are finally named officially in these episodes. Oh, yes, and then all killed horribly.
I can see how people might have said this show jumped the shark at some point. I don't know what's coming in the final three and a half seasons, but I feel like a lot of the mystery of the first five has now been laid to rest. We know most of the truth at this point, and I feel like I actually understand it. So they're clearly going to have to come up with another story to tell for 80 or so more episodes.
Weirder, though, is that they did this in the middle of the season. Remember what I was saying about the serialisation and season to season continuity? Forget seasons seven, eight, and nine, what the hell is going to happen in the rest of six? I'm not really expecting a huge change in tone, at least, and some of the main bad guys are still in play.
Big Spender obviously escaped the hangar, taking the show's newest villain, Diana, with him, and I'm pretty sure Krycek wasn't even there, so he'll probably be involved in the future story, and we don't know exactly what became of Little Spender.
Well, yes, we're led to believe that he was shot and killed inside the FBI. I've gotta say, Cancer Man may be a horribly evil person, but no one should be questioning his sheer nerve. But we we also didn't see his shot hit its target and we never saw Jeffrey's body or were explicitly told he was killed. Much like the Cancer Man himself at the end of 'Redux' in season five. Rule number one is, if you don't see a body, don't assume there even is one.
Still, it looks like the rebels have succeeded (for now) and Cassandra is dead and cannot now be presented to the colonists, so at least that part of their evil plan will have to wait a while. And again, while it might have been interesting to see colonisation begin and have everyone, now aware of the alien invaders, try to stop it, I think this works a lot better, because there's real closure. I'm not saying they might not try again, or that Mulder won't continue to try to find his sister, but for the most part, this story is over.
I felt that, to some degree, 'One Son' was a bit of a letdown after all the reveals in 'Two Fathers'. (Also, the phrase, "Two fathers, one son" has the same unfortunate rhythm as "Two girls, one cup." You're welcome.)
I guess the first episode was meant to be the more dramatic and mysterious setup, with an action heavy second half. And the action in the second half wasn't even all that interesting. It was mostly just clean up. I mean, it was finally clean up, but I think it was maybe done a little too late, especially considering there were a few dud non-mythology episodes between say, 'Patient X'/'The Red and the Black' and this. I'm glad it's reached this point, I just think that certain parts of the resolution could have been a little more interesting.
There were some other nice touches in these episodes, though. The reference to Diana spending a lot of time travelling to Tunisia, where we saw a corn and bee installation at the end of the movie was good, and since that's still in play, even without the Syndicate (the clones and shapeshifters are still around), there's bound to be something more to that story that will come up later. But despite his initial trust of Diana (really, Mulder?) I think we can safely assume Mulder knows she's not on their side now given that the Cancer Man showed up at her apartment. Sadly, Mulder again failed to kill him, but then, who am I kidding? He's as much as part of this show as Mulder and Scully are, and his death would completely change the series.
However, the exposure of Diana's alliance with him will hopefully mean they're also done with the whole unspoken love triangle aspect of the show. I know that at this point they're going to drag out Mulder/Scully as long as possible, if it ever even happens, but I wasn't a fan of seeing Scully constantly jealous of Diana without Mulder being able to understand why.
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