There were some good aspects to this two part season finale. And then it went to an absurdly Christian place and made me really uncomfortable.
Did Chris Carter become a born again Christian during season eight or something? The religious influence in these episodes was extremely obvious and really pretty overdone. As far as we can tell from the ending, Scully's child is perfectly normal, so why build up the whole story as if he's Jesus? You know what this reminds me of? Darla on Angel. I won't say anything more than that, though.
I guess the idea of the Lone Gunmen as the three wise men is pretty funny, though. I commented while watching that I really hoped those packages they were carrying didn't have gold, frankincense and myrrh in them. There was also Mulder claiming to have followed the light, all the alien super soldiers gathering to watch Scully's birth in an otherwise abandoned shack, and the extremely Jesusy scene at the end. Probably others, but I'm actually kind of surprised I could pick out that much, having never studied any of this.
But also, I just don't like the idea of the child being special in any way other than to Scully, and obviously Mulder, too. I don't want this child to be important. I don't think The X-Files really provides much of a framework for rapidly ageing the baby without disastrous consequences, so with only one season left, I'm guessing it's going to end with a one-year-old. I suppose they could flash forward a few years, but I doubt that'll happen. Which should make season nine very interesting. By which I mean boring, because I honestly don't care to see a show about Scully raising William.
Parts of the plot I really enjoyed. I like the idea that there are alien super soldiers or whatever they are and they seem to have some sort of conflict within their ranks, because I could never really tell who wanted to help Scully and who wanted to hurt her or William. Oh, and speaking of William, I think it's hilarious that she indicated she named him William after Mulder's father. Wasn't her father's name also William?
I enjoyed the tension in these episodes as it was pretty much non-stop. The whole time I was on the edge of my seat wondering how they would escape the next jam they were all in.
But in terms of actually escaping those jams, I have no idea whose side anyone is one any more. At first it looked like Knowle and Agent Crane were trying to help by crushing Billy in the garbage truck, but by the end, it seems like that was just a diversion? I don't get it. I also don't think that, despite their apparently gruesome demises, either one of them is actually dead. We know what they are. If a garbage compactor can't destroy one of them, I doubt getting run over by a car or being in an explosion will even come close.
Speaking of the garbage compactor, there was one line Skinner had in 'Existence' that really struck me: "I saw him go in, I saw him come out." Because all I can think of when I see phrasing like that is Bill O'Reilly's absurd take on the tides. "Body goes in, guts come out. You can't explain that!"
So I guess going into season nine, there's quite a bit of uncertainty, mostly about the alien super soldiers. If they've always been around, why are they only starting to show themselves now? Or was Knowle a normal person and somehow transformed? We've had nearly eight full seasons of alien plots relating to regular biological aliens, including the colonisation/invasion plot, and now it's sort of back but completely reworked. Yeah, that doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Because honestly, these guys seem way more interesting than the shapeshifting bounty hunter.
We know who the players are going into the next season, at least. It seems that Reyes will be sticking around and working with Doggett, which means I guess Mulder and Scully will spend their time being all domestic. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to make that less boring than it sounds.
And we're made aware of some conspiracy regarding the alien super soldiers, because clearly there are people within the government who know about them or even possibly are super soldiers themselves. Knowle and Crane can't be the only ones. And there are probably factions among them, too. I'm still not sure why they suddenly protected Scully's baby (perhaps they got a signal from the mothership?) but there's clearly something there.
Oh, and one other thing I really did like, relating to whatever government conspiracy there may or may not be regarding these new aliens, there was my own "I told you so" moment. Kersh is evil! Or at least part of some conspiracy. I knew it. Well, OK, I didn't know it, but I suspected it was possible. And now he's being investigated.
So maybe Mulder can get his job back, after all? I'm guessing after some of the crap he pulled, probably not, even without Kersh there.
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