I'm sure there are entire websites dedicated to hating Alvin Kersh. Because seriously, this guy is the worst. I can't even call him a villain, because I don't even know for sure that he is. He clearly has it in for Mulder and the X-Files, but unless he's actually a puppet being manipulated by an outside group, I think he's more just an asshole bureaucrat than someone trying to cover up the truth.
Either way, things would be much easier for everyone if he were somehow disappeared, but I'm pretty much expecting they'll keep him around and keep him being obnoxiously in the way of everything Scully and whoever else she's working with try to do.
Otherwise, we have Mulder back, which is a good thing, even if Kersh is going to be a dick about it. I think the observation that he's healthy and that whatever was killing him at the end of season seven was definitely related both to the alien virus and the procedure that the Smoking Man did with him in their Dollhouse-like facility. Or something. I don't even know, because I think the whole "Mulder was dying" thing was kind of a retcon in the first place.
Anyway.
I enjoyed how this episode could be rather timeless. By this point in the series, President Bush had been inaugurated, and I'm pretty sure the show is supposed to exist more or less in our world because the portrait of Janet Reno was present in many episodes from 1993-2000, indicating that Clinton was very likely President there, too. But it's vague enough then, and they don't even name the President in 'Three Words', so it pretty much holds up. (Though really, they missed out on a golden opportunity to cross over with The West Wing.)
We're back to the alien colonisation plot, it seems, even though I kind of thought they had given that up in season six. But more importantly, they're bringing back a lot of the earlier conspiracy elements that made this show so good in the middle seasons.
I don't know who is on what side any more! "Trust no one," which is what I thought the three words might be initially, truly is the motto of this series. Doggett?
There were good heist movie elements in this, and the Lone Gunmen are always good in those plots, as in 'Memento Mori' and 'Three of a Kind'. I was kind of afraid this would be the end for them, too, but then I remembered they're about to get their own spinoff. (Or possibly are already in the middle of it - I think this episode aired after The Lone Gunmen debuted.) I wonder if that's entirely what their show is about, just heist after heist. Because that would be kind of awesome.)
At first, I didn't really understand what Absalom's point was in dragging Doggett into the Census office (not the main office, though - that's in Maryland) but I think I get it now. He already knew about the invasion, but he needed Doggett to believe it, and he needed Mulder to find out what he knew. In taking Doggett as a 'hostage', he sacrificed himself so that Doggett could know exactly where to look for the information. At least, that's my theory.
But all that sets us up for the big reveal at the end, which is that Knowle isn't really who or what he claims to be. The neck protrusions aren't really consistent with aliens we've seen in the past, but it's obvious something is off about him, and considering he gave Doggett information that nearly led to him and Mulder being killed, he's definitely not one of the good guys.
Which I kind of expected from how shifty he was acting the first time he showed up. Also because Adam Baldwin plays creepy extremely well. So it looks like they've pretty well established the main villains either for the rest of season eight or maybe even the rest of the series, and I'm kind of excited about it.
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