Wow, seriously, show? Why must you do this?
I did not like this episode. I especially did not like that it essentially negated the entire plot of season nine and most of season eight up to this point. What was the point of 'Trust No 1' and 'Provenance' and 'Providence' if the end of William's storyline was going to be this 'easy'? Obviously not so easy for Scully giving him up, but in terms of the story? Clean slate. No more baby. That's just finished.
Well, he'll probably find his way back in the tenth season comics. He'd be about 12 now, right? Just in time to be an X-File, I'm sure.
The thing is, Scully didn't have to give up her child. I know he's supposed to now be able to have a better life, given that the aliens know and recognise Scully and will pursue him through her otherwise, but this entire story just didn't work for me. Especially because Spender is a creep who went about things entirely the wrong way.
Scully knows that Big Spender shot his son, right? Everyone knows that. So I would think that someone she could guess utterly hated the Cigarette Smoking Man would be someone she could maybe trust to help dismantle his last conspiracy. He should have just gone to her without pretence and told her what was going on. This whole charade not only made Scully doubt herself (though that may have happened anyway) but really didn't reveal that much we didn't already know or suspect.
Though it did manage to confirm one thing.
The Cigarette Smoking Man is Mulder's father. I'd been saying that all along, hadn't I? It was certainly hinted at enough, and it's not like that's an uncommon trope, but I think this is the first time it's been explicitly stated in the show. The way Spender got in makes sense. Half-siblings would share enough DNA that a quick test might not reveal the inconsistencies that would show up in a more detailed exam. His motive makes sense, though I don't know if he's aware his father was pushed down the stairs and is probably dead, so it's not like his revenge is actually going to mean much.
But again, it comes back to, why not just be direct about it? Why not go to Skinner? We're talking about a character who was actually an FBI agent! Yes, he was crooked and dishonest, but I would think that getting shot and nearly killed might open him up to who the real players were and possibly turn him back towards the side of good.
Instead he injects William with harmless magnetite that removes his ability to interact with the alien artifacts and makes him 'normal', which I'm sure Scully might have actually allowed anyway if she'd known about it up front. It wouldn't be the first time she tried an unconventional treatment that would be otherwise harmless if it didn't work. She knew William had some kind of special ability or connection to the aliens and their plot to invade earth, so I would think that Spender's story would line up with everything she had learned so far about her son.
So the upshot of all of that is that William no longer has special powers, but the aliens might still come after him anyway because all they care about is the prophecy anyway. Geez, did these aliens never watch Buffy or read Harry Potter? Don't they know prophecies are shaky at best?
But Scully believes it. Not the prophecy, but more that it wouldn't matter to the aliens. And that's what creates the big problem that bookends this episode.
Because she completely gives up. I mean, OK, I'm childfree, so I will never know this feeling, but I understand it academically, at least. In fact, the fear of not being able to sufficiently protect a child is one of the many reasons I've chosen to be childfree, because I know that it would make me horribly overprotective and constantly worried about what might happen.
But that's me, not Scully. And not Reyes, either, it seems. A parent's job is to, among other things, protect their children. This is true, but no parent can make a one hundred per cent guarantee that they will always be able to protect their children or keep them from harm. It's utterly absurd to think they can make such a promise. Reyes even spells it out when Scully questions her own ability to keep William safe.
Scully would, of course, try her best, like any parent would. And this character, this loyal, devoted, faithful character, simply abandons her son because she's afraid she might not be able to protect him. What's to say that family in Wyoming can? Are they really going to be better parents to William than Scully would?
This was disappointing. Scully is stronger than this, and I don't know how the writers didn't realise that.
No comments:
Post a Comment