Season 6: The Beginning (6X01)

Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Kim Manners

Mulder and Scully are brought before a review board to justify their re-assignment on the X-Files. The board needs scientific proof of extraterrestrial life. Mulder argues that concrete evidence exists via Scully, who had earlier been infected by an alien virus. When Scully is vague regarding this infection, the board gives the team their final warning - find concrete evidence or else.

On the sly, A.D. Skinner gives Mulder a lead on a strange case in Arizona that might give him the hard evidence he needs. At the crime scene, Mulder theorizes that the victim was infected by an alien virus and that this virus ultimately produced an alien entity. The entity then ripped away the victim's chest from the inside as it birthed itself. Meantime, the Syndicate is irate that this "situation" has surfaced and is getting so much attention. Cigarette-Smoking Man assures them that he is taking care of the problem. He brings Gibson Praise, the young chess prodigy, to the crime scene in hopes that Praise can divine where the creature has escaped to.

The agents are drawn to a nearby power plant where another murder has occurred. They are met by agents Spender and Fowley who deny Mulder access to the new crime scene. When Mulder and Scully return to their car, they find Praise hiding in the back seat.
Mulder wants to use Praise to find the alien creature, but Scully talks him out of it, explaining that Praise is the scientific evidence Mulder's been looking for. Praise can corroborate everything Mulder's been saying. Scully tells Mulder that Praise needs medical attention and just as they're about to drive him to the hospital, Agent Fowley arrives. Scully continues on to the hospital with Praise, while Mulder and Fowley go to the plant to find the creature.

At the plant, Mulder and Fowley discover evidence that the alien is there. He calls Scully at the hospital to tell her this; in turn, she reveals that Praise has traces of the alien virus in his body - somehow, Praise is part extraterrestrial. While Scully's attention is diverted, Black-Haired Man kidnaps Praise and takes him to the power plant to find and destroy the alien. Mulder catches up with Praise and Black-Haired Man, but it is too late. They have locked themselves inside the core reactor room. Mulder watches helplessly as the alien kills Black-Haired Man. The alien turns on Praise just as the plant's alarms sound and FBI agents swarm the area. Fowley, now seeming to be on Spender's side, approaches Mulder and tells him to back off.

Back at the review board, the panel tells Mulder and Scully to cease all association with the X-Files. They are put on probation and told to report to a new boss, Assistant Director Kersh.

Notes:
This episode marks the first appearance of AD Kersh, played by James Pickens Jr.

The part of Sandy, the Syndicate scientist who unwittingly incubates an alien inside him, was played by longtime X-Files casting director Rick Millikan.

The nuclear power plant was actually a conventional generating facility that ran only rarely at times of extreme power demand. The heat wave that hit Southern California during the filming made that the generators had to be put online. Thus most scenes in the power plant had to be shot amidst noise higher than 100 decibels. Most of the actor's dialogue had to be re-recorded in the studio.

From this episode Chris Owens is now billed under the "Also Starring" heading.

"Homer", sleeping at the helm of the nuclear power plant, was a nod to The Simpsons dad, Homer Simpson; a show which portrayed Mulder and Scully in cartoon form in the episode "The Springfield Files".

In an interview with the LA Times (August 28, 1998), Chris Carter explained that the first thing in the opening teaser of the premiere is a shot of the sun. The camera then pans down to a desert landscape - a scene they would never have been able to do in Vancouver. Carter says that these opening images are a "wink to the audience that we are now in the land of sunshine".

Quotes:
Scully: Mulder, let me remind you once again... What I saw was very little.
Mulder: Look, Scully, that excuse is not going to work this time. You were there and you were infected with that virus.
Scully: Mulder, yes there is a scientific basis for what happenedto me. I was exposed to a virus but as it turns out, Mulder, that virus is not what you thought. Look, I can't identify it, Mulder... I have runthree separate tests - but I can tell you without a doubt that that virus' DNA and proteins are very much of this world.
Mulder: I saw what that virus did. I saw it generate a new being... An alien being inside a human body.
Scully: It attacks and destroys human cells but that is all it does,Mulder. It creates nothing. Look, I don't like telling you this... And Iknow that you don't want to hear it... Not that you can't question meand what I saw but what you can't question is the science.

Skinner: You're wasting your time.
Mulder: You need evidence to justify our reassignment.I've just got to bring it back from the ashes.
Skinner: Nothing you might restore is going to help you, Agent Mulder.It's over and done. Your reassignment on the X-Files has been denied.
Mulder: (angry) How can it be denied? We're the only reason the X-Files were reopened in the first place. There's no other reason to reopen them.
Skinner: I'm not arguing...
Mulder: Well, then, who is?
Skinner: When will you accept that no amount of pressure or reason will bring to heel a conspiracy whose members walk these halls with absolute impunity?
Mulder: Was there a vote?
(Skinner pauses.)
Skinner: Unanimous against.

Board Member: These spacelings, Agent Mulder. They weren't something I saw in ''Men in Black''?
Mulder: .... I didn't see Men in Black.
Board Member: (Mutters) Well, it was a damned good movie.

Mulder: I don't see there's any argument here. You admit yourself that the crime report is a lie.
Scully: Mulder, that doesn't mean that I can just accept your theory.
Mulder: What does it take? For this thing to come up and bite you on the ass?

Gibson: It's not here. Why don't you believe me when you're so afraid of me?
CSM: I'm not afraid of you.
Gibson: You think I can destroy you for what I know, because of what I am. You're thinking you could've destroyed me, too and if I don't find this creature, you will.

A clip from ''The Beginning''

Episode Number: 118
Season Number: 6
First Aired: Sunday, November 8, 1998
Production Code: 6X01

Season 5: The End (5X20)

Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: R.W. Goodwin

Inside a sports arena, two chess masters, a Russian man and an odd-looking 12-year-old boy named Gibson Praise, engage in a battle of the minds as an audience sits in reverential silence. High above the crowd, on a catwalk overhanging the arena, a sniper aims his rifle towards the back of the child's head. As the gunman slowly squeezes the trigger, the little boy announces "checkmate," and slides back in his chair. A gunshot rings out... and the Russian falls to the floor, dead. Meanwhile, two armed, masked figures close in on the cabin where the Cigarette-Smoking Man has holed up. A sensor alerts the Cigarette-Smoking Man to their presence, and he manages to kill one of them before making his escape into the woods. The second masked gunman gets the drop on his prey... and reveals himself as Alex Krycek.

Skinner briefs Mulder on the death of the Russian chess player. It turns out that the sniper is a former member of the National Security Agency. The case was assigned to Agent Spender, who specified that Mulder be excluded from the investigation. Despite this, Mulder and Skinner crash Spender's briefing. While viewing videotape of the assassination, Mulder reaches the conclusion that the shooter's target was Gibson, not the Russian, as the boy reacted in an almost precognitive fashion moments before the shot rang out. Spender disagrees with the theory. Agent Diana Fowley, an attractive woman in her thirties, opines that Mulder is correct. Spender rewinds the tape... and forms the same conclusion.
The Cigarette-Smoking Man meets with the Syndicate Elders. Labeling Gibson a threat, they ask for the Cigarette-Smoking Man's help in orchestrating his elimination.

Mulder, Scully and Diana Fowley visit Gibson inside a psychiatric hospital. The boy declines Mulder's invitation to match wits against a cheap chess computer... giving credence to Mulder's suspicion that the boy is not a chess master, but a mind reader. Tests on the child's brain reveal that Gibson is, indeed, clairvoyant. Later, Mulder visits the shooter in his cell. He offers him immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation.
Scully cannot help but notice chemistry between Mulder and Fowley. She pays the Lone Gunman an unexpected visit. She gives them data from the tests performed on Gibson, and asks that it be analyzed. Scully also asks for information on Diana Fowley. The three men confirm that she and Mulder were an item back when Mulder graduated from the Academy and first discovered the existence of the X-Files. Scully returns to the psychiatric hospital intending to show Mulder the data she has accumulated. But when she approaches the observation room, she notices Mulder and Diana inside... and Diana holding Mulder's hand. Scully, a confusion of emotions, both personal and professional, leaves the hospital. When Mulder enters the hospital's parking garage to retrieve his car, he notices Spender talking to the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Mulder pushes Spender hard in the chest, demanding to know his business. Spender explains that he does not know the identity of the mysterious man. He then reveals that the shooter wishes to speak with Mulder.

Scully meets with Skinner and Mulder to reveal the results of the psychiatric tests on Gibson. It turns out that an area of the child's brain, dubbed the "God Module" by neurophysicists, exhibits extraordinary activity. Mulder believes the child's life is in danger because of his gift, as it might be the key to solving the unexplained phenomena contained within the X-Files. He also suspects that the assassin holds the key to the vast conspiracy working against him. Skinner points out that the very existence of the X-Files would be put at risk if he asks the Attorney General to grant immunity to the assassin. Later, Mulder approaches the shooter and asks him for information he can corroborate. He reveals that Gibson is a missing link--genetic proof of man's relationship to an alien race .
The Cigarette-Smoking Man puts his plan in motion. The assassin is murdered inside his cell. Shortly thereafter, a bullet strikes Fowley as she stands watch over Gibson. The Cigarette-Smoking Man delivers the child to the Well-Manicured Man and Krycek.

When Mulder sees Spender at the Bureau, he pushes him into a wall. He angrily accuses him of orchestrating Gibson's disappearance in conjunction with the Cigarette Smoking Man. Other agents restrain Mulder, dragging him away. Spender responds by stating that Mulder's days are numbered. Later, Scully informs her partner there is talk of shutting down the X-Files. That night, the Cigarette-Smoking Man sneaks into Mulder's office and steals a file on Samantha Mulder. He then addresses Spender face-to-face. He informs him that he is his father. Suddenly, a fire alarm sounds and agents make their way into the hallway. The Cigarette-Smoking Man disappears into the crowd. Later, Mulder inspects the damage to his office, where the cabinet containing the X-Files is a melted skeleton. Scully places her arms around her partner, offering support.

Notes:
This episode's tagline is changed, simply, to 'The End'.

The only X-File that CSM takes with him is the one on Samantha Mulder.

While Vancouver was given a fitting send off in this episode as the location for the assassination, Chris Carter made a fatal mistake in that he failed to realise the FBI does not have juristiction in Canada! They have their own justice department which handles criminal investigations and it is very unlikely that they would have handed over a murder suspect to another country.

Quotes:
Mulder: Most of us have genes we don't use. They lie there dormant, turned off. Science doesn't know what they're for, why they're there or where they came from.

Scully: An area of the temporal lobe the neurophysicists are calling the God Module.
Skinner: I hope I'm not going to hear that this kid is the next Christ child.

Scully: There seems to be some suspicion that he's a fraud.
Byers: Dorf on chess?
Scully: Well, apparently he wins by reading his opponents' minds.
Frohike: I'm *lovin'* it!
Langly: And you want us to what?
Scully: Analyze the data... with an eye to the parapsychological.
Frohike: Ooh, walk on the wild side, Agent Scully?

Gibson: I know what's on your mind. I know you're thinking about one of the girls you brought. Mulder: Oh?
Gibson: And one of them is thinking about you.
Diana: Which one?
Gibson: He doesn't want me to say.

Mulder: How you doing?
Gibson: I don't mind it here. They get all the good TV shows. Where I live in the Philippines, all we get is 'Baywatch'.
Mulder: What's wrong with 'Baywatch'?
Gibson: You've got a dirty mind.

Highlights from ''The End''

Episode Number: 117
Season Number: 5
First Aired: Sunday, May 17, 1998
Production Code: 5X20