7x22 Requiem

[ruuger]

In a way, this is the end of an era. The events come a full circle as Mulder and Scully return to the scene of their very first case in the Pilot. Mulder finally gets his truth and is taken away by the aliens. Scully finds out that she's pregnant. Nothing's the same anymore.

I love Doggett and Reyes so I'm glad that the series continued for two more seasons, but I know that not many people agree with me. What do you think, would this have been a good ending had the show been cancelled? Should the show have just ended here?

Writer: Chris Carter
Director: Kim Manners
Originally aired: May 21, 2000 (in the US)

Synopsis:
Mulder and Scully return to Bellefleur when the abductions they investigated seven years earlier begin again.

Most Memorable Quote:
BILLY MILES: My name is Billy Miles. I don't know if you remember me.

Links:
Requiem transcript

Comments

[wendelah1]

This was my fourth time through "Requiem". The first time, I just felt shocked. Mulder is gone! Scully is pregnant! How could someone without ova become pregnant? This is The X-Files so the answer couldn't be good. I just figured it would provide the writers with another opportunity to dump on Scully. That prediction was right on the money.

The second time I watched it was right after reading "Parabiosis". That time I cried. I knew how it was all going to play out. Same with the third time through. It was like turning on a faucet. This time I was less emotional. Maybe it's because of how much I've come to hate the pregnancy plotline, and not just because of what happened to William.

If they had ended the series here, I think a lot of fans would have been upset, and back then maybe I would have been among them. But having thought it through, even as a noromo, I now think ending the series with Mulder finally getting his answers, and Scully losing Mulder but getting to bear his child, has a nice symmetry to it. I wouldn't even need a movie.

Things I liked. Bringing the series full circle, back to their first case together is a dramatic structure I am very fond of. I liked seeing all of the major players who were left alive together in the same room, scheming to get that downed spacecraft. I liked that the CSM was dying. He deserved to die a horrible death. I liked that Mulder was so solicitous of Scully and that she allowed herself to be cared for by him. Character development for the win.

Things I didn't like. I thought it was odd that they were the only people on earth who were aware of the spacecraft. If it wasn't on anyone's radar as a downed aircraft, how did Cancerman know to send Marita for Krycek and set the plan in motion? Does he have a telepathic link with the aliens? If so, that should have been spelled out. How could the CSM possibly think two people alone were going to take possession of it? Why did Mulder think he and Skinner could do it?

Another thing I didn't like was how they handled Scully's pregnancy. Pregnancy is not an abnormal medical condition. Pregnancy in and of itself doesn't generally cause dizziness or fainting, not unless the woman is severely anemic or has a drop in blood pressure or low blood sugar. So what was causing her to pass out, if not the pregnancy?

Scully figures out that Mulder is in danger--and then conveniently faints again--so she can't do anything to stop him. What is it with the fainting? Damn. I hated that. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer for pete's sake and she was still able to walk around and do her job up until literally days before she was going to die. Here she's a few weeks pregnant, and suddenly she's portrayed as not able to do anything. I worked up until five friggin' days before my due date! Pregnancy is not an illness! It makes for a crappy plot device.

I thought David Duchovny's performance was excellent. That scene where he steps into the circle of light with the other abductees--chilling. Gillian's face at the end when she tells Skinner she's pregnant. She shows us Scully's disbelief, joy, sorrow and grief. Amazing.

[bugsfic.livejournal.com]

I now think ending the series with Mulder finally getting his answers, and Scully losing Mulder but getting to bear his child,

But I have to ask if Jinn was still hanging around their lives! Mulder learns aliens really exist...As they take him away to torture him! Scully finally gets pregnant...When the probably daddy has disappeared and if it's not his, it's Much Worse. Just another day in the XFverse...

Scully had a serious case of Soap Opera Pregnancy...Or, I could be charitable and say whatever made it possible for a woman both missing her ova and having fried ovaries to become pregnant, came with conveniently nasty side effects.

I thought David Duchovny's performance was excellent. That scene where he steps into the circle of light with the other abductees--chilling. Gillian's face at the end when she tells Skinner she's pregnant. She shows us Scully's disbelief, joy, sorrow and grief. Amazing.

There was some fabulous face acting in this episode. As I mentioned, I found MP's work the best of the series as well. Frankly, I find DD's expression as he sees the ABH and realizes his fate, is way more frightening to me than all his screaming through S8.