An unconscious Mulder falls into the clutches of Diana Fowley and the Cigarette Smoking Man, blurring the line between reality, dream and nightmare.
(Part three of a three-part story. Originally aired November 14, 1999)
Written by David Duchovny & Chris Carter
Directed by Michael Watkins
GUEST STARS
John Finn -- Michael Kritschgau
Mimi Rogers - Diana Fowley
WHAT HAPPENED
Mulder is on a beach. The light is bright, unworldly. He watches a child play in the sand.
However, Mulder is also in a hospital bed. His mother is visiting. She talks to him but he can't make his mental responses heard. As she leaves, he silently screams after her.
Next, Cigarette Smoking Man is in the room. Surprisingly, he can communicate with Mulder telepathically. "Your mommy" will always love you, CSM says silently, but a father may demand a son achieve something in the world. He injects Mulder with something.
Speaking out loud now, Mulder gasps that he's dying, but CSM coolly tells him "only part of you is dying." He also informs Mulder that the latter's not all that important -- the world could easily forget him.
And in that hospital room, CSM finally says what some have long suspected: "I am your father." (more extensive
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ANALYSIS
This episode adeptly combines surrealism and a sense of impending climax -- only to sputter out in disappointment when nothing much gets resolved at the end.
To be blunt, Mulder's one-week recovery from his horrifying ordeal is facile and unconvincing -- a situation not helped by the preview for next week's apparently unrelated episode.
If the series can go on without building on recent developments, it risks leaving the viewer with a distinct feeling of having been teased, misled and even suckered by the latest twists and turns.
Nonetheless, Mulder's vivid and ever-shifting dreams while on the slab provide a credible insight into the recesses of his troubled personality, including a highly understandable yearning for a pleasant, quotidian existence.
As for CSM, his enticing blandishments confirm he is a highly dangerous foe, one whose Machiavellian creativity borders on the Satanic.
In general, "Sixth Extinction" suffers from a higher-than-normal degree of murkiness. It is far from clear what kind of procedure has been performed on Mulder, what its effects will be, or what if any relation any of this has to the now-destroyed documents emanating from the saucer wreckage discovery.
DANGLING PLOT THREADS
Is CSM really Mulder's father? His self-description as such occurred in a dream. Then again, Fowley made a corroborating statement on this topic while she and CSM were watching Mulder on the slab -- and that was no dream.
Just how strong were Mulder's feelings for Diana Fowley? And exactly why did Scully loathe her so much?
And does CSM really live in a leafy suburb like the one hallucinated by Mulder? In the past we were led to believe the arch-conspirator conducts a lonely existence in a crummy apartment or, at times, in a similarly run-down house somewhere in Canada.
Is Mulder still telepathic?
REALITY CHECK
In recent years, biotechnology has generated growing political opposition. The X-Files appears to be joining the anti-biotech bandwagon, by associating the technology with malevolent conspirators who exult at their godlike power.
Unfortunately, a more balanced view of biotech's actual or prospective benefits in medicine and agriculture seems unlikely to emerge on the program.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
Ah, the summer of reruns! "
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