Fox Mulder finally reaches the end of his search for his long-lost sister Samantha.
(Originally aired February 13, 2000)
| Quotable Moments |
| FBI man: A word of advice, me to you -- let it be. You know, there aresome wounds that are just too painful ever to be reopened.Scully: Well, this particular wound has never healed. And Mulder deserves closure, just like anyone. |
Written by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by Kim Manners
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GUEST STARS
Rebecca Toolan - Teena Mulder
Anthony Heald - Harold Piller
Megan Corletto - Amber Lynn LaPierre
Mimi Paley - Young Samantha Mulder
Randall Bosley - Ed Truelove
Nicholas Stratton - Ghostly Boy
Sal Landi - Detective Tariq Kadri
Ed Beechner - Deputy
Stanley Anderson - Agent Lewis Schoniger
Christoper Wynne - Base Cop
Patience Cleveland - Arbutus Ray
Lillian Adams - Hospital Administrator
Fort Atkinson - Detective #1
Jeff Xander - Detective #2
Norman Smith - Detective #3
WHAT HAPPENED
Police have come to the field discovered by the agents in the
previous episode, near Santa's North Pole Village. The bodies of children are zipped into bags and carried away. Someone takes photos.
In a somber voiceover, Mulder
ruminates about the children's innocence and the cruelty of fate.
But is fate so cruel? Perhaps "the tragic young are born again when the world's not looking." Perhaps it's all part of God's "eternal recompense and sadness."
We see children playing. And instead of "The Truth is Out There," we see these words: "Believe to Understand." (more
spoilers)
ANALYSIS
"Closure" is a satisfying episode, one that puts to bed the now-tiresome search for Mulder's sister Samantha.
Mulder's
opening monologue and the recurrent use of choral music make for a richly somber atmosphere that contains surprisingly hopeful elements.
What Marxists would call the "correlation of forces" - the nature and respective strengths of antagonistic powers - is becoming more clear in the series.
Benevolent entities that are, or at least appear, spiritual in nature, are operating. And, at least in a certain hospital in 1979, they appear to have been one step ahead of
Cigarette Smoking Man.
The character of Harold Piller, although integral to the plot, weakens the episode somewhat.
Leaving aside the strange resemblance of Piller to George W. Bush, we may wonder why this onetime police psychic seems so phony even when we in the audience can verify what he says. Is it bad acting, or a superb rendition of an unconvincing character?
WHAT WE LEARN
Samantha, Amber Lynn and Harold's son are "all in a better place."
DANGLING PLOT THREADS
Where did the automatic writing in the ransom notes come from?
Why the references to Santa Claus even in cases that seem not to have had any link to Santa's North Pole Village?
REALITY CHECK
Eyeing the stars, Mulder ruminates that their light takes "billions of years" to reach us. But celestial objects visible to the unaided eye are not billions of light-years away. The nearest stars are just a few light-years from Earth.
TUNE IN NEXT WEEK
From the sublime to the absurdist, as Mulder and Scully join forces with a camera crew from Fox's long-running trash-TV Cops in the episode that could only be titled "X-Cops".
What do you think? Send comments to the
author or editor.
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