X-Files--"The Red and the Black"

As I have said numerous times before, the value of a two part story virtually always hinges on how well the second part comes across. There are issues with “The Red and the Black” making the spring of ’98’s mythology arc a lackluster affair. It least we do finally settle the longstanding question of whether the Cigarette Smoking Man is Mulder’s daddy. The answer is no. he is Spender’s daddy instead. Makes sense. Chris Owens has played the young CSM several times in the past. The powers that be probably thought his parentage would be a clever reveal.

Scully managed to survive the torching of the abductee gathering from the end of last episode, though no one--including her--knows how or even what truly happened. Mulder believes it was the military posing as aliens attempting to get rid of everyone they have experimented on by putting chips in the back of theri necks. Although Scully has accepted she was kidnapped by the military posing as aliens and given a chip in the back of her neck, she refuses to go along with Mulder’s idea that the military posed as aliens in order to get rid of all the people they kidnapped and put chips in the back of their necks.

Got all that? Scully is being contrary solely for the heck of it.

Her one concession to Mulder is to under hypnosis to recover repressed memories of the incident in question. She is a complete skeptic, but immediately panics as she relives the memories. The whole scene is played over the top for laughs. How exactly can she firsthand witness a UFO flying overheard, Cassandra Spender being taken aboard, and thr immolation of the remaining abductees with absolute stoicism, but go so over the top hysteria reliving events in memory? Shock, possibly, but hard to swallow that. Whatever the case, she accepts mulder’s theory on events as true.

Appreciate the moment; Mulder, the former true believer in aliens, thinks this is all a government plot. Scully the Skeptic agrees. However, what is really going on is a war between the alien colonists and a rebel faction. They do not realize this until krycek leads them to an Air Force base with a captured rebel who is subsequently killed by the Alien Bounty Hunter. All memories are wiped again. For whatever reason, hypnosis is not considered an option this time around, so everyone is back at square one.

In the interim, the Csm sends a letter to spender requesting reconciliation and an alliance to ‘battle the monsters of the world.” Spender returns the letter unopened. Suffering rejection by his son for this specific request will have a big pay off next season.

As for “The Red and the Black,” I am unimpressed. The original mythology is fast running out of steam by this point. The characters are attempting to make things fresh by altering formerly deeply held beliefs, but it feels mostly phoned in. These episodes felt like the powers the be were obligated to put out a mythology arc whether they had a decent idea or not. I have a hunch the reveal the CSM is alive at the end of the episode is supposed to distract from the lackluster 43 minutes the viewer sat through.

Rating: ** (out of 5)