"The X Files" Requiem (2000)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Kim Manners

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Chris Carter (written by)

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

21 May 2000 (Season 7, Episode 22)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Nearly a decade since their first case, Agents Mulder and Scully return to Oregon to investigate a strange entity in a forest, risking their partnership and lives.

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Zachary Ansley	...	Billy Miles
Gretchen Becker	...	Greta
Tom Braidwood	...	Melvin Frohike
Darin Cooper	...	Deputy Ray Hoese
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Dean Haglund	...	Richard 'Ringo' Langly
Bruce Harwood	...	John Fitzgerald Byers
Laurie Holden	...	Marita Covarrubias
Sarah Koskoff	...	Theresa Nemman Hoese
Nicholas Lea	...	Alex Krycek
Peter Macdissi	...	Prison Guard
Leon Russom	...	Detective Miles
Eddie Kaye Thomas	...	1st Young Man
Brian Thompson	...	Alien Bounty Hunter
Judd Trichter	...	2nd Young Man
Andy Umberger	...	Agent Chesty Short

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Chris Carter wrote this episode to serve as a series finale, as the Fox Network had yet to renew the show, and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were not signed for additional seasons. In the eleventh hour, Fox renewed the show, with only Anderson returning to the series full time. Carter then created a new series mythology based around Scully working with new characters to stop government super soldiers.

Quotes:

Mulder: Who is it?
Scully: It's me.
Mulder: What's wrong, Scully? You look sick.
Scully: I don't know what's wrong.
Mulder: Come in.
Scully: I, um... I was starting to get ready for bed and I started to feel really dizzy - vertigo or something - and then I just... I started to get chills.
Mulder: You want me to call a doctor?
Scully: No, I just... I just want to get warm. Thank you.
Mulder: It's not worth it, Scully.
Scully: What?
[...]

Season 7 Review

Chris Carter once said that his ideal plan for "The X-Files" would have been 5 seasons and a movie to end the series. This didn't happen because the show was now so massively successful that FOX pushed for more X Files. Indeed, we got a season 6, then a season 7. While writing the finale for season 7, with audience figures dwindling quite significantly, the fate of the show was not decided, and "Requiem" was written as a potential series finale. I'm not the only person, who despite liking season 8 quite a bit, thought that "Requiem" was a perfect final episode. True, it left some questions open, but most mytharc questions had been 'resolved' in one way or another throughout the season, and the finale was a poignant and nostalgic episode that ended on a fabulous note. Besides, the final 'Super Soldiers' section of the mytharc just shouldn't exist at all, really, and was clearly made up on the spot and muddled the mytharc and ruined some previous episode as an after-effect. Season 7, as a whole, is a serious drop in quality from the well-regarded and memorable season 6. That's not to say there aren't some great episodes, but the show is starting to feel tired and uninspired, the obviousness of nobody really feeling all too involved in the show, etc. is clear from start to finish. Still, the acting is solid as these are all professionals here, and the writers manage to come up with some really memorable and solid episodes, so this is a really good season which I feel is around as good as seasons 1 & 2.

The mythology episodes in season 7 seem to share a common purpose of tying up loose ends. A lot of fans at the time were angry at some of the explanations offered up by the writers, in particular what happened to Samantha. Re-watching the series this many years after season 7, the explanations don't seem too bad in context. What's frustrating is that they contradict previous statements on the show. The first two episodes of the season are probably my choice for the weakest pre-season 9 mythology episodes. I can't say I got excited about them at all. "Sein und Zeit" and "Closure" are both average episodes, hopelessly sentimental and sappy, but buoyed by brilliant acting for Duchovny. "En Ami", on the other hand, is nothing short of brilliant, as is "Requiem". Overall, I'd say this was probably the weakest season for the mythology outside season 9.

On the other hand, there are some great standalones. Outside of the 'highlights' which I'll mention later, there are some other great episodes here, such as "Millennium" (which has a sweet final moment in addition to zombies and Lance Henriksen), "Orison", which sees the return of everybody's most-hated death fetishist Donnie Pfaster, and "The Goldberg Variation", one that the math geeks surely treasure.

I thought the best episodes were, and prepare for some controversial choices:

"X-Cops"- calm down, forget about your expectations of what an X-File 'should be' and enjoy this hysterical and very original idea for a crossover.

"En Ami"- great writing from William B. Davis, who creates tension brilliantly from dialogue and situations, rarely resorting to action or other means. An exciting thriller with great dialouge.

"Hollywood A.D."- yes, "Hollywood A.D.". Maybe it's just my love for movies here, but this was a genuinely funny and very creative episode nicely directed and written by David Duchovny.

"Requiem"- as stated before, this should have been the series finale, as enjoyable as season 8 was.

Season 7 of "The X-Files" is not a terrific season of television, but it would have been a good final season for The X-Files. It resolved a lot of the mytharc and gave us some memorable episodes and character/relationship moments. I was one of the people who thought Season 8 was an excellent season, but with Mulder gone for half of it and the mythology arc now growing completely out of hand, it was excessive. FOX decided to continue producing the X Files with or without Chris Carter, so he stuck with the show rather than handing it over to other producers. Hence, Doggett and Reyes were introduced, the Super Soldier arc was born, and you know the rest...

Season average rating based on ratings for all episodes: 7.36/10