"The X Files" The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati (1999)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Michael W. Watkins

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
David Duchovny (written by) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

14 November 1999 (Season 7, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Mulder's condition continues to deteriorate. He is kidnapped from the hospital by the Cigarette Smoking Man for insidious purposes...

Plot Keywords:

Roman Numeral In Title | Punctuation In Title | Male Female Relationship | Reference To Hamlet | Number In Title

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anthony Anselmi	...	Paramedic
David Brisbin	...	Second Doctor
Andrew Cavarno	...	Dream Boy
Steven Cavarno	...	Dream Boy
William B. Davis	...	Cigarette Smoking Man / CGB Spender
Glen Eberspecher	...	Peter
John Finn	...	Michael Kritschgau
Brian George	...	Project Doctor
Fritz Greve	...	Bearded Man
Martin Grey	...	Agent Flagler
Jerry Hardin	...	Deep Throat
Nicholas Lea	...	Alex Krycek
Megan Leitch	...	Samantha Mulder
Mimi Rogers	...	Agent Diana Fowley
Warren Sweeney	...	Dr. Harriman
Rebecca Toolan	...	Mrs. Teena Mulder
Arlene Warren	...	Skinner's Assistant (as Arlene Pileggi)
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman	...	Albert Hosteen

Runtime:

Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Continuity: (At 16:45) Mulder is on his bed without his pyjamas, but still wearing handcuffs.

Quotes:

Mulder: Scully, what are you doing here? Actually, I was just getting dressed to come see you but I... I couldn't find a tie to go with my victory cap.
Scully: Mulder, no work. You have to go back to bed.
Mulder: Oh, wait. Tie goes to the runner. Scully, I, um... I was coming down... to work to tell you that Albert Hosteen is dead. He died last night in New Mexico. He'd been in a coma for two weeks. There was... no way he could have been in your apartment.
Scully: He was there - we... we prayed together. Mulder, I don't believe that. I... I don't believe it. It's impossible.
[...]

Some Secrets Are Not For Us

In the season 6 final episode cliffhanger, alien artifacts were discovered in Africa and Mulder's exposure even to images of their coded messages induced increasingly violent seizures. Scully, pursuing the artifacts to their source on the African coast, found an apparent alien spacecraft incised with religious scriptures. In the season 7 opener a noted skeptic, confronted with the evidence, went on a murderous rampage. When it appeared that the spaceship could actually raise the dead he completely lost his mind.

Meanwhile former CIA agent Michael Kritschgau appeared to know what was affecting Mulder, who had become seriously ill. However the Cigarette-Smoking-Man, assisted by FBI agent Diana Fowley, kidnapped Mulder for apparently sinister purposes.

Most of this episode is a hallucinatory dream of Mulder's in which he succumbs to the blandishments of the C-S-M. However he is nagged by feelings that he has been left in the dark (no duh!) Scully, realizing what is most important to her, is the true key to Mulder's survival.

Anyone hoping for a nice crisp denouement is in for a major disappointment as this is even muddier than "One Son," season 6's conclusion to the mythology story arc. This simply isn't a continuation of the mythology; what's actually happening is the snipping off loose ends as two formerly important characters are terminated - with extreme prejudice - while as for the alien spaceship...

The episode "Closure," later in the season, will finish off what little remained of a sub-plot that drove much of the most interesting parts of this series. Whether you liked "the mythology" or not it's hard to see it treated this way!