Season Nine

182    NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY     9-1

WRITER: CARTER/SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

    Mulder has mysteriously hit the road and Scully ain't talking.  Doggett is hounded by everyone to quit investigating A.D. Kirsh. Assistant Director Brad Follmer is an old "friend" of Reyes and is on Doggett's trail as he investigates another death.  Meanwhile Scully discovers her baby may not be as normal as she thought.  Creative Casting: Lucy Lawless as the creepy Shannon McMahon Historic Moment: Another new open now includes Mitch Pillegi & Annabeth Gish.  Critique: This season is like when they make a sequel to a really good movie that shouldn't have a sequel. It's not as bad as Caddyshack 2 but it doesn't encourage watching it again.   C-

183    NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY     9-2

WRITER: CARTER/SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR: WHARMBY

There must be something in the water.   Supersoldiers like McMahon are being created by an additive in the drinking water, and Scully's baby may be the latest model.  Doggett, Reyes and Skinner search the never-ending conspiracy through the Justice Department to ultimately have no bearing on the entire outcome.  Critique: The only saving grace in this boring tale is Krychek wannabe Fromer and Lucy Lawless as McMahon who are much more interesting than any of the regular cast have become.      D

184    DAEMONCUS         9-3

WRITER: SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR: SPOTNITZ

A textbook satanic ritualistic double murder is investigated by Reyes and Doggett with Scully on autopsy duty while teaching at Quantico.  The trail leads to a mental hospital where Doggett believes a patient is clouding Scully and Reyes judgment.  Critique: Scully begins her sideman role but Reyes and Doggett perform well together.  C+

185    4-D         9-5

WRITER:MAEDA

DIRECTOR:WHARMBY

A man has the apparent ability to cross between alternate realities and Doggett accidentally crosses over with him.  The alternate reality has Reyes getting her throat slit and Doggett getting a paralyzing gunshot wound while trying to apprehend the man.  It's the paralyzed Doggett that crosses over, the real Doggett suddenly disappears and the real Reyes must figure out the riddle. Critique: Reyes is becoming a very strong character and makes the hour very watchable.  C+

186    LORD OF THE FILES     9-6

WRITER:SCHNAUZ

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

A teenager dies while attempting a stupid stunt for a television show, "Dumbass".  It turns out his death was caused instead by another students ability to manipulate insects.  In typical season 9 form Doggett and Reyes attempt to investigate then call in Scully for help. Critique: Predictable. D+

187    TRUST NO ONE     9-8

WRITER:CARTER/ SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR: WHARMBY

An episode all about Mulder with no Mulder.  A couple with "baby trouble" appeal to Scully for answers, they introduce her to "Shadow Man" who is actually a supersoldier.  Critique: The viewer may have assumed they received absolutely no new information from this pointless episode but here are a few things learned. 1)If you can have an episode centered around a character who never appears on screen odds are he's pivotal to the show and it would be a bad idea to try to continue once he's gone. 2)Supersoldiers are not smart: given the choice of killing an easy target (baby at grandmas) or a hard one(man who's whereabouts are unknown)he chose the hard one. 3)Scully is a crying machine         D-

188    JOHN DOE        9-7

WRITER:GILLIGAN

DIRECTOR:MICHELLE MAC LAREN

Doggett is in a Mexican jail with no memory of how he got there or what he'd done, while Reyes works to find him.  Turns out a local man has the ability to cloud men's minds and has the whole town afraid of him.  Critique: Remember "Demons" when Mulder woke up in a strange place and didn't remember what he'd done or how he got there? Well that was a good episode, watch it and don't bother with this one.  D-

189    HELLBOUND    9-4

WRITER:AMANN

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

Reyes is haunted by nightmares of the skinning deaths she is investigating.  With the help of Doggett and a slice 'em up, dig 'em up Scully, they realize the killer and victims are all reincarnated from an original skinning that occurred over 100 years prior. Critique: A bit slow but a fairly original story.   C-

190    PROVENANCE     9X10

WRITER:CARTER/SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR:MANNERS

A former FBI agent crosses the border with rubbings and part of an alien ship like Scully investigated in Africa.  The man tries to kill William forcing Scully to give him to the Lone Gunmen for safety.  Bad move, a woman in the same cult as the man takes William after she runs over Doggett.  Critique: Starts slow but ends up as the best show of the season (which unfortunately isn't saying much)    B

191    PROVIDENCE     9X11

WRITER:CARTER/SPOTNITZ

DIREDCTOR: CARTER

Part 2.  While Doggett recovers, Scully and the Lone Gunmen track down the kidnapper.  She learns from the attempted baby killer that William like Mulder is part of a prophecy that foretells them stopping the aliens from returning.  Scully eventually tracks down William after the ship taking off burns his kidnappers to death.  Critique: Not quite as good as part one, but solid.       B-

192    AUDREY PAULEY     9X13

WRITER: MAEDA

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

Reyes is pronounced brain dead after a car accident but Doggett refuses to believe and searches for a way to save her.  Reyes is actually trapped in a netherworld between life and death and can be reached only by a nurse's aid who can telepathically transport herself into the model hospital world she created that contains Reyes.  Critique: I was ready to slam this one for having another plot where a main character is in the hospital at death's door but this one surprised me and turned out to be good.  But what is up with the Reyes/Doggett romance vibe? It's kind of creepy.      B-

193    UNDERNEATH     9x9

WRITER:SHIBAN

DIRECTOR:SHIBAN

In an old case of Doggett's a killer is freed after DNA testing proves he didn't do it.  Exposition Scully links the DNA to a possible relative.  Reyes provides the X-Files theory of the man doing the killings but physically becoming someone else out of religious denial.  Critique: Scully might as well have been a cardboard cut-out proped up in the corner, and Doggett and Reyes were written just about as interesting.  D+

194    IMPROBABLE     9X14

WRITER: CARTER

DIRECTOR: CARTER

Reyes connects a group of killings using numerology, while a quirky stranger appears to be helping her and Scully solve the crime.  Creative Casting: Burt Reynolds is THE highlight. Critique: This one seems forced and makes Scully and Reyes appear bumbling (how can they forget to check the entire parking garage...twice!).  It's anyone's guess as to the connection between the excessive festival sequences and the rest of the story.     C

195    SCARY MONSTERS        9x12

WRITER: Thomas Schnauz

DIRECTOR: Dwight Little

Agent Harrison talks Doggett and Reyes into investigating a boy's claim that monsters killed his mother, who was officially determined to have stabbed herself repeatedly.  Critique: No fair slamming TV at the end but this one was watchable.     C+

196    JUMP THE SHARK     9x15

WRITER: GILLIGAN, SHIBAN, SPOTNITZ

DIRECTOR: BOLE

In a wrap-up of the short lived Lone Gunmen series, Morris Fletcher and Jimmy return and help the Gunmen pursue the lost Yves.  A bioterrorist is on the lose with a plan to release a deadly toxin.  Historic Moment: The Lone Gunmen die heroes.  Critique: Somehow killing your comic relief seems so wrong, but no more wrong than it being the highlight of an otherwise totally forgettable episode.   C

197    WILLIAM    9x17    

WRITER: SUCKED   

DIRECTOR: DUCHOVNY

That's it, I've had it!  There is no point in a synopsis because none of it made any sense!  Spender is alive and deformed seeking William to inject him with something to "cure him" so Scully can give him away?  Historic Moment: Baby William is adopted and Spender is alive. Critique: This is the worst episode ever!  Scully, Doggett and Reyes seem to get more stupid with each episode. Hey some stranger comes out of nowhere spewing facts that everyone in the FBI already knows, lets let him stay in the house with the baby, it's not like anyone has ever tried to hurt William before.  Scully SHOULD give William up, she obviously can't protect him even when he's under her nose, and the FBI aliens would never be able to track down adoption records, HELLO!  It's like they (the writers) had the baby and then didn't know what to do with it so this their quick fix.  I wish I had a grade lower than....    F

198    RELEASE    9x16

WRITER:Story by SHIBAN/AMANN  Teleplay: AMANN

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

Doggett gets the help of an FBI academy cadet to find the murderer of Doggett's son.  The cadet "sees things" and searches out Doggett to give him the clues he needs to solve the case and find his son's killer.  Critique: A nice chance for Robert Patrick to get a little more quality story time.  B

199     SUNSHINE DAYS     9x18

WRITER:GILLIGAN

DIRECTOR:GILLIGAN

A man, Oliver Martin,  with telekinetic abilities creates a world inside his house that is identical to the Brady Bunch house including the Bradys themselves.  When two men break into the house they are killed and Doggett, Reyes and Scully find a man who studied Oliver as a child and is key to controlling his powers.   Critique: Gilligan has finally made up for "John Doe" but I'm just glad he was able to see the brilliance of a show like the Brady Bunch and used it as a basis for this episode (the last name of Martin was Carol Brady's former married name, Oliver's last name would actually have been Tyler, Carol's maiden name, but I'll let that slide).  It was a nice touch for Scully to realize there are more important things than proving the paranormal.     A+ 

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200-201    THE TRUTH     9X19  9X20

WRITER: CARTER

DIRECTOR: MANNERS

In the series final episode Mulder is put on trial for killing Nole Rohrer after infiltrating the shadow government headquarters and learning "the truth".  The mythology is explained as witnesses testify on his behalf.  With the help of his friends he escapes from jail and tracks down an old nemesis in the desert who explains to Scully and the audience what "The Truth" really is.  Historic Moments: The return of everyone from X , Marita, to Krychek and CSM some dead, some alive. Critique: Even though the trial mythology explanation flashbacks are a bit spoon fed the resulting truth revelations still leave plenty of hope for the future of the series in movie form.    A