"The X Files" Requiem (2000)

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

  (Episode Credited 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.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: (At 34:34) Camera focus is lost for almost 6 seconds in this Scully closeup and remains lost until the camera pulls back to reveal the other characters.

Quotes:

Agent Chesty Short: See the money bleed out, but it just doesn't seem to make the results of your work any better. So many of the cases you investigate are left unexplained. Makes it hard to justify the expense.
Scully: So much of the work that we do cannot be measured in standard terms.
Agent Chesty Short: How would you measure it?
Scully: We open doors with the X-Files, which lead to other doors.
Agent Chesty Short: Doors leading to...”A conspiracy of men who cooperated with alien beings to create human alien hybrids." So we could all become slaves of an alien invasion.
[...]

This should have ended the series.

Requiem is a good ending to season 7 with a few things I would have preferred a little different. I like the idea of returning to the case of Billy Miles and reminiscing a little on the Pilot episode. As I watch the episode I can't help but think about all the things that Mulder and Scully have learned in the past seven years about the alien race. It especially hit when they began talking about having seen the toxic blood before as if it were old news and Scully explains it to Billy. I put myself in Billy's shoes and wonder if they knew that last time I saw them or if they've learned about it since then. I also was very glad to see Marita Covarubias and Alex Krycek again. I love that scene when Mulder, Skinner and these two are in Mulder's office and he tries to attack Krycek and then they are standing around talking when Scully walks in. Her face says "what the hey is going on here Mulder?" Anyway probably the one thing that I don't really like is how they put the whole thing in one episode. I wish they could have done it as a two parter. But oh well. Chris Carter mentions in the special features that he didn't even write the end of the episode until they were almost done filming to avoid letting out any spoilers. I respect him for that. I give this episode a 8/10.