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!
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!