“Requiem” – Season 7 Ep. 22
Mulder: More alien abductions, Scully.
Scully: I don’t know how we could possibly justify the expense.
Mulder: We’d probably turn up nothing.
Scully: Let’s go waste some money.
Written by: Chris Carter
Directed by: Kim Manners
Original Air Date: May 21st, 2000
Principal Setting: Bellefleur, Oregon & Tunisia, Africa
Episode Summary:
When abductions start happening again in Bellefleur, Oregon, Billy Miles asks Mulder and Scully to come back out there to assist him. The agents return where it all started seven years earlier. Their investigations leads to results that drastically affect both of their lives.
Personal Commentary:
This season finale was originally meant to be the series finale, but FOX got greedy and wanted more X-Files. It is a fitting closing climax for Mulder and his quest for the true existence of alien life, although it does feel a bit rushed and should have been a two-parter.
I like how they go back to the very exact spot in the Pilot episode and the twist of Mulder thinking they are after Scully, but all along it’s him they want. The climax with Scully and Skinner is very heart breaking, with the best emotional moments of Skinner’s character putting all the blame on him.
I just wish they would have stopped here and not introduced the lame super soldier plotline. I guess the new series will hopefully make up for a lackluster season 8, and especially season 9.
Episode Grade: A
Favorite Scene:
A very heart wrenching scene where Skinner actually cries and shows emotions.
Fun Facts:
- 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.
- The only time Skinner, Krycek, and Covarrubias personally interact with the Lone Gunmen.
- *Spoiler Fact* Thinking this would be the series finale, Chris Carter had planned to end the mythology storyline with the death of the Cigarette-Smoking Man (who is left for dead by Alex Krycek at the end of the episode), with the intention of tying up the remaining loose ends (Mulder’s abduction and Scully’s pregnancy) in a follow-up movie. However, since the show was renewed for two more seasons, CSM was revealed to be alive in the final episode of the series.
Faces You May Recognize:
Nobody in the supporting cast that is recognizable besides all the series regulars.