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"That's a long way to go for a hoax."
"If you're gonna go, why not go all the way?"
It sure was a long way to go. "Believe the lie"? No thank you Mr. Carter, I'm just not that gullible. I prefer "The truth is out there" even though right now the truth is we've been given a cliffhanger, that while an interesting ride with some truly wonderful moments, was rendered impotent by its insinuation that we actually worry that Mulder may be dead. Please. They even used the rather cheap ploy of not allowing us to see the body that Scully identifies. You know what the cliffhanger is for me? Wondering how Chris Carter can possibly resolve this next season without insulting our intelligence. If you ask me it is Carter in the boxcar this summer - he's going to have to be a lot more clever in the season premiere next year than he was in this finale. My frustration with this episode stems from the fact that it had the potential to be great. It was as if all these wonderfully written little scenes tied together by the ideas of faith and belief were callously dismissed by an impossible to swallow overlying theme.
What worked for me here were the potent emotional cliffhangers and keeping the focus on these instead of the obvious boring one would have made this episode much more successful. We all know Mulder isn't dead so all we need to figure out is who perpetrated that hoax. As appealing as the idea is, I'm never going to buy that Mulder and Scully are in on it together for the simple and true reason that while Gillian Anderson once again proved tonight she is without compare as an actress we all know that Dana Scully is a *terrible* liar. Unless she's been taking acting lessons on the sly, she believes Mulder is dead. If Carter intends on making Scully a party to this then they gave Gillian Anderson the wrong direction for this episode. So that leaves either Mulder faking his own suicide (who would have to have a throw down Faux Mulder body good enough to fool Scully stashed away for such a purpose) or someone else faking Mulder's death - which is confusing to me as well. I'm sorry, but I just don't understand anymore why the hell Fox Mulder is so damn important to stage such a huge, intricate, and murder filled hoax. It is, I believe, firmly established that the Yukon E.B.E. is a fake - beyond that who knows. If the greater hoax is on Scully why in the world would they go to these lengths to try to fool her? They've made it clear that the poor girl is now on death's door (no matter how lovely she continues to look) - it won't matter what the heck she believes or doesn't believe soon.
Speaking of the cancer, that is another corner that Mr. Carter has painted himself into. I read so many interviews this week talking about how there would be no miracle cure - that it would not be trivialized, but that is going to be close to impossible to pull off now that they have moved the cancer to a point where is has spread throughout her body. They do an excellent job of continuing to handle the emotional impacts of the cancer though. The tension in the Scully family was wonderfully rich, and our first glimpse of one of Scully's brothers (complete with naval uniform as expected) provided us with what was, in my opinion, one of the finest scenes in the history of this series. That confrontation where Scully claims her cancer is too personal to share with her own family members (what is that?) because she doesn't want sympathy was breathtaking. Pat Skipper as the ScullyBrother is a welcome addition to the family as far as I'm concerned. He asks the questions that we want answered: "What are you doing at work?", "What are you trying to prove?", and "Where is he Dana?". Poor Scully doesn't really have any good answers here. This scene alone should nail the Emmy for Ms. Anderson.
As for the much speculated "betrayal" by Scully I certainly didn't see it. Her report to the committee, while certainly filled with confident and strong statements, was post mortem (yeah right) and her version of the truth or lie or believed lie or whatever. Before then, despite her understandably fatalistic attitude given the news she has received ("I have no opinion actually"), she was still working with Mulder, leaving a family gathering because he asked (perhaps because it gives her a way to escape that uncomfortable discussion of her faith). If there was a betrayal here it was Mulder's suicide, hoax or not, which frankly is the penultimate ditch from the man who has perfected it - not only does it allow Scully to think he is dead, but in what we are led to believe are the last few weeks of her life allows her to believe she was partially responsible.
One thing I have grown quite weary of over the years on the X-Files is the constant need the writers feel to level set Scully back to square one. It just isn't realistic any more. This isn't that same fresh faced character that Blevins first assigned to the X-Files - she has been allowed to see and experience fantastic things despite her "analytical perspective" through the lens of science. It is OK to allow her to grow and become slightly less skeptical (this is what made her admission to congress so powerful in "Terma"), but instead we are thrown back to black and white - it has to be all or nothing - the total "illegitimacy" of Agent Mulder's work - she is allowed to forget morphing bounty hunters, green blooded clones, and the like just so the writers can feel they have Skeptical!Scully back. For me this made her report to the committee lack some punch. No matter what you think about aliens, there is no way that you can brand all of Mulder & Scully's work for the last four years a lie.
Director Bob Goodwin has always had a flair for the panoramic and "Gethsemane" was no exception. The mountain vistas that Tundra!Mulder trod through were breathtaking. He also gave us a wonderful view of one of Gillian Anderson's very best performances from the exciting Action!Scully where her ballsy behavior in barking out orders and running full tilt in those heels makes her far surpass her diminutive size to her fear of weakness even in the face of death with the priest to her breakdown in the end - her face a series of small tremors. There was also that beautiful fade at the end from Mulder's tear streaked face to Scully on the verge of tears. What a happy ending to this one. Both our heroes crying in the end.
David Duchovny, while I felt he had some fine moments here, left me confused at times. Even though the confrontation scenes between the partners worked wonderfully, and for once he didn't have that scrunched up face when he cried, I was mystified at the lack of excitement he brought to the alien discovery/autopsy. He asserts strongly that he believes it to be real but I just didn't get that during the scene. I kept flashing back on a Mulder barely able to contain himself in the pilot episode over another body. This one looked like it was putting him to sleep.
-Retreads: Ostelhoff was last scene as Mr. Kiveat in "DPO", and Arlinsky was Surnow in "Roland".
-What a let down after seeing Sheila Larken but once this season previously to have her spend her brief time this episode lighting candles. (You can tell where Scully gets her fondness for candles as the Scully house was a virtual fire hazard of burning wicks!) Ms. Larken, as usual, makes the most of her limited screen time exchanging a wonderful look with Scully during the conversation with the priest.
-Where in the heck was Skinner at this big brass meeting? Off cleaning another bathroom? Blevins is only still a Section Chief. I also must admit I missed that sour faced OPC woman who never speaks, It just doesn't seem right when she isn't there.
-Well, Mrs. Scully certainly isn't hurting for money - she must have got a heck of a life insurance settlement after the captain died because that dinner party was flawless - complete with expensive floral arrangements and maid.
-Casual!Scully really is in a fashion rut. She just can't seem to break out of that button up long sleeved sweater model. While they do look great on her she really needs to expand her wardrobe.
-When we enter the party Scully is relating a story about brother Bill taking a tumble down the stairs - apparently this runs in the family. Speaking of that tumble Scully took - OUCH! It looked bad (and Gillian Anderson had the perfect look on her face as she lost her balance), but enough to make her back bleed like that?
-Those who long for Scully skin got a quick flash of her bra while she put her shirt back on.
-I find it amusing that while Scully never laughs at Mulder's clever jokes Dana laughs at even bad ones told by family members.
-The closest we get to a date stamp here is the April 97 stamp we see during the computer search on Michael Kritschgau.
-Why in the world didn't Mulder call Scully to witness the alien autopsy? That seemed like a huge hole to me. She said she wouldn't go with him to the Yukon not that she wouldn't look at whatever he brought back. You would have thought if he really wanted to prove it was real he'd trust Scully to do that - if he could convince her he could convince anyone.
-The Action!Scully sequence was the first time I can remember her holster hanging out like that - it's huge! How in the heck does she keep that thing hidden under those tailored suits?
Autumn
"I have strength, and I'm not going to come running back now -
it's not who I am - I'd be lying to myself and to you."