The X-Files: Biogenesis (6.22)

Everything's different, yet everything's the same. That was the feeling I got when the ominous 'to be continued...' rolled across the screen at the end. Biogenesis featured a lot that felt overly familiar. We had the same flat antagonists orbiting around the script, characters like Krycek and Diana Fowley being all shady and mysterious but with little understanding of what exactly they're doing. Skinner's loyalties are once again under scrutiny, and it took me a while to remember his nanobite blackmail thing earlier this season. There was the return of the Native American shaman dude, a character I'd entirely blocked out of my consciousness. But away from the stale villains and stale plot devices, Biogenesis was sort of fun.

Unlike a lot of these conspiracy episodes, it was Scully that took the reigns of the case here after Mulder is taken down by a strange illness that first makes him hear a constant whirring sound, and then makes him entirely crazed and institutionalized. The episode opened with Scully again being dismissive of Mulder's instincts and I had initially presumed that the great character work showcased in Field Trip was being quietly ignored, but gradually we began to see the return of that Scully, the one who bends her own theories and relentlessly pursues the truth whenever Mulder isn't around to do it for her. I like that Scully.

Elsewhere, I enjoyed the seeds of a new mythology. Sure, I'd love it if the show addressed the dozens of other 'mythologies' that they've left dangling over the years, but we can't have miracles, can we? It's another familiar-sounding story which ties together extra-terrestrial life with the creation of the human race, but it's being played pretty well so far. A lot of this finale is scene-setting for the two-part season seven premiere, however Biogenesis still manages to be mightily intriguing once you sift through the contrivance.

Season six has been more standalone-driven than any other X-Files year of late, and with that came radical swings in quality from episode-to-episode. But I think I'm still generally enjoying the show, especially since a lot of people seemed to dislike this season. Then again, I've never been entirely absorbed by The X-Files, so maybe weak seasons don't register as much with me as they would to a hardcore fan. Eh. B

Credits
Guest stars William B. Davis (The Cigarette-Smoking Man); Nicholas Lea (Alex Krycek); Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner); Mimi Rogers (Diana Fowley); Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Albert Hosteen); Murray Rubinstein (Dr. Steven Sandoz); Michael Chinyamurindi (Dr. Solomon Merkmallen); Michael Ensign (Dr. Barnes)
Writers Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz Director Rob Bowman