The X-Files: The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati (7.2)

I find it funny that this is the final part of a three-episode story, yet each episode looked and felt so different from the last. Even weirder is that Chris Carter scripted each one, so it's not like we can blame the writers for making each segment so jarring. Amor Fati saw the strange abandonment of the sinister African vision dude and all the Ivory Coast intrigue, and instead plunged us into Mulder's subconscious. I got extreme Last Temptation of Christ/It's a Wonderful Life vibes from the story, as Mulder is led through a seductive new life of suburban contentment and witness protection, where he's neighbors with an alive and kicking Deep Throat and a suddenly trustworthy CSM. It's an absorbing mythology episode, light on pretension and full of cool little ideas.

So the CSM was seeking to transfer Mulder's alien DNA into his own body, or something. And there's some end-of-the-world plague coming. Right? Blah. I get lost over things like this. From a mytharc standpoint Amor Fati is unsurprisingly muddled, and characters like Fowley and Kritschgau are casually dispensed with little feeling. Fowley, in particular, seems like a missed opportunity. Did even the writers ever understand her motives?

But the episode is strong whenever our protagonists are thrust center-stage. Mulder's illusions are there to set him back on his mission, with a bitter Scully berating him on his death bed for abandoning the X-Files and abandoning her in the process. There are happy qualities to that reality, but Scully's absence leaves Mulder hollow and strange. When the experiment is broken and Mulder is rescued, he and Scully are reunited and gain a new and deeper-connected perspective on things. They're closer than ever, and it promises good things for the season. B

Credits
Guest stars William B. Davis (The Cigarette-Smoking Man); Nicholas Lea (Alex Krycek); Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner); Mimi Rogers (Diana Fowley); Jerry Hardin (Deep Throat); Martin Grey (Agent Flagler); Rebecca Toolan (Teena Mulder); Floyd Red Crow Westerman (Albert Hosteen); John Finn (Michael Kritschgau)
Writers David Duchovny, Chris Carter Director Michael Watkins