EXISTENCE

AIR DATE: May 20, 2001
Written by Chris Carter
Directed by Kim Manners

        "Existence" finally gave us the end to Scully’s year long pregnancy and an end to Scully and Mulder’s involvement with the X-Files and a weak attempt to start a new X-Files with Agent Doggett and Reyes. It is weak in that there hasn’t been decent character development of Doggett or Reyes so it is going to be hard to get excited watching them investigating the X-Files. Also, it was hard to care what happened to Scully’s baby because it took so long for her to have it or even to start showing she was pregnant so it became difficult to take the pregnancy seriously. It became even harder to take seriously when Chris Carter and gang became evasive on how Scully became pregnant or who was the father. During all this Carter and gang tried to get us to care for Doggett, but the failure to develop Doggett shows us the failure of this season. A failure to give us compelling stories (I would be hard pressed to recall any from this season by their title which in the old days I could) and the lack of old Scully and Mulder chemistry when Mulder actually appeared in an episode.

        As a season finale "Existence" doesn’t have the impact of the season finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" this season, but for an X-Files season finale it wasn’t too bad. Of course, it would be tough to top the awfulness of last week’s episode so "Existence" only had to be slightly better, which it was. Even the birth of Scully’s baby wasn’t annoying (though I kept saying to myself "you and what army Scully" every time she yelled at Reyes not to let the Body Snatcher aliens take her baby). If you compare the X-Files season finale to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" you can see why the X-Files should have ended years ago. A good indicator of a good drama is the characters are not quite the same characters from the beginning of the season and every season Joss Whedon, the creator and producer of "Buffy", has taken the characters to a different level by the end of each season. The X-Files for it’s first few seasons saw growth in Scully and Mulder’s characters then a few season ago we began to see their characters regress so that now they are shadows of their former selves. I have no doubt that next season Doggett will be in one episode more willing to believe in the supernatural then in the next episode not willing to believe in the supernatual whatever is convenient for the plot, not the character. Along with him will be Agent Reyes who we haven’t gotten to know enough, but we can figure she will be the one trying to convince Doggett of the paranormal event they are currently investigating.

        A few last comments on "Existence":

• Who wasn’t surprised to see Billy Miles suddenly reanimate himself after the Coroner pulled that piece of metal out of his dead body. Good to see Carter is keeping up with borrowing from other movies, in this case "Terminator" with Billy Miles able to come back from that piece of metal and to stick his hand through an elevator.

• Let’s put this under "you got to be kidding me" category when Carter and company try to get us to believe the chip in the back of Scully’s neck was programed to make her pregnant.

• Well, I’m so glad to find out that the reason Billy Miles was able to get around the F.B.I. building was Agent Crane was letting him in though from how easy it was for Agent Doggett to get from the underground garage to the F.B.I. offices without any type of security to prevent people from being able to enter from the stairs I still think Billy Miles wouldn’t have much trouble getting into the building. As we saw in last week’s episode there isn’t much security preventing people from entering the underground parking garage. I guess the F.B.I. isn’t afraid of terrorists entering via the garage. Also, after Skinner is attacked by Billy Miles one would think he would have around the clock police protection at the hospital, but as we see he is left without any protection from Billy Miles or anyone else.

• Agent Reyes should have been suspicious of the National Parks Woman when she drove up with her car windows totally caked in dirt that no human being could see through. Also, who wasn’t surprised when National Parks Woman ended up being one of the body snatching aliens.

• Well, Agent Doggett asked our question when he asked Mulder when is his search for the truth going to end. In reality he was really asking our question when is this series going to end so the good parts don’t get overshadowed by the bad parts.

• So Billy Miles finds out where Scully and Reyes went because Doggett called Reyes from the F.B.I. building with Agent Crane as a spy inside. If Doggett did call Reyes it means he had to call her on her cell phone which we all know isn’t the most secure phone call.

• Doggett has to be in real good shape to not get winded after going up 4 flights of stairs.

• Bye, bye, Ratboy we are going to miss you though your character hasn’t really gone anywhere in the past few seasons except to be used as a plot device. Krycek’s death was anti-climatic after all this time when in the past he has almost been killed or left for dead. Somehow I don’t think there will be any soul searching on Skinner or Mulder’s part that Skinner for all intents and purposes shot Krycek in cold blood because by the time he shot him Krycek wasn’t going to be able to hurt anyone after being shot twice by Skinner. Yes, Krycek was a scumbag, but did it really justify Skinner shooting him in the head. Compare this to when Det. Mike Kellerman killed Luther Mahoney on the old tv show "Homicide". The whole next season of "Homicide" dealt with the consequence of his killing Mahoney. This is something I can’t imagine happening with Skinner killing Krycek because the X-Files nowadays can’t deal with these type of issues.

• I don’t think the Lone Gunmen should have been surprised when Mulder was able to find Scully and Reyes in Georgia. What should have surprised them was Mulder being able to fly down there in an airplane then hire a helicopter to search out the area Doggett said Scully and Reyes were hiding and all done in a few hours. They should be asking how Mulder was able to afford all this. He must have high credit on his credit cards.

• There is one scene I did get a kick out of in this episode and that was after Kersh balled out Doggett and Reyes for their report on Scully’s baby’s birth and Kersh asked Doggett where he gets the authority to assign whoever he wants to the X-Files and Doggett basically tells him he’ll investigate whatever he wants and whoever. Now that was good because it was Doggett’s way of telling Kersh he will not be used or pushed around by him or anyone else.

• Ah, wasn’t it cute having the Lone Gunmen standing in Scully’s bedroom with gifts looking at her baby like the three wise men.

• If I’m not wrong William is also Scully’s father’s first name too, but I guess Carter must have just forgotten that fact. Of course, Carter didn’t write the episode where we were introduced to Scully’s father back in the first season so he must not think it is funny when Scully says to Mulder she is naming the baby after his FATHER, not hers. I wonder what Mrs. Scully thinks of that.

• The kiss between Mulder and Scully at the end has to be one of the most awkward kisses I’ve ever seen on TV between two people who are finally admitting their love for each other. It must have been that baby between them or the feeling I got from the kiss that it didn’t feel real, but we, the fans, have to take what we can get since this show doesn’t know how to deal with emotion. It actually is a good way to get Scully and Mulder out of the picture in the show because in reality Scully should always be in fear of someone wanting to hurt her child and should think about keeping a very low profile in order to protect her baby.

        "Existence" was the end of another X-Files season that never should have been and it is slowly ruining the reputation of what was once a great show. There weren’t any X-Files episodes this season that will ever be considered a classic. Carter never developed Agent Doggett even though he knew Doggett would be the heir to the X-Files and this hurt the show. They didn’t deal with Mulder’s absence very well and when he did reappear his appearance showed how much the show needed him to add something to it. It will take a miracle to have the show improve with Doggett and Reyes leading the X-Files.

Claudia

E-Mail: Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

05/29/01

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