SEASON 1

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SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

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SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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At the community college, Ed is standing outside where the blood drive table is, carrying a bag of the type that can only be for a gun, or so Hollywood teaches me. The electronic readerboard is advertising the blood drive, but when Ed looks at it again, it simply says, “UP”. Seeing the convenient Clock Tower of Doooooom nearby, Ed begins climbing the stairs. We get a quick flash to Mulder riding in Bill's police car with its sirens going. They look tense. Flash to Ed climbing up. Back to Mulder in the car, calling Scully and asking, “Anything?” Wherever she is, there's nothing.

Back to Ed, who's finished climbing up the stairs. Breathing heavily, he squats down to open his bag. He dumps all his ammo on the floor of the tower. Meanwhile, Bill and Mulder (that looks a little odd. Heh) reach the campus and get out of the car, looking around. Ed grabs a bullet and loads his very hefty-looking rifle, aiming it out the narrow window. He slowly pulls the trigger, having aimed at a driver for the ambulance(?) for the blood drive. People scream and Mulder and Bill shout for everyone to get down. DD's voice sounds kind of amusing when he yells in the early seasons. Later on it sounds much more commanding.

More shots ring out – the orange juice container explodes, for one. Bill gets on his bullhorn and tries to calm everyone down. Good luck with that. Mulder sees the rifle sticking out of the window of the Clock Tower of Dooooooom. Trying to stay covered, he makes his way over. We see Ed smile and grab another bullet, firing again. He says to himself, “I've seen that all and I've seen that and I don't want to see that again, baby.” Uh... psycho! He gives a weird sob, runs his hand over his forehead and keeps right on shooting.

We see Bill get on his police radio, calling, “All units, forthwith, Franklin College. Shots fired. Send emergency vehicles.” “Forthwith”, really? How poetic. Then there's a quick sequence of shots of Ed, loading and firing, smiling and laughing crazily, and making more weird yelping noises. Sweat is pouring off him, too.

Mulder has made it to the tower, and starts up the stairs. The camera follows him dizzyingly. As Ed continues to fire, shriek, and laugh maniacally, Mulder keeps running. He trips at one point, catching himself on the injured forearm and grimacing quite spectacularly. But he gets up quickly and keeps running.

Finally, Mulder rounds the corner, trains his gun on Ed, and yells for him to put the gun down. Ed is shocked, and holds the rifle tightly. He manages to beg Mulder not to kill him. Mulder: “Then put it down, Ed.” Ed: “I can't. They won't let me.”

Mulder understandingly says he knows that they won't let him. Ed gives a kind of helpless nod, and says, “Then... you make me put it down, then. You do it.” He grips the rifle tighter. Mulder walks forward, gun still trained on Ed, and observes that this is going to end with one of them shooting the other, and “There's going to be blood... everywhere.”

It dawns on Ed that Mulder is right, and he relaxes his grip a little. Mulder holds out one hand for the rifle – but it's his left hand, where blood is now visible on the bandage. Ed's very blue eyes widen, and he freaks out, swinging the rifle at Mulder. Mulder ducks and grabs the rifle, hitting Ed, too. The rifle falls all the way down the stairwell, and Mulder grabs Ed's wrists and force them behind his back. He pushes Ed to the ground and cuffs him. Ed gurgles, “Don't kill me!” but Mulder says it's all right.

We see paramedics wheel Ed toward the ambulance. He's strapped in and looks all but comatose. Bill walks over and says Agent Scully will examine him at the hospital, and Mulder can call her there. I guess she stayed in case he showed up there? Anyway, Mulder says he wants unrestricted access to Ed for questioning, but Bill points out that Mulder knows more about what happened to him that the man himself does. Then he walks off. I like him, and I think he liked them. Plus, he doesn't think Mulder is nuts, which is a rarity in law enforcement guest stars. Too bad we never see him again.

Mulder sits down on a banister and dials Scully, but all he gets is static. He looks at it, and the screen says “ALL DONE”, then “BYE BYE”. What? Why? What was that for? Then it changes to Scully's number, 555-3364 (heh, guess he gave us all her number, not just Frohike), and Scully answers. Mulder is still staring at the phone, presumably shocked but looking only faintly distressed. He also looks really, really young, especially with his legs dangling off the banister. Scully's voice asks, “Mulder, is that you? Mulder, where are you? Mulder?” as we go to credits.

Yeah, I think this episode is pretty great. The only part I wasn't satisfied with was the ending, which was... weird, to say the least. Surely the writing team could have come up with something less cheesy. I guess it proves that Mulder was in fact affected by the LSDM, maybe? But someone as paranoid as Mulder would definitely see something more than “all done” and “bye bye”. Whatever.