SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

Recap by Bolissa

I just want to start off by saying how much I loved this episode when it first aired and while originally I thought it was brand new mytharc (and in a small way it is), it's more a psychological episode about Mulder's emotional state and less about aliens. When I originally watched it, I was confused. I'm sure a lot of people were. But after years of multiple viewings and knowing what we all know now, I think I've begun to understand it. At least I think I do. And I'm about to find out as I recap it. Here we go...

Previously on The X-Files: Scully found an alien spacecraft in Africa and when translating the Navajo writings she misspelled Adenine. Mulder's Mysterious Brain Disease was killing him. Mulder and Skinner wrestled. Skinner found Kritschgau living in the ghetto, they discovered that Mulder can read their minds and then they injected him with so much drugs he had a seizure. Diana Fowley confessed to Mulder of her "love", but only after realizing she had been caught in her lies. And The One That Without Which Mulder Couldn't Live Without held his hand and cried, telling him to "hold on" because they have an AlienMiracleBaby to make.

Beach Dream. Mulder's sitting on a rock or something watching two parents teach their toddler son to walk. Let's call him William, just for fun. ["Why not? Pretty much everyone else in the show is called William." - raceguy] Mulder looks content and at peace. And really hot. He's barefoot, wearing jeans and has a gray pectastic t-shirt on.

Georgetown Memorial Hospital. The doctor is telling Teena "Selective Amnesia" Mulder that her son's brain is going to die. Mulder's just lying in bed, staring blankly and drooling. Teena pisses at the doctor, "Enough! There's only so much bluntness a mother can take." We all know how well Teena reacts to things like, the truth. "All you do is sedate him. You're turning him... into a zombie." A zombie? I would've thought that "vegetable" is a more accurate word choice. Mulder ain't dead. Or is he? There is that whole death/resurrection - The Last Temptation of Christ thing they've got going in this episode, thanks to David "I was THIS CLOSE to getting my PHD in Literature from Yale" Duchovny. "I know you can hear me Fox. Can you give me a sign?" she says as she strokes his face. "I can hear you, Mom" Mulder says. In his head. "Mom, I can hear you. I'm here." Inside Teena's head: "I love you my darling boy." Then she walks out as Mulder's brain screams for her. You know, I would've loved to have heard what he was saying in his head when Scully was talking to him. Another stellar dramatic choice by 1013 Productions. ["It's right up there with not letting us see a certain murder later in this episode." - raceguy]

Some time goes by, and then we see CSM has arrived in Mulder's room. Their entire conversation is spoken telepathically. Wait, CSM can read minds too? Huh. "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes. Ah, but your mummy will still love you. All a mother wants is to shield her boy from pain and danger. Safe in the world as he was once in the womb. But maybe we think a father demands more than mere survival. Maybe we're afraid a father demands worldly adulation, success, heroism... I know you can hear me." Mulder's just lying there, drooling. But he can talk with his mind! "I could always hear you. Even when my mind is jammed with a thousand voices I can hear you like a snake hissing underneath. How the hell did you get in here?" CSM takes a syringe and fills it with something. Phenytoin? Sugar water? We'll never know. Mulder thinks that CSM has come to kill him. CSM then injects said something into Mulder's temple. Now they start speaking normal and not, you know, with their minds. "I'm giving you a choice," CSM says. OH! OH! OH! This is your first clue that what's happening, isn't really happening. CSM has never, ever given either Mulder or Scully a real choice in anything that's happened to them. Wait... am I giving it away? Well, you all read the spoiler policy. And why would you be reading a recap of an episode you haven't watched yet? Go watch it! And then come back. And quit complaining! Anyhoo, CSM tells Mulder that he's offering him the choice of "life or death." He's right by the way, but he's also lying. We'll get into that later. CSM tells Mulder that his account is squared with everyone, including the IRS, and tells him to get out of bed. "I'm dying, you idiot. If I could get up, I'd kick your ass." Mulder's all talk, yo. When has he ever done anything to CSM? Even when given the chance? CSM is not impressed. We have that in common. "Don't be so dramatic. Only part of you is dying. The part that played the hero. You've suffered enough - for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world. You're not Christ. You're not Prince Hamlet. You're not even Ralph Nader. You can walk out of this hospital and the world will forget you. Arise." The world would forget him? Well, maybe. But Scully wouldn't! Wisely, Mulder's not buying it and wants to know what the heck CSM is doing to him. CSM is like, "Can't you read my mind, there sport?" Mulder can't. CSM is like, "Hold my hand." Mulder's like, "Why should I?" CSM's like, "You have to take the first step." We flash to Mulder's Beach Dream and we see Dream ToddlerWilliam taking the man's hand. CSM's like, "Fooooxxxx, I am your faaaaattthhheerrrrr! Together we will rule the galaxy!" HA! Not really. But he does tell Mulder that he's his daddy.