"I came in search of something I did not believe existed."

Frankly it's not very often that we get a season premiere 
this Scully focused in so many important ways. What a 
pleasant surprise for me that "The Sixth Extinction" turned 
out to be just that. Yes, it suffers from the same problems 
of many of the part 2 of 3 episodes - in that the real payoffs 
are usually saved for part 3 (or at least I hope they've been 
saved). It also lacked a real punch to it's "To Be Continued" 
ending that I think is the fault of both writer Carter and 
director Manners. Somehow having Dr. Ngebe (who knowing 1013 
we will probably never see again) be the one to find that the 
craft was mysteriously gone in a rather ho hum fashion fizzled 
it. However, there was enough interesting character discovery 
within this hour provided by Chris Carter to make it both 
exciting and enjoyable for a season opener.

Since Mulder spent most of his time looking dazed and confused 
when he wasn't playing the laptop bongo, allow me to spend a 
little time discussing Scully's character in this episode as I 
think the events of "The Sixth Extinction" are critical. While 
Scully has always been the skeptical/scientific half of the 
Dynamic Duo, she has also always been the spiritual half. Her 
mysticism was always in visions and religious faith while 
Mulder's was in the realm of the alien and the paranormal. 
Together they are "science and mysticism conjoined." So, with 
the appearance of this ship, for the first time the beliefs 
of Mulder and Scully are both represented in something 
extraterrestrial. Something that speaks to the things Scully 
holds most dear: her science in the genetic information, her 
faith in the spiritual passages it communicates, and her 
relationship with Mulder in that it is effecting him. It is 
indeed to her a "beautiful, intricate work of art." 

So, Scully is in Africa playing Mulder as best she can due to 
the undeniable truth that there is one big honkin' UFO sitting 
out there in the water and she feels she needs to make 
Mulder-like connections to figure out the truth. By the time 
Barnes appears and counters her "you don't even believe in 
that" with "nor do you, but here we are," he's not quite right 
anymore. She's in the process of sorting out what she believes, 
of reconciling things.

However, she is not meant to find everything. Scully is facing 
what has to be a devastating shock to her entire belief system. 
She's digging up a UFO that not only shakes her ideas on 
extraterrestrials, but also has a direct impact on her spiritual 
being. I find it interesting that the "warnings" that come to 
her are suited to her.  Biblical plagues that would be familiar 
are used: locusts, boils, blood (too bad she did not stick around 
for frogs, that could have been fun) - and yet she perseveres 
even though the significance can't be lost on her to try to save 
her friend. It's almost as if she's purposely put the shock she 
must be feeling on hold due to her fear of failing Mulder. That 
is until the phantom prophet decides that with Ms. Scully one 
must take the direct approach. So he flat out tells her "some 
truths are not for you." This echoed not only what she tells 
herself early on in "I feel this was meant not for me to find, 
but for you," but also was a nice reference to what the priest 
told Scully way back in "Revelations." Except at that point 
Mulder did not see things because "Maybe they weren't meant for 
him to see. Maybe they were only meant for you." So, scared out 
of her wits she knows it is time to go back to DC. She was in 
Africa long enough to believe, and it's really not surprising 
the evidence disappears that same night. Let's not forget, one 
of the triumphs of this episode is Scully marching into Skinner's 
office telling him Mulder's problem "may be extraterrestrial in 
origin." I guess we can't expect her to drop the "may be" part 
of this in one episode, but it's another big step.

For all these reasons I think Scully shows almost unparalleled 
bravery in this episode. She's alone in a country whose language 
she does not understand, unearthing something that is against 
her entire belief system, unarmed except for a machete, ignoring 
biblical theme plagues, sleeping in a beach tent to do whatever 
it take to save her dying friend. It's nice to see a mythology 
episode that speaks so strongly to the bond between Mulder and 
Scully again. Especially after last season's mytharc mess. I 
was especially pleased that the bedside scene included the 
following: "the pieces are there for *us* to put together."

As far as the performances go, you've probably gathered by 
now that I enjoyed what Gillian Anderson did immensely. She 
even gives us what was, in my opinion, some of her best voice 
over work as we hear Scully's thoughts about this journey to 
save Mulder. Then there is Safari!Scully tromping through FBI 
headquarters in her beach sandals just not giving a damn about 
the startled looks from her co-workers. What a brilliant 
entrance. I could have sworn I heard a "so don't f*ck with 
me" through her eyes alone on the end of that "I've been on 
a plane for 22 hours" line. Despite all this we all know what 
the highlight of the episode was. Gillian Anderson just nailing 
her last scene. That, my friends, is one damn fine actress. I 
think that's all that needs to be said about that.

Duchovny doesn't have much to do this episode, but does a fine 
job with that haunted nutso look, especially in the initial 
confrontation with Skinner. Mitch Pileggi proves again he's 
at his best when acting off Anderson though. He always hints 
to us that on some levels Scully just scares the hell out of 
him. He does a nice job of showing Skinner's remorse and guilt 
at his actions when faced with Scully's determination to get to 
Mulder.

Some characters did not do so well in Carter's little tale 
through no fault of the actors really. I can't say I 
understand why Carter felt it necessary to bring back of 
all people Kritschgau. Did Scully's absence somehow require 
another "non-believer" to make his formula work? I've always 
been amused at Carter's claims that he did not want the 
X-Files to seem like a soap opera and yet his latest creation 
Diana Fowley lacks only a Snidely Whiplash mustache for all 
the hissing she seems intended to create. I suppose we were 
intended to draw a parallel between Fowley's and Scully's 
bedside moments with Mulder. Scully shows her love through 
action. Fowley must confess her "love" if that's what it is 
called. Since as we all know when you love someone you leave 
them for five years, betray them, steal their job, hook up 
with their worst enemy, and conspire to harm innocent women 
including the people closest to them. Yup, that's the way to 
catch your man so you can be together. Hey 1013 boys? I don't 
really care to look inside Diana Fowley to know her reasons. 
What was all this really? Some plot to get back at us for not 
liking Marita? Sheesh. Mimi, you're a fine actress. Get another 
gig. This one is beneath you.

In the guest roles I especially liked Jo Nell Kennedy as Dr. 
Ngebe. She brought a real dignity to the part and it was nice 
to see Scully get the chance to interact, however briefly, 
with another professional woman. However, I'm surprised Michael 
Ensign returning as Dr. Barnes didn't resort to rolling his 
eyes around in his head to look goofy as it seemed like he 
was employing every over the top technique in his grasp to 
appear unbalanced. Let's pray he doesn't rise from the dead 
too, because I've had enough of his melodramatics.

Carter also falls back on some of his "this will be a cool 
moment" habits in which he interjects things into the story. 
Yes, they can be interesting, but usually serve only as a 
slight of hand bridge to help him to the next plot point and 
are never touched on again. I think the mysterious raising of 
the fishes and zombie machete man fall into these categories. 
I hope I'm wrong and the resurrection powers of the craft are 
explained, but I'm not holding my breath. Or did Zombie!Man 
and his little fish friends fly the spacecraft away so we 
wouldn't have to worry about those pesky artifacts any more 
and could get back to the monster of the week grind as quickly 
as possible?

So I guess the long and the short of it is that as a middle 
episode I was very thankful to see some important ground 
covered on Scully's journey to believe. However, I feel the 
episode could have been tightened up a lot more with writing 
that had a purpose more than just to manipulate the audience 
to either squirm, cheer, or go "dude that was cool." I prefer 
it when Carter chooses to let us think for ourselves.

Random Musings
------------------------
-Leave it to Scully to slum it in style. Why one person needs 
a tent large enough to hold at least one ring of a circus is 
beyond me. Well at least it did afford her all that floor room 
for bodies and pictures and the like. Hopefully it was on sale 
at the Ivory Coast REI.
 
-The locust plague certainly did make for an entertaining 
teaser. I liked the look on Scully's face when she went back 
in the tent. Sort of "note to self: bug netting," but I'm sorry 
we missed the part where Scully apparently set off a really big 
Die!Bug!Die! bomb that makes dead insects dramatically stick 
to all surfaces. And I bet she was sorry for all that yelling 
after getting a lovely taste of locust tartar.

-Mulder, not to be denied his little bit of screaming drama, 
decides the best way to pass Skinner a "help me" note written 
in blood on his best frock is to strangle him and bloody his 
nose. Maybe he hasn't quite forgiven him being Krycek's puppet.

-We are told Mulder is experiencing "episodes of aggression, 
sometimes against himself." Perhaps that explains why he went 
into the loony bin with Elvis hair and by this episode it looked 
like a cruel guard had left him a Flowbee to experiment with.

-Thank God they kept telling us we were in Africa every time 
we saw that beach. Otherwise I'm sure we would have all assumed 
we were back in that Georgetown hospital again and someone had 
just tracked lots of sand in.

-Speaking of the obvious, this episode made it even more 
unbelievable that this craft was not discovered earlier when 
huge chunks of it were even resting on the beach at certain 
tide levels. I'm not sure how effective Scully's crack crew 
and their crude hand tools were really going to be unearthing 
this thing though. Too bad she shot her wad on fashionable 
tight beach wear, the trip, and the deluxe tent complete with 
solar panels and could not afford better excavating equipment.

-Personally, as irritating as Carter's monologues and voiceovers 
can sometimes be (see "Biogenesis" teaser), I've always liked 
the ones that were meant to represent Scully's journal entries. 
As in "Memento Mori" they are a personal glimpse we rarely see. 
Plus, I doubt she'd tell Mulder in person he has a "beautiful 
mind" even though it's been clear from the start the spark 
between these two starts with intellect.

-Frank's Fashion Spot #1 (Frank loves it when there is more 
than one I am sure): Ah c'mon. You all know what #1 with two 
bullets is. You knew it from the previews. Apparently our Dr. 
Scully decided push up bras and tight T's was the fashion 
statement to make in Africa. So this week's nod goes to 
machete wielding WonderBra!Scully with the open long sleeve 
shirt. (Don't even get me started with that hideous short 
sleeved shirt). Frankly I'm surprised the bra wasn't black. 
White shirts never stopped her before.

-And while we're talking about Scully and fashion it certainly 
is nice to see the return of feds in frames. Hopefully, the 
Mulder glasses lovers will have their own little treat soon 
enough. 

-Language fun fact: we learn that in some African dialect 
"Aaaaaarrggggg aaaaahhhhhrrrr arrrrr aiiiiiiiiii" translates 
in to "Help...Help me. The water. It boils." Hmm. Who knew?

-And thank God Scully had the sense to yell in English to men 
who did not understand her to take that man to the hospital. 
I'm sure they were on their way to the Jiffy Lube before Dr. 
Bossypants stepped in and guided them.

-God knows I loved the movie score, but I really wish Mark 
Snow would have granted us a little bit more original 
composition for the season premiere. I'd like to hear some 
new stuff using that lush string sound. For some reason 
hearing movie retread music always pulls me out of the 
moment, and I don't think that's the intention.

-Mulder certainly is his mother's son. He's taken lessons in 
cryptic bedside writing. I'll bet by the time he was finished 
writing that (and it looks like he had to erase and start over 
because he ran out of room the first time) he wished he was 
writing "Krycek" or even "plam."

-What, does Kritschgau sleep right behind his door? Skinner 
barely has time to knock before he whips it open and whines 
about it being six in the morning when the screen legend just 
told us it was 5:05 AM. I'm thinking someone was too busy 
feeling sorry for themselves and their lost government pension 
to remember daylight savings.

-And what is this bull about Mulder asking Kritschgau to do 
him a favor? He inserted himself into the equation last we 
saw him and claimed he was doing it for his son. Yet now it 
is all Mulder's fault? Whiner. Who forgot all this? The 
character or the writer? 

-I find it hilarious that while Kritschgau is telling us 
Mulder has become "all brain" all Mulder is missing is the 
drool. Between that and Bongo!Mulder with the UFO beat you 
can dance to perhaps there's a song in it: "Hey now, you're 
an All Brain, get your gown on, go crazed. Hey now, you're 
a Frock Star, remote view on, get dazed..."

-Someone needs to tell Scully that if your mother says running 
with scissors is bad, running with a machete is really not a 
good idea.

-What exactly is Barnes referring to when he tells Scully 
she's already under suspicion? Is there some law against 
killing locusts in the Ivory Coast? It's pretty clear who 
is the wacko in this picture.

-Speaking of, that brings us to Frank's Fashion Spot #2: 
Dr. Barnes falls squarely into the "Fashion Don't" column 
with his beach wear. He should have taken Scully's Banana 
Republic lead. As it is, he further convinces us he's crazy 
by wearing that hideous shirt buttoned but once mid chest 
over a rather unflattering V neck T. Ack. 

-At least Dr. Barnes was able to provide Scully with his 
Ancient Navajo Secret Decoder Ring such that she could 
discover that even the aliens do not know how to spell 
adenine. 

-Never thought I'd see Mulder reuse a "Hell Money" joke, 
but he also quipped "who you gonna call" in that episode.

-Amazingly enough, even though 1013 still thinks women wear 
push-up bras to bed, they actually made Scully look like she 
was in Africa hair and make-up wise. They even let the mole 
show. Then again, despite the fact she almost always had a 
long sleeve shirt on, she never seemed to sweat like everyone 
else. Well, baby steps. Maybe someday they will let her sleep 
without a bra again.

-What is Fowley, some sort of twisted school teacher? "Let 
me see you hands" indeed. I liked Skinner better when he was 
ordering her around instead of letting her get all self-
righteous on him.

-Oh and one couldn't help but notice Fowley immediately 
assumed the position she was most familiar with when Mulder 
started seizing.

-Can I just say how much pleasure I got out of watching 
Scully bide her time until she could smack the hell out of 
Barnes with that chair. You go girl.

Autumn
"How can I reconcile what I see with what I know?"