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Since "The Beginning" takes up at the return of Mulder and Scully from Antarctica, however it is they returned from the Arctic tundra, you should check out my review for X-Files: Fight the Future before going any further. As I mentioned yesterday, it feels strange to go from the season finale story into the relatively unrelated movie, then back to conclude the finale story without much connection between them, but a concerted effort is made in ‘The Beginning” to tie much of it together.

The first thing to notice is “The Beginning” marks definite change. It is the first episode filmed in California. The difference is highly noticeable. Gone are all the overcast, gray tones of Vancouver. They are replaced by the bright, Southern California sun. The contrast between Vancouver and Los Angeles is also indicative of the new tone for the conspiracy--it is no longer as shadowy. The plot of “The Beginning” depicts the chase for a murderous alien in all its bloody glory. There is not much left to hide at this point.

The second point to note is Mulder’s inexplicable turn on Scully after they had connected so well, almost romantically, in X-Files: Fight the future. He expects her to reiterate his extraordinary story of her having been infected with an alien virus that was incubating an WBE inside her and confirm she was on board a space ship in the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, she does not. She discovers the virus is terrestrial and was unconscious when the ship took off, so she has no memories of it. Scully has no choice but to say that, even though it hangs them both out to dry.

Mulder never bothers to recognize how she is ruining her own reputation by hanging with him. All he cares about is she is not saying what he wants to hear. The two of them are taken off the x-Files together. They are given to spender and Fowley, of all people, thanks to the nepotism of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Mulder can only see how screwed he is personally, so he treats scully like garbage throughout the episode even though she is in the same boat he is--and does not have to be, truth be told.

This is not the first time the x-Files have been closed down or Mulder has dumped on Scully, so that is nothing new. What is new is the more overt actions of the aliens. A Syndicate scientist in Arizona accidentally injects himself with the alien virus. It works far faster on him than did Scully in the movie, so an alien aggressively erupts from him inside his home. The Csm uses his new power over spender and Fowley to cover up the incident while he searches for the alien using Gibson praise’s mental abilities. Skinner unofficially gives Mulder a heads up at what is going on in Arizona, so he heads out with Scully in tow.

Furthering his charming demeanor, he dumps Gibson off on her once he escapes the CSM. While she takes him to the hospital, Mulder and Fowley pursue the alien at a nuclear power plant. It gets away from both of them, eventually hooking up with Gibson as the alien evolves from one of those long clawed vicious critters into a traditional grey alien. Fowley opts to cover everything up as Mulder and Scully are forbidden any contact with the X-Files under penalty of termination from the FBI.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had forgotten Mimi Rogers had such a prominent role prior to the sixth season finale. Maybe it is because Fowley is such an unlikable character. I do not know, but yet again, I had no memory of her being such a big part of ‘The Beginning.” it is not one of the most memorable of season premieres, either. It does have a big scope similar to the movie. The battle against the aliens is far less left to finding clues about colonization than it is running into the actual critters now as they pursue an agenda on Earth. I am not so certain the switch from a shadowy conspiracy to out and out man versus killer suit’s the series, but there you go.

Rating: *** (out of 5)