“DeadAlive” is a pivotal episode in the final two seasons which serves three purposes. One, it effectively ends the Mulder/Scully era of The X-Files, but on a happy note. Two, it lays the groundwork for Doggett and Reyes to take over. Finally, the episode introduces the new super soldier mythology. Not all three aspects of “DeadAlive” are created equal, but they balance out to a highly emotional episode for old school X-Philes.
The teaser features Mulder’s funeral. For the record, Mulder is given a Christian burial by an ambiguously Protestant minister. So there is another bit of evidence towards Mulder not being Jewish within the longstanding debate as to his religion. I am still in the school of thought continuity has so loose, convincing evidence has been offered for both arguments, so I doubt his religion was ever meant to be a firmly established part of the character.
Three months later, Billy Miles’ corpse is fished out of the ocean off the coast of North Carolina. He is still alive., but in some state of near dead hibernation. Skinner catches wind of this and recruits Doggett to exhume Mulder’s body. Since they were abduction simultaneously, perhaps they are both in the same condition. They are, but one has to wonder how a coroner in North Carolina could randomly discover against appearances miles is still alive, but Mulder, who was most certainly examined by top forensic pathologists from the FBI, went unnoticed. I will concede Scully was too emotionally distraught to have performed an autopsy on him, but surely some FBI professional would have been at least as observant as a county coroner in the matte even if it was extraordinary.
While Mulder is alive, he is on life support and unlikely to recover. So is Miles. Krycek shows up in the midst of all this, still with the ability to blackmail Skinner, to offer him a vaccine to save Mulder, but only if he agrees to kill Scully’s unborn child. Doggett discovers Skinner in the act of pulling the plug in Mulder’s locked hospital room. After stopping Skinner, he goes after Krycek in a long action sequence in a parking garage which reminded me much of Robert Patrick’s T-1000 days. He fails to stop Krycek, who smashes the vaccine’s vial as punishment.
Nevertheless, pulling Mulder off life support helps him fight off the virus. When he awakens to see Scully at his bedside, he kids with her by pretending he does not remember her. It is a nod to the old banter between the two. Their reunion is the most prominent throwback to the old days. Truth be told, how much of the eighth season has truly felt like The X-Files? I cannot help but feel a sense of melancholy that for all intents and purposes, all that is gone now, yet there are another 26 episodes left that mostly is not quite right.
As an almost unrelated tangent to the Mulder story, Doggett is offered a promotion out of the X-Files office after his recovery of Mulder. Doggett wavers. He knows with Scully about to go on maternity leave, the X-Files would be permanently shut down without him there. There is a strong hin the feels obligated to Scully, which is a nice touch. The two appear to have formed a much better working relationship during those “lost” three months since Mulder’s funeral. While Doggett drags out his decision, he still acts like a jerk while both Scully and Skinner are embroiled in the whole alien abductees returning nearly dead, but having their DNA rewritten in the process. I can understand Doggett’s skepticism, but his overly forceful attitude when a couple of extraordinary events stare him in the face is too much, particularly since The X-Files baton is being passed to him. Should he not be presented as a bit more likeable? We are feeling Scully and Skinner’s pain here. We have no sympathy for Doggett if he is not going to be a team player. In the end, Doggett takes too long with his decision, so Kersh rescinds the promotion. Doggett is now most certainly on the X-Files for good.
One of those extraordinary events is Mulder being buried alive after three months, but the other is the beginning of the super soldier story arc. Miles miraculously recovers from his near comatose state to become a completely new person. The make up job in which he literally sheds his old, bloody skin is incredible. Miles and Mulder are both infected with a virus that, if left alone, turns those infected into aliens. Hence, we have the new colonization mythology. The aliens’ plan is to dump the bodies and hope they are not discovered before the virus does its work, which is not a very good plan. I mean, mulder got buried. How would his alien self escape once the virus did its work? Best not to think about the logic or lack thereof.
Forget the flaws in logic and the introduction of a lackluster new mythology, Mulder and Scully’s reunion is what “DeadAlive” is all about. The drama is rather sparse up until that point, but the resolution makes the episode good. I am going to award four stars out of a sense of nostalgia. It really does not deserve it otherwise, because I cannot get excited at the prospect of Doggett and Reyes taking over to uncover a super soldier conspiracy. Neither could most fans, judging by the steady ratings decline.
Rating: **** (out of 5)
“DeadAlive” is a pivotal episode in the final two seasons which serves three purposes. One, it effectively ends the Mulder/Scully era of The X-Files, but on a happy note. Two, it lays the groundwork for Doggett and Reyes to take over. Finally, the episode introduces the new super soldier mythology. Not all three aspects of “DeadAlive” are created equal, but they balance out to a highly emotional episode for old school X-Philes.
