“Vienen,’ which is Spanish for ’they come,’ is a highly pivotal episode in the shift from the old era to the new. It is both the final time we see the black oil. It is also the last time Mulder is seen as an official FBI agent. All that is great, but why do they call the episode ’they come” when we know they are already here and have been for millennia?
Although he has been refused reassignment to the x-files, Mulder still takes an interest in the corpse of a Mexican national oil rig worker who had been working on an american rig. His body washed ashore in the gulf of Mexico with radiation burns similar to those relating to the black oil. Mulder tipped off Doggett days ago, but his skepticism over aliens caused him to dismiss investigating. Mulder goes over his head to contact the oil company Ceo, who in turn complains to Kersh about the implications of a federal investigation right now since his company has just discovered a huge oil well that mexico may have claim as well. A dead Mexican nation might be all they need to keep americans out.
It sounds like the beginning of a moral tale about the evil oil companies and their alleged over reaching political influence--and you may argue that still, considering Kersh sends Doggett to the rig to write up some satisfactory report in order to quietly close the matter--but the story mercifully takes a turn towards the paranormal. Mulder shows up on the rig before Doggett’s arrival because he fears Doggett’s skepticism will prevent him from looking for the right things. The two go at each other like junkyard dogs the entire episode. I cannot blame Doggett, either. His authority is being challenged. Yet we are not supposed to be sympathetic since he is the only one among our heroes who refuses to accept reality.
The reality is this: the oil well discovered is actually the black oil. It has taken over the entire crew and forcing them to drill in order to release it all. There are two Mexican workers on board the rig from an indigenous ethnic group with some sort of genetic immunity to the oil which Scully conveniently discovers while autopsying the corpse. The other guy is in hiding on the rig, terrified of the rest of his possessed workers. After communicating with scully, Doggett and Mulder turn their attention to finding him.
On a side note, this is one of those things that makes you uncomfortable, even though there is no reason why it should. Some Mexicans are immune to the black oil due to genetiocs? I guess if that third movie featuring Mulder and Scully preventing the 2012 does not pan out, we can have a film about Mexican wrestlers battling the black oil. Danny trejo has to be in it. Salma Hayek, too. What is worse is a brief bit after Doggett and mulder question the foreman about the missing worker. No one noticed he was gone. In a conversation later, mulder notes that is unusual because it was previously said Mexicans were especially good workers. Surely they would notice he was gone. There is your politically correct moment, folks. Benign progressive racial patronizing, courtesy of The X-Files.
Doggett finds the guy hiding and learns what is going on. The wotkers are going to bring up the oil so a spaceship can come pick it up. Doggett does not buy into it. Mulder does, of course. The two wind up being hunted by the crew in the climax in an homage to zombie flicks. It begs the question why the rig workers did not just kill the two of them to begin with. They are aliens. They do not care about keeping a lid on the matter. The only explanation is that the episode ran another thirty-five minutes after the two came on board the rig, so it would have been boring looking at their corpses all that time. The Mexican worker sets fire to the rig, conveniently saving the two of them at the cost of his own life. They jump off in an homage to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. As a further lucky coincidence, the rescue helicopter shows up at the same time of the explosion. That is television, folks. Most any action movie, too, I suppose.
Back in Washington, Mulder takes the fall for setting up the whole affair. He is fired from the FBI. Arguing that Doggett has now seen the black oil and cannot deny the existence of aliens, he passes the X-Files torch to him. Such is the end of an era. In an incredibly implausible twist, mulder conspicuously leaves the photo of Samantha on his desk even though he has cleared out all his other belongings. He would never do that. In fact, since she was the reason he started on the X-Files, it would have been poignant to actually show him packing away her photo before he left. Why the powers that be did not think of that as a good moment of closure is a mystery to me.
There is quite a bit of convergence of general science fiction casting here, too. Aside for Robert Patrick with his genre credentials, Casey Biggs, who played Damar on Deep Space Nine, and M. C. Gainey, who played tom on Lost, have prominent roles as rig workers possessed by the black oil. Gainey demonstrates some hints of his Lost role with a folksy, friendly demeanor which hides his sinister side. The more I see of him in character roles, the more I realize that is his shtick. Still, it is worth noting in consideration of the similarities between Lost and The X-Files.
“Vienen’ is a solid episode in spite of the oddities I mentioned above. I would put it on par with some of the entertaining, though not greaterst conspiracy arc stories. It is funny, because at one point when talking to scully over the radio, she remarks that mulder is not going to get away scott free after all he has done in this misadventure because this is not the old days. She has it spot on pegged. There is definitely a different feel to ’Vienen’ that I can only describe as wrapping up the loose ends of the Mulder/Scully era whether the writers had a good idea of how to do so or not. The best I can say for it is it is a decent episode that does the jobb it is supposed to do. The passing of the torch should have been more monumental, but considering this is the third time Mulder has had his job taken away, perhaps there was a fear it is all cliché by now.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
“Vienen,’ which is Spanish for ’they come,’ is a highly pivotal episode in the shift from the old era to the new. It is both the final time we see the black oil. It is also the last time Mulder is seen as an official FBI agent. All that is great, but why do they call the episode ’they come” when we know they are already here and have been for millennia? 
