The Truth (The X-Files)

Infobox Television episode | Title = The Truth


Caption = "The Truth"
Series = The X-Files
Season = 9
Episode = 19 & 20
Airdate = May 19, 2002 (Fox)
Production = 9ABX19/9ABX20
Writer = Chris Carter
Director = Kim Manners
Guests =Alan Dale as Toothpick Man
William Devane as General Frank Suveg
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Prev = Sunshine Days
Next =
Episode list = List of The X-Files episodes

"The Truth", parts I and II, comprise the final two episodes of the television series "The X-Files". Both parts originally aired on May 19, 2002. It is the only episode in which all five regular characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, John Doggett, Monica Reyes and Walter Skinner are credited together in the opening titles. "The X-Files" creator Chris Carter reportedly intends to make a third "X-Files" feature film that would focus on the impending alien invasion revealed in this episode, depending on the success of the 2008 film "". [cite news|url=http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/04/chris-carter-wa.html|title='X-Files' creator Chris Carter wants to believe in a third movie featuring Mulder and Scully|author=Clark Collis|publisher="Entertainment Weekly"|date=2008-04-18|accessdate=2008-07-13]

Plot

Fox Mulder finds himself incarcerated by the US Marines under controversial circumstances. He has been arrested for breaking into a military bunker. Upon hearing that he has resurfaced, and in such a dire manner, Scully and Skinner immediately travel to Virginia to see him. They find out that he had in fact made the incursion, but he wants his reason for doing so to be heard. He had been seeking information on alien technology, and had allegedly killed Knowle Rohrer. It is revealed that Rohrer was a former Marine Corps friend of Doggett's, but had been irrevocably turned into an enemy Super Soldier. While Mulder languishes in military captivity, he receives mysterious visits from phantoms of his past. Meanwhile, Scully and Skinner go to great lengths to get him released, but are unsuccessful. Mulder and Scully share a passionate kiss when they are reunited, while an uncomfortable Agent Skinner looks on.

Mulder's fate is ultimately made the subject of a military tribunal. At the outset, it appears he will be the hopeless victim of a show trial not in his favor.

Skinner takes Mulder's defense, while Scully, Reyes, Doggett, Marita Covarrubias, Gibson Praise and Jeffrey Spender take the stand. Although they ultimately prove his case — when Scully discovers that the body is not that of Rohrer — their testimony is overruled and Mulder is sentenced to death.

With the unexpected help of Deputy Director Kersh, the group breaks Mulder out, and he and Scully drive off. Despite being told to get out of the country (northward, and then off the continent), Mulder instead drives south to New Mexico. Doggett and Reyes return to find their office emptied, suggesting that the X-Files have been closed down for a third time. Skinner finds himself being called in for a meeting with Kersh and the Toothpick Man (whom Gibson Praise asserts is "not human"), and we see him for the last time as the door closes behind him. Gibson warns Doggett and Reyes that Mulder is in danger.

In New Mexico, Scully and Mulder arrive at a pueblo where a dying Cigarette Smoking Man is hiding out to survive the colonization — an event that will happen on December 22, 2012 (first alluded to in Red Museum / episode 2X10). This corresponds to a significant date in the Mayan Calendar — perhaps the end of the world. Outside, Reyes and Doggett face off against Rohrer, who has been sent to kill Mulder and the Smoking Man. The pueblo is filled with magnetite, which kills Rohrer as he advances on Doggett and Reyes. Switching cars with Mulder and Scully, the agents drive off. Black helicopters destroy the pueblo — and the Smoking Man, within — before giving chase to the wrong car. Doggett and Reyes are last seen driving off with them in pursuit.

In a hotel room in Roswell, New Mexico, Mulder and Scully prepare for bed and talk. Their final words:

Scully: "You've always said that you want to believe. But believe in what, Mulder? If this is the truth that you've been looking for, then what is left to believe in?"

Mulder: "I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. That they speak to us as part of something greater than us — greater than any alien force. And if you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what's speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves.

Scully: "Then we believe the same thing."

Mulder: "Maybe there's hope."

References

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/the-x-files/the-truth-1/episode/129615/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;18 The Truth part 1] at TV.com
* [http://www.tv.com/the-x-files/the-truth-2/episode/492845/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;19 The Truth part 2] at TV.com