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An alien rebellion leads the Syndicate to its demise as their twenty-five year conspiracy approaches its disastrous collapse.

SummaryEdit

"One Son" begins as Cassandra Spender demands that agent Fox Mulder kill her. Before Mulder can do anything, the front door is smashed open by a group of people in anti-contaminant suits, including Diana Fowley. The intruders capture Dana Scully, Mulder, and Cassandra, and bring them to a Centers for Disease Control facility at Fort Marlene. Fowley tells Mulder and Scully that they believed that Cassandra Spender contracted a contagious organism and that she was called in by agent Jeffrey Spender. Scully gets upset at Diana, but Mulder believes her explanation. Meanwhile, Alex Krycek reports on Cassandra's escape to the Syndicate, saying that the alien rebels want Cassandra kept alive. Regardless, the Syndicate decides to turn Cassandra over to the colonists and start colonization in order to save themselves.

At Fort Marlene Mulder runs into the sickly looking Marita Covarrubias. Marita tells Mulder that she was subject to experiments by the Syndicate to create a black oil vaccine and that the colonists will begin colonization if they learn of Cassandra's existence as an alien-human hybrid. Scully, with help from the Lone Gunmen, looks into Diana Fowley's personal history and informs Mulder that Fowley has been collecting data on alien abductees and heading to Tunisia every week, although there is no trace of her activities in FBI records. Mulder still trusts Diana, but goes to her apartment to see her, finding the Cigarette Smoking Man there instead. Held at gunpoint, the Cigarette Smoking Man tells Mulder that he has been betrayed by his son Jeffrey.

The Cigarette Smoking Man tells Mulder that the Syndicate agreed by majority vote, against Bill Mulder's objections, to align with the alien colonists in order to delay colonization. The Syndicate were forced to give up members of their family to the colonists in exchange for the alien fetus (seen in "The Erlenmeyer Flask"). Because Bill Mulder was slow to cooperate, Samantha Mulder was taken later than the others. Using the fetus, the Syndicate worked on creating alien-human hybrids who could survive colonization. The Cigarette Smoking Man tells Mulder that colonization will begin once Cassandra is handed over and that Mulder will be able to see his sister again, providing him with an address to the hangar where the Syndicate members will be meeting the colonists.

Jeffrey goes to Syndicate headquarters, finding only Krycek there. Krycek tells him that the Syndicate members are preparing to be given the hybrid genes—except for Spender's father, who has gone to retrieve Cassandra. Diana returns to her apartment, finding Mulder there, and the two head to the hangar at El Rico Air Force Base. Jeffrey arrives at the hospital, finding his mother gone. However, while at the hospital he finds Marita, who tells him how to get to El Rico Air Force Base. A Syndicate surgeon attempting to procure the alien fetus is killed by one of the alien rebels, who takes his form. Mulder contacts Scully and the two try to stop the train car transporting Cassandra to El Rico, failing to do so. Krycek finds the dead surgeon and the fetus missing, and tells Jeffrey that the rebels are going to win.

The Syndicate and their families gather at El Rico Air Force Base. Shortly after the Cigarette Smoking Man and Diana Fowley arrive, a white light appears around the base. It is revealed to be the rebels, who kill the entire Syndicate except for the Cigarette Smoking Man and Diana Fowley, who manage to escape in time. The next day Mulder, Scully, Walter Skinner and Jeffrey report to Assistant Director Alvin Kersh on the deaths of the Syndicate. Jeffrey tells Kersh that Mulder and Scully could have prevented it. He resigns and recommends that they be reassigned to the X-Files. Heading to the X-Files office in the basement, Jeffrey finds the Cigarette Smoking Man, who then shoots Jeffrey and leaves.

Background InformationEdit

The alien colonists in this episode were played by young girls in costumes, as Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind aliens also were, Spielberg seeing girls as more delicate and graceful than young boys.

NotesEdit

Although the train carrying the Cigarette Smoking Man and Cassandra Spender near the conclusion of this episode appears to be travelling at high speed, in reality it never got above eight miles an hour -- the speed limit in the rail yard used for filming. The illusion was created with sound effects, music, clever camera angles and quick cutting.

Jo Black-David, who played the murderous nurse, was casting director Rick Millikan's high school drama teacher.

This episode, which finally puts to rest everything about the government conspiracy with an alien species, begins with a montage of flashbacks stretching back to 'The Erlenmeyer Flask'.

Links and ReferencesEdit

Guest StarsEdit

Jo Black-Jacob as Nurse
Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike
Mark Bramhall as Surgical Team Member
Veronica Cartwright as Cassandra Spender
William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
Peter Donat as William Mulder
Frank Ertl as Fifth Elder
Dean Haglund as Richard Langly
Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers
Laurie Holden as Marita Covarrubias
Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
John Moore as Third Elder
Chris Owens as Jeffrey Spender
James Pickens, Jr. as Assistant Director Alvin Kersh
Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
Mimi Rogers as Agent Diana Fowley
Al Ruscio as Fourth Elder
Don S. Williams as First Elder
Scott Williamson as CDC Leader

ReferencesEdit

Fort Marlene; New York City, New York; El Rico Air Force Base

The X-Files • Season 6
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Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	February 14, 1999
Production Number:	6ABX12
Date(s):	Unknown
Written by:	Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz
Directed by:	Rob Bowman

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One Son

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