The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
From X-Files Wiki
| Series: | The X-Files |
| Original Airdate: | 14.11.1999 |
| Production Number: | 7ABX04 |
| Date(s): | |
| Written by: | David Duchovny & Chris Carter |
| Directed by: | Michael Watkins |
An unconscious Mulder's dreams lead him astray from the X-Files, but Scully stays the course in her search to find him.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Mulder's mother goes to see a comatose Mulder in hospital. However the Cigarette Smoking Man injects Mulder with a substance that wakes him from his coma. Scully is approached by Kritschgau who explains that Mulder's illness is due to exposure to the rubbings from the UFO, that has reactivated the alien virus that he was exposed to in Tunguska. Assistant Director Skinner calls to tell Scully that Mulder has gone missing from the hospital, but that he can not help her as his position has been compromised. The Cigarette Smoking Man tells Mulder that the only way to survive is to leave the X-files behind and enter a kind of witness protection program. Scully is visited by Albert Holsteen who warns her that she must save Mulder to save mankind. Scully receives a book on Native American practices which has symbols on the cover that match the symbols from the UFO. The book contains details of a coming mass extinction that can only be stopped by one man. Scully realises that the Cigarette Smoking Man kidnapped Mulder, believing that his condition is protection against a coming plague. Scully approaches Agent Fowley and pleads with her to help save Mulder, causing her to question the Cigarette Smoking Man's motives towards Mulder. Kritschgau is killed by Krycek and the evidence about the UFO he stole from Scully is destroyed. Agent Fowley comes through with information that allows Scully to rescue Mulder but Fowley pays with her life.[1]
[edit] Background Information
- The theme for the first two episodes of season 7 is faith and fate. Both of these themes will be explored constantly throughout the season.
[edit] References
- Medical Reference: Phenytoin
Scully mentions that Mulder has been injected with phenytoin. Phenytoin is the generic form of the drug Dilantin. The most common use of this medication is the prevention of convulsions in seizure disorders such as epilepsy.[2]
- Visual: Film reference
The idea behind Mulder's dream sequences were largely borrowed from the last 30 minutes of the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ (based on the Nikos Kazantzakis book of the same name). In the movie, we see Christ saved from the cross at the last minute and allowed to have a normal life. He gets married, has kids, and leads a long, normal life. As Jesus is dying of old age, he is visited by his supposedly-dead best friend Judas, who calls Jesus a traitor and shows him that Jerusalem is burning because Jesus did not die for our sins. Jesus then snaps back to reality where he is indeed dying on the cross. As you can tell, the episode is nearly identical, with Mulder 'saved' by the Cancerman, allowed to have a normal life where he marries and has children, when he is about to die of old age, he is visited by his supposedly-dead best friend Scully who calls him a traitor and shows him that the world is being destroyed by aliens because he did not complete his quest, and he snaps back to reality where he wakes on an X-shaped table.
[edit] Trivia
- When Mulder is laying on top of the operating table, we clearly see that he is strapped down to it. When Scully comes and they have that brief conversation, he goes to hug her and is no longer strapped down.
- The tagline for this episode is "Amor Fati"
[edit] Amor Fati
Amor fati is a Latin phrase that means "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and loss, as good. That is, one feels that everything that happens is destiny's way of reaching its ultimate purpose, and so should be considered good. Moreover, it is characterized by an acceptance of the events that occur in one's life.
The phrase is used repeatedly in Nietzsche's writings and is representative of the general outlook on life he articulates in section 276 of The Gay Science, which reads,
I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.
Outside of Nietzsche's works, the phrase can be found in works as far removed from German philosophy as Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune. [3]
[edit] DVD Deleted Scene
This episode has a deleted scene that can be viewed with the episode on the Season 7 DVD Box Set. The scene shows Scully talking with a seriously hurt Walter Skinner after Krycek escapes the FBI building. Skinner then warn Scully that "them" will make everything to have what Mulder´s has now. It is of notice that the physical aspect of Skinner on this deleted scene does not match his physical condition on the previous aired scene were Scully enters his office only to see Krycek running away.
[edit] Quotes
- Mulder: Scully, what are you doing here? Actually, I was just getting dressed to come see you but I... I couldn't find a tie to go with my victory cap.
Scully: Mulder, no work. You have to go back to bed.
Mulder: Oh, wait. Tie goes to the runner. Scully, I, um... I was coming down... to work to tell you that Albert Hosteen is dead. He died last night in New Mexico. He'd been in a coma for two weeks. There was... no way he could have been in your apartment.
Scully: He was there - we... we prayed together. Mulder, I don't believe that. I... I don't believe it. It's impossible.
Mulder: Is it any more impossible than what you saw in Africa or what you saw in me?
Scully: I don't know what to believe any more. Mulder, I was so determined to find a cure to save you that I could deny what it was that I saw and now I don't even know... I don't know... I don't know what the truth is... I don't know who to listen to. I don't know who to trust. Diana Fowley was found murdered this morning. I never trusted her... but she helped save your life just as much as I did. She gave me that book. It was her key that led me to you. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I know she was your friend.
Mulder: Scully, I was like you once - I didn't know who to trust. Then I... I chose another path... another life, another fate, where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognisable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same. You... were my friend, and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart, you were my constant... my touchstone.
Scully: And you are mine.
- Michael Kritschgau to Scully: "Two years ago your partner was infected with a virus he claimed was alien. A virus reactivated in him by exposure to a source of energy also alien. Agent Mulder is living proof of what he tried so long to substantiate: the existence of alien life."
[edit] Links and References
[edit] Guest Stars
- Anthony Anselmi as Paramedic
- David Brisbin as Second Doctor
- Andrew Carvano and Steven Carvano as Dream Boy
- William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man
- John Finn as Michael Kritschgau
- Brian George as Project Doctor
- Fritz Greve as Bearded Man
- Martin Grey as Special Agent Flagler
- Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat
- Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek
- Megan Leitch as Samantha Mulder
- Arelene Pileggi as Skinner's Assistant
- Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner
- Mimi Rogers as Agent Diana Fowley
- Henry Schwartz as Toddler
- Warren Sweeney as Dr. Geoff Harriman
- Rebecca Toolan as Teena Mulder
- Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman as Albert Hosteen
[edit] References
SEMICOLON-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS/LOCATIONS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT LINKED TO IF ALREADY LINKED IN SUMMARY OR GUEST STARS SECTIONS)
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