The Truth

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Mulder is discovered looking for classified information at an army base and, after allegedly killing an apparently indestructible super-soldier, he is placed on trial to defend the X-files.

[edit] Summary

When Fox Mulder is placed under military arrest, Scully and Skinner immediately travel to Virginia to see him. Mulder has been placed under arrest for breaking into Mount Weather - where he accessed information on alien technology - and allegedly killing Knowle Rohrer, Doggett's former army friend-turned-supersoldier.

While Mulder receives mysterious visits from phantoms of his past, Scully and Skinner go to great lengths to get him released, but he is ultimately put on trial - a trial with an outcome seemingly set from the start.

Skinner takes Mulder's defense, while Scully, Monica 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 Knowle Rohrer - their testimony is overruled and Mulder is sentenced to death.

With the surprising help of Deputy Director Alvin Kersh, the group break him free and Mulder and Scully drive off. Despite being told to get out of the country, Mulder drives instead 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 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, this corresponds to a significant date in the Mayan Calendar perhaps the end of the world. Outside, Reyes and Doggett face off against Knowle 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. The helicopters destroy the pueblo - and the Smoking Man - before giving chase to the wrong car and we last see Doggett and Reyes,holding hands, driving off with them in pursuit.

In a hotel room in 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.

The last scene mirrors a scene in the pilot where Mulder first opens up to Scully

[edit] Background information

This was the last episode of The X-Files and was later aired in two parts. It was originally aired as one episode and was the only feature-length episode of The X-Files.

Mulder, Scully and the Cigarette Smoking Man are the only characters to appear in both this episode and the series' pilot.

This episode is the fourth of only four in Season 9 in which David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) appears, the others being the earlier "Trust No 1" and "Jump the Shark" (appearing in archive footage in both these episodes) as well as "William" (in which Scully apparently sees an hallucination of Mulder).

Originally, this episode was to feature Shannon McMahon. However, actress Lucy Lawless, who has a history of miscarriage, became pregnant shortly after her appearances in the episodes "Nothing Important Happened Today" and "Nothing Important Happened Today II" were filmed. The actress had a traumatic pregnancy but delivered a healthy son in May, 2002, and ultimately did not return to The X-Files television series. [1]

This episode was originally to end with a scene featuring the "Toothpick Man" and President George W. Bush, with an impersonator playing the role of the president. However, the scene was later deleted.

The final scene of the episode is a bookend to a scene in the pilot episode, in which the audience first learns about the abduction of Mulder's sister, and uses the same establishing shot of a hotel that was first seen in the pilot.

As hinted at by the Cigarette Smoking Man, December 22, 2012, is the day the ancient Maya calendar ends.

There are constant references in the episode to Scully being assigned to the X-files "nine years ago," despite her being assigned to the X-files over ten years before, in March 1992.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Timeline

34th millennium BCE: The black oil infected early humans die in the ice age. The black oil becomes dormant.
1st century: The Anasazi culture dies after the "Original Shadow Govenment" hide in magnetite composed pueblos.
1947: A UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. The government learns of the alien virus and colonization plans.
April 9, 1976: An important case on UFO research is filed.
1987: Samantha Mulder dies after being a part of several Syndicate cloning experiments.
1990: Monica Reyes joins the FBI.
1992: Dana Scully is assigned to the X-files.
1994: Dana Scully is abducted and subjected to experiments by the government.
1999: Jeffrey Spender is last assigned to the X-files.
2000: Agent John Doggett is assigned to the X-files.
2001: Monica Reyes is assigned to the X-files. Fox Mulder goes into hiding with Gibson Praise.
2002: Fox Mulder is put on trial for the murder of Knowle Rohrer. He later goes into hiding with Dana Scully.
December 22, 2012: The date set for alien colonization.

[edit] References

Alien; Anasazi; Annapolis; Baltimore; Bluemont; Canada; Colonization; FBI Academy; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Federal Emergency Management Agency; Federal prosecutor; Fort Marlene; Georgia; Hybrid; Indian; Los Angeles field office; Magnetite; Maple Street; Maryland; Master Sergeant; Mayan; Mayan calendar; Military court of law; Miller, Daniel M.; Mount Weather Complex; New Mexico; New Orleans field office; Quantico; Roswell; Scully, William, II; Shadow government; Supersoldier; Syndicate; Texas; Truman, Harry S.; United Nations; US Code; US Marine Corps; US Navy; Virginia; Weed Hope; X-file

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Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	May 19, 2002
Production Number:	9x19, 9x20
Date(s):	May 2002
Written by:	Chris Carter
Directed by:	Kim Manners