Beyondkadonk.
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
I’ll say this about The X-Files revival: This six-episode non-miniseries format certainly allows for some interesting tales. Not all of them land, but they sure are unique. Basically, having so few episodes – and then only having two of them (the first and last) dealing with the new mythology arc – opens the show up to a certain amount of playfulness. And creator Chris Carter returned as writer/director for this penultimate chapter, “Babylon ” – a fun balance between weird gimmickry and headiness.
And I liked it. Mostly because, overall, I never knew where “Babylon” was headed. Were these terrorists being framed? Was there something supernatural about their target or method of detonation? What was to be the ultimate hook here? Aside from Mulder and Scully meeting younger doppelgänger versions of themselves in Robbie Amell’s Agent Miller and Lauren Ambrose’s Agent Einstein?
In the end, the messaging was all about disparate forms of communicating. The science of thought and the weight of ideas. Like the tale of the Tower of Babel – the ancient cause of that which supposedly splintered us as a species – “Babylon” was all about clashing over ideas. Be it a violent and deadly clash or simply a rift between opposite-leaning partners who don’t see eye-to-eye over methodology. Honestly, some of the episode got a bit long-winded, but I thought the simple, bare-bones idea of trying to communicate with a near-dead man (and, honestly, that was it) was cool.
“Babylon” wasn’t as flat-out goofy (or great) as the Were-Monster episode from a few weeks ago, but it did kind of split the difference. Half of it was touching and thought-provoking while the other involved fresh-faced Mulder and Scully clones and MULDER BRO-COUNTRY TRIPPING ON MAGIC MUSHROOMS! Complete with line dancing, some pop bumpkin tunes, and cameos from The Lone Gunman and the Cigarette-Smoking Man! The latter of whom was whipping Mulder to the tune of Tom Waits’ “Misery is the River of the World.”
Yes, this unexpected psychedelic interlude managed to overshadow the entire mini-me shtick that was going on with Miller and Einstein, adding even more “f*** it” to a season that seems perfectly fine running hot and cold. I dug it. And I liked that it ultimately worked to solve the case. Mulder heard something important during his altered state and a new bomb threat was thwarted. In fact, this was a rare 2016 X-Files episode that was able to deliver a dose of case closure.
I don’t know what the actual point was of having Miller and Einstein come in other than our two heroes being given new alternates to bounce ideas off of. Mulder and Scully seem so close now, and beyond their basic blueprint of bickering (even since the premiere, in fact) that I couldn’t see Scully being all that huffy and resistant to Mulder wanting to trip on mushrooms. Though the story did use Scully’s recent loss as the reasoning behind Mulder wanting to leave her out of his plan.
I liked the playful aspects of having a younger Mulder/Scully duo around, but “Babylon”‘s biggest triumph, as such an oddball chapter, was that they were almost the least interesting element here. After a while, they just sort of blended into the episode and became less of a gimmick. Eventually taking a HUGE backseat to Mulder’s crazy and hilarious honky tonk hoedown-meets-Ingmar Bergman psychedelic freak out. Plus, all the while, elements of government foul play kept creeping in. Along with End Times “sky trumpets.”
