(or) why existence was an overall crappy episode
by t h r e a d s
"An ending is supposed to drive the point home, whatever that point may be."
I think this dissatisfaction was mildly touched upon in my other essay "The Loss of Me", but like all good things, they eventually spawn into crappy spin-offs.
I am sad to admit to it, but I think I am among a population of 6 who feel that "Existence" could have been better, which basically equates to a major up-and-coming ass kicking by all the Shippers and pro-Existence fans.
It took me almost a week to come to this conclusion, I wasn't terribly fond of it when it ended, and that lack of fondness transformed into confliction and confusion as I logged onto the net the next day to be greeted by bombardments of Existence praises, and fanatical Shippers writing joyous verse in response to their happiness. Even though I didn't like the episode much, I felt that I should, because everyone else did. You know, hop on the bandwagon. Or ever worse, maybe there just something warped about my fandom?
Or perhaps it was just the green loli-pop I'd been sucking on. I hear those things go straight to your brain. (Or maybe it was root beer that did that …)
But no, X-Philes are not one body; we are all individuals with individual opinions and to hell if I get the shit beaten out of me for saying this. For a season finale, "Existence" really let me down. I mean really. Normally I am the kind of person who enjoys something for what it is and doesn't tear it apart. (Though I still will never forgive Carter for allowing "Roadrunners" to be produced. What the hell was that?) There were a lot of things in past episode that made me go, "but wait, that isn't possible." Or "that doesn't make any sense." Like the fact that Scully magically has friends in "Essence", or how cellular communication in the Boston subways system in "Medusa" has absolutely no static, feedback or cut-offs, or how in "Vienen" the rig workers at the end of the episode all of a sudden 'decide' to blow up the rig and kill themselves and the two agents despite the fact that it would be easier and cheaper just to knife them by hand. No, for the most part I wasn't picky. I let it slide. It is The X-Files after all. Carter never said things would always make sense. Check that, I don't think he ever said things would make sense. (Though, I thought it was more in reference to plot than in technicalities.)
"Essence" was okay, at the end I was convinced that the conclusion would be one of the few episodes that makes the viewer go "whoa" and wander about in a daze for the next day or so.
Was I ever wrong.
The only thing that "Existence" did for me was a) show to me why most shows don't last to a season 8 and b) that Cater had officially sold out and was now just in it for the money. Don't get me wrong, I did like and I'll probably rewind my tape and watch it a few more times, but it was never an "eternal" episode like "Jose Chung's From Outer Space". Even if you hated that episode you're still likely to remember it.
There were quite a few things that didn't add up or make sense in the end, not to mention things that just generally bugged me:
Well, looking at those seven things above, six of them I suppose can be easily explained away- but don't try #1, I don't think there is any logical or believable excuse for that one.
Still, there were some memorable parts in it.
Despite the above, I know I am being pretty picky here. It is just an episode after all; a lot of The X-Files has been like this. But that is just the point. A lot if The X-Files have been like that. After eight years, this repeat plot device has become very redundant. In the days of old-school episodes, it was neat. It added to the effect of "the truth was out there" and we were in the dark as much as Scully and Mulder were. After eight years though, as a fan, I've matured a little, and now expect a little more. It also let me down as the fact that this could have also been the series finale- that it was supposed to wrap everything up for the fans, but really didn't.
That's not the point though. Sure, they gave up. I did expect them too, they'd paid a considerable price to the x-files afterall. Mulder was fired from the FBI and Scully has a child to look after now. Regardless, the ending offered no conclusion what so ever to the series. (Because, remember children, this was also written as a series finale) Mulder and Scully are now going to live happily ever after, Doggett and Reyes are now in way over their heads, colonization is still going to happen, and Skinner finally grew some balls. At this point, I think I would have preferred some tacky, sappy, sentimentally symbolic ending that made you roll your eyes after. ... Well, maybe not.
After eight years the show went out with a whimper instead of a bang. The ending was very anti-climatic. The first episode and a half of the finale was non-stop action, then to conclude this excitment, a very warm and snuggly ending. Or also to the fact that this was supposed to resolve Mulder and wave good-bye to his loyal service to the show (as well to David Duchovany) but there was no resolution in that either. He kissed her, so now what? I'll feel very insulted if Chris Carter tries to 'fool' me into having Mulder only appear 'off' screen. A good series doesn't neccessarily have to end with a bang, or even closure. Look at the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, or even better, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I hardly call the ending to that novel closure, but it was still well done, still in character and still very fitting to the book.
An ending is supposed to drive the point home, whatever that point may be. It's the theme or purpose of a novel or television show that is subtly re-summarized in the end.
I always thought that it was "The Truth is Out There", not "Through Friendship Grows Love".
.back.
With "Essence" and "Existence" I was really expecting that he'd take out the big guns for that. The two-part season finale was also designed to be a series finale if need be, after all.
All it told me was that Doggett and Reyes were the new Mulder and Scully and The X-Files was in reality, a vicious circle. Skinner was never really in a battle with evil, he just got bored and shot it. Ditto for Mulder and Scully. Speaking of which, their search for the truth got dropped when they realized they had feelings for each other. Not that I expected they'd spend every moment of their life hunting space aliens from beyond the ringed moon, but the end still never invoked any kind of hope for humanity in me. Not only did they give up, they really gave up. Dropped everything gave up. Gave up like the Germans in World War II gave up. Gave up like me writing a math test, gave up.