The X-Files – This Is The End | Season 10/11

The last two seasons of the X-Files were classics.

“My Struggle” is a four episode mini-series from the final two seasons (tenth and eleventh season) of The X-Files. Written and directed by Chris Carter, it aired in 2016, on Fox.

My Struggle

Fourteen years after the closure of the X-Files, Fox Mulder is contacted by Dana Scully at the behest of the FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, who wants him to meet a right-wing online webcaster named Tad O'Malley. Mulder and Scully reunite in Washington, D.C., where they are picked up by O'Malley in his limousine. They meet a young woman named Sveta, who claims to have fragmented memories of having her fetuses stolen from her during alien abductions and to possess alien DNA. O'Malley takes Mulder to a secret location where a triangular aircraft built from alien technology is being housed. Mulder now believes that Colonisation and the alien invasion were all an elaborate hoax to distract. Instead, Mulder thinks it was a “conspiracy of men” who have used extraterrestrial technology on human parties for decades, and these events were subsequently made to look like alien abductions. Before O'Malley can go public with his claims, his website is shut down, the “ARV” craft and its scientists are destroyed by heavily armed men dressed in military uniforms, and a UFO intercepts Sveta while she is driving, destroying her car. Scully reveals that Sveta's re-tested DNA sample confirms that she does in fact possess extraterrestrial DNA; a test Scully has performed on herself has revealed that she does as well. Mulder states that Sveta is the key to exposing the conspiracy and those responsible. They then receive an urgent summons from Skinner requesting them to meet him. The Cigarette Smoking Man, now alive in the present day, receives word via telephone that the X-Files have been re-opened.

My Struggle II

Six weeks after the events of “My Struggle”, Scully arrives at FBI headquarters to find that Mulder has disappeared after watching an excerpt from Tad O'Malley's online news broadcast (which had been revived). As Scully informs Skinner and Einstein of Mulder's absence, Mulder attempts to leave Washington—visibly unwell and badly bruised.

An illness caused by prior vaccines prompts people to beg to have their DNA changed.

A real disease isn't needed, just the fear of a disease. Fake test results turn everything, including normal health into an excuse to alter DNA.

Back in Washington, D.C., Scully receives a phone call from O'Malley, who has arrived at Mulder's house for a pre-arranged meeting and found signs of a struggle. O'Malley explains that he suspects that alien DNA has been injected into every American citizen in order to facilitate the widespread outbreak of the Spartan Virus. Designed to strip humans of their immune systems, this contagion quickly manifests itself nationwide, with Scully and Einstein noting a sharp increase in the number of patients admitted to hospitals and triage centres.

My Struggle III

Dana Scully wakes up in the hospital after having a seizure, now realising the events of “My Struggle II” were a vision and haven't actually happened yet. Mulder initially presumes Scully's ramblings are a product of her illness but leaves the hospital to investigate. Agent Jeffrey Spender later appears at Scully's bedside, revealing that someone is looking for William. He first balks at telling her the location of her son, revealing only the name of the family that adopted him—Van De Kamp. Mulder tails a henchman who he believes will take him to The Smoking Man, but he arrives somewhere else with mysterious conspirators; Mr. Y (A.C. Peterson) and Erika Price (Barbara Hershey). They try to negotiate with Mulder into turning over his son but Mulder refuses. Walter Skinner tries to meet with Scully, but can't find her. As he goes to his car, he is met inside by The Smoking Man and Reyes. Meanwhile, Scully tries to leave the hospital but her seizures return causing her to crash her car. She is rescued by Agent Einstein and Agent Miller, and is readmitted to the hospital. Both agents leave the room. An assassin sent by Mr. Y and Erika enters and tries to suffocate Scully, but Mulder steps in and saves her by slicing the assassin's neck. As Skinner comes in, Mulder confronts him since he smells like smoke. In a flashback to when Skinner was in the car with the Smoking Man, the latter reveals (in a further flashback to 17 years, “En Ami”) that he, not Mulder, artificially impregnated Scully.

My Struggle IV

Mulder and Scully receive a call from Monica Reyes, warning them that William has been taken into custody and is being escorted to a government warehouse in Maryland. Scully, who has been struggling with illness and visions of the future by way of her psychic link with William, predicts that he will not be there. Mulder infiltrates the building, but is forced to kill the agents and Mr. Y before he can question them and he finds no trace of William.

Great predictive programming or a revelatory classic?

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