Billy Miles continues to come after Scully's baby as Mulder, Doggett, Skinner and Krycek uncover a cadre of alien replacements making inroads deep into the FBI.

Where did it all go wrong? Yes, once again it's not in the execution but the explanations. Just as the whole alien replacement concept is starting to become clearer, we find out there are a whole bunch of them in place for a reason that's never explained. In the end it all seems to come down to a way for Kersh to get his comeuppance and for Doggett to retain control of the X-Files, but it's a long-winded ploy if that's the case.

Scully's baby is another case in point. Finally born, she is tracked by the aliens who seem to want to visit her rather than kill the child. It's not explained why, although Mulder suggests it's because the baby wasn't what they were expecting, but more of that later.

You can guess the aliens a mile off, but their plan for colonization is completely clouded, as is Krycek's involvement. And then, as per tradition, Chris Carter sees fit to kill a character and he's the only one available. Why? Just as we lose the Smoking Man, he's the one character for whom there's plenty more story to tell. We don't know who he works for, what he does, why, and the information he could provide is surely invaluable. While I appreciate that it's the only way Skinner can be returned to normality, it seems like death for death's sake rather than any plot function.

Scully's baby seems to be the centre of some poorly-disguised biblical prophecy complete with comedy wise men (the Lone Gunmen), a star and a contingent of aliens arriving to pay homage to her 'virgin birth' and it just feels oh so wrong. The only thing that doesn't, and that goes some way to making this episode worthwhile is the final scene, when Mulder visits Scully, says he thinks he knows why the baby wasn't what the aliens were after, and kisses Scully passionately. As a final send-off for Mulder, it's perfect, and it does make some insinuations as to what's been going on. Presumably Mulder got Scully pregnant the natural way and she's simply given birth, overcoming her barrenness. The only annoying factor is Chris Carter's determination to not come out and say so, leaving everything up to us viewers to work out. While this was good for a while and we were led towards certain conclusions, now things are such a mess that you never know what's going through the creator's mind. And that, my friends, is bad, bad TV.

***

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