| "Essence" | |
|---|---|
| The X-Files episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 20 |
| Directed by | Kim Manners |
| Written by | Chris Carter |
| Production code | 8ABX20 |
| Original air date | May 13, 2001 |
| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Essence" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the eighth season and the 181st episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files . The episode first aired in the United States on May 13, 2001, on Fox, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. "Essence" earned Nielsen rating of 7.7 and was viewed by 12.8 million viewers. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics.
The show centers on FBI special agents John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson)—as well as ex-FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)—who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), and Doggett come up against the horrible consequences of the Syndicate's pact with the aliens, as Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley)—now reprogrammed as a Supersoldier—attempts to erase all evidence of the tests—including Scully's soon-to-be-born baby. Upon hearing information from Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), the men reluctantly call upon him as well as Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) to help them.
"Essence" is a story milestone for the series. It was one of the later season eight episodes, starting with "Per Manum", that introduced the story arc about super-soldiers, which would continue throughout the ninth season. The series was the first part of two, and concluded with the season finale "Existence". In addition, Nicholas Lea reprises his role as Alex Krycek, who temporarily switches sides and aids Mulder and Scully.
While preparing for Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson) baby shower, her mother Margaret (Sheila Larken) invites a woman named Lizzy Gill to help Scully around her apartment. Unbeknownst to Scully, Gill tampers with her pregnancy medication. Meanwhile, Billy Miles (Zachary Aynsley), satisfied with the research conducted at Zeus Genetics, kills the head scientist, Dr. Lev, and burns the laboratory. All of the evidence at Zeus Genetics is destroyed, including the viable hybrid fetus. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) informs John Doggett (Robert Patrick) of the fire, and asks to go along to survey the crime scene. Mulder reveals that Lev is connected to Scully's former obstetrician, Dr. Parenti. While searching Parenti's office, the agents find another storage room containing hybrid fetuses. They confront Parenti, who denies everything.
Back at Scully's apartment, Gill leaves for the day. She gets into a car driven by Duffy Haskell, and tells him she thinks Scully trusts her. At the lab, Agent Crane derides Doggett for dealing with Mulder. Mulder and Doggett head back to Parenti's office, during which time Miles appears and decapitates Parenti. As they enter Parenti's office, they confront Miles—Mulder is thrown through a glass barrier while Doggett shoots him several times with no apparent effect. While Mulder and Doggett are distracted, Miles escapes. The two go to Scully's house to regroup. Gill overhears and contacts Haskell, who is at an illegal human cloning facility. At the other end, Haskell is also decapitated by Miles.
As Doggett, Mulder, and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) survey Haskell's murder scene, Scully catches Gill in the act of tampering with her medication. Later, Gill confesses that she, along with Haskell and others, have been monitoring Scully's pregnancy as part of the alien colonists' plans. However, she tells the agents that Scully's baby is a perfect human child with no human weaknesses. Mulder, fearing for Scully's safety, prepares to take her away. Doggett and Crane receive a call from Miles claiming to surrender, but this turns out to be a distraction. Miles instead goes after Scully, just as she and Mulder escape. As Miles is about to catch Mulder and Scully, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) runs him over and takes them to Doggett and Skinner, just before Miles gets back up.
Krycek states that Miles is one of a new type of aliens that are trying to wipe out humanity's ability to survive the invasion—including Scully's baby, which Krycek states is a special child that the aliens fear. Mulder tells Doggett to send for help. Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) arrives as Miles shows up at the J. Edgar Hoover Building. Scully is able to sneak out of the building with the help of Krycek, Doggett and Reyes. Mulder and Skinner, meanwhile, lead Miles to the roof, where Mulder pushes him off into a waiting garbage truck, which then compacts him. Scully and Reyes pull away. The episode ends with Crane pointing them to safety, then turning around, revealing to the camera that he is a Super Soldier. [2]
"Essence" was written by series creator Chris Carter. [3] The episode, which was the first part of two and concluded with the season finale "Existence", was written during a time of uncertainty for the series. Near the end of season eight, it was unclear whether or not the show would continue onto a ninth season. Carter had maintained for sometime that he would not continue the show without lead actor David Duchovny. However, Duchovny announced that after the end of the eighth season, he would leave the show for good. [4] In addition, lead actress Gillian Anderson's contract also expired at the end of the eighth season. [4] Anderson had expressed her growing disinterest in the series ever since the beginning of the eighth season, saying "For a lot of people, if you don't like your job, you can quit your job, I don't necessarily have that option." [5] Anderson cited the fact that "eight years is a long time" as a contributing factor to her indifference. [5] However, Carter soon changed his position and announced he would remain on the show and continue only if Anderson agreed to do another season. Eventually, Fox offered Anderson a "generous" incentive to stay, resulting in the retention of Carter and Anderson and a final season of the show. [4]
The episode marks the return of Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek. [3] In previous episodes, Krycek was one of the series' main antagonists. However, in "Essence", he temporarily switches sides. As such, portraying actor Lea explains the character's motivation: "Toward the end, he realizes that it's possible that the world could completely go down the tubes—then he's got a stake in trying to keep that from happening. That's when he starts giving the information to Mulder so that he can use it." [4]
"Essence" first aired on Fox on May 13, 2001. [6] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.7, meaning that it was seen by 7.7% of the nation's estimated households. [7] The episode was viewed by 7.87 million households, [7] [nb 1] and 12.8 million viewers. [8] The episode ranked as the 41st most-watched episode for the week ending April 8. [7] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the episode made its first televised appearance on June 28, 2001, on Sky1 and was the third most watched program that week, receiving 0.65 million viewers. [9] Fox promoted the episode with a poster parodying the 1968 horror movie Rosemary's Baby . The episode's tagline was "Scully's baby is born." [10] [11] The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 – Super Soldiers , a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien super soldiers arc. [12]
"Essence" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B+", noting that while much of the episode was a "blur", it was nonetheless exciting. Handlen was complimentary towards the installment's "tremendous sense of purpose [that] builds to a fever pitch that makes questions of who exactly wants what largely irrelevant." [13] While he offered a pessimistic opinion in regards to the series' mythology as a whole, Handlen concluded that the eighth season's sense of purpose, as exemplified in "Essence", made the episode successful. [13] George Avalos and Michael Liedtke of Contra Costa Times praised the episode, writing "where have nifty episodes like ["Essence"] been the last two years?" [14] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review. Praising the storyline, he noted that "Thanks to 'Essence', I've become a believer again." [15] Gareth Wigmore of TV Zone was positive toward both "Essence" and "Existence". Wigmore gave the episodes a 9 out of 10 rating and wrote "the reason that this two-parter works is that its plot is simple enough for the audience to still have a handle on". [16] Jessica Morgan of Television Without Pity awarded the episode a B+. [11]
Not all reviews were so positive, however. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, gave the episode a more mixed two stars out of five. [17] The two cited dense dialogue and bizarre characterization—most notably the fact that "there's usually one FBI agent so angry that he interrupts [...] only to be stopped by a calmer counterpart"—as detractors. Shearman and Pearson, however, did praise the final ten minutes, noting that the final act was "so good [...] that it almost makes up for the episode which sadly returns to the style of the traditional mytharc exposition". [17] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a scathing review and awarded it no stars out of four. [18] She heavily derided the plot, noting that the episode turned Scully into a "passive, mostly silent Virgin Mary who is about to give birth to… Jesus Christ." [18] She concluded that the episode "raise[ed] the [misogyny] to a whole new level". [18]
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)This article incorporates material derived from the " Essence " article on the X-Files wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (March 7, 2012).
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The third season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on Fox in the United States on September 22, 1995, concluded on the same channel on May 17, 1996, and contained 24 episodes. The season continues to follow the cases of FBI special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, portrayed by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson respectively, who investigate paranormal or supernatural cases, known as X-Files by the FBI.
The seventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999, concluded on May 21, 2000, and consists of twenty-two episodes. Taking place after the destruction of the Syndicate, this season marks the end of various other story lines; during this season, Fox Mulder learned the true fate of his sister, Samantha.
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"The Truth" is the finale of the ninth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. "The Truth", the 19th and 20th episodes of the season and the 201st and 202nd episodes overall, originally served as the finale for the entire series, until the return of the series in January 2016. First aired together on the Fox network on May 19, 2002, the episodes were written by series creator Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. "The Truth" was the most-watched episode of the ninth season and was seen by 13.25 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. The finale received mixed reviews, with many commentators criticizing the episode's lack of closure. Others were pleased with the full return of actor David Duchovny to the series, as well as the episode's conclusion.
The X-Files Mythology – Volume 4 collection is the fourth DVD release containing selected episodes from the eighth to the ninth seasons of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The episodes collected in the release form the end of the series' mythology, and are centered on those that involve the alien "Super Soldiers" and Dana Scully's son, William.
"Requiem" is the twenty-second episode and the finale of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files, and the show's 161st episode overall. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 21, 2000. The episode was written by Chris Carter, and directed by Kim Manners. The episode helped to explore the series' overarching mythology. "Requiem" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.9, being watched by 15.26 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Many applauded the way it made the series' increasingly marginalized alien mythology relevant again, although others lamented the partial loss of David Duchovny.
"Within" is the eighth season premiere of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on November 5, 2000, on the Fox Network. It was written by executive producer and series creator Chris Carter, and directed by Kim Manners. The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.5 and was watched by 15.87 million viewers, marking a slight increase from the previous season's finale "Requiem". "Within" was largely well-received by critics, although some fans felt alienated by the addition of Robert Patrick to the cast.
"Without" is the second episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on November 12, 2000, on Fox and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2001. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. The episode helps to explore the series' overarching mythology and continues from the seventh season finale, "Requiem", and season eight premiere, "Within", in which Fox Mulder was abducted by aliens who are planning to colonize Earth. The episode earned a Nielsen rating of 9.0 in the United States and was seen by 15.1 million viewers. As with the previous episode, "Within," it was generally well-received by critics, although some detractors criticized various plot points.
"Trust No 1" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on January 6, 2002. The episode was written by series creator Chris Carter and executive producer Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Tony Wharmby. "Trust No 1" helps to explore the series' overarching mythology. The episode received a Nielsen household rating of 5.1 and was viewed by 8.4 million viewers; it garnered mixed to negative reviews from television critics, with many feeling that it portrayed the series' characters in a way that was unfaithful to the show's history.
"William" is the sixteenth episode of the ninth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, which originally aired on the Fox network on April 28, 2002. The teleplay of the episode was written by series creator Chris Carter, from a story by former series star David Duchovny, Carter, and executive producer Frank Spotnitz; the entry was directed by Duchovny. "William" helps to explore the series' overarching mythology. The episode received a Nielsen household rating of 5.8, being watched by 6.1 million households and 9.3 million viewers upon its initial broadcast. It received mixed reviews from television critics, many of whom were unhappy with the episode's conclusion.
"Alone" is the nineteenth episode of the eighth season and the 180th episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on May 6, 2001 on Fox, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1 on June 14, 2001. It was written and directed by executive producer Frank Spotnitz. "Alone" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.5 and was viewed by 12.7 million viewers. It received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.
"Deadalive" is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and was directed by Tony Wharmby. It explores the series' alien mythology story arc. Following its North American premiere on April 1, 2001, it received a Nielsen household rating of 7.3 and was watched by 12.4 million viewers. It garnered mixed reviews; while most critics were happy with the return of actor David Duchovny, some criticized the episode's plot holes. It later won the show's last Emmy Award, for Outstanding Makeup.
"Per Manum" is the thirteenth episode of the eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 2001. Written by Frank Spotnitz and series creator Chris Carter, and directed by Kim Manners, the episode helps to explore the series' overarching mythology. "Per Manum" received a Nielsen rating of 9.4 and was watched by 9.61 million households. Overall, the episode received mostly positive reviews from critics.
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"Existence" is the twenty-first episode and final episode of the eighth-season of the science fiction television series The X-Files and 182nd episode overall. The episode first premiered on Fox in the United States on May 20, 2001, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2001, on Sky1. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. "Existence" earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.4 and was watched by 8.58 million households and 14 million viewers, overall. The episode received largely positive reviews from television critics.
"This Is Not Happening" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season and the 175th episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on February 25, 2001, on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Kim Manners, and forms part of the series' overarching mythology. The episode received a Nielsen household rating of 9.7 and was watched by 16.9 million viewers, making it the highest-rated episode of the season. "This Is Not Happening" was received positively by television critics.
The mythology of The X-Files, sometimes referred to as its "mytharc" by the show's staff and fans, follows the quest of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder, a believer in supernatural phenomena, and Dana Scully, his skeptical partner. Their boss, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner, was also often involved. Beginning with season 8, another skeptic named John Doggett, and Monica Reyes, a believer like Mulder, were also introduced. The overarching story, which spans events as early as the 1940s, is built around a government conspiracy to hide the truth about alien existence and their doomsday plan. Not all episodes advanced the mythology plot, but those that did were often set up by Mulder or Scully via an opening monologue.
"Three Words" is the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It first aired in the United States and Canada on April 8, 2001, on Fox. Written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Tony Wharmby, it explores the series' overarching mythology. It earned a Nielsen rating of 7.6, viewed by 7.77 million households, and received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.
