Given the title, perhaps it's fitting that this episode was something of a struggle. It was sitting on our DVR for some time, just waiting to be watched, but the cable box went all fubar and needed to be replaced, meaning that all the recorded stuff was lost. No big deal, though, it was on Hulu. That's where I watched "Babylon", so no harm done. Oh, Hulu took season 10 down a couple of days ago. There's On-Demand; oh, wait, nope, they only have 1 episode ("Founder's Mutation" of all things, you'd think that "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" would be the pick if you were going to just keep one up there.) Fox's website wouldn't let me watch it, nor would their app. So, I had to go through Amazon's Instant Video in order to watch the episode so that we can finally put this one to bed.
At first, I wasn't feeling this episode, it seems to take the worst parts of the re-launch (namely the weak plot introduced in the pilot, as well as agents Miller and Einstein) but things do get better as it goes on. Hearing people refer to Einstein by name still sounded bizarre. It would be one thing if she were a one-off joke character, which it really seemed like she was, but suddenly the show is trying to play her straight and it doesn't flow particularly well.
While no direct mention is made of the trumpets, they did seem to be a herald of sorts as people's immune systems are breaking down across the globe, causing all sorts of health catastrophes.
You see in the credits that two doctors helped write the script. On the one hand, it's good as it brings at least some legitimacy to the technobabble, but man, is there a lot of technobabble. A lot of the episode is just exposition explaining the specifics of how and why this is all happening. It's nice to have details and work real world science in, but I think that they could have toned it down a bit.
Once again, this episode completely throws away the established story line to establish new plot points. While the endeavors and motivations of the syndicate were directly stated on more than one occasion, this presents a whole new endgame.
I'll grant you, on second thought, it's close. There are aliens, and the syndicate seemed to be working to keep themselves safe, but instead of spreading the black oil for recolonization and enslavement, they want to wipe out humanity through altered vaccines because of pollution. It just sounds wrong when Smoking Man is revealing to Mulder the elaborate machinations that have been afoot for decades when we know that this wasn't how any of it worked.
By the by, as much flack as the last episode got, I'm surprised that there wasn't more backlash here. Admittedly, Scully fights fire with fire by coming up with her own vaccine to counter-act the bad vaccine, but it does seem to legitimize the "anti-vaxxer" mindset.
On the plus side, the scope of the threat is well on display. You see chaos erupting all around and it does seem like humanity is on its last legs. It really ramps up the tension and backs the heroes into a corner. Not only is saving the world a lofty task for a handful of FBI agents, but they too fall victim to the problem, adding another ticking clock to the proceedings.
It was oddly nice to see Reyes again. Yes, she and Doggett got a lot of grief, but it's still good that they weren't swept completely under the rug.
I knew ahead of time that the episode was going to end on a cliffhanger, but it is still an odd choice. You'd think that with a limited mini-series, that the goal would be to wrap things up. Considering the show already had a 9 season run, the idea that it'll get picked up again seems strange. Fox tried to do the same thing with "24" and it didn't make much sense there either.
I'm not sure people are going to care enough, but we'll see if Fox green lights another season. If it does, at least that gives hope to "Supergirl" and "Young Justice"...maybe? I don't know.
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