The End. The Beginning. Not the most original pair of episode titles. But why start with a negative? This episode must have been very difficult to construct as it had to follow on from both The End and the movie, and yet still make sense to new viewers who had seen neither. I think it probably succeeded, but as I saw both I'm not the best person to judge. I liked the way it brought together elements both from previous episodes, such as Gibson Praise and Diana Fowley, and from the film, like the alien itself.

I think it says a lot about the cinematic style of The X Files that, during the "previously" section, the footage from the movie didn't stick out as being vastly different from the clips from the TV show. The Beginning actually reminded me quite a lot of the movie, not just because of the presence of that alien but also in the amount of gore (especially the disemboweled Sandy at the beginning) and the general style of the episode.

Now I know that what Mulder said about the conspiracy, the aliens and the bees was all true (I mean true in the X Files universe), but it did sound ridiculous, especially when it was reiterated by the members of the review committee. I think his anger at Scully for not supporting him was misdirected. If there was no evidence in support of what he was saying, she couldn't say that there was. He cannot expect her to go in there and lie for him, and I think Scully clearly felt terrible that she couldn't support him. These issues of trust and belief were present throughout the whole episode, and during Mulder's talk with Fowley in her car, I wondered if maybe he'd rather be partnered with someone like her, someone who believed what he believed, instead of having to deal with Scully's scepticism. Don't get me wrong, I know Mulder and Scully have a complex and deep friendship, but at least then, when all his work had been taken away from him, it seemed like Mulder would be happier with Fowley. Mulder said more or less the same thing later on, telling Scully bitterly that Fowley is "certainly not going to go around saying that just because science can't prove it, it isn't true." I don't think it really matters what Scully believes as far as the alien is concerned, as long as she supports Mulder in the belief that the X Files should remain open with the two of them investigating them. Whatever Scully believes, others will only believe what Mulder claims is true if it can be proved scientifically, and they're especially unlikely to believe if science provides evidence to the contrary. I also thought Mulder was unfair in telling Scully that her "excuse" of having seen very little was not going to work, she was there and she was infected with the virus. Yes, she was there, yes, she was infected with the virus, but most of the time she was either unconscious, not breathing, trapped in a bizarre alien pod kind of thing, or all of the above. I know she saw the spaceship lift off at the end, but how good was her grasp of reality at that point? Could she really know that what she was seeing was really there?

I'm sorry, I've harped on about that point for far too long. Before I get off the subject of Fowley, I just want to say a bit about Mulder and Scully's different views of her. Mulder's trust in her seems ridiculous, but I can understand why he would have faith in someone he's known for so long and who discovered the X Files with him. I don't like the implication that Scully's distrust of Fowley is influenced by jealousy, just because I'm not a big fan of "jealous Scully" episodes. Although it would be upsetting for Mulder, I hope Scully is proved right in this case. Mulder seems to be seeing the evidence how he wants to see it rather than looking at it objectively, and while I can understand why, it is a shame he can't see Fowley for what she (most likely) really is.

I liked the scene showing Mulder doing something with torn pieces of paper which were then shown to be X Files documents which he was restoring. At the end, it was nice to see him still doing it, still piecing together the remains of his life's work, still refusing to give up on it.

Skinner's admission that he voted against reassigning Mulder and Scully to the X Files, although admirable in its honesty, felt like a betrayal. My first thought was that Skinner may have been their ally in the past, but first and foremost he is their boss and has to do what's right by the FBI. I was wrong. Skinner believed that he was no help to Mulder if he was in a minority, he seems to be straddling the fence, trying to work for both sides, which may help Mulder (as it did in this case) but could also lead Skinner into trouble.

It was nice to see Gibson Praise back after a notable absence from the movie. I actually like this character, even if it's mainly because of the perceptive comments he makes which aren't really that perceptive as he reads them from people's minds. I liked the fact that he stopped the Cigarette-Smoking Man from stopping at the house when Mulder and Scully were there, it was a nice touch. There is a downside to being psychic, though: for all Scully's reassurances that his head was fine and he looked alright, Gibson could read her thoughts that the doctors were "Frankenstein"-like butchers. Scully's concern for Gibson's welfare, disgust that anyone could do that to a child and scientific interest in what he might mean to her and Mulder all motivated her to get him to hospital. Mulder, on the other hand, thought they could treat the boy themselves and use him to find the alien. I think this is one of the big differences between Mulder and Scully. For Mulder, all that matters is the pursuit and discovery of the truth and, although he does not willingly kill people or endanger their lives, he almost seems to regard them as casualties of war. I think that's putting a bit too strongly, but that's the basic idea of what I'm trying to say. In this respect he's not very different to the CSM, who is admittedly more willing to kill, but believes that all that matters is the concealment and twisting of the truth. Scully, on the other hand, is committed to her and Mulder's cause, but not at the expense of others. So I would have thought she would have been a little more careful about leaving Gibson alone in the hospital, but then I suppose she couldn't be with him all the time and he had to disappear somehow. Gibson said to Scully, "You want to make me well, but you're just thinking about yourself and what you can learn from me," and, while this is true of Scully to an extent, I think it applies more to Mulder.

I liked the way Gibson led his captor to the alien. It was nice to finally get a proper look at the alien at this point, I thought it was a great effect in the movie and I thought it was a great effect in The Beginning. And the ending, where the alien developed into the more familiar grey, drew together a lot from the X Files' history, implying that all the aliens in the files were the same breed as this one (I'm not counting Lord Kinbote of Jose Chung's "From Outer Space" because everything in that episode needed to go with a pinch of salt). There was no link to the black oil though, which leaves the question of whether it is the same organism. The movie seemed to imply that it was, but maybe more will be revealed as the season progresses.

The Beginning was a good start to the new season, convincingly bringing together aspects of the film and of the TV series while still providing enough shocks, gore and special effects to keep me happy. Welcome back The X Files!

Mulder: Diana. Back on your feet. I guess that's the only way you could stab me in the back.

Scully: Communicate with what?

Gibson: You already know. You just don't want to believe it.

Fowley: You're not under the impression that what we're looking for makes sense in any conventional way?

Scully: You're a very special boy, Gibson. You know that yourself.

Gibson: I'm a very special lab rat.

Spender: Mulder will be back. As long as he's alive, he won't give up.

CSM: You can kill a man but you can't kill what he stands for. Not unless you first break his spirit. That's a beautiful thing to see.

Mulder: It's help if you'd shut the door, it'd make it harder for them to see that I'm totally disregarding everything I was told.

Scully: I'm willing to believe, but not in a lie and not in the opposite of what I can prove.

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