The Truth: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS)
(May 19, 2002)

Disclaimer: I couldn't stand the suspense (actually, it was
pretty much just wondering how lame this ep would be), so I read
stiney's summary of the ep earlier today at the Demen's boards. 
So this post is only really *sorta* "Off the Top of My Head."
*g*


THE TRUTH (9ABX19/20):

In a nutshell:  Mulder's caught after putting 4 million volts
through Knowle Rohrer in a secret government bunker that a
mystery "wise man" has sent him to.  He's "tried" in a kangaroo
court with a parade of past characters pointlessly spewing
backstory to fill about an hour, and sentenced to death.  Mulder
and Scully escape.  Colonization is set to begin in December of
2012.  And... so what?  A lame ending to a once-great series.


What I liked:
-  Mulder was wearing one of those yummy blue shirts in the
teaser.  Yes, I'm shallow. ;)
-  The way Mulder's repetitive beatings were shown to us worked
well, I thought, with the cell door closing and then opening
again immediately.
-  GA's expression upon seeing Mulder for the first time in a
year was very moving.  Damn, that woman can act.
-  Ahh... so Mulder was just pretending to have been
brainwashed?  Wow, and I bought it. *g*
-  Nice kiss.  It's about freakin' time.  And the hand-kiss was
nice, too. :)
-  Loved Mulder's comment to Skinner as though he was going to
kiss him, too. *g*  Want to bet that that line was DD's idea?
-  Loved how Mulder looked at Scully when she started her
testimony.
-  "Then let's shove it up their ass."  Hee hee -- can I high
five Doggett?
-  Hey -- Reyes kicked ass in that courtroom!  Woo hoo!  (OK, so
it did no good -- I'm just glad she spoke up!)
-  Pretty much any scene with Mulder and Scully together was
worth the price of admission... even if I didn't always like the
actual dialogue. *g*


What I didn't like:
-  Gee.  Mulder sure was able to slip away from those government
guys reeeeeeeal easy in that bunker in the Virginia mountains.
-  Speaking of which, anybody else wondering how Mulder got
there, where he got that pass card, and how he knew just where
to go in the building?  Well, obviously someone clued him in;
did it never occur to him that he was being set up?
-  And why was no one besides Mulder in that super-secret room? 
That was mighty convenient.  The place seemed to be crawling
with people, yet no one was in that room where you could find
out The Big Secret?
-  Stupid Mulder tricks: WHY on earth wouldn't he tell Scully
what he knew?  Because "it's better that you not know"?  What
kind of fucking bullshit is that?  Wait, I know: because it's
convenient for the story.  if Mulder told Scully, then we'd
know, too. :-PPPPPP
-  And WHY is Mulder so understanding about Scully giving
William up for adoption?  Why can't he see what's so clear to
the viewers -- that William isn't safe, and that there was no
reason for Scully to believe Jeffrey Spender?
-  And gosh, it was mighty convenient to have Skinner tell
Mulder about the whole adoption thing off-screen.  Grrr.
-  Anybody besides me think that this whole trial plot is a
joke?  Couldn't Scully and Skinner have gone to the press to
explain how a civilian was being "tried" in a kangaroo court? 
Forget the alien stuff; Mulder was being tried for murdering a
man -- in front of 30 witnesses -- even though there was no body
available!  (And when a body WAS made available, it was
obviously a fake.)
-  So Mulder is willing to die rather than expose what he knows? 
What good will that do?  Then the truth will die with him.
-  Which is COWARDLY.
-  And Mulder is no coward.
-  Gee.  I'm glad it was so easy to find Jeffrey Spender.  And
even if it wasn't easy to find Marita, I'm so glad she was
living so close to DC. ::rolls eyes::
-  And can anyone explain to me why Spender and Marita are
spilling their guts now?  OK, I can buy that they were willing
to help Mulder to get back at the bad guys, but why now?  Why
not when Mulder came back from the dead?  And why does Mulder
care if Marita gets killed if her testimony can stop the
upcoming invasion?  Why bring her to the hearing if she can't
tell what she knows?  Just because the ghost of Krycek says so? 
Huh?
-  Why is it important to protect Gibson?  Did I miss something,
or did we never find that out in this ep?  And if it WAS so
important, why did Mulder and Scully leave without him?
-  Ooooooh, so there's a supersoldier on the panel.  Why
couldn't anyone see the bumps on the back of his neck?  They
were pretty obvious the last time we saw that guy. ::rolls eyes
again::
-  And if they wanted to get Mulder acquitted, why didn't Gibson
just tell everyone what each of them was thinking about?  Yeah,
I know, because the finale would have been over 45 minutes too
early. ::sigh::
-  Man, that trial went on forever.  I got pretty tired of the
re-hashing of the last 9 years, especially since they
conveniently left out a few things (the ship in Antarctica, the
alien in the nuclear plant, the bees, the corn crops, the ship
in Africa, the chip in Scully's neck, the clones... or did they
mention some of those at some point?  I think I started to get
bored and zoned out for a few seconds...) and adding some new
stuff (oh, so Marita knew about the supersoldiers? where did
they get that info from... just an assumption since Krycek knew
about them and they knew that Marita worked with Krycek?)
-  Ummm... so I guess Skinner didn't insist on having that one
judge checked out for a bumpy neck.  Sure, his request would
have been refused, but he should have at least tried.  (I'll
just tell myself that he did, but the scene was cut because the
show was running too long...)
-  Has Mulder really said that the supersoldiers are aliens? 
And even if he did, why couldn't Doggett say that it's entirely
possible that Mulder is wrong about the supersoldiers being
aliens, but that supersoldiers exist nonetheless as a medical
experiment on humans or something like that?  The concepts of
"alien" and "supersoldier" aren't necessarily equivalent, and
Doggett is smart enough to know that.  That scene, where he was
left speechless, didn't make him look very bright.
-  Gee, I'm so glad Scully put up a fight when they tried to
remove her from the courtroom.  Maybe she knew it was a lost
cause, but shouldn't she have objected a bit more strongly?  Or
at THAT point say they're going to the press?
-  Mulder's speech after he was pronounced guilty: it had to be
a Carterlogue.
-  Yes, I know I've complained about this already, but... that
"trial" took forever, and had no point except to parade a bunch
of old characters in front of the camera. ::sigh::
-  So how did Doggett and Skinner get into the USMC brig?  So
nice that they never explained that.  Where were all the guards?
-  And why wasn't Scully there?  What, the poor distraught
little woman wasn't capable of such a thing?  And couldn't they
have brought Gibson along into the prison?  He could have helped
them escape by reading minds.
-  And how CONVENIENT that they were able to cut a nice big hole
in the fence without the Marines noticing. ::rolls eyes yet
again::
-  So, I guess the Gunmen  are really dead after all.  And I was
holding out hope that they'd be hanging out with Susanne Modeski
somewhere.  :-PPPPPPPPP
-  WHY DIDN'T MULDER TELL SCULLY WHAT HE KNEW ABOUT THE UPCOMING
INVASION?  When, oh when, will these characters learn that
withholding info from each other will only make things worse?
-  An ending that just made no sense:
-  So why is the final alien invasion going to be December 22,
2012?  What is the significance of that date?  And why was
Mulder so quick to believe that it's the truth?  After all the
lies he's been told over the years, why believe this story?
-  Why should Mulder be afraid, as CSM wanted him to be?  He's
got over 10 years to figure out a way to stop colonization.  Big
freakin' deal.
-  Umm... so the supersoldiers didn't realize that they couldn't
go near the Anasazi ruins?  Really?
-  And where was Gibson while Doggett and Reyes went to New
Mexico?
-  Gee, Scully sure was being understanding about Mulder NOT
TELLING HER THAT THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' PLANET IS GOING TO BE RUN
OVER BY ALIENS IN TEN YEARS.
-  And you know, if they don't want to be found, it might have
been a good idea for them to at least get OUT OF NEW MEXICO
before checking into a motel.  I mean, ROSWELL?  And anyway, why
did they check into a motel at all?  I don't care that they must
have used fake names; the bad guys could have raided every motel
within a day's drive off the ruins that had a new check-in that
day.
-  And what are Mulder and Scully going to do for money for the
next 10 years?  Without the Gunmen to hack into bank computers
and get them fake IDs and ATM cards, they're pretty much sunk. 
I doubt Scully had time to empty her bank account before they
sprang Mulder.
-  And what was that about not wanting to crush Scully's spirit? 
What kind of bullshit was that?
-  And... they both believe that the dead can speak to them and
help show them the way?  Huh?  And has Mulder told Scully that
he saw Krycek, X, and the Gunmen?  Will they EVER have a "full
disclosure" type of conversation?  Just once?
-  OK, the "together" and "hopeful" ending was nice, but it was
just surface nice... the rest of the ep was pointless.  If the
bad guys have any sense at all, Doggett, Reyes, Gibson, Kersh,
and Skinner are all already dead.  So just how do M&S think they
are going to help stop colonization now?  Are those guys going
to help them from the afterlife? ::rolls eyes one more time,
which is starting to hurt::


What's got me puzzled:
-  What did Krycek say after Mulder said no, you're dead?  And
why didn't Mulder think something like, "Krycek" was a clone, or
a shapeshifter, or something else like that?  Why did he assume
that it was Dead!Krycek?  Had he already seen other dead people? 
If so, he gave no indication of it.  (I'm not counting when he
saw his father in "The Blessing Way.")
-  Why on earth did 1013 put the names of all the "surprise"
guest stars in the opening credits?  That just ruined the
surprise for everyone not spoiled, didn't it?  I couldn't have
been the only person who noticed, even though I was spoiled to
the hilt. *g*  And it was a lot of people: CSM, Krycek, Marita,
Gibson, Jeffrey Spender, X, the Gunmen, and Knowle Rohrer.
-  Why did Scully wait until they were at the prison to ask
Skinner how he knew about Mulder?  I mean, sure, we had to
witness her ask him so WE would know, but even if Skinner had
called her, refused to give info over the phone in case the
phone were tapped, and then met her at the prison... wouldn't it
have been smart for Scully to ask all he questions BEFORE they
were within earshot of the military?
-  And why on earth would Scully go to see Kersh?  Why would she
think he could do anything for her or for Mulder?  He's
certainly not shown himself to be an ally in the past.  Did she
really think that he was the only person who could have helped
them?  For instance, couldn't she have contacted Senator
Matheson?
-  Why was Mulder being referred to as "Agent" Mulder since he's
out of the FBI?  Is "Agent" some kind of title you keep for
life, like "Mr. President"?
-  Why did Mulder let Scully and Skinner know in such an obvious
way that he was just acting as though he were brainwashed? 
Didn't he think that the bad guys just outside the door could
hear him?  If so, they might well have barred Scully and Skinner
from visiting him again.
-  Why was Scully allowed to visit him so many times, anyway?  I
just didn't get that at all.  She seemed to almost have free
access to him -- one of her visits was around 7 a.m.!
-  Scully believes in extraterrestrials?  I guess I've kinda
lost track of her beliefs. ::shrug::
-  Umm... when she was on the stand, why didn't Skinner ask
Scully about the supersoldiers?  Or the bees?  Or Antarctica? 
Or about Mulder being dead and buried for three months?
-  And why does proving the existence of extraterrestrials clear
Mulder?  If he committed murder, he committed murder!  Even if
they could prove that extraterrestrials exist, how were they
going to prove that supersoldiers = UNKILLABLE aliens, and that
Knowle Rohrer was one of them?
-  So Samantha died in 1987?  I thought she died at age 14 based
on "Closure," but that would have been in 1979.  Hello?
-  Why would Spender think that his father was dead?  Why show
the footage of CGB Spender going down the stairs as though
Jeffrey witnessed it?
-  And just how does a ghost hand over a real piece of paper?
-  According to Gibson three judges were wavering?  About what? 
What did any of the testimony have to do with whether or not
Mulder committed murder?
-  So what was the point of there being a fake body?  The bad
guys had to know that Scully would figure out it was fake, so
why have one at all, as opposed to saying that the body had been
"lost" or that the family had insisted on immediate cremation?
-  So are Krycek and X hanging out together in the afterlife?
*g*
-  When did Kersh get a conscience?  Why is he suddenly on
Mulder's side?
-  Why does Monica think that destroying Gibson's files will
make it harder for anyone to find him?  It's not like the only
source of information on Gibson is in those files.
-  So why did Skinner go into Kersh's office with Toothpick Man,
or whatever that supersoldier character's name is?  For all
Skinner knew, Kersh was dead, and he was walking into a trap.
-  "Why risk perfect happiness?"  What the hell was Byers
talking about?  I mean, was Byers suggesting that Mulder would
have "perfect happiness" if he just holed up somewhere with
Scully?  How happy could Mulder be knowing what he knows?
-  Why does CSM say that Mulder testifying about what he knows
would have saved him?  The ones who didn't already know would
never have believed it, no matter how strong the evidence, and
the ones who DID already know would have been that much more
eager to put Mulder to death to hide the truth.


Etc.:
-  "Starring David Duchovny"?  He was at the top of the credits
again?  Wow.
-  Hey look -- Gibson has a cross on the wall in his room!  I
just found that to be amusing.
-  Re: the emptying of the X-Files office: "They can't do this!" 
Umm, they already did, John! *g*
-  Think CSM might be really, REALLY dead this time?
-  Unless he's a supersoldier.  Wouldn't surprise me.
-  Anybody else watch that scene of the ruins being blown up and
wonder how much it cost to shoot? *g*
-  So the show has ended.  I suppose it could have been worse,
but I fear that the X-Files will be remembered not as the great
show it once was, but as the crappy show it was at the end. 
Before long (if it hasn't happened already) TXF will be part of
a college course about How Good TV Shows Go Bad, or What Not to
Do with a Successful Show.  And that makes me sad, because it
didn't have to happen that way.
-  Next week's ep:  there is none.  I'm not happy about that,
but I'm not sad, either.  I'll just look forward to the M/S
interaction in the 2nd movie, since that was virtually the only
thing that "The Truth" had going for it.  And when that movie
gets released, there's a dern good chance that you'll see an
"Off the Top of My Head" for it.  Until then... peace, my
friends. :)  It's been a hell of a ride.


***