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S11.E10: My Struggle IV


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WTF happened? I still don't understand how this tied back to last season's finale.

This was such a frustrating episode, 35 minutes of Mulder chasing William and 7 minutes of "other".

I figured CSM would shoot William thinking it was Fox. I'm happy Mulder killed CSM.

I'm sad that Reyes died, I liked her. I'm fucking pissed that Skinner might be dead..he better not be...I don't care how. BAMF Skinner does NOT go out like that!

I'm not surprised at the baby, they set that up in the twin episode

Edited by Morrigan2575
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Well, that was....huh.

A lot of running and people getting asploded.

Part of the problem I have with these new mythology episodes is that I don't care about William. At all.

If there's another season, I'll be curious to see how they'll handle this since Anderson doesn't want to come back.

Skin-Man better not be dead, though.

Edited by WritinMan
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1 minute ago, Tardislass said:

but it’s ok because Scullys pregnant at 53

They really went there?  That's it, I am not watching until I am three sheets to the wind.

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Well, that was... bloody. I think Mulder killed about 10 people in the first 15 minutes, then with William making everyone explode....

Do we know if Skinner survived?

Hopefully the CSM is really dead this time.  

I didn’t really understand why Scully didn’t go with Mulder to search for William. 

I also still don’t fully understand why everyone wants William. What exactly will they do with him? Did CSM go ahead and unleash the contagion?

It was nice to see Skinner fully & actively on the side of M & S. 

At least Mulder & Scully weren’t separated or on death’s door at the end. 

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Just now, Bastet said:

They really went there?  That's it, I am not watching until I am three sheets to the wind.

Was drinking wine reading the tweets but it wasn’t enough. Should have known she was preggo as all Scully did was sit by phone and worry. Sigh. I see why GA wasn’t too happy with the ending.

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William is super annoying (and the actor kinda grates), but I'm sure he'll pop up again. Sigh. 

I truly don't understand why mulder shot CSM a few times (in the chest no less) and dropped him in the water. Double tap him, take an ax to his limbs and drop pieces of the bitch all over the states. At least then you can control what happens to the body. 

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9 minutes ago, Tardislass said:

Should have known she was preggo as all Scully did was sit by phone and worry. Sigh. I see why GA wasn’t too happy with the ending.

(Emphasis mine.)  That is what I was fearing based on the spoilers I read - which made it sound like ass, but in the way I expected it to - because everything was about men - Mulder, CSM, William - running around killing people and not one peep about what Scully was doing.  So I figured she was once again sidelined, so that pissed me off.  And I knew they were telegraphing a pregnancy with that idiotic conversation in an earlier episode, but to have it confirmed they really went with such a goddamned stupid storyline -- ugh, I just can't with this.

Chris Carter, kindly go find a fire and die in it.

Edited by Bastet
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Biggest revelation was that Williams wasn't of Scully or Mulder. He was implanted by CSM and they used the chip in her neck to manipulate his DNA. Basically he is a mutant, a dangerous mutant.

Typical Carter cut up mess. It should have been 90 minutes to properly flesh it out. Also looked like black oil coming out of CSM in the water.............

I doubt the show returns. That probably in Carter mind is a decent send off lol.

Edited by Folk
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1 minute ago, supposebly said:

Soo, I take it I'll be skipping this fourth Struggle too to preserve what's left of my memories of an awesome show?

That's ok. 

Actually, if you remove the "Struggles" this season wasn't too bad.

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2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

(Emphasis mine.)  That is what I was fearing based on the spoilers I read - which made it sound like ass, but in the way I expected it to - because everything was about men - Mulder, CSM, William - running around killing people and not one peep about what Scully was doing.  So I figured she was once again sidelined, so that pissed me off.  And I knew they were telegraphing a pregnancy with that idiotic conversation in an earlier episode, but to have it confirmed they really went with such a goddamned stupid storyline -- ugh, I just can't with this.

Well at least it wasn't a bunch of men sitting around discussing Scully's womb like in Requiem.... small consolation, I know.

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So by "My Struggle" do they mean the writers struggle to make this story remotely interesting? Or is it the audiences struggle to give a shit? Because...yeah, its a real struggle. You got me there, Carter. 

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9 minutes ago, Bastet said:

(Emphasis mine.)  That is what I was fearing based on the spoilers I read - which made it sound like ass, but in the way I expected it to - because everything was about men - Mulder, CSM, William - running around killing people and not one peep about what Scully was doing.  So I figured she was once again sidelined, so that pissed me off.  And I knew they were telegraphing a pregnancy with that idiotic conversation in an earlier episode, but to have it confirmed they really went with such a goddamned stupid storyline -- ugh, I just can't with this.

Chris Carter, kindly find a fire and go die in it.

Sadly my response, too. What the actual?

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19 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

Actually, if you remove the "Struggles" this season wasn't too bad.

That's what I meant. No CC episodes that contain the word Struggle. They were the reason why I decided not to watch season 11 until I get a sense of what the episodes are like.

Btw., thank you to all in this forum to be my guinea pigs so I can safely avoid Carter's...whatever. It's appreciated. If I have to listen to pointless and flowery voice overs, CSM, and nonsensical plots one more time, I will destroy my TV. And it's a good one and it doesn't deserve that.

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Season 11 had some enjoyable moments, but it was a mere wisp of the shadow of a once great show. After everything she has been through, this episode boiled down Scully's existence to "baby incubator."  I never wanted M/S to have a kid. I also cringed when Mulder said he's nothing if he's not a father. That's a damn lie and not true to his character at all. Also, SKINNER IS NOT DEAD! LALALALA (needed to be shouted).

Edited by AmeliaBedelia
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I'm guessing CC thinks because I'm a shipper I'll just roll over and say "thanks for the baby!" And ignore the rest of the nonsensical mess.  Nope. I watched for good TV too back in the day. That's all I got tonight. I set the bar low and he still went lower.  Only good thing is they weren't dead at the end or separated. Otherwise piling steam of crap. 

Oh and I started drinking when the ep started and haven't stopped since. Hasn't helped. 

Edited by MissL
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Wow. Some of the most stilted dialogue .. ever. 

"Whoever controls your son controls the future. "
"Everything depends on William. Everything in the entire world. "
Scully: "Mulder, you have to listen to me."
Mulder : "No, Scully,  you have to listen to me." "I can't talk now, I have to hang up." (Despite just continuing to drive. )

There was plenty of time and opportunity for people to tell one another what was happening,  but no, everyone just stares and spouts cryptic shit instead of answering direct questions. The exchanges between William and the teenage girls , and Mulder and the girls,  was excruciating. 

Maybe the big  twist will be that this season never happened,  either - - and was just another fever dream .. or brain fart.

Edited by shrewd.buddha
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I think it was Ausiello who said people would be upset because the season ended on a cliffhanger (and the show’s unlikely to come back if they can’t keep GA).  But that didn’t really feel like a cliffhanger, just a coda, like BTW William’s still alive.  A cliffhanger would make us feel like “ohmigod, I can’t wait to find out what happens next,” but that was more like “oh, um, okay, I guess.”  I still think the real ending to the season (series?) was last week’s final church scene which was a nice place to leave S & M.  I’ll just pretend we stopped there.

 

And, yeah, Skinner’s not dead, because even on this show I doubt they’d kill off that major a character by just showing his legs sticking out from under something like he’s the Wicked Witch of the East.

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1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

I... That was... But really....

I'm sorry, but my IQ just dropped sharply watching that. I need to watch PBS or something to get back to normal.

Same here. Holy cow was that bad. Along with the acting.

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I swear, if Skinner is dead, I am going to riot. Lead my own, personal riot, and it will get real. Like, Boston sports fan real. 

On the other hand, I hope to God CSM is gone for good. I just cant stand that fucker anymore. And not even in the way your supposed to hate a villain, I just want him GONE from my SCREEN. Mulder should have put a damn stake through his heart. 

If you remove the shitty Struggles episodes and anything involving stupid pain in the ass William and the whole "CSM raped Sculley" nastiness, it was an alright season. Really, there was good stuff. But book ended with absolute crap. 

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I was prepared to just accept The Truth as the series finale, but you know what, I'm fine with this being the actual finale. Probably because I read about the pregnancy speculation over a week ago. Though to be fair, I wasn't 100% sure, so the end was still a bit of shock. Mostly, I was kind of confused by the timeline in this, because it kept cutting back and forth. 

I'm happy that Mulder at least got to see William and hug him, and I teared up a bit when Mulder mentioned William being taller than him. And apparently, in addition to visions and making people see him as someone/something else, William can also make people explode. In that warehouse, I knew it was William pretending to be Mulder, and man, Scully can never just talk to directly to her son as himself, can she?

So Skinner killed Monica, and I still don't really understand why exactly she had teamed up with CSM in the first place, but whatever. Skinner may or may not have survived by diving under the car. I'm not remotely convinced that CSM is dead, though. That cockroach survived a fucking missile to the face, no way a few shots took him down. I have no idea how William survived, but maybe he's straight up immortal. He can blow people up with his mind, so this wouldn't be the weirdest thing about him. I am however, still blatantly ignoring the CSM/medical rape storyline, because fuck that. 

The pregnancy. Is CC an idiot? Yes. Is it a retread of Requiem? Yes. Is it illogical because Scully is 54 and infertile? Yes. Do I care at this point? Not really. Scully and Mulder are having a baby, and since this is going be my series finale regardless of what happens next, in my forever headcanon they will finally get to be happy and raise their child together. The end. 

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1 hour ago, Tardislass said:

Mulder isn’t Williams dad and dead not, but it’s ok because Scullys pregnant at 53. It’s like BadFic.

My thoughts exactly! 

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Chris Carter, kindly go find a fire and die in it.

Yes, please! 

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

So by "My Struggle" do they mean the writers struggle to make this story remotely interesting? Or is it the audiences struggle to give a shit? Because...yeah, its a real struggle. You got me there, Carter. 

I think that’s exactly what it means, and that makes me sad.

You guys, I have loved this show since I first caught a glimpse at 9 years old back in the first season. Tonight I struggled to even care about any of it. William, this whole stupid conspiracy, even Mulder and Scully. I know that really, this is CC’s show, but I feel like after being a fan for so long, it’s MY show too, and I’m so mad at him for running it into the ground. 

The season finale of 9-1-1 was on right after this one tonight. I only started watching that bonkers show because I was too lazy to change the channel after X-Files weeks ago. It made me sad to realize that I was SO much more excited about 9-1-1 and that I was so much more invested in what happened to those characters than what happened to Mulder and Scully and William and company tonight. 

No wonder Gillian is done. She doesn’t seem to have any trouble getting work lately, so I hope she finds a project that’s much more fulfilling and worth her time than CC’s endless flowery, awful dreck.

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Ok yeah, not great writing here. LOTS of running. Running doesn't create excitement unless you're into parkour. 

Was ANYBODY here NOT able to tell when William was being Mulder? It seemed really obvious in the dialogue he said. And you knew William wouldn't allow himself to get shot, or that he can absorb bullets and heal Deadpool style.

Skinner ain't dead. To me it looked like he laid down and spun sideways under Mulder's car, sliding up against Mulder's car's tires (so the bumper would protect him from impact. Perpendicularly.) Then once CSM was stopped, he slid out a bit and stuck his legs out, making it look like he'd been squished.

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13 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I swear, if Skinner is dead, I am going to riot. Lead my own, personal riot, and it will get real. Like, Boston sports fan real. 

On the other hand, I hope to God CSM is gone for good. I just cant stand that fucker anymore. And not even in the way your supposed to hate a villain, I just want him GONE from my SCREEN. Mulder should have put a damn stake through his heart. 

If you remove the shitty Struggles episodes and anything involving stupid pain in the ass William and the whole "CSM raped Sculley" nastiness, it was an alright season. Really, there was good stuff. But book ended with absolute crap. 

I'm down with the riot.  I mean, see my previous posts,  you are not alone. 

 

I was over CSM about 1 episode after he first was there. He always made me think of an over the top,  mustache-twirling campy villain. And the fact no one seems capable of killing him after this long? I'm frightened for our country. 

Strangely, I'm not that upset about the pregnancy. It makes no sense and reminds me of a hallmark movie (especially with the hand to her abdomen - I thought maybe she had bad tacos), but after the dumpster fire of most everything else,  and the utter boredom of last season, I don't see how it could be much worse. 

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So I guess I’m the only one who was relieved that Sculls and Foxy got a happy ending? I mean all their enemies are finally dead, they’re finally out of the bureau and once Uncle Walter gets out of the hospital I’m sure he’ll be invited over for pot roast every Sunday. The only thing missing was a kiss, but I’m sure it’ll be in the deleted scenes on Blu-ray. And Mulder will have somebody to build rockets with!

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Awww dangit. Now I want a Season 12, even if it's all just Scully being a happily pregnant doctor or professor, with Mulder as the Stay-At-Home Dad, who dotes on her constantly, and William popping in now and then to check in on them, and holding his brand new baby sister. I'd watch that :) We didn't get that at all for Scully's first pregnancy, so I want it now. 

Buttttt if this is indeed GA's last episode, I can't see how they do it unless they make Scully die in childbirth, which, given her age, isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

Edited by Italian Ice
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18 minutes ago, Italian Ice said:

 

Buttttt if this is indeed GA's last episode, I can't see how they do it unless they make Scully die in childbirth, which, given her age, isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

What?!!!! You go outside and you spit and you turn around three times! Do NOT put that idea out there for CC/Satan.

 

ive almost polished off this bottle of wine I knew I'd need for tonight. Don't test me, I will curse you! I've watched a lot of XF I know my Occult. I will unleash things I do not understand! 

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32 minutes ago, Dirksy said:

So I guess I’m the only one who was relieved that Sculls and Foxy got a happy ending? I mean all their enemies are finally dead, they’re finally out of the bureau and once Uncle Walter gets out of the hospital I’m sure he’ll be invited over for pot roast every Sunday. The only thing missing was a kiss, but I’m sure it’ll be in the deleted scenes on Blu-ray. And Mulder will have somebody to build rockets with!

If it's the case, it better damn well be on the dvd's as well. Since not everyone has a blu ray player.

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19 minutes ago, Italian Ice said:

Awww dangit. Now I want a Season 12, even if it's all just Scully being a happily pregnant doctor or professor, with Mulder as the Stay-At-Home Dad, who dotes on her constantly, and William popping in now and then to check in on them, and holding his brand new baby sister. I'd watch that :) We didn't get that at all for Scully's first pregnancy, so I want it now. 

Buttttt if this is indeed GA's last episode, I can't see how they do it unless they make Scully die in childbirth, which, given her age, isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

That sounds nice. They can just recreate her using CGI. If they can do it for Carrie Fisher, they can do it for Gillian Anderson! 

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38 minutes ago, Italian Ice said:

Awww dangit. Now I want a Season 12, even if it's all just Scully being a happily pregnant doctor or professor, with Mulder as the Stay-At-Home Dad, who dotes on her constantly, and William popping in now and then to check in on them, and holding his brand new baby sister. I'd watch that :) We didn't get that at all for Scully's first pregnancy, so I want it now. 

Buttttt if this is indeed GA's last episode, I can't see how they do it unless they make Scully die in childbirth, which, given her age, isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

That would be a great idea for a fic. As for s12. Hard pass.

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Good gods, I should have injected vodka into my veins.

Just CC saying, “Previously, on The X-Files” filled me with dread.  Cue VO and old footage - yep, this is going to suck.

Blah, blah, Williamcakes.  I’ve never cared about William, I didn’t care about Jackson’s emo jerk ass in his previous episode, and I don’t care now that he was just an experiment (duh – which is why I screamed bloody murder at the time that Scully should/would have aborted upon turning up impossibly pregnant).  So that he turns out to be an alien who makes people explode is a big ball of blah to me.  (Nicely gruesome hotel room when he takes Barbara Hershey’s crew out, but, yeah – don’t care.)

Ten minutes in and Scully appears.  Three minutes later, she inexplicably does not accompany Mulder.  Eight minutes later we see her again, fretting over the phone for 15 seconds so Mulder can continue his quest.  Two minutes later, about five seconds of her to, again, add little to Mulder’s adventure.  Lather, rinse, repeat – she is on the phone the whole fucking time, adding nothing of substance, until when twenty goddamn minutes after that we see her decide to get in the game, and then about five minutes later she runs around uselessly and then there's the pregnancy bullshit at the end.

“What am I now if I’m not a father?”  Um, everything you’ve been all along?  And now a post-menopausal woman has another impossible pregnancy?  Fuck this show.  Great, it ended on a hug.  For diminished expectations, fine.  But CC is a sexist idiot, and I hate him as always.

Thoughts along the way:

ZOMG!  The X-Files have been shut down!  Gee, that’s never happened before, and I am so scared.

 -“This is Monica Reyes; I think they’ve got your son, William.”  As opposed to your other son?
-“The person who controls your son is the person who controls your future.” 
-“Just come back alive.”
-“I’m here about my boy.”
-“Everything depends on it.  Every last thing in the world.”
-“My name is Mulder, I’m your father.”
-“There’s something you need to know, something you may not want to hear, about your son and who his father is.”
-“I need the boy, the boy is mine.”  Okay, Brandy/Monica.

Good night, Irene, who wrote this shit?  Ah, yes – Chris Carter.

The trucker is someone who’s been on the show before, right?

“You’re taller than me.”  Okay, because he’s played by Tim Robbins’ son, maybe he is, but in the shot when he says that and hugs him, Mulder looks taller.

Scully is leaking “Death will hunt you down” to an alt-news website?  Seriously, CC, go find that fire.

Scully is in an oversized billowing trench coat for old time’s sake?

LOL – Skinner’s feet are sticking out from under the car like the wicked witch’s under the house.  I’d read a “CSM mows Skinner down and he dies” spoiler, but this has not just ambiguity, but He’s Alive! revelation if this shit continues on written all over it.

Gillian, block Chris Carter's number and never look back.

Edited by Bastet
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I've watched xfiles since the beginning, but this whole ongoing plot 'reboot' I can't make heads or tails of. Moldy has a kid?? Skelly has a kid?? Ciggy Mann has a rape kid?? Skinner has a kid??? Kid is a frikken asshole?? Moldy and Skelly have sex???  They had a kid???? Who the hell remembers plot lines from 10-20 years ago???

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I have never been this stupefyingly bored during an X Files ep. I still like the characters and I believe there are still fun stories they could tell, but no, Carter keeps it chained to the rotting corpse of the mytharc. Blah blah conspiracy, blah blah apocalypse, X Files closed
AGAIN!
Snore. The X Files get closed and re-opened more often than my refrigerator.

And the worst part is, knowing that none of this will ever lead to anything. How can I be so sure? Because it NEVER does. This show's been around for 25 years now, and it NEVER pays off on its storylines. NEVER! 

Ninja-Mulder takes out 4 armed guards in body armor again. 


What the fuck, Scully? Your son just got killed but William was just an experiment? So much for two decades of your angst, huh? Maybe she was trying to convince herself? 


And Scully is pregnant? 
AGAIN?!?!? 


Just painful. 


Side note: I really hope they don't try a spin off with William as a fugitive, but that's the feeling I got from the recap/teaser. 


And after reading this thread: jeez, guys. Skinner's not dead. CSM's not dead. Monica's not dead. No character is ever dead on this show. Not even the dead ones. 

Edited by Ghost of TWOP Past
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I think Mulder needs a new poster for his office.

image.png.3341cf0d4a700e1a23099976db8abfe7.png

I haven't watched this episode yet, and based on what I'm seeing I think I'll give it a skip. So Mulder murders a bunch of people and Scully is pregnant at 54? That's so bad it circles back around to being hilarious. I almost love it.

I saw the pregnancy thing coming because Plus One was so reminiscent of Requiem and the season as a whole was so reminiscent of Season 7, and Chris Carter has no new ideas - of course he'd be heading toward the exact same ending. It's hilarious that last week we got a show about an aging diva mouthing the same lines she delivered decades ago, and this week Chris Carter is trying to rewrite Season 7 and get it right this time. Look, Chris, it's too bad you didn't admit that Mulder and Scully were sleeping together back in Season 7, and it's too bad you didn't just end the show there and let them raise their kid together. But trying to do it all over again twenty years later is not the answer.

Edited by Sharna Pax
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WTF??? After all this time of "we need to find our son William" Scully says she was never a mother to him? And of course he's not really dead, did anybody believe he was really dead? This was a boring episode, such a shame it ended this way.

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6 hours ago, supposebly said:

Soo, I take it I'll be skipping this fourth Struggle too to preserve what's left of my memories of an awesome show?

That's ok. 

(Raises spoonful of carcinogenic goo to her lips; hesitates; puts it down.)

I want to remember how it was. I want to remember how it all was.

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7 hours ago, Italian Ice said:

Awww dangit. Now I want a Season 12, even if it's all just Scully being a happily pregnant doctor or professor, with Mulder as the Stay-At-Home Dad, who dotes on her constantly, and William popping in now and then to check in on them, and holding his brand new baby sister. I'd watch that :) We didn't get that at all for Scully's first pregnancy, so I want it now. 

Buttttt if this is indeed GA's last episode, I can't see how they do it unless they make Scully die in childbirth, which, given her age, isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

I would really hate that development, but it would match up if you follow the St Rachel Hotel (where miracle baby 2.0 was conceived in Plus One) symbolism to its conclusion, since Rachel died in childbirth with her second child.

 

Unrelatedly: how would William know that Mulder was CSM’s son? And if Scully has a psychic link with William, can’t she tell if he’s dead or alive?

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I do wonder if Baby 2.0 is also ~special, not because she (I'm going with it's a girl) was a lab experiment like William, but because of Scully's alien DNA. If Season 12 gets picked up, I wonder if the hunt will be on for Baby 2.0 if they can't catch William. 

Also, when do we think Scully knew she was preggers? I kinda think it was during "Followers" when she was just lounging around rubbing her belly in the chair, and especially in "Nothing," when she was lighting all those candles. The symbolism of the one candle going out, and Scully commenting that maybe it was a sign really struck me. I think she was contemplating abortion, and that's why she went to Church like 3 times in a week. She was asking God for forgiveness for what she was about to do, or the strength to carry the child, which led to her conversation with Mulder. I also noticed that she took the wine during Communion, which most pregnant women don't do. Maybe that's why she wasn't totally freaked out when she fell down the garbage chute. She wasn't yet sure if she wanted to keep the baby, but when Mulder assured her that he would always be there with her, she made her decision. 

Edited by Italian Ice
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16 minutes ago, Batgirl said:

I would really hate that development, but it would match up if you follow the St Rachel Hotel (where miracle baby 2.0 was conceived in Plus One) symbolism to its conclusion, since Rachel died in childbirth with her second child.

 

Unrelatedly: how would William know that Mulder was CSM’s son? And if Scully has a psychic link with William, can’t she tell if he’s dead or alive?

You’re using logic-not an option in CC land. I really hope this is the end because you know Scully or baby would be in danger or dead if Season 12 happened.

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