In Ivory Coast, Scully is studying the
apparent craft found in the surf. She came to find something
she did not believe in and stayed on to uncover what
Mulder's illness prevents him from finding. While working
late one night she does not notice a primitive African
warrior who appears and then disappears. Thousands of bugs
instantly swarm inside the tent. The next day, an African
biology proffessor, Amina Ngebe from the University of Ivory
Coast arrives. The discovery is still a secret but she has
learned of it. She warns Scully not to tell the African men hired to unearth the spaceship
about her vision and the insects. They are animists and
would take it as a bad sign (omen). They are interupted when
a man working in the surf screams -- he has somehow been
burned in the water. At the sight of his blistered skin,
Amina tells Scully that this is another warning.
Dr. Barnes (from
Biogenesis")
arrives at the camp. He denies being a killer. He has been
threatened by men in Washington, but he knows what has come
ashore. He has spent his life searching for answers and he
is there to help read what is on the craft. The sea around
the craft turns red (another Omen) and Scully sees a vision
of the native, who again disappears. Later, Scully is assembling a mosiac of the text on the outside
of the craft. Scully and Amina figure out that the symbols
describe human genetics and ancient religious passages.
Barnes has translated some. The upper surface has references
to human genetics. The bottom has quotes from the Bible,
Koran, ancient Sumeria and other sources, referring to the
Day of Judgement. In a delirious frenzy, Barnes claims that
the spaceship is the ultimate source of power -- the source
of life itself -- and traps the two women in the tent to
ensure that he gets all the credit.
At night, Barnes
discovers that the fish he caught have magically come back
to life, but only in Barnes' mind. This proves to him his
theory that the spaceship is an animating force. As he is distracted, Scully hits him with a chair,
& she and Amina escape, driving off. The women
frantically drive for help, but on the desolate road Scully
sees the primitive African man in their path. Suddenly, he
appears inside the land rover, reaching out his hand to her
and saying "some truths are not for you." He disappears, and
Amina did not see him. Scully tells her that she needs to
get home. At the beach, Barnes' driver comes into the
seemingly empty tent and Barnes slashes him in the neck with
a machete. Barnes places the man's body in the spot where
the fish came to life. Back at the camp, Barnes discovers
the driver's body gone and he goes out to the shoreline to
look for him. The driver (looking like a Zombie) has
returned to life, and strikes Barnes with the same machete.
Meanwhile, in Washington Mulder's brain is so
active he cannot sleep. Skinner enters his cell and Mulder
tries to strangle him, but Skinner later finds that Mulder
has slipped a note (a ripped cloth with words written in
dried blood) into his pocket saying "help me." Skinner
returns and sees Mulder in private. Mulder cannot speak, but
manages to write something on Skinner's hand, "Kr..." It
leads Skinner to Michael Kristgau, whose career was
destroyed by testifying to Congress about the UFO coverup.
At the hospital, Kristgau recognizes Mulder's condition from
past CIA experiments into ESP. The electrical impulses in
Mulder's brain are working harder than his body can sustain.
Kritschgau has Skinner inject Phenytoin, causing an
immediate effect in wakening Mulder. Fowley arrives and is
suspicious of why Skinner and Kristgau are there. Mulder
tells Skinner that he knows Skinner has been compromised --
that Krycek is blackmailing him. Mulder says Kristgau can
prove what is causing his condition.
Later, Kristgau conducts a test of Mulder's
"remote viewing" abilities. Kritschgau puts a more
responsive Mulder through a battery of tests with video
monitors to determine his brain's over-activity and psychic
ability. Initially the results are modest, but when Skinner
has the test speeded up, Mulder shows almost perfect
accuracy. Kritsgau says the CIA showed that some people have
ESP, but it was never attributed to aliens.
Skinner and Kristgau attempt to remove Mulder
from the hospital but Fowley and the doctor interrupt them.
Mulder goes into convulsions. Alone later, Fowley talks to
Mulder, although he appears to be cataconic. She says she
knows Mulder knows that her loyalties are to a man he hates,
but he can look inside her and understand why. She loves him
and won't let him die. There is no need to prove what he is
-- it has been known for a long time. Scully arrives back in
Washington and first goes to Skinner's office, where he
tells her what has happened to Mulder. He is under security.
They won't treat him because they don't know what is wrong
with him. She says he is not dieing and the cause is
alien. She uses her authority as a doctor to get in to see
Mulder. Although he doesn't seem aware, she tells him that
if he knows what she has found, he will be able to hold on.
It is a puzzle, but the answers can save him. "Mulder,
please hold on."
In the Ivory
Coast, Amina returns to the camp with police. They find
Barnes, dead near the water. The camera pulls back and there
is no evidence of the craft. To be continued...
Throughout the
episode (similar to "Memento Mori'') Scully is speaking to
Mulder in what I'm assuming are diary entries. For example:
""I came in search of something I did not think existed.
I've stayed on now inspite of myself, inspite of everything
I've held to be true. I will continue here as long as I can,
as long as you're beset with the haunting illness I saw
consume your beautiful mind. ""What is this discovery I've
made? I feel it was meant for you to find .... to make the
connections which cannot be ignored ...''
And so begins the
season's premiere where spiritual meets extraterrestrial.
Where our origin is again questioned. An adventure where
Skinner tries to redeem himself by trying to help Mulder,
where Fowley declares her love, and where Scully shows her
""love,'' (through determination to help M - don't
hyperventilate).
The only direct
interaction between our heroes is at the end, when Scully is
making an anguished plea with Mulder to hang on until she
can make those connections. ""I've found a key - THE key -
to every question that has ever been asked. It is a puzzle -
the pieces are there for us to put together. Please hold
on.''
