Two Fathers

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PLOT: After the reemergence of Cassandra Spender, her son, Agent Jeffrey Spender, is compelled to seek Mulder's help to determine what happened to his mother and discovers that his father is responsible.

I honestly believe that Chris Carter and company wrote the next two episodes, because they *knew* that their entire conspiracy myth-arc was becoming overblown. If they were not going to give any answers to many of the loose ends shown in previous episodes, then it would just cave in on itself and the reputation and crediblity of the show would become very strained with many fans and critics alike. However, trying to do it in *two* episodes seems a bit rushed, and I don't believe that everything was answered. But the conspiracy definitely has a clearer picture from the very first scene with the Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM).

This could easily be called "The Tale of Two Fathers." In this episode, the two fathers being referred to is C.G.B. Spender a.k.a.CSM and William Mulder, Fox Mulder's father. The secret that those two have carried for so many years and involving their own family members to preserve a scientific experiment so insiduous that noone would believe it. This was the episode Fox network was heavily promoting as "Full Disclosure." That's debateable, but it definitely showed enough of what CSM and the rest of his Syndicate brothers have been planning and hiding from Mulder and Scully all these years: a "perfect conspiracy with an alien race." Oooh!

After watching it a couple of times, I understood on the surface of what the Syndicate was planning. Many of the myth-arc episodes over the past four seasons and the motion picture has helped given clues to the overall conspiracy involving an underground government group who arguably has more power than the President of the United States. The Syndicate conspired with an alien race for future colonization of Earth. That's the bare nitty gritty of the Secret. That certainly is bad enough, but the members of the Syndicate agreed to have their own family members abducted to help with a scientific experiment to resist the very essence of the aliens: the black oil. This same black oil is what would be used to ensure an "alien/human hybrid" that would be able to resist the lethal effects of the black oil and become a slave race for the aliens upon colonization. Recently, an alien rebel force is doing what they can to change those plans. Did you follow all that?

Most of the story within this episode was retold by CSM to someone we don't see until almost the end. It's curious to note that he looks every bit like a defeated man. Since many of the events that he has spoken of has already happened, CSM obviously realizes that the proverbial s--- has hit the fan! With the reemergence of his ex-wife, Cassandra Spender, CSM knows that Mulder will eventually piece together his father's involvement in the conspiracy and the cover-up. I'm sure it doesn't escape CSM the irony that the son of his closest friend and ally would end up exposing the very conspiracy that the elder Mulder objected to being involved in. Go figure.

But in a way, this episode also dealt with CSM's disappointment in both his professional and personal life. We saw a hint of personal disappointments in Season 4's "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man." But after finding out that he actually had a *family* as well and only so that he would have a son, his disappointment just keeps mounting. He helps Jeffrey get a department position in the X-Files and humiliate Mulder in the process. But Jeffrey does not believe in the paranormal, which deeply disturbs CSM. It's as if Jeffrey is insulting the very livelihood that CSM has been associated with for so many years. Jeffrey is no Fox Mulder, whom CSM grudgingly admires. In effect, Mulder is everything that his son is *not*: brilliant, rebellious, open-minded. All the traits that make Jeffrey Spender pale in comparison. But Jeffrey is the legacy CSM has to leave this world, and he will not give up that chance for immortality.

Meanwhile, Mulder has to face his own demons. Scully discovers a direct connection between Smoking Man and his father. This evidence only clues him in on the overall conspiracy and why his sister was abducted. That thought must be tearing him up inside even though he shows no signs of it to Scully. Mulder is the only one to understand why people such as Cassandra Spender and Scully are being abducted. And he is also the only one to fully realize the importance of Cassandra to the Syndicate. After 25 years of being abducted starting with the same night as his sister, Samantha, Mulder knows that Cassandra is "the one," the first successful alien/human hybrid. And her very presence endangers all the secrecy that the Syndicate has been trying to maintain.

But Mulder and Scully are still not officially with the X-Files. That is what was puzzling about Jeffrey Spender's involvement. He first seeks out Mulder's help upon Cassandra's reemergence but then gladly arrests them when they invade his office. We find out that he was acting on his father's orders, but there is a part of Spender that obviously is needing to find out what has been happening to his mother. He must know that there is something very strange about his father's involvement in a conspiracy that he could not or would not understand. Only when he was ordered to kill the rebel alien posing as a Syndicate member does he grasp at what his father has been involved in. Yet, when Krycek (who was sorely underused in this episode) tells him that his father was the one behind Cassandra's abductions all these years, does he realize that he went to the wrong person for help.

We do find out that the person CSM seems to be pouring out his frustrations to is none other than Diana Fowley. With Marita Covarubbias out of sight, Diana's involvement with the Syndicate is still a bit vague, but there is an obvious loyalty to CSM. She is officially in the X-Files, and I do believe that Diana is who CSM was referring to when he mentioned "our man in the FBI." Diana must have an idea of what the experiments are about and unlike Jeffrey, does believe in the paranormal and aliens. Only time will tell what her true intentions are to both sides.

This episode was sorely lacking in any real involvement by Mulder and Scully, whether by the actual storyline or with each other. However, I did like the basketball court scenes where it was so *obvious* that Mulder was trying to show off to Scully. Notice the way he was eyeing her when she walked onto the court in the middle of his basketball game. But the serious tone of the episode made light moments like that appear out of place but very much needing it.

I would say that a lot was covered in this episode alone. The sheer volume of information revealed makes it a very watchable and worthy episode, but I really did not like that fact that Mulder and Scully seemed to be set aside through most of the episode. For the overall plot, that is probably the wise thing to do, but it still left me feeling kind of empty. Will "One Son" change that feeling? Stay tuned....

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