Essence (The X-Files)

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"Essence"
The X-Files episode
Episode no.Season 8
Episode 20
Directed byKim Manners
Written byChris Carter
Production code8ABX20
Original air dateMay 13, 2001 (2001-05-13)
Running time44 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Alone" 		Next →
"Existence"
The X-Files season 8
List of episodes

"Essence" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the

Nielsen rating
of 7.7 and was viewed by 12.8 million viewers. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics.

The show centers on

Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley)—now reprogrammed as a Supersoldier—attempts to erase all evidence of the tests—including Scully's soon-to-be-born baby. Upon hearing information from Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), the men reluctantly call upon him as well as Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish
) to help them.

"Essence" is a story milestone for the series. It was one of the later season eight episodes, starting with "Per Manum", that introduced the story arc about super-soldiers, which would continue throughout the ninth season. The series was the first part of two, and concluded with the season finale "Existence". In addition, Nicholas Lea reprises his role as Alex Krycek, who temporarily switches sides and aids Mulder and Scully.

Plot

While preparing for

obstetrician
, Dr. Parenti. While searching Parenti's office, the agents find another storage room containing hybrid fetuses. They confront Parenti, who denies everything.

Back at Scully's apartment, Gill leaves for the day. She gets into a car driven by Duffy Haskell, and tells him she thinks Scully trusts her. At the lab, Agent Crane derides Doggett for dealing with Mulder. Mulder and Doggett head back to Parenti's office, during which time Miles appears and decapitates Parenti. As they enter Parenti's office, they confront Miles—Mulder is thrown through a glass barrier while Doggett shoots him several times with no apparent effect. While Mulder and Doggett are distracted, Miles escapes. The two go to Scully's house to regroup. Gill overhears and contacts Haskell, who is at an illegal human cloning facility. At the other end, Haskell is also decapitated by Miles.

As Doggett, Mulder, and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) survey Haskell's murder scene, Scully catches Gill in the act of tampering with her medication. Later, Gill confesses that she, along with Haskell and others, have been monitoring Scully's pregnancy as part of the alien colonists' plans. However, she tells the agents that Scully's baby is a perfect human child with no human weaknesses. Mulder, fearing for Scully's safety, prepares to take her away. Doggett and Crane receive a call from Miles claiming to surrender, but this turns out to be a distraction. Miles instead goes after Scully, just as she and Mulder escape. As Miles is about to catch Mulder and Scully, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) runs him over and takes them to Doggett and Skinner, just before Miles gets back up.

Krycek states that Miles is one of a new type of aliens that are trying to wipe out humanity's ability to survive the invasion—including Scully's baby, which Krycek states is a special child that the aliens fear. Mulder tells Doggett to send for help. Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) arrives as Miles shows up at the J. Edgar Hoover Building. Scully is able to sneak out of the building with the help of Krycek, Doggett and Reyes. Mulder and Skinner, meanwhile, lead Miles to the roof, where Mulder pushes him off into a waiting garbage truck, which then compacts him. Scully and Reyes pull away. The episode ends with Crane pointing them to safety, then turning around, revealing to the camera that he is a Super Soldier.[2]

Production

"Essence" was written by series creator Chris Carter.[3] The episode, which was the first part of two and concluded with the season finale "Existence", was written during a time of uncertainty for the series. Near the end of season eight, it was unclear whether or not the show would continue onto a ninth season. Carter had maintained for sometime that he would not continue the show without lead actor David Duchovny. However, Duchovny announced that after the end of the eighth season, he would leave the show for good.[4] In addition, lead actress Gillian Anderson's contract also expired at the end of the eighth season.[4] Anderson had expressed her growing disinterest in the series ever since the beginning of the eighth season, saying "For a lot of people, if you don't like your job, you can quit your job, I don't necessarily have that option."[5] Anderson cited the fact that "eight years is a long time" as a contributing factor to her indifference.[5] However, Carter soon changed his position and announced he would remain on the show and continue only if Anderson agreed to do another season. Eventually, Fox offered Anderson a "generous" incentive to stay, resulting in the retention of Carter and Anderson and a final season of the show.[4]

The episode marks the return of Nicholas Lea as Alex Krycek.[3] In previous episodes, Krycek was one of the series' main antagonists. However, in "Essence", he temporarily switches sides. As such, portraying actor Lea explains the character's motivation: "Toward the end, he realizes that it's possible that the world could completely go down the tubes—then he's got a stake in trying to keep that from happening. That's when he starts giving the information to Mulder so that he can use it."[4]

Reception

Ratings

"Essence" first aired on Fox on May 13, 2001.

Sky1 and was the third most watched program that week, receiving 0.65 million viewers.[9] Fox promoted the episode with a poster parodying the 1968 horror movie Rosemary's Baby. The episode's tagline was "Scully's baby is born."[10][11] The episode was later included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 – Super Soldiers, a DVD collection that contains episodes involved with the alien super soldiers arc.[12]

Reviews

"Essence" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen of

Contra Costa Times praised the episode, writing "where have nifty episodes like ["Essence"] been the last two years?"[14] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review. Praising the storyline, he noted that "Thanks to 'Essence', I've become a believer again."[15] Gareth Wigmore of TV Zone was positive toward both "Essence" and "Existence". Wigmore gave the episodes a 9 out of 10 rating and wrote "the reason that this two-parter works is that its plot is simple enough for the audience to still have a handle on".[16] Jessica Morgan of Television Without Pity awarded the episode a B+.[11]

Not all reviews were so positive, however.

Jesus Christ."[18] She concluded that the episode "raise[ed] the [misogyny] to a whole new level".[18]

Notes

  1. ^ At the time of airing, the estimated number of households was 102.2 million.[7] Thus, 7.7 percent of 102.2 million is 7.87 million households.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "The X-Files - "Essence"". TheXFiles.com. Fox Broadcasting Company. February 2002. Archived from the original on 7 February 2002. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  2. ^ "Essence". BBC Cult. BBC. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b Chris Carter (writer); Kim Manners (director) (May 6, 2001). "Essence". The X-Files. Season 8. Episode 20. Fox.
  4. ^ a b c d Hurwitz and Knowles, p. 197.
  5. ^ a b "'X-Files' Appeal Waning for Co-Star Anderson". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. 12 May 2001. pp. B-9. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  6. Fox. 2000–2001.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
    )
  7. ^
    MediaNews Group
    . Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  8. ^ Canton, Maj. "The X-Files – Series – Episode List – Season 8". TV Tango. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  9. ^ "BARB's multichannel top 10 programmes". barb.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2012. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e June 25-July 1, 2001", listed under Sky 1
  10. Los Angeles, California: Fox Broadcasting Company
    . 2001.
  11. ^ a b Morgan, Jessica (13 May 2001). "Baby, It's You". Television Without Pity. NBCUniversal. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  12. ^ Kim Manners; et al. The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 – Super Soldiers (DVD). Fox.
  13. ^ a b Handlen, Zack (December 14, 2013). "Review: The X-Files: 'Alone'/'Essence'/'Existence'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  14. MediaNews Group
    . p. D03. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  15. ^ Kessenich, pp. 179–83.
  16. ^ Wigmore, Gareth (2001). "TV Zone #141 Episode Reviews - X-Files Essence / Existence". TV Zone. Visual Imagination. Archived from the original on January 12, 2002.
  17. ^ a b Shearman and Pearson, p. 247.
  18. ^ a b c Vitaris, Paula (April 2002). "The X-Files Season Eight Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 34 (2): 42–49.

Bibliography

This article incorporates material derived from the "Essence" article on the X-Files wiki at Fandom (formerly Wikia) and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (March 7, 2012).

External links

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