The last mytharc episode before the series finale
aired last night. The show is into its home
stretch, now. Too bad the production team
tripped.

Cast

Gillian
Anderson as Dana Scully
Robert
Patrick
as John Doggett
Annabeth
Gish as
Agent Reyes

Crew

Written by Chris
Carter and Frank
Spotnitz
Directed by Chris
Carter

A more complete cast and crew list can be found here.

Original Airdate

Providence
originally aired on
Sunday,
March 10,
2002.

Synopsis

In the continuation of last week’s episode, we
learned the motivation
that led the cult leader to do what he does. He
witnessed a team of
four super soldiers in the Gulf War. The
destroyed the enemy that was
going to destroy his team, and he mistook them
for angels. After the
flashback, we saw a shot of the man standing on
top of the newly
unearthed vessel.

After the teaser, Follmer organized a task force
to find Scully’s
child, while the Lone Gunmen were asked to
identify the woman who took
him. They saw her name and photo on the list of
mug shots, but did
not identify her at Scully’s request. Instead,
they traced the cell
phone they’d planted under the car seat, allowing
Scully and Reyes to
track the woman down. Unfortunately, when they
caught up with her,
they found the van abandoned.

As the show developed, we learned that Doggett
was in critical
condition, and that the man Scully shot had
regained some level of
consciousness. (Enough to ask for his jacket, at
any rate.)
Unfortunately, Reyes had to make a deal with
Follmer to provide any
information Scully gave her in exchange for
seeing the man’s message.

Scully took the piece of metal from the man’s
jacket to him, so that
it could heal him. It did heal him, and Reyes
disconnected the
monitors in an attempt to prevent them from
notifying the nurses. The
nurses came anyway, but only after the would-be
assassin told Scully
that her son is destined to lead the new alien
race of super soldiers
who will take over the world, although Mulder
must die for the son to
complete his destiny. Scully and Reyes left the
room, along with the
nurse, leaving behind only the government
official in charge of the
investigation into the assassin.

Scully and Reyes hid in the chapel until Skinner
came and told them to
get out of the hospital, because the assassin was
dead. Scully left,
but Reyes returned and told them what happened,
metal and all, and
even accused the man who killed the assassin of
killing him.

Doggett awoke in time to warn Scully not to trust
the man who would
come to her about her child. Shortly afterwards,
the man who ran the
cult contacted her, and gave her instructions
about how to get William
back. Scully complied with most of it (although
she brought the Lone
Gunmen and Reyes along instead of coming alone.)
She eventually found
William at the excavation site. Scully and Reyes
watched the space
ship leave, which presumably had the cult aboard,
since they were no
where to be found.

The episode wrapped up with a scene of the newly
recovered Doggett in
the chapel, talking to Reyes, followed by a scene
in which Follmer
confronts Kersh. Follmer had signed an
investigation report saying
that there was no evidence to support the story
Scully and Reyes had
given the FBI about the assassin, when he had
actually found that
evidence in the logs taken by the monitors before
they were
disconnected. He wanted to remove his name from
the report (which
Skinner had refused to sign.) Kersh didn’t seem
like he was going to
allow it. Kersh then entered his office for a
private meeting with
the man who had killed the assassin. In the
final panning shot, we
learn that this man has the bumps of a super
soldier on his neck.

High Point

Follmer’s final scene. I like seeing previously
irritating characters
find the road to redemption. That sort of
storyline worked extremely
well with Jeffrey Spender in Two Fathers and One
Son, and I’d like to
see it work again. Unfortunately, we know there
will not be any
episodes expanding on the mytharc until the
series finale, so I don’t
think we’ll see it.

Low Point

Doggett’s recovery. He was in terrible shape
half way through the
episode, and yet he recovered fully by the end.
Without the use of
the metal chunk that heals people, that’s just
too fast.

The Review

The originality this week wasn’t there.
The only aspect I
don’t remember being used heavily before was that
of the prophecy,
which is something I didn’t particularly care
for. A similar set of
prophecies are in play on Angel right
now, and that show has
made much better use of them. I give it 2 out of
6.

This week’s visual effects were
basically the shots of the
space ship opening, closing, and leaving. These,
while well done, are
pretty easy to do nowadays. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story in this entry was, I feel,
somewhat weak. There’s
a lot of expository dialogue that slows things
down. It feels like
the production team is just waiting for all those
viewers who tuned
out to suddenly remember it’s on and tune back
in, so they’ve decided
to write dialogue that will let them catch up on
everything in about
ten minutes. The plot moved slowly, and didn’t
really seem to do much
(aside from the revelations provided by the
attempted assassin.) I
give it 2 out of 6.

The acting was weak this time around.
Gillian Anderson did a
fine job, but the script she’s given didn’t feel
like Scully anymore.
Cary Elwes was the only regular cast member who
seemed completely
comfortable with what was given. I give the
acting 3 out of 6.

The strongest emotional response I felt
all episode was when
I thought, for a brief moment, that William was
in the space ship,
followed by disappointment when I heard him
crying. That’s the only
real response I felt, and it’s not the response
the production crew was
probably looking for, so I give it 2 out of 6.

The production is the only aspect of the
show that always
shines lately. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, this was a major let down
for me as the last
mytharc before the series finale. The fact that
it’s a weak
conclusion to a strong first part doesn’t help
much. When did the
search for the truth move from a vault in a cave
filled with thousands
of files, aliens, and an assault force move to
the bedside of a
talkative assassin? I give it 2 out of 6.

In total, Providence received 20 out of
42.