Veiled Vesta

What's this I hear about Tanith and tornados? Hope you're okay! I can't vote for the season 6 viewing party because I haven't finished season 6 yet! I know, I know but I'm midway through it and I'm sure I'll be able to vote at the last minute like I always do.

I recapped the season 5 premier, Redux. It doesn't have all the shippiness of part 3 but it's essential to the D3P-Redux and all that jazz.

Redux

**(D3P-Redux Note: So this makes it the second major time Mulder cheats death, huh? The first three parter had him survive death thanks to Native American intervention and now this three parter reveals that the body Scully identified... you know, maybe I should leave that to the recap to describe. Plus there's more craziness and voiceover in this season premier than you can shake a stick at!)**

To refresh the memories of those who watched this on TV, or haven't read the recap in a while, we see the last Mulder scene where he's watching some depressing alien believer TV and crying. It looks a bit different, of course, because of the black bars on the top and bottom of my screen. More on that later. Our first voiceover with Mulder as he watches the TV has him talk philosophically about his belief in extraterrestrials and how he hoped it would help him find his sister. So far, it has not. Mulder puts his head in his hands as his voiceover says all he believed was proven to be a lie and he fell for it. Then he grabs his gun and starts thinking suicidal thoughs, lamenting voiceover-style how he wished it was just him who fell for it, and how he brought his partner down with his beliefs. Don't do it Mulder! Scully will find a way to get you in the after life and kick your ass! Suddenly a welcomed phone call breaks his voiceover. It's Kritschgau! I never thought I'd be glad to see the jerk who crushed Mulder's dreams and hurt Scully. Kritschgau tells him he was followed by some people after he last spoke to Mulder and Mulder just demands to know who this dream killer is. Kritschgau wants Mulder to listen but Mulder wants answers, damn it. He wants to know if it's true that "they" gave Scully the cancer because of him and Kritschgau says "they" may be listening on the phone. The same people who are watching him. Mulder's paranoid reflexes kick in and since his apartment has been bugged before (seriously), he quickly knows where to look to find the hidden camera. Someone's been surveilling him from upstairs. New neighbors can be so inconsiderate sometimes. Mulder runs out and kicks open the apartment door above him. Yeah Mulder! That's the door kicking, answer demanding, non-suicidal guy I know and love! He sees his little voyeur burning some stuff. As a government employee can Mulder fine him for that? Mulder tells the guy to back away then he stomps out the fire and very nearly misses a shotgun blast to the face. He and the voyeur struggle and we're out in the hall so we can't see the struggle. We do hear a gunshot and then someone closes the apartment door. Gee, I wonder who survived?

Opening Credits! Now in widescreen! At least for me. I'm a bit annoyed that they pulled this switcheroo on me. Why have half the series in regular TV format and then the other half in widescreen? I've watched an episode from season 6 on TV and it's wasn't in widescreen so what gives, DVD people? Forgive this little rant, I just had to get it off my chest. So yeah, looks like the rest of the series for me will have those black bars on top and bottom.

Now Scully is going to her apartment to do whatever it is someone who isn't a suicidal believer does. She checks her messages, takes off her coat and walks into her bedroom, all in the dark. As she starts taking off her shirt in her room, she finds she's got her own little voyeur. It's Mulder! When he says "Keep going, FBI woman," all I can say is that it's the best way we find out he survived - ever! She does not keep going (kill joy) and asks what he's doing sitting in her bedroom, in the dark, with no pants on. Or maybe he's fully clothed. He already survived one shooting, no need to push his luck with Scully. He tells her he couldn't sleep because it was too crowded in his apartment. She's serious about knowing and he's serious about telling her that there a dead man in his apartment. Did he move that guy's body down into his place? Um, good move? Scully still doesn't know what the hell Mulder is talking about so he gets up from his comfy space in Scully's bedroom to shut the blinds and turn on the lamp. A bit paranoid but Scully is used to it. Mulder explains how a man from the Department of Defense was video monitoring Mulder's apartment. I wonder how many of the tapes the guy got included Mulder doing some, um, self-entertainment with those videos that aren't his? Heh. The DOD voyeur got a shotgun blast to the face so I assume it's pretty mangled and unidentifiable. Scully wants Mulder to call the FBI but he says he can't because his voyeur, who by the way is called Ostelhoff, worked for the military and everything they've worked on or been exposed to (including the alien hoax and Scully's cancer) can be traced to the FBI. They should probably take this conversation out of the bedroom lest they totally ruin any future mood they might encounter when and if they find themselves back in her room. Here's hoping.

In her dining room, Mulder explans that his voyeur, Scott Ostelhoff, had been burning phone records which Mulder managed to save. The records had several calls made to the FBI building which means they've got themselves a mole in the Bureau. And I don't mean the fuzzy animal or the drool worthy beauty marks on Mulder and Scully. I mean an inside man who may have been spying on them since Scully first joined Mulder on the X-Files. Well from that Cigarette Smoking Man devoted episode, we know he spied on their first meeting. I like to think CSM is kind of a shipper since he likes the two of them and he likes to listen in on them alot. It's what every devoted MSR shipper wishes she/he could do if given the chance. Scully is devasted they've been but pawns in a twisted game of chess. Mulder gets down on his knees to offer comfort (heh) and tells her in order to find out who's the mole, he needs her to lie to them. A lie to find the truth. Remember kids, don't tell lies unless you're entrenched in a possible alien conspiracy that leads to your beloved partner getting ill and an attempt on your life has been made. Then you can lie like crazy.

A little more back tracking as the scene where Scully goes to identify "Mulder's body" in his apartment is played, and now we know that it's all a lie. It's good to be in on the plan. More Mulder voiceover as the body identifying scene w/ Scully is replayed (in widescreen version). Mulder talks of a web of lies and the two being entangled in it and how they're now lying to, and trying to bring down, the insituition that brought them together. He talks fondly of Scully's passion and her integrity. How he's making her lie to those that lied to them. Their enemy. Aww, they share an enemy and share a lie. They need to share more fluffier things. With the voiceover done, Scully meets with Skinner in the apartment hallway and he asks if it's true before offering his condolences. He's a bit confused as to how she made the ID since the body's face was blasted away but she lies easily, saying the body was wearing the same clothes Mulder wore earlier. Looks like Skinner is a bit suspicious but then he lets it goes and informs Scully she has a meetng with Section Chief Blevins. It's in a dimly lit FBI room so bring a flashlight.

Another Mulder voiceover already? Okay then. He's at the Department of Defense and his voiceover tells us about the man who's dead in his apartment and how, lucky for Mulder, he went through the dead man's wallet after shooting him because now he can use the man's keycard to get into the DOD and finally get some answers. Red light, green light, one two three. Meanwhile, Scully and Skinner are meeting with Chief Blevins who, through the help of Scully, reminds us that we last saw him in season 1. He says that she and Mulder have gotten pretty close in all those years working together then gives her the obligatory "sorry for your loss" line from the employer/agent handbook. Scully would like him to more or less cut the crap and tell her why she was summoned. He brings up the DOD employee who may have told her some classified information. Scully said his information had to do with proving the alien/UFO hoax and Chief Blevins wants her to tell him and a joint FBI panel everything she knows about Michael Kritschgau. They even have a picture of him for Scully to identify, which suspiciously looks like it was taken from the voyeur camera above Mulder's apartment. The FBI mole got ahold of that photo, I'm sure of it!

Since we're on the topic of Kritschgau, there he is in a DOD hallway when he sees Mulder, much to his surprise. He runs over to him and chats him up in a tone of voice that suggests nothing wrong in case he gets overheard by other DOD employees. He wants to know how Mulder got inside and Mulder shows off his stolen keycard. Kritschgau tells him to put the card away with that nervous, frozen smile on his face and when Mulder asks how he knew his apartment was being monitored, Kritschgau says to follow him. They end up in an office where they can talk in private. Kritschgau tells Mulder that the card he has lets him gain entrance into level four which means he can access everything, get all the answers he's been looking for, and dine in the officer's club. Ah, priviledge. Mulder wants to know who gave Scully the cancer. You fool, with that keycard you could find the cause and the cure to her cancer! Then maybe after she's cured you can bring up that vial of her ova you've got stowed away in the freezer for your own personal reasons that may or may not be, um, freaky.

Cigarette Smoking Man breaks into Mulder's apartment to look at the crime scene, the chalk outlining the body where his best adversary lay. He finds a photo of a young Mulder and his sister. He actually has tears in his eyes. Wow. Looks like the man needs a moment alone. But wait, he notices something on the floor then looks up at the ceiling and spots the little hole where the hidden camera was placed. Interesting.

Scully does some investigating down in the basement office. She calls their Communications Center where we get the familiar voice of Holly (hypothetical future Mrs. Modell. ) She gives her condolences regarding Mulder – boy won't they all feel silly when they find out Mulder's actually alive – and Scully gives her the phone numbers on the list she got from our supposedly dead agent. She wants her to find out where the calls were made to. Holly does some typing and she finds all the calls were made to an executive level extension. She can't get any specific names but AD Skinner is one of the people who is at that level. Scully doesn't look happy at that news. As soon as she hangs up she gets another call from a Dr. Vitagliano. He's the man from that Gethsemane University lab where Scully took the ice core samples for analysis. Looks like he's got even more peculiar news for her.

Over at the DOD, Mulder and Kritschgau walk the halls and talk about the weather and the Mets. No, just kidding, they actually talk about the biological quarantine wing housed in level four which contains the DNA of millions upon millions of Americans since 1945, and the very roots of the strategically planned, military-hyped hysteria among those who believed in flying saucers and extraterrestrials while the government strengthed it's armed forces and used any excuse it could use to justify the expenses; how everything from abductions to UFO sightings, to everything in between was all perpretrated by top secret, classified military projects. So... how about them Knicks? No? Okay, how about that cancer cure? Kritschgau believes it can found in level four along with a cure for his own son. They finally get to a level four door and Mulder enters to face his destiny, leaving Kritschgau to deal with two suits who would like to ask him some questions and give him some lovely cement shoes. I'd assume.

Time to bet on the ponies! Fifty bucks on She's-the-Fastest! Wait, there's not much of a crowd and... oh, lookie there. It's one of the Consortium men. He's fat, he speaks like the god father, and I think he wears mascara. I shall call him: Mascara God Father. CSM meets with Mascara God Father to talk about the surveillance on Mulder. CSM is upset that there was surveillance on Mulder without his knowledge and Mascara God Father claims ignorance. CSM gets haughty saying Mulder was under his control and he created Mulder. Well, half created anyway, with Mulder's mommy. Possibly. Eww. Mascara God Father says that Mulder is dead and they underestimated his wussy suicidal tendencies. CSM responds that he never underestimated Mulder and he ain't gonna start now.

Scully meets with Dr. Vitagliano at the Paleo-something or other University lab. He tells her that he got the weird chimera cells from the ice core to divide which should make them animal cells, according to Scully, if they just stopped at cell division. The cells grew into different stages that can be compared to the different stages of fetal growth. Yeah. That's not normal for a mere cell to do. And they have no idea what the end result of this cellular multiplication will be. Mulder's got his own discoveries to make as he wanders around level four hallways. Plus some voiceover to make my recapping extra irritating. Mulder says, as he walks and tries to open different doors, that he was hoping to learn some answers to his big alien-related questions. While everything he ever believed in may turn out to be wrong, the only hope he clings to is that he can find a cure to Scully's cancer. Awww. Mulder almost gets caught by two guards as he looks for an unlocked door but as usual, with his Mulder luck, he finds an open door just in time and steps in. That is one hell of a good pick. He sees dozens of dead aliens (or are they?) on tables in a fairly dark room. As he walks past all these bodies, we finally get a Scully voiceover. Fair is fair. She says how she has no way of contacting Mulder to tell him her big discovery, though if she did I bet he could trump her bizarre ice core cells, and Scully wonders if her discovery is alien or not. Mulder sees another door from which light shines through and he walks over to see, holy crap it's a bunch of unconcious women lying on tables with huge, almost inlated-looking stomachs and weird lights shining on them... just like when Scully was abducted! Scully's voiceover wonders if the cells she's studying will not only give her an answer to the alien question but to her cancer query. So it's looking like Kritschgau was right about the whole "government behind all alien activity" thing (...or is he?) You think Carter is sadistic enough to do a Carter Mindfreak within a Mindfreak? After four years, I think we all know the answer to that.

Scully wants Dr. Vitagliano to take a blood sample from her. She wants to compare it to the hybrid cells and she's sure she'll get a match. She wants the results ASAP and then when the doctor leaves Scully notices Skinner outside the door. He leaves but she gets out there to confront him. Scully is suspicious too. She wants to know what Skinner is doing there. He got lost on his way to the Hair Club for Men. Scully accuses him of working for the DOD and being a stalker and really, Scully gets enough stalkers from the freaks and mutants on her past, present, and future cases (see Tooms, Pfaster, and Padget). They both want answers but they're really stubborn and suspicious of each other so they're not going to get much. Skinner also accuses her of lying, adding that her lie is on record so unless she wants more trouble, she should probably stop the lies upon lies, especially when she gets to the dimly lit FBI meeting in a few hours. Scully believes all her lies will lead to the truth about the men behind what happened to her and she asks if Skinner is afraid of what she'll reveal. He pretty much says he knows Mulder's body wasn't the one found dead in his apartment and she was in on it which I guess is illegal for FBI agents to do. She gets mad that Skinner is going to use that against her and he just asks where Mulder is. When she leaves, he tells her the lying isn't going to help her. Scully knows that. She thinks that what will help her is proof. Something she and Mulder are working on as we speak. Looks like Skinner is going to miss another club meeting. Those agents of his are going to make him completely lose his hair within the year. Tsk tsk.

Later on, we are "treated" to another Scully voiceover. Does Carter think we cannot figure things out for ourselves without the flowery speech? Is he making up for all the season premiers where he didn't have voiceovers? Maybe it's to commemorate the widescreen season premier. In any case, Scully is doing the blood work herself to compare her blood to the ice core cells. Her voiceover gives us some more background info, which I now realize is necessary for any newbies who've decided to start watching The X-Files after season four won that Emmy. Hmm. I can't believe I didn't think of that until just now. She joined Mulder on the X-Files because of her scientific background and now must use that science know-how to find out who's the mole in the FBI. Mulder's access to the level four halls now lead him through a basement area with pipes running over his head. She wonders what Mulder found (I just said what he found: a basement area with pipes above his head) and she blah blah blahs about her forensic evidence and holy crap yet again! Mulder has hit pay dirt – he's found CSM's special Emergency Exit room from the Pilot! The huge dimly lit room with the hundreds of files and boxes cataloguing mysterious evidence and some mentally scarring photos if Mulder where to see them. Scully has a few hours until she has to stand in front of a light fearing FBI panel to explain all she knows, which of course means she's gong to lie, lie, lie. But she'll also stick a truth in there: the proof she'd going to get from her tests that could blow the conspiracy wide open somehow. And now we get a Mulder voiceover. You have got to be bleepin' kidding me. Mulder yadda yadda yaddas about the place he found and hopefully the cure for Scully's cancer is in there somewhere if Kritschgau is to be believed as well as the cure for the man's own son which Mulder might get if he feels like it. Mulder is desperate to help Scully. Awww. He gets to a cabinet that has Scully's file and some papers in it (plus some numerical codes on said papers) but when he gets Kritschgau's son's folder, he finds it's empty. Well, tough luck for him. Mulder's got what he wanted and off he goes.

Somewhere in a dark, evil room, the Smoker is plotting his vengeance. He gets a phone call. If he answered with a joke response I would've totally loved him for it. ("Hello, you have reached Mr. Sexy's Pizzeria. Our special today is sexeroni." ) The guy who's calling CSM is a security guard from his DOD level four post. He called as per requsted when Scott Ostelhoff entered the building but he's not sure if it's really Ostelhoff or not. He asks CSM if he should apprehend the guy but CSM tells the security guard not to do anything until he gets there. Mulder is safe so far.

And now it's time for a third Scully voice over. Argh. Okay, enough. Not counting the pre-credits voiceover, she's now even with Mulder! She continues her tests and continues talking about the greatness that is science. We get it Scully; you love science like Mulder loves his pornos. Next! Looks like Mulder decides to check up on the weird numer code in Scully's file to find the corresponding box. He does. Inside the box is a bunch of metal tubes. Scully finally finished her blood work and reveals exactly what we've all guessed about two voiceovers ago: the ice core chimera DNA is in her body. You know, that's actually kind of neat. Her hypothesis is that she was exposed to those cells and that's what gave her the cancer. Back at the secret Pentagon room, Mulder grabs one of the tubes and carefully gets out of the room. We get a shorter Mulder voiceover but it's still a voiceover, and still seems to be unnecessary unless you aren't paying attention. He may have the cure but he needs to get out safely and Scully needs to make the FBI panel believe her lie. She is at the low lighting FBI Headquarters meeting ready to reiterate what she said in Gethsemane. We all know what she said, and I must forgive her for thinking she betrayed Mulder. I'm not as easily apt to forgive another of her voiceovers though. First it's her Gethsemane speech running over clips from the Pilot and Paper Clip. Then as she talks about Kritschgau, we see Mulder trying to get away from some security guards doing their rounds. He tries to look inconspicuous but when he slides his key card to open a door, he gets the dreaded red light. Access denied, Mulder! He tries again but gets the red light again and the security guards are getting closer. Scully's speech continues as Mulder looks down the hall and sees the security guards and tries two more times to swipe the card, and both times he gets the red light that mocks him. He's practcically sweating bullets as he tries one last time, a fast swipe. Hurrah! Green light of escape! Mulder gets out while CSM watches in the security booth. The security guard says he'll get Mulder stopped at the entrance but CSM says no, just let Mulder go. Um, thanks CSM. Once again you've confounded me. Scully's meeting conlcudes with the last scene from the previous episode: her lying about finding Mulder shot in his apartment building Then Skinner walks in with some results. Scully is ready to present her proof. The proof that not only will reveal the men who gave her the cancer and orchestrated the alien hoax, but she's going to name the mole in the FBI... or she would if she doesn't get a nosebleed and faint. Aaahh suspense! Skinner catches her and calls for a doctor.

Last scene shows that Mulder immediately went to see the Lone Gunmen with the metal tube he got (brief season premier cameo!) Byers tests the content in the tube whish turn out to be nothing more than deionized water. All that skulking and nearly getting caught for about an ounce of water. To be continued redux!