Veiled Vesta

I remember the dress where you could see her thong; it was in the I Love the 90s clip (which was pulled down from my account a while back! Damn you copyright laws!) If anyone wants the I Love the 90s clip, tell what download site would work best to send it and for you all to download it (I'd prefer a sitte where I didn't have to join or anything).

Next week for the FTF and season 6 viewing party would be great since I still didn't finish season 6. I'm near the end though.

I forgot that I still didn't post my thoughts on the season finale. Good reason too, since it was kind of unpleasant to recap and we get the introduction of a certain brunette agent that all MSR shipper hate.

The End

**(Pre-Movie Season Finale Notes: What an applicable title. The end of some of my respect for Mulder because of a certain Diana Fowley, the end of the X-Files office in the basement, and the end of a series without the awesome first movie. I bet a certain Agent Fowley sent that damn bee, though, just to spite the shippers.)**

Is it some kind of staff joke to have more and more episodes set in Canada, considering the first few seasons of this show is filmed in Vancouver? Well, once again we're in Canada where they're having a tournament that holds even less interest for me than hockey; a chess tournament. It's some Russian chess master playing a 12 year old boy with huge grandfather glasses. The flags by their side signal that the older man is from Russia and the little boy is fro America. While they play chess, with thousands of Canadian spectators hanging on their every move, a mysterious assassin is on a catwalk above the arena, getting his gun ready. Hey, at least he's doing something to liven up a chess match. The little boy with grandpa glasses seems to hear something behind him. He heard the assassin all the way up there? Well he certainly senses something as he looks around and everything he sees sounds distorted. He looks behind him then turns to play as the assassin is still getting his gun ready. Why do these covert government assassins insist of bringing their weapons in pieces? Just get a point and shoot; save some time and energy. The assassin first points to the older chess player, then he sets his sights on his true target, the little boy. Aww, but he's so adorably nerdy and innocent looking. The little boy stands to make his winning move and when he sits back down, the gun goes off and the older chess player goes down. The boys parents or body guards, or perhaps agents rush over to get him away from harm and the crowd panics. The assassin gets the hell out of there and the little boy looks up to where the assassin stood, seemingly knowing what just transpired... USA! USA!

Opening Credits! Let's listen to 'The End' by The Doors as today's honorary theme song. While there may be other songs with the words "the end" in the title, this song was played/parodied on The Simpsons which has a cameo in this episode as one of the cartoons the little chess kid watches, plus we can't forget The Springfield Files, when Mulder and Scully were animated into an episode of The Simpsons. Good times.

Now we're in the familiar snowy mountains of Canada. Back in [u]Redux II[u] we heard that the Cigarette Smoking Man was shot and assumed to be dead. Well you know what they say when you 'assume' (it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'). We first learn he's alive in the episode The Red and The Black but I haven't recapped that so I'll try and fill in the blanks where necessary and you readers can enjoy the return of CSM here. Two men are parachuting into his snowy cabin hiding place. Yes he's been hiding in Canada, and no he hasn't tried to use his clout to rig the NHL so the (insert losing team here) have no reason for not winning the Stanley Cup other than their shabby playing. There. I said it. The parachuters are wearing black clothes and ski masks but they aren't there to hit the slopes. CSM is enjoying the domesticity and brewing himself some nice herbal tea or something. He's wearing a robe and I'll thank the clothing gods that he's wearing pants under that open robe of his. Like any good paranoid old man who's survived an attempted assassination, he got himself an alarm system on his cabin so he knows the two parachute men are on his property. They split up and when one of them opens the door he gets welcomed with a nice shot to the chest. The other parachuter runs over to see his shot partner and follows some bloody foot prints, CSM's footprints, into the woods. He fires at CSM but misses and CSM turns to face his attacker who is revealed to be... Krycek! How long has it been since I mentioned him in a recap? I've managed to avoid most of the episodes where he appears, mostly because the girls don't pick myth arc two parters for the viewing party. Well the Ratboy fangirls are gonna get lucky because he's in the season finale and if I didn't loath him, I'd say he looks decent in black. CSM goads Ratboy to shoot, pulling the same Jedi mind trick he did on Mulder on several occasions when Mulder threatens him with his gun. Krycek doesn't shoot, saying he was sent to bring CSM back. Okay, I can't believe that worked. He's the villain I love to hate and I'm glad he's coming back. He was the cool, calm member of the Consortium.

We're looking at the familiar knick knacks and papers that make up our favorite X-Files basement office including newspaper clippings, the famous 'I Want To Believe' poster and a photo of Mulder and Scully! Well that's a nice surprise! Skinner is the one who's looking at al these things in the basement office while he stands behind Mulder's desk. Mulder enters and seems surprised, asking what's up. Skinner sort of hesitates before saying he was planning on asking him something but caught up in the interesting files and stuff so he couldn't help but take a peek around the office. Skinner asks him about his long term plans; what Mulder hopes to find in the end. Hmm, good question. Mulder answers vaguely that he'll know when he finds it. Then Skinner tells him what he went down to ask: a Russian chess player was assassinated by a former NSA agent and newbie agent Jeffrey Spender was assigned to the investigation. Using some reverse psychology he asks Mulder to crash the meeting currently going on upstairs and help the case as only he can. Nice move, Skinner. Have I told you lately that you're pretty awesome?

We're up in the meeting room with Agent Spender who was introduced in the episode The Red and The Black as a new agent whose mother, Cassandra, is an alien abductee. Cassandra bonded with Scully and he got furious at Mulder's involvement with his alien believing mother, thinking Mulder was feeding into her "self-delusion" when actually Mulder was at a low point in his believing career. Suffice to say he's more of a mean kind of skeptic and he didn't want Mulder involved in his case for personal grudge-holding reasons. Oh yeah, and he's CSM's son. Almost forgot that part. So with that little background info out of the way, we see him showing video of the chess tournament shooting. There are many FBI agents, including Scully at the meeting, and Agent Spender is briefing them on the weapon found, the capture of the assassin, but no motive gotten from the killer who refuses to talk. Mulder and Skinner walk in stopping Spender in his speech. After Mulder tells him to continue, with just a bit of an "innocent" tone, Spender grudgingly continues, stating his the angle of the shot and the possibility of an accomplice. Mulder stops Spender and asks him to rewind the tape. Spender does not, saying the Q&A part of the briefing comes after he's done. Mulder says he thinks Spender is wrong on his assumption. Oh, it's on. Scully is surprised, asking him quietly what he's doing but Mulder puts forth his theory which is correct because it's a crazy Mulder theory. He thinks the target was the little boy, not the Russian. Getting Spender to rewind the tape, Mulder points out that the kid pushed back when he sat down, almost as if he anticipated the shot. The only other agent who agrees with him is a brunette woman sitting near the back. When she speaks up Mulder stares at her long enough to convey to the audience that this isn't the first time he's seen her. *cue ominous music* I am going to try and be objective for the first scene where we are introduced to her. Let's see how long my objectivity lasts. Skinner tells Spender to rewind the tape and we can clearly see a point where the little boy looks behind him as if he sees something. Chalk one up to Mulder.

It's night time and somewhere outside under a bridge The Consortium members are getting ready for the most awkward meeting yet. Worse than the time they all had to get probed in front of each other to prove their loyalty to their alien partners. Krycek and CSM walk toward the Consortium members. Question: How do you avoid the awkward apologies about trying to kill him? Answer: You don't. CSM wonders if they're more surprised that he agreed to come back or that he's alive. A Consortium member says they pretty much assumed he died. I suppose that means they already ransacked his office and painted over his covert government parking space. And it was a sweet space too. CSM snidely insults them and Ratboy in one fell swoop. Sir Fancy Pants, the biggest CSM hater, says there's a problem and they sort of need help. CSM asks if he wants him to kill the chess playing boy and Sir Prissy Pants gets all offended. Well, la dee da, your majesty but I believe your business with evil plans and conspiracies would expose you to the occasional killing and dead body. Suck it up, sir. Mascara God Father, who I believe ordered the hit on CSM in the first place, asks if they can count on him. CSM pauses before saying yes, then leaves them to seethe at his calm demeanor. He's bringing coolness back. Yeah.

Mulder and Scully are driving to their next mystery but they've got a third wheel. Mulder's little brunette agent, who you all know as Diana Fowley, is sitting in the back and Scully is chatting with her, asking about her years at the bureau and her experience. Mulder hides his awkwardness well, and he and Agent Fowley share a look or something via the car mirror. Hey, The Simpsons! Our favorite little bespectacled chess player, Gibson, is watching a familiar episode of The Simpsons. Mulder, Scully, and Fowley, enter the psychiatry room that Gibson is relaxing in. He's sitting awfully close to the TV set and with glasses like his, he'll be wearing Coke bottle specs in no time. Mulder introduces himself and his two partners by their first names. I'm not happy that Diana and Dana have similar sounding names. This is worse than when they gave Mulder's supposed "soul mate" the same name as Scully's sister in The Field Where Morgan and Wong Can Go Suck It. Hmm. My objectivity lasted longer than I thought it would. Gibson praises the longest running FOX Network cartoon, saying back in his old home in the Philippines, all he gets is Baywatch. Mulder doesn't see what's wrong with Baywatch and Gibson takes one look at Mulder and declares Mulder has a dirty mind. I love this kid. Scully tells the kid that his parents are coming to pick him up and he tells Mulder that he doesn't want to play chess. How did he know Mulder had an electronic chess playing game behind his back? Mulder tries to convince him to play but Gibson still refuses. Mulder turns off his TV and poses the rest of his theory. He knows that Gibson can read minds and that's how he beats all the chess champs. That kid ain't a prodigy but reading minds is just as impressive. He says he knows Mulder is thinking about one of the girls he brought and one of them is thinking about him. Then when Fowley wants some names, Gibson mind reads and says that Mulder doesn't want him to say. I didn't think it was possible but this is even more awkward that the Consortium bridge meeting. Mulder and Scully walk outside for some Believer vs. Skeptic arguing. He thinks they need to get protection for the mind reading kid who is being targeted by secret covert assassins and Scully thinks the kid was just kidding around, plus other cases they've had of mind readers turned out to be false so this one shouldn't be any different. Fowley joins in to take Mulder's side. For all the time's I've wished another FBI agent believed in Mulder... man am I kicking myself now. After Mulder leaves, Scully is a bit surprised that Fowley and Mulder know each other. The brunette says it was a long time ago then leaves.

Agent Spender is at the federal detention center that's housing the assassin who tried to kill Gibson. Mulder arrives to talk to the killer and Spender isn't keen on Mulder's involvement on his case. Mulder thinks Spender is arrogant and suspects he might be hiding something. Spender insults his Spooky theories and doesn't want them anywhere near his investigation. Mulder reminds him that he's also a top criminal profiler while Spender is a rookie who is way over his head. Looks like Mulder won that pissing contest. Mulder and Spender enter the killer's prison cell. Mulder asks him why he tried to kill the kid but the killer says he didn't kill a kid then complains that Spender hasn't given him food or water for 16 hours and Mulder takes the opportunity to send Spender on a food run. Spender is not happy but he goes. The killer still won't talk to Mulder but he tells him that he knows Gibson is a mind reader and his bosses wouldn't be too happy if that information got out. The killer is more ready to talk but needs to know what he'll be getting in return. Mulder thinks he can get him immunity or get him into the Witness Protection Program. Mulder leaves, telling him to think about the offer then takes the food that Spender was bringing to the cell. Well now Mulder is just trying to annoy Spencer. I don't know whose side to take in this little macho battle of wills.

Scully and Gibson are walking down the hall of a Psychiatric Hospital and she does her nice comfort routine. That reminds me of a time when her maternal instincts really shone; Emily, another episode I didn't get a chance to recap. Gibson does his mind reading thing as he says that Scully is wondering about Fowley and for what it's worth, Fowley is also wondering about Scully. Geez, what's worse: the competition between Mulder and Spender or the competition between Scully and Fowley? For me, it's a tough call. Like deciding which eye I'd rather pour lemon juice into. Scully and Fowley oversee some tests being done on Gibson where a bunch of doctors ask him to identify cards that they hide from his view and then get him to guess what they each had for breakfast. He guesses correctly every time. Fowley notes that she and Mulder had spent some time investigating clairvoyants back in the old days and Scully says she has to go. Fowley watches her make a hasty retreat. Jealous Scully is officially here.

The killer gets handed a note in his prison cell. It's scrawled on a cigarette wrapper and it reads: 'You’re a dead man.' Methinks he's ready to take the deal, Howie. Now we get ourselves a Lone Gunmen cameo. And they're wearing pajamas! How cute! Scully knocks on their door and Frohike unlocks, like, ten different locks before he opens the front door to let Scully inside. She needs them to examine brain scans of Gibson to determine if he really is a mind reader or of he's somehow faking. She doesn't sound as skeptical as she was before. They agree to help then Scully looks uncomfortable and nervous before she asks them what they know about Diana Fowley. They know her as Mulder's "good-looking chickadee" from his Academy days who helped him discover the X-Files, and they wonder why the two split up. The Lone Gunmen just fell several notches in my fave characters list. Skinner, Mrs. Scully and CSM are my new favorite trio! Scully plays like she doesn't care and asks the to check her scans. Oh, and the Lone Gunmen's pajamas make them look like idiots!

Gibson is watching some cartoon with the Silver Surfer while Fowley watches him from her observation room. Mulder joins her in the room and asks how the kid is doing. She tells him he's the real deal according to the testing they've done then she does some complimenting and reminiscing and I'm really trying to be non-judgmental here but when she starts talking about Scully and how she's not a good partner for him because she's not a believer like them, I just want to kick a trash can a few times. Go back to your terrorism squad, Fowley, and take your neatly pressed suit and badly botoxed skin back with you. Mulder tries to say he's been fine without her and she says she's on his side before taking his hand and displaying all the chemistry and sizzle of a wet noodle. Is she going to be in the next season premier or finale because I don't think I can stand the "sexual tension" a brewin' between these two. Here comes Scully who, poor dear, is clouded by jealousy and can't see how horribly 'blah' they look together. It's like the episode Fire where she caught Mulder kissing Phoebe but ten times worse. She leaves them to their 'whatever' and goes down to her car in the parking garage. She takes about a minute to compose herself and get that professional mask back on before she calls Mulder on her cell phone. When he asks where she is, she lies that she's on her way and says she has something to show him but she'd rather show it to him at work. He'll eet her at work and she hangs up and drives off. At that moment, another car pulls in. It's Spender who is meeting secretly with CSM. Spender doesn't know who CSM is exactly and CSM just says he's the one who got Spender on the big chess tournament case, then uses chess as a metaphor that confuses me as much as it does Spender. CSM encourages him to always look out for himself and disregard certain paranoid believers. Sees that CSM gets a kick out of the trite pissing matches. And of course the subject of their conversation walks into the parking lot and spots CSM. He runs toward them but CSM disappears in what I'll assume is a cool puff of smoke. Mulder asks Spender who he was talking t and when Spender says he doesn't know, Mulder accuses him of lying. Spender is all "What's your deal?" (seriously) and Mulder is all "I thought that dude dead, what gives?" (not so seriously). Face it Mulder, CSM is here to stay.

All the agents working on the Gibson case are in Skinner's office to explain their findings. Skeptical Scully starts first. She says that the tests she got on Gibson show peculiar activity in a specific part of the brain that they don't know much about. And when she says peculiar, she means "Dear God, this kid is like Einstein and Hawking combined!" Mulder says that without information from the killer he can only guess at Gibson's powers and who would want to hurt him but he feels it's safe to assume Gibson could be the key to unsolving all of lives greatest mysteries, including the X-Files. Kind of puts your own children/siblings to shame, huh? While Mulder and Scully sort of agree on Gibson being the key figure in their investigation of the paranormal, Fowley actually disagrees with their reasoning and says they're not going to get the killer off Scott-free just because it could answer all their questions about the X-Files. Then, just to stay on Mulder's good side, she says she's interested in the X-Files so of course all her protesting is just to protect Mulder's work. Right. Everyone who's lost a family member due to the X-Files work raise their hands. What's that? Just Mulder and Scully? Could it be because Scully *also* has a vested interested in the X-Files? Just because she's a skeptic does't mean she's any less dedicated to Mulder's work; their work. Go suck it with Morgan and Wong, Fowley. Skinner sends everyone outside except for Mulder. Give him a good dressing down, sir! Or just agree with Fowley. Why not. Everyone else is agreeing with her. For one brief shining moment Mulder is ready to band together with Scully and get the killer whatever he wants so they can get information on Gibson and unlock the mysteries of the X-Files. Somehow, I think they're not going to get all their questions answered in this episode.

Mulder and Spender visit the killer in his prison cell and he's not happy to hear the Attorney General hasn't granted his request for immunity. Mulder says they need more answers if he ever hopes to get out of that prison. The killer just says that the kid is a missing link and Mulder quickly understands but Spender is confused. Mulder leaves the cell and Spender follows, wanting to know what just happened. Mulder talks of unused genes and Super humans. Then Spender realizes he's talking about Gibson being part alien. Thanks for simplifying it, man. Mulder ignores Spender's protests and claims of disbelief and leaves. Meanwhile, CSM is exiting a building when a car pulls up with Krycek the Ratboy as the driver. How the hell... he only has one arm! BTW, did he get demoted or something when he decided to join the Consortium? And wasn't he almost killed a few episodes ago by the man he's driving? These men really need to look outside their circle for employees. Sir Prissy Pants, the other man with Chauffer Ratboy, thinks CSM failed his mission but CSM gives another chess analogy, saying it's all part of his strategy and he'll win soon. Sir Prissy Pants huff at the childishness and orders his Rat driver to take him once around the block. CSM looks even cooler by comparison. Evil but cool.

It's night time and we're at a hotel where Gibson is watching an episode of King of the Hill. The FOX network is really pushing the cartoon cross-promotion in this episode. Scully goes to sit closer to him and wants to ask him how he does his mind reading thing. Gibson says it's akin to hearing a radio, and sometimes he hears alot of different radios and stations but when he plays chess he gets quiet and peace. He also says that experience has taught him people are two-faced. They often say one thing but think another. He finds it amusing that people are so worried about what other people think of them and in turn those people worry what they think about them. He says he knows Scully doesn't care about what others think of her... except for Fowley. Argh! Why?! Scully does *not* need approval from this new agent who just sauntered into Mulder's life when Carter decided it'd be hilarious to really mess with the shippers! Fowley walks in to take over the Gibson-guarding shift. Before Scully leaves, Gibson tells her "they" want to kill him and Scully promises nobody will hurt him. He says that he knows that. Aww, Scully is so genuine. She's so much better than some believing brunette in so many ways!

The killer in his cell gets another note from the guard and it ain't his pen pal from the Desperate Daters Agency. He looks down at the cigarette wrapper but there's nothing written on it. When he looks up, the guard has a gun aimed at him and he fires. Checkmate, CSM. A while later in the hotel room with Gibson, we see Fowley sleeping on the job and lucky for her, Gibson wasn't kidnapped. Yet. He's by the window and he tells her that there's someone out there with a gun. She pulls him away from the window, telling him to get back. Gibson says the man isn't there to kill him, he's there for her. She barely gets out a "What?" before someone shoots through the window and plugs her right in the chest! Whoever that shooter is, he just made it on my faves list right above Skinner but below Mama Scully.

The cops and the ambulance are at the hotel the following morning to take away a body. Skinner is there and tells Mulder and Scully that a US Marshall was killed before Fowley was shot. So the body hauled away before was the US Marshall? Oh that's sad. And here comes Fowley, being wheeled onto the ambulance. Mulder takes her hand and I don't think I'll be eating noodles anytime soon. Bleh. Skinner says she's got a hole in her lung and her vital signs are low. Don't try and cheer me up, I'm still annoyed at Mulder. Scully asks about Gibson but Skinner shakes his head. Mulder asks about Spender and Skinner tells him about the dead prisoner before he shows him the cigarette wrapper (which I now realize is a Morley's wrapper).

Under the bridge of awkward meetings in daylight, CSM has got Gibson and they meet with Sir Prissy Pants and his Ratty whipping boy. Last Krycek cameo of season 5. Sir Prissy Pants assures Gibson that there's nothing to fear which is stupid to say to a kid who can read minds. We all know he's lying and CSM gets smug about how much they need him because Prissy is a Sissy when it comes to doing the necessary dirty work. CSM says his work is just beginning before leaving all cool-like and letting Sir Prissy Pants out the kid in the back seat of his car. Krycek the Rat offers to shoot ole' Smoky but Prissy is no fool. He knows they'll need CSM in the future. But they can still give him a nice scare as they drive away and nearly run him over. Fun.

Spender is giving a little briefing about the missing mind reading boy to some agents when Mulder rushes over to him, grabs him, shoves him against a wall, and shoves the Morley cigarette wrapper in his face. Mulder demands to know who he works for before answering his own question by saying he's in cahoots with CSM and he says Spender's days are numbered before leaving in a huff. The hell...? Spender tries to emulate his father's coolness by simply muttering that it is Mulder's days that are numbered. Especially after he files a sexual harassment suit against him. What? He shoved him and rubbed him; with the right lawyer, it could be legitimate.

The light is low in Mulder's apartment where Scully is making a call on his desk while he lounges on his couch. I'm too annoyed to make a sexual innuendo joke. She's talking to Skinner, the usual: they're in trouble and so are the X-Files. When she hangs up the first thing Mulder wants to know is how Fowley is doing. Second is what Skinner had to say. I'll assume you readers care more about the latter news. They're in danger of being reassigned and having the X-Files shut down. Again? Yes again. Mulder realizes it's all been pre-calculated by some twisted force who really likes games. Scully has pretty much given up saying the game man has won. I don't blame her. Meanwhile, CSM is in the X-Files basement office ready to make his final move. He takes Samantha's folder fro the X-Files cabinet then smokes his cigarette. A bit later, he has the X-Files folder with him and he spots Spender in the FBI hallway. Spender is surprised to see him and asks how he got inside the building but CSM just waves it saying he can help him then he tells Spender that he's his father. Gasp! Wait, I already knew that. Spender didn't, though. And CSM makes a hasty retreat when the alarms start blaring. Uh oh. Someone didn't stamp out their cigarette when they were done. The X-Files office is on fire! And this can't be blamed on Mulder and Scully's hotness (especially since they've been in there for years and we never saw physical sparks).

The firefighters get there a little too late. Mulder and Scully are at the building dressed in their pajamas or something. Skinner tries to get Mulder's attention but he's been ignoring common sense the whole episode so why stop now? He gets to the elevator which reveals more firefighters inside. He gets to the X-Files office and sees everything burnt up. His files, his desk, his poster, his photo of him and Scully! Oh God! Scully walks in slowly, looking stunned (and stunning) but not nearly as shell shocked as Mulder who just stands there looking at his life's work literally gone up in smoke. He doesn't even move when she wraps her arms around him and lays her head on his chest. We leave them to the charred remains and the flashing lights.

'This is the end, beautiful friend. / This is the end, my only friend, the end...'