Veiled Vesta

I loved the Wall-E/X-Files comparison about two pages back! So adorable. I'm planning on watching that movie this weekend.

Funny Ju should mention Doggett and Scully. I think I'm going to look for a video of theirs on Youtube. After posting my thoughts on the other MSR thread regarding The Worst Fowley moment EVER I want to see how Scully and Doggett look together. *cue evil laughter*

But I still have to deal with Fowley in this recap because of my stupid promise to recap every season premier and season finale whether it gets chosen or not. Would you all think less of me if I didn't do it? Okay, okay, a warm-up before I start posting the good episode recaps sometime tomorrow. (I might check out that trailer when I have time tomorrow. Sounds cool!)

The Beginning

**(Post-Movie Season Premier Notes: How the hell does Carter have the stones to follow up the spectacular ship-fest of a movie with THIS!? Freakin' Fowley, Super-Skeptic Scully, and Make-Up-Your-Mind-Already-About-Your-Feelings-For-Your-Partner Mulder. I'm getting a huge headache from my annoying alliteration.)**

We're in the desert where a bunch of technology guys are carpooling and all around being immature. They're in a Roush Technologies van (OH! That name is familiar! Wasn't it mentioned in season 5's Redux II? Very sneaky, Chris.) One of the workers had to "take a leak" on the side of the road (better than in an alley by an 'Independence Day' movie poster) and another co-worker is annoying him about it. The guy who had to make the potty break pit stop gives him the one finger salute, I think. It's off camera so we're left to fill in the blanks and the co-worker just insults him back mentioning his mother. This brings me back to the ole' high school days... anyway, the carpool van pulls up in front of a house and lets out a shivering man named Sandy. Getting saddled with the name Sandy is the least of his worries right now as he seems to be so cold he cranks his home thermostat up to 11 and sits down. He looks really sick and when he lifts his hand he can sort of see right through it. Not because he's a ghost or something, but because it's all jelly-like and gooey. Those who watched the movie may be realizing some similarities. The next morning, the carpool van arrives to pick up Sandy, much like a school bus would. When he doesn't come out, the insulting man from before gets out and calls for Sandy. There's no response. He finds the inside the house is sweltering and spots Sandy from the back, sitting on the couch. He walks over and we see a huge bloody hole in Sandy's chest. He's also not alone in there. The guy gets attacked by something alien and yells for help. He tries to reach for the door but it's too late. He's harassed his last co-worker as he gets slashed up by what I'm guessing is the aliens from the movie. I guess they didn't all get trapped in the mother ship. Man. That's gotta be a poopy day.

Opening Credits! There's a couple of songs with the words 'the beginning' in the title and this time I'm not sure what song to pick. Readers choice as we take a look at The End Is the Beginning Is the End by The Smashing Pumpkins, In The Beginning by The Stills, and The Beginning by Lifehouse. Umm, there's also a song I'm fond of from an animated movie (Anastasia) that I may as well add: At The Beginning. *Fun fact*: Anastasia is not a Disney movie but a FOX Animation Studios movie. Hmm... I guess that makes this overly romantic song more appropriate than any other song.

If you don't remember, the basement X-Files office and most, if not all, the files inside burned down last season. I say this because a little burn damage (okay, alot of burn damage) won't stop Mulder from his ongoing quest for the truth. He's using some kind of machine and imaging software to painstakingly read what's under all the charred files he managed to salvage. Later on he explains what he's been doing to an FBI panel in a conference room. He's pleased that by doing this long tedious process, he'll be able to restore many of the burnt files and soon it'll be back to normal with him and Scully investigating the X-Files. Convenient. Scully joins him soon enough and we learn that the FBI panel has been reading over their report from their movie misadventures. Ah yes, evil bees, corn crop conspiracies, and space ships in Antarctica. That was a fun couple of summer weeks! As you would imagine, none of the FBI officials believe Mulder's story. At all. They compare it to 'Men In Black'. Better than being compared to 'Independence Day', I suppose. Mulder is damned sure in his report saying he has proof, yes proof! He turns to his beloved partner, his one and only scientifically unbiased witness, for back-up and... oh damn, I don't like that look. Skeptical Scully is back full force. Poor Mulder. Poor, optimistic, foolish Mulder. Looks like his proof is gone like that space ship in the snow, the lovely shippy feelings of the movie, and apparently his dignity. Once out of that meeting we can plainly see he is not happy with Scully but she tries to defend herself, saying she didn't really see anything out there and when she ran the tests on the virus she was exposed to, she found out they were not actually extraterrestrial. Mulder insists that he saw what the virus did. The insane, extraterrestrial things it did. Scully has nothing more to say except to stick with her scientific findings that could've been secretly switched/altered by Syndicate members, Scully. Can you tell I'm annoyed and disappointed in her? Well, not as much as Mulder is at the moment but I'm close.

An evil Syndicate meeting is taking place in NYC (the Big Apple is so bad-ass). CSM is also doing some light retread of the movie plot as he shows his evil cohorts slides of the dead man from the pre-credits. Did CSM steal Mulder's projector before torching his office? Once the media got wind of the story, CSM blamed the killing on Native Americans like the evil jerk that he is and says the man killed was one of their workers who may have been accidentally exposed to the alien virus which then incubated inside him and hatched. The alien is currently on the loose and really ornery. CSM is ready to go alien hunting and he don't need a smart-aleck partner or flashy memory eraser thingys. He's just that cool and evil.

When Mulder gets mad at Scully, he turns to his beloved X-Files to help ease his mind. It's a bit tough when the files all have to be read through super technologically advanced light. Skinner stops by to offer advice: make up with your little partner, Mulder. Don't forget the good times you had in the summer (blockbuster). I'm ready to bust into Travolta and Newton John's Summer Lovin'. I can't believe we never got a musical in the X-Files. Then again, with Monotone Mulder and Sour-Note Scully as the leads maybe it was for the best. Skinner tells Mulder that his request to be assigned to the X-Files was denied. Mulder does not take the news well. Skinner has to admit that they all voted against Mulder and Scully being assigned on the X-Files. Skinner has Mulder's best interests at heart, I'm sure. Even so, Skinner finally suggests that Mulder get solid proof of the virus and it's alien properties, then he could possibly help him get back on the X-Files, in fact Skinner left him a folder in the old basement office to get him started. Very nice, Skinner. Mulder heads down to see that his old basement office is not the charred cluttered mess of seasons past. It's nicely painted, new simple furniture, a plant or two. Wow. It looks so different. Mulder takes the folder he was looking for, and of course it's the case of the dead guy from the pre-credits. Agent Spender walks in and pretty much asks what Mulder is doing there. Mulder wants to know why Spender is in his office, and Spender is all 'Your office? Oh please.' Mulder realizes Spender is the one who'll be working on the X-Files now and he gets pissed off, thinking he's stealing his precious X-Files baby from him through brown nosing. Spender could care less about Mulder's work and he's about as happy to be assigned to that detail as Mulder is. The pre-requisite for being on the X-Files now seems to be a male-female team and Mulder is surprised to see Agent Fowley enter the office. Looks like someone recovered nicely from last season. (Damn) She and Spender are the new X-Files team and Mulder comments her stabbing him in the back before getting the hell out of there. Oh snap.

CSM is in one of the evil secret covert government hospitals where an important operation is taking place. 'No Smoking' signs won't stop him from huffing and puffing in the OR and he tells the doctors currently performing surgery that he needs the patient bandaged up and ready for a trip. A trip with CSM or suffering through more secret covert government surgery. That's a bit of a tough call. One of the doctors warns against this impromptu trip as it could cause their patient to, um, die. They want to avoid that. We see that the patient who's being operated on, going through a horrible brain surgery of some kind, is Gibson! The little mind reader from last season finale! And so we have our first sign of characters from last season appearing in this season. I don't count Spender or Fowley because quite frankly that's just disappointing. Glad I didn't send our little season 5 shooter a muffin basket like I was planning to. Oh, and poor little Gibson. Glad to see he's alive though.

Mulder and Scully seem to have patched things up as they're now at the home of Sandy, alien incubator and worker for Roush. Scully is hesitant about disturbing the crime scene without permission from local PD but realizes she's wasting her breath. Since when does Mulder follow sensible advice? They find long deep scratches in a wall which was supposedly done by an angry Native American but we all now it was done by an angry alien. I can see how CSM would use that as his cover, 'cuz I totally confuse the two all the time. Yeah. Mulder finds a nail in the deep scratches but it looks more like a piece of a claw. You know those Natives are well known for their weird looking nails. Mulder reads the file on the case, noting that the two victims found dead were killed hours apart and he immediately comes to the conclusion that the alien virus in Sandy burst out of it's host then celebrated it's first few hours of life by killing the carpool man who came in to find him. How does he do that? Scully is not persuaded and wonders what could gestate so quickly (within 12 hours) and then attack a full grown man after being born. Outside, CSM and a bandaged up Gibson pull up near the house. Looks like Gibson's powers allow him to sense aliens. He tells CSM that it was there but it's gone now, and then acknowledges that CSM is afraid of him for what he knows but he also won't hesitate to kill the kid if he doesn't find the alien. He's like a mini-psychologist that you wanna pinch his cheeks. CSM orders his driver to drive them away, continuing their search for the creature. Mulder and Scully, unaware of what just happened a few yards away, walk out of the house feeling their old argument creep back up again. It's Believer vs. Skeptic, Round 118: Go! Mulder comes out swinging, asking what the hell it's gonna take for Scully to finally believe and mentions what happened in Antarctica, how she would've seen the creatures had she not been unconscious throughout much of the UFO rescue scene. And even if she did see, you know she'd somehow rationalize it all away. Scully counters back as she tells him she can't change who she is, mentioning one his lines from The Shippy Hallway scene and grabbing his hand in a highly unprecedented but potentially effective move! The crowd goes wild, particularly the shippers. Mulder stuns everyone when he escapes her emotional grasp unmoved, stating that her science is wrong. And she's down for the count! Mulder wins this round, ladies but the battle goes on and we can take solace that it's a temporary set back.

We're in a Nuclear Power Plant where an employee is sleeping on the job. His name is Homer. Oh come on, does he have a wife named Marge and three children named Bart. Lisa, and Maggie? The Power Plant boss who wakes him up tells him to check out the core reactor which seems to be a bit off. Homer does so and when he gets down to a large boiler room type of place, he hears a weird sounds. He turns to see something clawing behind some pipes. No, you idiot don't get closer, call for help! He's so dead. The hand or claw or whatever grabs him and won't let go. Ay Carumba! The next morning we have a bunch of squad cars at the Power Plant, and Mulder and Scully join the crime scene in a rental car, I believe. Spender stops them before they reach the yellow crime scene tape. He wants them to leave since they're not authorized to be on that case. Mulder and Scully try to get info on what happened but Spender is dead set on telling their superiors about their insubordination. Don't get your poodle hair in a tangle, Spender, they just want to help. When Mulder sees Fowley in the crowd of cops and FBI people, he tries to sweet talk her into letting them inside. Looks like Mulder's charm and looks aren't going to help while Fowley is on the case. She's just as tight-lipped and hostile as Spender. Those two are actually quite suited for each other. Wait a sec... Fow-ley, Scu-lly... Spen-der, Mul-der. The similar sounds in the ending of their names is something worth thinking about. Well, to me anyway. Maybe I can use that to distract myself later when Mulder decides to trust Fowley after all, despite her stabbing him in the back and refusing to help him just now. So anyway, Scully hauls Mulder away from the crime scene since they're not going to get access anytime soon and that's when they find an unconscious Gibson in the back seat of their car. Looks like their day isn't a total bust.

Later on at night, we see that Mulder and Scully have taken poor little Gibson to a motel where they can check him out more closely. Aww, worried parentage vibes coming from them. Gibson is awake as she takes off his head bandages and he does his mind reading thing where he tells us that Scully thinks the poor kid has been Frakenstein'd and Mulder thinks the doctors who did that to him were butchers. He explains that he snuck into their car when his captors weren't looking and he also senses the skeptical vibes from Scully when he says he was out there because he can communicate with the alien. Gibson should use his intuitive know-how to patch things up between our couple. If he did, I'd love him forever. Mulder and Scully whisper off to the side about what to do with the kid: Mulder wants to use him to find the alien but Scully thinks he should be in a hospital. So neither of them will take my suggestion of getting him to play partner psychologist? Fine. Scully thinks that the boy could be the scientific proof Mulder's been looking for and once again they've avoided another little tiff. That's the power of Gibson, among many other cool powers. Just as Mulder finishes loading Gibson into the car, they get confronted by an some loud obnoxious thing with flashy head beams. And her car. It's Fowley and she wants to speak with Mulder. He is initially distrustful as he asks what she wants and why she's there. She reminds him that she's on his side and they found the X-Files together and she didn't mean to be all bitchy back there but she's ready to show him what's at the Nuclear Power Plant and it better be good because Mulder tells Scully go ahead and take Gibson to the hospital while he and Fowley go alien hunting. She does so while Mulder and Fowley bond over shared beliefs about the alien. See, this is what happens when Mulder and Scully have a major argument. Where's a collar loving bee when you need one?

Scully is by Gibson's side as he gets wheeled into the hospital. He's not happy that they're going to run more tests on him but Scully assures him that they need to do that so he can get better. He tells him that she may mean well but she also wants to know what they can learn about him and I'd say shame on Scully but who are we kidding, we'd all like to find out what makes this boy tick. Is he really a crazy genius, part alien, or something else entirely? We're over in the nuclear power plant. (Just want to say that it's going to get quite annoying recapping Mulder and Fowley's adventures. That should be Scully there beside him. Or he should just be by himself. No need to have a suspiciously self-serving brunette there). They're in the boiler room area where Homer was attacked. It's very hot down there and very darkly lit for, I guess energy reasons or something. They find a weird blob of some kind of goo near where Homer was killed and Mulder gets startled by his cell phone ringing. It's Scully. She found evidence of the Antarctic virus in Gibson's blood system but is not sure what it means exactly. Some kind of link for sure but Mulder wants her to care of Gibson while he encounters his own major alien discoveries. In the hospital, CSM's driver is making a little visit. Oh shoot. Scully, who really shouldn't have left him alone for however long it takes to kidnap a mind reading boy in plain view, walks over to Gibson's room to find it empty. She quickly gets agitated as she asks around for his whereabouts but gets no helpful answer. CSM's driver has managed to get the kid inside an ambulance and he's heading to a very familiar crime scene. At least he can run red lights inside that thing, plus it makes that oddly interesting screeching siren sound that gets irritating after about five minutes. Kind of like Fowley. Heh.

Speaking of, Fowley and Mulder are finally joined by CSM's driver and Gibson. They follow the kid and his kidnapper who are on top of some stairs and Gibson tells the driver that the alien is in the Power Plant. They walk down some stairs nearing this large warm pool of water that's lit in this cool blue glow. Mulder is behind a door near them but it's locked so he starts pounding away, demanding the driver open the door. He should've given the door a mighty Mulder kick like he usually does. Fowley leaves him to continue banging on the door and shout angrily while Gibson and the driver face the alien creature. The alien attacks the driver and pretty much sprays blood all over the place. Now it's got it's sights set on little Gibson and Mulder is hollering all the more, trying to get in there to save the kid. Gibson doesn't get attacked like the driver did but Mulder won't get a chance to find out what exactly will become of the mind reading kid because at that moment the alarm in the Power Plant goes off and Fowley returns with security guards. Backstabber, hope grabber, greedy little fit-haver!

So because of Spender's complaint, Mulder and Scully lose their ally of a boss, AD Skinner and are now under the direct order of AD Kersh, who I'm pretty sure likes to throw darts at E.T cardboard cut outs and make tall dark-haired and short red-haired voodoo dolls in his spare time. Fun time is officially over, Mulder. Meanwhile, down in the basement office, Spender is arguing with his daddy about not being seen with him. Dads always have a knack for embarrassing their kids. Except when the dad is cool and calm assassin while his son is a poodle-haired whiny boy. CSM hopes his son can learn a thing or two about breaking a man's spirit before killing him because that's way more fun. Seriously he pretty much says that.

Mulder is back to his burnt files trying to find out if that one word says "spooky" or "kooky". He gets surprised when the door opens but when he sees it's Scully he goes right back to work, totally fine with her seeing him blatantly disregarding what they told him about working on the X-Files. Meaning they told him NOT to be within ten feet of an X-Files and he mentally laughed in their face before quickly going back to his X-Files baby. Nice to see some things don't change with this guy. Scully mentions Fowley's reports on the Power Plant incident, doing a horrible job of keeping the jealousy and contempt out of her voice. Many years working with Spooky and her pro facade is wearing thin. Scully tells him that Fowley's report pretty much protects everything and everyone except for Mulder. Too bad Mulder is still upset at her for not believing in him, and he insists that Fowley's report is protecting his X-Files plus she isn't running around claiming the alien doesn't exist just because science told her so. Ouch. No hitting below the belt, Mulder. Scully tries to say she's willing to believe and it all comes down to trust, and wants him to trust her and her judgment. Oh, she's got some good emotional jabs herself. Scully gives him a folder but Mulder doesn't want anymore science that contradicts his alien beliefs. She tells him that she matched the DNA from the claw in the house to the DNA found in the alien virus, plus it matches the DNA in Gibson. Mulder thinks that's the connection they've been looking for. You want a real connection, Mulder? Hold on to your Fowley lovein' tie, Spooky because Scully found that it's part of Gibson's DNA and in fact part of everyone's DNA so basically we're all somewhat part extraterrestrial. Bam!

Last scene is back at the Power Plant where Gibson is watching the alien creature inside the blue glowy pool. It's morphing into presumably it's last stage. Oh wow! Apparently the evil little animal aliens are the beginning stage of the not-nearly-as-aggressive big headed, big eyed grey aliens we are all so familiar with. Gotta hand it to Carter on this one. Didn't see that coming. Although I could've done without all the scenes that were pretty much the opposite of the movie. It's like he's trying to bring balance to the non-shippy world with this season premier. Luckily later on we get some real gems in terms of Mulder/Scully interaction including the first M/S (alternate WWII reality) lip lock and our favorite duo going undercover as a married couple! I feel much better.