The X-Files
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This, written and directed byX-Filesveteran Glen Morgan, isnt exactly that.
Its even an episode that recallsBlack Mirrorin the way it examines virtual consciousness and technological control of identity.
In a sense, This brings at least one of them back to life.
If I am, they know that I know.
Is he really still alive?
What could he possibly be talking about?
Before they can figure out whats going on, assassins burst through the door and a shoot-out ensues.
Mulder and Scully may have been quasi-retired for years, but they still have wicked fighting skills.
They take out two of em, but a third, grey-haired baddie escapes.
And then their backup arrives.
(Cue those looking for a Trump-era analogy.)
Its interesting to see the lack of trust between Mulder/Scully and Skinner after the events oflast weeks episode.
Skinner tries to help them, giving cash and a hint about Langly being buried at Arlington.
Its time to solve a Lone Gunmen puzzle!
Scully and Mulder get to Arlington and find their tombstones, but theyre not quite right.
The birth and death dates are off and Langlys is even facing in the wrong direction.
After solving a questionably convoluted puzzle, they come upon the tombstone of … and they find a chip with a QR code in his tombstone.
And then theyre attacked again!
This episode is really just an alternating succession of dialogue and fight scenes, but it somehow still works.
Its the home of an NSA program called Titanpointe and a project code named Blarney.
Thats the point of them.
That could be a fan complaining about the season premiere on a message board.
The answer is sorta.
Hamby explains that the message was sent from what is basically a virtual simulation of Langly.
Thats when the bad guy finds them again!
How does he keep doing that?
Maybe thisisa simulation?Is Elon Musk right?
!This time, the guy is really shot.
Ultimately, they find a way to communicate with Langly, who poignantly conveys the horror of virtual heaven.
He eats hot dogs and doughnuts all day.
The Ramones play every night and never fight.
The New England Patriots always lose.
But its just too perfect.
Mulder and Scully need to shut it down.
The episode climaxes in the Long Lines Building.
Price advises Mulder to change the way he looks at the world.
This is the technological evolution of mankind.
Maybe you really cant fight evolution, even a technological one.
Let the GIF-ing begin!
Its hard to overstate how groundbreaking the death of Deep Throat in The Erlenmeyer Flask felt for fans.
It helped define the tone of the series by revealing the stakes and upping the danger.
Key characters could die.
Naturally, the tombstones in Arlington contained some Easter eggs.
The final one, George Donald Rivers, is the toughest to uncover.
Given the plot of this episode, I think it could.
I want to believe.
