TheX-Filesseason finale was mesmerizingly insane.

People exploded, every bullet wound was a headshot, half the main characters died.

Agent Mulder killed everybody, and drove everywhere.

The dialogue rang like a tin cowbell.

Have you seen the internet?

asked the FBIs Deputy Director.

I shot my secondborn son once, said the Smoking Man.

The Smoking Man promised a global contagion in act one.

But then there was never a global contagion, a flagrant violation of Chekhovs Rule of Global Contagions.

There was also a giant sharkbat, but that was just an illusion, I think?

And Skinner fought a car; the car won.

My Struggle IV was not a good episode of television.

It sure was wild, though.

Creator Chris Carter has left a curious legacy for himself in this revival.

He writer-directed the premieres and the finales, a serialized My Struggle subseries.

The first three were increasingly terrible, full of bad speeches that sounded like Deep State subreddits.

My Struggle IV was something else.

It could be the end ofThe X-Files.

It is roughly as bad as the lastX-Filesseries finale, but it is powers of 10 more entertaining.

The actors looked dispirited.

I got the sense David Duchovny was speaking under duress.

I had some payback to…pay back, he told Scully after killing a squad of paramilitary types.

Gillian Anderson was lucky, maybe.

Scully had nothing to do, which meant she didnt do anything embarrassing.

You felt Scullys role was reduced somehow, that she was sometimes just there to worry about William.

In My Struggle IV, Scully and Mulder hear that their son is in danger.

Mulder springs into action, and Scully…waits patiently by the phone.

Later in the episode, Scullyfinallylearns about her impregnation exceptwe didnt even really see that scene.

The finale ended onanothertwist about her womb, but I dont want to make this a whole Scully tirade.

The conspiracists who were hunting for William found him and William blew them all up.

Remember when Barbara Hershey was introduced as a scary new malevolent figure?

Her head gotDead Ringerd, pop, squoosh!

Ive never seen so many intestines.

You had to admit, Carter was makingchoiceswith this finale.

Some of the stylistic decisions were positively surreal.

The Smoking Man got out of the crashed car, and looked down at Skinners feet.

Thus endeth the Saga of Skinner, gaze upon his shoes ye mighty and despair.

Are we all dead?

Throughout the episode, there was a teasing flashforward to a final showdown: The Smoking Man shooting Mulder.

Since it was already established that William could imitate anyone, you figured out the twist gigamiles away.

This episode revealed that there is a Bad Narration genome shared by the Smoking Man and his sons.

The possibility that William was, essentially, a superpowered sociopath was fascinating: Washethe seasons true villain?

Who cares: I wish theyd never brought him back from season 9, truly.

And so I was happy when William/Fake Mulder died.

Shadenfreude works on me: Shoot him in the face, pow!

Of course, hes not dead.

And its possible that the last shot ever onTheX-Fileswill be William rising out of the water.

(Bullets are no match for alien science.)

Unbothered by a Hole in the Head: I cant think of a better description of this season.

It could be silly, it could be stupid, it could be profound.

The design of the original series always allowed for wild clashing tones, but now the clashes felt reality-bursting.

But someone sang The Morning After during a cannibal montage, and that was fun.

I dont really thinkThe X-Filesis over.

Anderson has said shes finished with the show, buteveryonewas finished 16 years ago.

(Sort of likeReady Player Oneexcept depressing on purpose.

)In a wide-ranging interview with my colleague James Hibberd, Carter himself sounds confident theres anX-Filesfuture.

But if this is an ending, what kind of ending was it?

And there was something cathartic in the climactic weirdness.

Mulder fired his gun at his evil father, over and over and over.

When the Smoking Man died in The Truth, there was a big speech and bigger explosion.

If those are the only options, Ill pick B.

And then Scully said she was pregnant, and Mulder said Its impossible, and Scully said Itsmorethan impossible.

There was something poetic in the mad science here.

Then Mulder killed his father and, a minute later, found outhewas going to be a father.

This is hysterical family melodrama,Days of Our Livesgone Full Oedipus.

I didnt spot any truth, but Im glad this finale went all the way Out There.

Season Grade: B-

Finale Grade: Z+