UNCUT - The X-Files S2E17 - End Game

The guest actor is great in another big Sci-Fi franchise you may end up watching one day too. A lot of actors from that appear in X-Files actually. Love this episode. Skinner is such a bad ass. Excellent acting from both main stars as usual.

(Next time TA watches a big plot focused DS9 ep) Patrons "how was the episode?" Alex "Wonderful, I've never slept better." Glad to see the 2 parter was a hit in the end. This was always one of the more memorable pair of eps for me. It really breaks open the mythology and shows us a lot of what was previously only suspected. Skinner is that kind of character that most of the time acts like someone you'd expect to end up being a Badmiral on Trek. But once in a while he steps up and has such a massive W that it excuses all the other times he's a hard ass. Give us 1 or 2 of those a season, and he can be as much of an overbearing boss as he likes. Sucks for Mulder to not find his sister, really sucks for his parents. But you're right, it's too soon for it. Arguably the show already kind of blew it's load with how much was revealed here, but they put it to good use making a fantastic 2 parter. Having lived through dozens of Canadian winters, I could just tell that set wasn't that cold though. I appreciate they trucked in a bunch of snow and ice, but I don't know if it's the fact we're not seeing Mulder's breath much, or that the snow isn't making that squeaky, broken glass crunch that tells you it's COLD cold. Still, it looked great.

Nothing else to add to the discussion, all I can say is I love X-files and loved how much you guys love it!

Thanks so much on the Lego news. And appreciate the parallels with the great flood.

Fantastic two-parter...I love the alien mythos episodes.

Poor Mulder, so close to finding Samantha.

I have to pinch myself, I still can't believe you guys are watching my favorite show ever. Some more great comments and discussion. So many good things to come. Is there any chance we can get some Rob Bowman style lighting on the set of TA? Shadow-off Josh like he is an informant, wrapped in anonymity. LOL.

Four things I remembered about this episode (even though I couldn't remember which episode or even season it was in): the bounty hunter, multiple Samanthas, the cool submarine in the ice set, and Skinner kicking Mr. X's ass. Those things stuck with me over the years.

Here is some 100% spoiler-free trivia about this two-parter... - An "alien bounty hunter" was actually David Duchovny's idea. - Frank Spotnitz said he received significant help from Chris Carter when writing "End Game". - One hundred and forty tons of snow and ice were trucked into a soundstage to create the submarine scene, and it had to be refrigerated for five days. Some of the interior shots on the icebreaker were filmed aboard HMCS Mackenzie, a decommissioned Canadian Armed Forces destroyer. - Mulder's father was only mentioned in season one, episode "Roland", and first revealed in this two-parter. - That grunt which Scully utters when thrown onto the table by Fake!Mulder was literally insisted on by "Standards and Practices", to apparently make it clear to viewers that she's still alive. - Rob Bowman was not satisfied with the first take of "Skinner versus X", so the two actors decided to do the stunt for real. Mitch Pileggi and Steven Williams decided to do the stunt for real, and Pileggi who plays Skinner did it with so much strength that it broke the back of the elevator scenery. Steven Williams has a background in fight choreography. - The alien stiletto was not made as a real weapon, but functions through a pneumatic hose hidden inside Brian Thompson's sleeve. And the sound you hear when the spike pops out is a recorded sound of producer Paul Rabwin saying "pfft!" into the microphone. This was because Chris Carter was not satisfied with various sound effects they tried to create for this alien weapon.

The silhouette of the submarine at the end is the image I associate with this season as it features heavily on my boxset. Love that you've got the lego set. I've asked for it to be placed on my Christmas list - fingers crossed. I think this is the episode which made me like Skinner and saw him as a good guy rather than just a bureaucrat. He'd shown signs of being a potential ally previously but he really steps up here. And, what a classic line: "Unofficial channels". Love it. Good to see you really enjoyed this episode and the two-parter overall. Works really well as a 90 minute story and I always look forward to these two on a rewatch. Right up there challenging for my favourite episodes of the season.

Brian Thompson's jawline has abs!

I'm very glad your worries after seeing part one didn't come true. :D Many thanks for such a thorough analysis of this awesome "mini-movie". Both the reactions throughout the episode as well as the commentary afterwards were all very enjoyable. Pretty sure that after this ending, you can appreciate the first part much more now. And thank you for reading my take (name was pronounced correctly, too)! I'm pretty sure patrons will love the fact that you released this several days earlier before it was intended. I certainly did. Now, there are many interesting things that can be said about this two-parter, but it's crucial to keep it spoiler-free. I might post another comment with some interesting (spoiler-free) trivia in the next days. In any case, keep up the good work... and stay safe.

I finished building my lego sets! It looks so great and so much detail

It was Spotnitz's idea to bring back Mulder's sister in the first place, and he received a fair amount of help from Chris Carter for writing this episode, even though Carter took no credit.

Mulder rolling away from the submarine is me rolling out of bed every morning. "Munnnnnnh." And you were not kidding about Rob Bowman and smoke. What a master. Everything with the submarine in the ice field could have looked so terrible and it looked SO good.

Pleasant early surprise! Let's hit play.