ONE SON

For the first five seasons of the series, FBI federal agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have unravelled a conspiracy that involves the mysterious Syndicate, and their plans to aid in the alien colonization of Earth.^[4] The fifth season episodes "Patient X" and "The Red and the Black" reveal that, counter to the colonization effort, there is a faction of alien rebels opposed to colonization.^[5][6] In the previous episode, "Two Fathers", one of the rebels tried to infiltrate the Syndicate and form an alliance, only to be killed. Meanwhile, Mulder learned that The Smoking Man's (William B. Davis) ex-wife, Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), had successfully become an alien-human hybrid—a signal to the aliens for them to begin colonizing the planet.^[7]

Cassandra demands to be killed by Mulder but, before he can do anything, the group is quarantined by Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers). Mulder, Cassandra, and Scully are taken to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) facility at Fort Marlene, where Fowley tells the agents that Cassandra is carrying a contagious organism. Meanwhile, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) reports on Cassandra's escape to the Syndicate, noting that the alien rebels want Cassandra kept alive. However, the Syndicate decides to turn Cassandra over to the colonists and save themselves by commencing colonization.

At Fort Marlene, Mulder runs into the sickly looking Marita Covarrubias (Laurie Holden), who tells him that she was subjected to experiments by the Syndicate to create a black oil vaccine and that the colonists will begin colonization if they learn of Cassandra's existence as an alien-human hybrid. Scully, with help of the Lone Gunmen, looks into Fowley's personal history and informs Mulder that Fowley has been collecting data on alien abductees—MUFON—in Tunisia almost every week, although there is no trace of her activities in FBI records. Although Mulder still trusts Fowley, he goes to her apartment to confront her.

Inside the apartment, Mulder's search for clues is interrupted by the arrival of The Smoking Man, who tells Mulder that he has been betrayed by Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens), who is actually his son. The Smoking Man tells Mulder that, many years ago, the Syndicate agreed by majority vote, against Bill Mulder's objections, to align themselves with the alien colonists to be spared during colonization. The Syndicate was forced to give up family members to the colonists as collateral so that an alien fetus could be given to the Syndicate in order for them to gain access to alien DNA, to make the human-alien hybrid possible. Since Bill Mulder was slow to agree, Samantha Mulder was not taken until after the others. Using the alien fetus, the Syndicate worked on creating alien-human hybrids who could survive the colonization. The Smoking Man then tells Mulder that the colonization will begin once Cassandra is handed over and that Mulder will be able to see his sister again, providing him with an address to the hangar where the Syndicate members will be meeting the colonists.

Spender goes to the Syndicate's headquarters, only to find Krycek, who tells him that the group's members—with the exception of The Smoking Man, who has gone to retrieve Cassandra—are preparing to give Cassandra to the aliens. Fowley returns to her apartment, where she finds Mulder. Fowley heads to the hangar at El Rico Air Force Base, whereas Scully picked up Mulder, and the two try but fail to stop the train car transporting Cassandra to El Rico. Spender arrives at Fort Marlene, where he runs into Marita; she tells him to go to El Rico Air Force Base to find his mother.

A Syndicate surgeon attempting to procure the alien fetus is killed by one of the alien rebels, who assumes his form. Krycek finds the dead surgeon and the fetus missing, and tells Spender that the rebels are now going to succeed in their goals to halt colonization. The Syndicate and its families gather at El Rico Air Force Base. Shortly after Fowley arrives, a white light appears around one end of the hangar. It is revealed to be the rebels, who surround and immolate the entire Syndicate—except for The Smoking Man and Fowley—who escape by car.

The next day, Mulder, Scully, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) and Spender report to Assistant Director Alvin Kersh (James Pickens, Jr.) on the deaths of the Syndicate and Cassandra. Spender tells Kersh that Mulder and Scully could have prevented their demise, and recommends that they be reassigned to the X-Files before abruptly leaving the room. Heading to the X-Files office in the basement, Spender finds The Smoking Man, who first berates Spender for not being like Mulder and then shoots him in the head.^[3]

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