Halfway through the season, and we finally meet William. And he’s got a very groovy power! I was sure they would drag that out until the very end, so Yay for moving things right along.

The episode opens on the same ferry they used this season on Supernatural, so it all feels a little familiar to me, which is weird.

Anyway! It’s night, and there are two young women roaming about the place, each one looking for Ghouli, a new urban legend monster. When they finally come face to face, they each see the other as the monster, and end up stabbing each other pretty brutally.

The tagline: You See What I Want You To See. Turns out this is William’s power, and he uses it to great effect throughout the episode.

Scully is having another vision of sorts, and it has led her to the ferry from the opening, a ferry called the Chimera. Oooooooo.

Once the women wake up in the hospital, Mulder and Scully interview them separately, and we find out that not only did they have the same waking dream that Scully had, but that they also have the same boyfriend, Jackson Vandercamp.

Jackson is William, and I will be calling him as such for the rest of this, to keep it from getting unnecessarily complicated.

“I think you’re trying to find answers to questions nobody else is asking.” <— How many times has Mulder heard someone say this to him? A bunch of times, I am sure. But Mulder has reason to question what happened at the house that seems to contain two murders and a suicide, and also happens to be the same freakin’ house in Scully’s vision. The house where William and his adoptive parents live, or lived, and the house where Scully realizes that this kid with a hole in his brain is most likely her son.

Mulder confronts the men who have been following them since they got to town. He is not having any of their DOD/DOJ crap, and they are not having any of his. Mulder is particularly snarky and protective this episode. I like it.

Scully goes to the hospital to see the body, and she takes a cheek swab from herself, and then a hair sample from the corpse. She then sits down and talks to the body as though he is William. She voices, possibly for the first time, the guilt she has about giving up her son, and the regret that giving him away may not have been as protective as she had intended. It is utterly heartbreaking.

And then Scully turns and sees that Mulder has been listening. Not the whole thing, but enough, and he is sure that Scully is sure that this is their son. He takes the samples to the lab after comforting a grieving Scully. Dammit, they are so sweet together. GAH!

This is where I thought to myself, is Mulder gonna toss in his DNA as well? After going back and forth, and after what he says to Skinner later in the episode, my answer is no, he did not. We shall see if I am right.

Scully has another vision while napping on a hospital bench, where she finds another snow globe, this time it’s a windmill one, just like the one she stole from William’s room. When she is awoken by the coroner, and is accused of hiding the body, she heads back to the room, where Mulder meets her with “bad news”.

But the news isn’t bad, because their previously dead son is gone, and it looks like he crawled out of a bathroom window!

Scully heads out of the hospital, and bumps into Marvin Candle from Lost, and he drops his first pearl: “Don’t give up on the bigger picture.”

Scully sees this man over and over, and finally really talks to him at the gas station with the windmill, just like the one in the snow globe! He says the following: “You seem like a nice person. I wish I could have gotten to know you better.” and then drops the Malcolm X quote that convinces Mulder that it was William, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

This kid is dropping warnings all over the place! Yet none of them seem to really register with Mom and Dad. I suppose they will figure into some later episode.

But before all of that, our favorite duo heads back to William’s house, and find a hidden file on a hidden computer, that has a DOD file called Crossroads. And when Skinner calls, “Mulder, how is it possible the only updates I’ve received about what you’re doing come through complaints by other agencies in the government?” (heeheeheee), Mulder insists they meet, as the Cigarette Smoking Man lights a smoke in Skinner’s office. Dammit, Skinner!

Skinner tells Mulder of the secret Crossroads program where the government made human-alien hybrids, and how Scully was experimented on. This is another confirmation of what we already suspected, right? It seems to be new info to Mulder? And then Mulder is all, read the file, thanks, BT-dubs, William is one of these hybrids. Skinner seems totally surprized when he hears this info, but is he?

I don’t think he is.

This is the scene where I decided that Mulder still thinks William is his. Am I right? IDK!! I’m not really sure of anything at this point, except that the guy at the coffee shop is sure Mulder’s first name is Bob. (Hee)

So, now that William is sure Scully is his birth mother, and Scully has gotten confirmation that her son is alive, and has an excellent and sneaky power to help keep him alive, is that the end of it? Will William keep in touch with his mom via random visions? Will Scully finally feel settled and at ease? Is that alien invasion something that is inevitable, or just one possible future? An alternate reality, a fake reality, or just something to get Scully’s attention?

I HAVE NO IDEA.

I think that we could go the rest of the season without any of this stuff, and I would be fine with this as a resolution to the William story, but I’m pretty sure when you show us Barbara Hershey in the beginning of the season, there is no freakin’ way she doesn’t come back at the end.

Will Scully get better at recognizing what her visions are? Will her son use them as a way to send her postcards from his travels? And, of course, the big question, will Mulder find out that William isn’t his? (Most likely. I mean, why bring it up if you aren’t going to toss it in his face at some point?)

Next! Skinner episode! YAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXT589NwelY