Before The X-Files became impossibly complicated in senseless mythology which stretched on and on, there was an amazing three-episode arc nestled at the end of season two and beginning of season three, in my opinion, the best arc of the series. After, the ratings took off and the rest is history.
Written by Chris Carter, "Anasazi," the first of the three, unleashes of the creative potential of the story, flinging Mulder and Scully halfway across the country to New Mexico where they are trying to find answers, despite the government working against them, and increasing the stakes to unprecedented levels. The episode zooms forward at a breakneck pace with tons of stuff happening, and after it's all done and the epic cliffhanger comes around, there are still two more episodes left!
"Anasazi" begins with a large cache of government files, relating to aliens, stolen by Kenneth Soona, aka "the Thinker," as Mulder is told by the Lone Gunmen. Quickly, the files are in Mulder's hands in the form of a tape. All he has ever looked for, his life's ambitions, are at his fingertips, but--big but--they're unreadable, gibberish. Scully, however, recognizes it as Navajo, further involving herself in the situation.
At the same time, Mulder is acting strangely, erratic and irritable. When Skinner calls Mulder in to discuss the tape, Mulder denies everything, a reasonable course of action, and then attacks Skinner in the middle of the hallway in front of his fellow agents. Scully is also called in, and the hammer is perilously close to being dropped right on top of their heads: She and Mulder will be kicked out if they lied, which they clearly did.
The setup is there--the files and an oppressive bureaucracy. All that is need is a personal connection, and it comes in the form of Mulder's father, Bill Mulder, revealed to be deeply involved with CSM. He gives an urgent call to Mulder, who arrives shortly before Bill is murdered. That's right. Mulder's father is dead! Just like that! Unfortunately, he wasn't able to say much and Mulder is left hanging. Scully, too, is under imminent threat, having just been shot at in Mulder's apartment.
The middle part is a little messy with Scully testing Mulder's gun, Krycek showing up for Mulder, and Scully shooting Mulder, but it passes in a couple minutes as Mulder wakes up in an Indian reservation in New Mexico where Scully has found a Navajo code-talker to decipher the files. She also informs him that his change in behavior can be attributed to a dialysis bag found in the water system of the water system of his apartment complex. WTF!!
As the coder-talker, Albert Hosteen, translates the files, the teenage boy featured at the beginning of the episode shows Mulder the boxcar. Inside, Mulder finds a pile of bodies--humanoid and having signs of smallpox vaccines, but distinctly different from there large eye cavities. Soon after he informs Scully of this, CSM arrives with his black helicopter and death squad. Unable to do anything, Mulder is left in the boxcar which the commandos flame out. To be continued... Noooo!!!!!
I'll try to finish the arc this weekend and then move into the third season, which is one of the top three seasons of the entire series, so I should get through it relatively fast.
Score: 9.3/10
