End Game (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"End Game" is the seventeenth episode of the second season
of the science fiction
television series The X-Files
. "End Game" continues from the previous episode "Colony
", and includes Mulder's pursuit and confrontation with the Alien Bounty Hunter who has captured Scully.
patrolling the Beaufort Sea
off the coast of Alaska
, comes across a craft below the ice that is emitting a radio signal. The Allegiance is ordered to fire upon the craft by Pacific Command
. However, the craft manages to disable the sub, stranding it far below the ice.
In her hotel room in Maryland
, Dana Scully
is beaten and kidnapped by "Mulder", who is really the Bounty Hunter in disguise. When the real Mulder
finds the wrecked hotel room, Samantha
explains that the Bounty Hunter will set up a hostage exchange
to swap Scully for her. She further explains that the Bounty Hunter can only be killed by piercing the back of his neck, and that his toxic alien blood is deadly to humans. Finally, Samantha reveals that the Gregors are the progeny
of two original aliens, and worked at abortion clinics to gain access to fetal tissue. Their objective was to set up an extraterrestrial colony
on Earth, an effort that has gone as far back as the 1940s
. However, because the Gregors' experiments were considered to have tainted their alien race, the Bounty Hunter was sent to kill them.
Skinner
meets Mulder and Samantha at his apartment, telling them that the remaining Gregors are missing. Mulder receives a call from Scully, who tells him that the Bounty Hunter seeks an exchange for Samantha. Mulder and Samantha are sent to a bridge near Bethesda
, while Skinner hides nearby with a sharpshooter. After the exchange takes place, Samantha attacks the Bounty Hunter. During the struggle, the sharpshooter fires upon the Bounty Hunter, and both he and Samantha fall into a river. An anguished Mulder tearfully apologizes to his father, Bill, for losing her again. His father leaves him a note from Samantha, which provides Mulder with the address of a Rockville, Maryland
, clinic where they can meet if separated. Mulder hopes that she is alive, but soon gets a call from Scully reporting that Samantha's body has been found. After Scully ends the call, she discovers Samantha's body dissolving into a green liquid.
Meanwhile, upon entering the clinic, Mulder finds multiple clones of Samantha working on fetuses
in labs similar to that of the Gregors. They reveal that they manipulated Mulder by sending one of their own to pose as "Samantha" in an effort to have him protect her original clone. They also claim to know the real Samantha's location. Mulder, realizing he has been duped, initially refuses to help and attempts to leave, but is confronted by the arriving Bounty Hunter. The Bounty Hunter knocks Mulder unconscious, proceeding to kill the Samantha clones and burn down the clinic. When no trace of the clones are found, Mulder meets with X
at the Kennedy Center, demanding to know the Bounty Hunter's location. X says that the Bounty Hunter's craft below the Beaufort Sea has been found, and that a naval fleet
has been sent to destroy it. Mulder heads there, and e-mails Scully to tell her not to follow him.
Scully goes to Skinner for help, but he initially refuses. Scully also summons X to Mulder's apartment, but he also refuses to provide her with information. On his way out, X is confronted by Skinner in an elevator
. After the two men get into a vicious physical altercation, X divulges Mulder's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Mulder finds the stranded Allegiance, with its sail
broken through a patch of shallow ice. Inside, he finds that the sub's crew have all been killed. He comes across the apparent sole survivor, whom Mulder correctly guesses to be the disguised Bounty Hunter. Mulder handcuffs
him and places him at gunpoint, demanding to know where Samantha is. The two get into a struggle, during which Mulder becomes exposed to the Bounty Hunter's blood. The Bounty Hunter claims that Samantha is still alive before dumping Mulder off the sail. He then submerges the Allegiance, nearly cutting Mulder in half with the sub's diving plane
in the process. Mulder is rushed to the field hospital
seen at the beginning of "Colony
", where Scully — having learned that the alien blood contains a retrovirus
that dies in cold temperatures — convinces the doctors to keep him in an ice tub, saving his life.
As Mulder's condition stabilizes, Scully writes a field report crediting science with detecting the retrovirus and saving Mulder's life. She contends that the retrovirus is of a mysterious origin, and reports that neither the Bounty Hunter nor the Allegiance have been found. When Mulder gains consciousness, he tells Scully that his experiences didn't give him the answers he had been searching for, but that they have given him renewed "faith to keep looking".
. Spotnitz, who came up with the idea to bring back Samantha Mulder in the previous episode wrote this episode, his first credited work on the show. His original draft features two scenes cut out due to time, including Mulder having a confrontation with the federal marshal from the previous episode, and Mulder finding his sister on the road after the hostage trade only for her to end up being the Alien Bounty Hunter. According to Spotnitz, he along with Chris Carter
were insanely ambitious when writing this episode. Since this was Spotnitz's debut as a television writer, he got significant help from Carter to put the script together. All of the scenes originally pitched by Spotnitz were kept with the exception of a car chase
scene that ended with a "crash". After shooting and creating the episode, the production crew asked for a higher budget to support the series.
It turned out in this episode that the Samantha Mulder
(Megan Leitch
) who appeared was a clone
. Carter didn't want it to be the real Samantha since that would have been "straight science fiction
" and it was too "ridiculous" to give too many answers. Spotnitz further explained that the production crew never saw The X-Files as a "science fiction show", but more of a show that incorporated science fiction and that this and previous episode "Colony
" were more of a "suspense thriller" than anything else.
The motel scene with the Alien Bounty Hunter and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson
) was shot on a sound stage
in Vancouver, Canada in a simple motel room set. The scene featuring Scully being beaten up by the Alien Bounty Hunter was not acted by Anderson, but a stunt woman. That "uh" Scully utters when pushed to the ground was insisted on by Standards and Practices, giving the reasoning that the show needed to make it clear for the viewers that she was not dead. According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz
it was an "arcane, bizarre logic that you have to deal with when you're putting a show on network television." As director Rob Bowman got dissatisfied with the first take of Skinner pushing X against the elevator, Mitch Pileggi and Steven Williams decided to do the stunt for real, and Pileggi did it with so much strength that it broke the back of the elevator scenery.
One hundred forty tons of snow and ice were trucked into a soundstage in order to create the scene with the submarine towards the end of the episode, and said stage had to be refrigerated for five days. The control tower scenery was able to rise or lower only five feet, leading to restrictions such as filming on black backdrops. A Canadian destroyer, the Her Majesty's Canadian Ship
Mackenzie was used for the submarine interior, and was reused two episodes later for the episode "Død Kalm
".
The X-Files (season 2)
The second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing on Fox in the United States on September 16, 1994, concluded on the same channel on May 19, 1995, and contained 25 episodes.- Production :...
of the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. "End Game" continues from the previous episode "Colony
Colony (The X-Files)
"Colony" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.- Plot :The episode opens in medias...
", and includes Mulder's pursuit and confrontation with the Alien Bounty Hunter who has captured Scully.
Plot
USS Allegiance, a nuclear submarineNuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
patrolling the Beaufort Sea
Beaufort Sea
The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, west of Canada's Arctic islands. The sea is named after hydrographer Sir Francis Beaufort...
off the coast of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, comes across a craft below the ice that is emitting a radio signal. The Allegiance is ordered to fire upon the craft by Pacific Command
United States Pacific Command
The United States Pacific Command is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States armed forces responsible for the Pacific Ocean area. It is led by the Commander, Pacific Command , who is the supreme military authority for the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States serving...
. However, the craft manages to disable the sub, stranding it far below the ice.
In her hotel room in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
is beaten and kidnapped by "Mulder", who is really the Bounty Hunter in disguise. When the real Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
finds the wrecked hotel room, Samantha
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
explains that the Bounty Hunter will set up a hostage exchange
Prisoner exchange
A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
to swap Scully for her. She further explains that the Bounty Hunter can only be killed by piercing the back of his neck, and that his toxic alien blood is deadly to humans. Finally, Samantha reveals that the Gregors are the progeny
Offspring
In biology, offspring is the product of reproduction, of a new organism produced by one or more parents.Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way...
of two original aliens, and worked at abortion clinics to gain access to fetal tissue. Their objective was to set up an extraterrestrial colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
on Earth, an effort that has gone as far back as the 1940s
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
. However, because the Gregors' experiments were considered to have tainted their alien race, the Bounty Hunter was sent to kill them.
Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
meets Mulder and Samantha at his apartment, telling them that the remaining Gregors are missing. Mulder receives a call from Scully, who tells him that the Bounty Hunter seeks an exchange for Samantha. Mulder and Samantha are sent to a bridge near Bethesda
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, while Skinner hides nearby with a sharpshooter. After the exchange takes place, Samantha attacks the Bounty Hunter. During the struggle, the sharpshooter fires upon the Bounty Hunter, and both he and Samantha fall into a river. An anguished Mulder tearfully apologizes to his father, Bill, for losing her again. His father leaves him a note from Samantha, which provides Mulder with the address of a Rockville, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...
, clinic where they can meet if separated. Mulder hopes that she is alive, but soon gets a call from Scully reporting that Samantha's body has been found. After Scully ends the call, she discovers Samantha's body dissolving into a green liquid.
Meanwhile, upon entering the clinic, Mulder finds multiple clones of Samantha working on fetuses
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
in labs similar to that of the Gregors. They reveal that they manipulated Mulder by sending one of their own to pose as "Samantha" in an effort to have him protect her original clone. They also claim to know the real Samantha's location. Mulder, realizing he has been duped, initially refuses to help and attempts to leave, but is confronted by the arriving Bounty Hunter. The Bounty Hunter knocks Mulder unconscious, proceeding to kill the Samantha clones and burn down the clinic. When no trace of the clones are found, Mulder meets with X
X (The X-Files)
X, sometimes referred to as Mr. X, is a fictional character on the American science fiction television series The X-Files. He serves as an informant, leaking information to FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder to aid Mulder's investigation of paranormal cases, dubbed X-Files...
at the Kennedy Center, demanding to know the Bounty Hunter's location. X says that the Bounty Hunter's craft below the Beaufort Sea has been found, and that a naval fleet
Naval fleet
A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
has been sent to destroy it. Mulder heads there, and e-mails Scully to tell her not to follow him.
Scully goes to Skinner for help, but he initially refuses. Scully also summons X to Mulder's apartment, but he also refuses to provide her with information. On his way out, X is confronted by Skinner in an elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
. After the two men get into a vicious physical altercation, X divulges Mulder's whereabouts. Meanwhile, Mulder finds the stranded Allegiance, with its sail
Sail (submarine)
In naval parlance, the sail or fin of a submarine is the tower-like structure found on the dorsal surface of submarines...
broken through a patch of shallow ice. Inside, he finds that the sub's crew have all been killed. He comes across the apparent sole survivor, whom Mulder correctly guesses to be the disguised Bounty Hunter. Mulder handcuffs
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
him and places him at gunpoint, demanding to know where Samantha is. The two get into a struggle, during which Mulder becomes exposed to the Bounty Hunter's blood. The Bounty Hunter claims that Samantha is still alive before dumping Mulder off the sail. He then submerges the Allegiance, nearly cutting Mulder in half with the sub's diving plane
Diving plane
A diving plane, also known as a hydroplane, is a control surface found on submarines which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when submerged....
in the process. Mulder is rushed to the field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
seen at the beginning of "Colony
Colony (The X-Files)
"Colony" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.- Plot :The episode opens in medias...
", where Scully — having learned that the alien blood contains a retrovirus
Retrovirus
A retrovirus is an RNA virus that is duplicated in a host cell using the reverse transcriptase enzyme to produce DNA from its RNA genome. The DNA is then incorporated into the host's genome by an integrase enzyme. The virus thereafter replicates as part of the host cell's DNA...
that dies in cold temperatures — convinces the doctors to keep him in an ice tub, saving his life.
As Mulder's condition stabilizes, Scully writes a field report crediting science with detecting the retrovirus and saving Mulder's life. She contends that the retrovirus is of a mysterious origin, and reports that neither the Bounty Hunter nor the Allegiance have been found. When Mulder gains consciousness, he tells Scully that his experiences didn't give him the answers he had been searching for, but that they have given him renewed "faith to keep looking".
Writing
This was the first episode ever written by Frank SpotnitzFrank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
. Spotnitz, who came up with the idea to bring back Samantha Mulder in the previous episode wrote this episode, his first credited work on the show. His original draft features two scenes cut out due to time, including Mulder having a confrontation with the federal marshal from the previous episode, and Mulder finding his sister on the road after the hostage trade only for her to end up being the Alien Bounty Hunter. According to Spotnitz, he along with Chris Carter
Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Christopher Carl Carter is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.- Ten Thirteen Productions :...
were insanely ambitious when writing this episode. Since this was Spotnitz's debut as a television writer, he got significant help from Carter to put the script together. All of the scenes originally pitched by Spotnitz were kept with the exception of a car chase
Car chase
A car chase is the vehicular pursuit of a suspect by law enforcement officers. Car chases are often captured on film and broadcast due to the availability of video footage recorded by police cars and police and media helicopters participating in the chase...
scene that ended with a "crash". After shooting and creating the episode, the production crew asked for a higher budget to support the series.
It turned out in this episode that the Samantha Mulder
Samantha Mulder
Samantha Ann Mulder is a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. She is the sister of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder and the daughter of Teena and Bill Mulder. As a child, Samantha was abducted, ostensibly by aliens, and was never recovered...
(Megan Leitch
Megan Leitch
Megan Leitch is a Canadian actress probably best known for playing Samantha Mulder on The X-Files.- Roles :*Samantha Mulder in The X-Files*Brenda Cosgrove in The Highwayman episode of Dead Man's Gun*Librarian in It...
) who appeared was a clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
. Carter didn't want it to be the real Samantha since that would have been "straight science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
" and it was too "ridiculous" to give too many answers. Spotnitz further explained that the production crew never saw The X-Files as a "science fiction show", but more of a show that incorporated science fiction and that this and previous episode "Colony
Colony (The X-Files)
"Colony" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. "Colony" concerns Mulder and Scully's investigation of the murders of doctors with identical appearances and the reappearance of Mulder's sister Samantha.- Plot :The episode opens in medias...
" were more of a "suspense thriller" than anything else.
Filming
Chris Carter described the "Colony"–"End Game" two parter as the "backbone of the show, the romantic quest of Mulder for the truth and Scully as well", and that it lead Scully to believe in the conspiracy.The motel scene with the Alien Bounty Hunter and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
(Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
) was shot on a sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
in Vancouver, Canada in a simple motel room set. The scene featuring Scully being beaten up by the Alien Bounty Hunter was not acted by Anderson, but a stunt woman. That "uh" Scully utters when pushed to the ground was insisted on by Standards and Practices, giving the reasoning that the show needed to make it clear for the viewers that she was not dead. According to executive producer Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...
it was an "arcane, bizarre logic that you have to deal with when you're putting a show on network television." As director Rob Bowman got dissatisfied with the first take of Skinner pushing X against the elevator, Mitch Pileggi and Steven Williams decided to do the stunt for real, and Pileggi did it with so much strength that it broke the back of the elevator scenery.
One hundred forty tons of snow and ice were trucked into a soundstage in order to create the scene with the submarine towards the end of the episode, and said stage had to be refrigerated for five days. The control tower scenery was able to rise or lower only five feet, leading to restrictions such as filming on black backdrops. A Canadian destroyer, the Her Majesty's Canadian Ship
Her Majesty's Canadian Ship
The designation Her Majesty's Canadian Ship , is applied as a prefix to any Canadian Forces warship. In the reign of a king, the designation changes to His Majesty's Canadian Ship; the French version of the title remains unchanged in this instance...
Mackenzie was used for the submarine interior, and was reused two episodes later for the episode "Død Kalm
Død Kalm
"Død Kalm" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of The X-Files science fiction television series created by Chris Carter. It aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company on March 10, 1995.-Plot:...
".