Requiem (The X-Files)

The episode was written by series creator Chris Carter (right).

While filming was underway for the seventh season, many members of the crew felt that the show had entered into its final season. Executive producer Frank Spotnitz later explained that "there was a pretty strong sentiment inside and outside the show that it was time to call it a day."[4] As the season progressed, however, the idea of producing another season emerged. Paul Rabwin explained that, "we found ourselves starting to get energized again. [...] As we got toward the end of the season, everyone was kind of hopeful."[5] As such, when it came time to pen "Requiem", the producers considered several ways to deal with the episode. The first idea was that "Requiem" could serve a series finale.[6] Another idea that emerged was that the episode could end on a cliffhanger, leading into an eighth season or an X-Files movie.[6] The former idea was chosen, leading to series creator Chris Carter writing "Requiem" as segue into season eight.[1]

"Requiem" attempted to bring closure to several aspects of the series. In one sequence, Alex Krycek throws The Smoking Man down a flight of stairs, presumably to his death. Nicholas Lea, the actor who portrayed Krycek, noted: "That's one of the character's great moments, when I get to push Bill Davis down a set of stairs. In a sense, he has nothing to lose because his life's burned out. So death doesn't have the same terror that it would to a young happy chap."[4] The episode also featured several tender moments between Mulder and Scully, which many fans found "nearly pornographic in the context of their long, chaste courtship", according to Matt Hurwitz and Chris Knowles in their book The Complete X-Files.[4] Gillian Anderson, however, defended the moments, arguing that there was ample amount of romance between Mulder and Scully prior to "Requiem".[4] The ending scene, featuring Scully revealing that she is pregnant, was written the day before it was filmed. Carter held it back because he "didn't want to create something that would let the cat out of the bag and give anybody the opportunity to spoil our fun."[7]

"Requiem" saw the partial departure of David Duchovny's character Fox Mulder by way of alien abduction.

Because there was a chance that the seventh season would be its last, the character of Billy Miles, played by Zachary Ansley and who originally appeared in the pilot episode, was brought back in and featured in "Requiem" to bring the series full-circle.[4][8] Ansley would also appear in several eighth season episodes as well.[8] After the conclusion of the episode, David Duchovny expressed his desire to leave the series. He explained, "I was kind of a free agent after season seven, and to me, there was not much else to do in terms of the character. So it was really about me wanting to pursue other parts of my career as a writer, director, and actor."[4] Rumors began spreading—which were eventually confirmed—that another character would take Mulder's place. Many fans on the internet believed that Mitch Pileggi, who portrayed Walter Skinner, would take the role; Pileggi later called this guess "ridiculous."[6]

The episode was directed by Kim Manners. Originally, Carter had planned on directing the episode himself, but he eventually felt that it would be better handled by Manners. Manners later noted that he felt "very honored" by this gesture.[7] Principal shooting for the episode began on Soundstage 5 at the Twentieth Century Fox lot on April 20, 2000.[6] Because large parts of this episode as well as the pilot are supposed to take place in the same fictional city of Bellefleur, Oregon.[9] This caused something of an issue, as the pilot had originally been shot on location in Lynn Valley in North Vancouver, British Columbia, in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve—formerly known as the Seymour Demonstration Forest.[10] Since production had moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles after the conclusion of the fifth season, a local California location was needed to stand in for Oregon. Consequently, when the cast and crew of the series finished filming at the Fox lot, they relocated to the Big Bear resort, located near Big Bear Lake, California, which was very evocative of Vancouver, thereby providing an "ideal backdrop" for the episode.[9]

The episode featured several elaborate effects, created through both digital and physical means. The scene in which Scully encounters an alien forcefield was created with the use of a special effects harness. Effects producer Bill Millar created many of the special effects for the episode—including shots of the alien craft as well as its interaction with people—in a building in Big Bear.[9] The episode contains a shot of Detective Miles morphing into the alien bounty hunter, which required various shots of Leon Russom and Brian Thompson to be spliced together via blue screen technology. Producer Paul Rabwin called the shot in this episode "one of the best morphs we've ever done."[11]

"Requiem" first aired on Fox in the United States on May 21, 2000.[1] This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 8.9, with a 14 share, meaning that roughly 8.9 percent of all television-equipped households, and 14 percent of households watching television, were tuned into the episode.[15] It was viewed by 15.26 million viewers.[15] "Requiem" marked a 3.8 percent decrease in viewers from the sixth season finale, "Biogenesis"[nb 1] and a 14.4 percent decrease from the seventh season premiere, "The Sixth Extinction."[nb 2] The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on August 13, 2000, and received 1.00 million viewers, making it the most watched episode that week.[17] On May 13, 2003, the episode was released on DVD as part of the complete seventh season.[18] Two years later the episode was included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 – Colonization, a DVD collection that contains episodes involving the alien colonists.[19]

The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "B+".[20] She argued that the episode was "the best season finale cliffhanger the show ever did", and compared it to the second season finale "Anasazi"; she noted that while the latter episode was "pretty amazing", "Requiem" has "a finality" to it and a "sense that nothing will ever be the same" that made its cliffhanger ending work.[20] VanDerWerff also wrote that the references to the pilot episode helped to show how far the series had evolved in seven years.[20] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, gave the episode a largely positive review. Despite lamenting the loss of Fox Mulder, he noted that "the truth is The X-Files has been a show like no other and 'Requiem' proved once again there truly is a place for magic and beauty and love on the small screen and I am delighted to have witnessed it for seven seasons now."[21] Kessenich later named the episode one of the "Top 25 Episode of All Time" of The X-Files, ranking it at number 20.[22]

Kenneth Silber from Space.com called the episode "intriguing" and felt that while "The X-Files "foundered" for a large portion of its seventh season, "Requiem" marked "a much-needed return to that mythology," and that it set "the stage for what might be an interesting eighth season."[23] Rich Rosell from DigitallyObsessed.com awarded the episode 4.5 out of 5 stars and wrote that "A lot of characters out of the woodwork come back for the season-ending cliffhanger [...] But that's all window-dressing for a trio of big surprises that wrap up Season 7, in what many consider the show's death knell, or perhaps just a proper ending."[24] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five.[25] The two noted that, despite the fact that it capped-off a "lacklustre" season, the episode still managed to provide a good enough cliffhanger to hold fans until the premiere of the eighth season. Shearman and Pearson further noted that "against the odds, after all the disappointments of the year, 'Requiem' is strong enough to leave its audience wanting more."[25]

Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a more mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four.[26] Despite noting that the episode was "the best mytharc episode and season finale in years", she called the episode's finale "one of the most egregious missteps yet in The X-Files mythology".[26]