The Truth (The X-Files)

The episode was written by series creator Chris Carter. He noted, "It's the end—you don't get another chance. So you'd better put everything you've ever wanted to put in into the episode. There were things to distract us from what was really going on. The band was breaking up."[7] He expounded on the idea, and he decided "it was probably time to go [...] it was strange to be writing these things knowing it was the last time we'd see Scully doing certain things or hear Mulder saying certain things."[6] Spotnitz explained that Carter made the announcement in January so that "we had time to wrap our minds around the end and plan for it and give all of the characters their due."[6] Gish later said, "I have a great respect for the elegant way in which they're closing the curtain".[8] Actor Bruce Harwood, who played John Fitzgerald Byers on the show, called the finale the "passing of a generation".[8]

Several of the episode's scenes feature elements that refer to the earlier installments. The final scene in which Mulder and Scully speak in a hotel room is reminiscent of the series' pilot episode.[9][10] Furthermore, in "The Truth," it is revealed to Mulder by The Smoking Man that the aliens plan to colonize the earth on December 22, 2012, an event that, according to the show, the Mayans predicted.[11][12][13] This is a throw-back to the second season episode "Red Museum," which featured members of a new religious movement who believed that the year 2012 would bring about the dawning of the New Age.[11][14]

Before the release of the 2008 film The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Carter expressed an intent to make a third X-Files feature film that would focus on the impending alien invasion revealed in this episode, depending on the success of The X-Files: I Want to Believe.[15] Following the release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Carter, Spotnitz, Duchovny, and Anderson all expressed their interest in making one.[16][17][18] However, on January 17, 2015, Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Gary Newman revealed that there was network interest in reviving The X-Files, not as a movie franchise, but as a limited run television event.[19]

"The Truth" marked David Duchovny's return as Fox Mulder.

With this episode, Duchovny rejoined the main cast of The X-Files after his departure following the eighth season finale "Existence". The episode marks the only time that all five principal actors—Duchovny, Anderson, Patrick, Gish, and Pileggi—are credited together in the opening titles.[12] Mulder, Scully, and the Smoking Man are the only characters to appear in both this episode and the series' pilot.[12][20] This episode is the fourth of only four episodes in season nine where Duchovny appeared, the others being "Trust No 1", "Jump the Shark", and "William". Duchovny appeared in the first two via archival footage and only made a small cameo in the third.[21][22][23] The episode marks the return of several characters who had either previously been killed off or had left the show, including X, who was killed in the season four opener "Herrenvolk";[24] Alex Krycek, who was shot and killed by Skinner in the eighth-season finale "Existence";[25] The Smoking Man, who was purportedly killed in "Requiem";[26] Gibson Praise, who was last seen in the eighth-season episode "Without";[27] The Lone Gunmen, who were killed off in the ninth-season episode "Jump the Shark";[28] Jeffrey Spender, who originally was killed off in the sixth season episode "One Son" but reappeared in the ninth-season episode "William";[29][30] and Marita Covarrubias, who last appeared in the seventh season finale "Requiem".[26]

Originally, this episode was to feature the recurring character Shannon McMahon. Actress Lucy Lawless became pregnant shortly after filming the two-part episode, "Nothing Important Happened Today" and was not available for subsequent episodes.[31] Julia Vera was called in to play the role of the woman who is helping the Smoking Man live in the Anasazi ruins. Vera had previously appeared in the sixth season two-part episode "Dreamland". She later called the opportunity "amazing" and declared that "my greatest experience was The X-Files".[32] The final scene of the episode was originally going to feature the Toothpick Man, the alien leader of the New Syndicate played by Alan Dale, informing U.S. President George W. Bush, played by actor Gary Newton, of Mulder's escape. The scene was filmed, but was not included in the broadcast version; executive producer Frank Spotnitz later said that he was "so happy" that the producers cut the scene, noting that—despite "a lot of debate about it, on both sides"—the scene was unable to top the final scene with Mulder and Scully.[33] On the DVD's audio commentary, the producers mentioned that they had considered filming the shot on the Oval Office set created by The West Wing, a serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC. In addition, they originally wanted to have Martin Sheen appear as his character on The West Wing, Josiah Bartlet, instead of Bush, noting that the cameo would have been "a nice, sort of wink" to the television audience.[33] Despite being cut from the final episode, the shot was featured as a deleted scene on the season nine video release.[33]

The Anasazi ruins were filmed at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

The majority of the episode—like the rest of seasons six, seven, eight and nine—was filmed in Los Angeles.[34] The first scene, featuring Mulder breaking into a military base, was shot in a hydroelectric power plant east of Fresno, California. The rooms that were featured in the episode were the main rooms for the power plant that The X-Files design team redecorated; the crew later called the set the "war room". Most of the decoration and interior scene was done by the visual effect crew; the only visible part seen in real life was a large sump pump. Bill Roe, the cinematographer for the episode, spent "four or five days lighting [the] set" for filming. Kim Manners called his work "a great job".[31] The scenes that take place in the main computer terminal room were shot on a 20th Century Fox sound stage, whereas the scenes with Mulder being tortured by the military guards were shot at Fort MacArthur, a former military base in San Pedro, California, that was decommissioned in 1974,[31][location 1] including The Marine Mammal Care Center located at Fort MacArthur.[35][location 2] Filming the court room was one of the "most challenging sequences" Manners had ever done.[31] Carter wanted the courtroom to have no spectators and no jury. This meant that Manners had to shoot each scene with a limited number of actors and make them look "fresh".[31] Manners was terrified to film the 40-page long courtroom scene, pointing out that the show was basically re-telling a nine-year history of The X-Files. Corey Kaplan designed the set.[31]

The Anasazi ruins were constructed in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.[location 3] Location manager Mac Gordon later noted that, due to the presence of a rare "spiny black horned toad" in the area, he and his crew were forced to hire several biologists to locate any lizards in the area and move them elsewhere. In addition, Gordon had a difficult time persuading the park rangers to build and then blow up faux-ruins. He explained, "we were on a state park property that was an off road park, with motorcycles and [All-terrain vehicles] flying all over the place, but they still blanched when I said we have to build Indian ruins and then blow it up."[35] However, the cameo of The Smoking Man was filmed on the 20th Century Fox sound stage. Manners noted that Davis had "a hell of a time" trying to smoke his cigarettes through a hole in his neck, because the hole was "phony".[31] The scene featuring The Smoking Man being burnt up by the fire from a missile was done via computer animation. The missiles were created via CGI technology by animator Mat Beck. The helicopter, however, included real smoke bombs. A shot of William B. Davis was overlapped with fire, and eventually a skull to give the effect that The Smoking Man's flesh was burnt away. Paul Rabwin later called the scene a "great sequence".[36]

The last scene of the episode shot was between Anderson and Duchovny and was called "extremely tough" by Manners, due to it being "very emotional".[31] He noted that the scene "sums up the series" about a "man who believed and a woman who was skeptical but became a believer".[31] The scene was filmed at an actual motel, called La Cresenta. The location had previously been used in episodes "Sein Und Zeit" and "This is Not Happening".[35]

"The Truth" was originally aired on the Fox network on May 19, 2002,[1] and became the most-watched episode of the ninth season, receiving the season's highest Nielsen ratings. Nielsen ratings are audience measurement system that determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States. "The Truth" earned a household rating of 7.5, meaning that it was seen by 7.5 percent of the nation's estimated households.[41] It was viewed by a total of 13.25 million viewers in the United States.[42] On the date of its airing, the episode ranked third in its timeslot, behind the season finale of Survivor: Marquesas and the heavily promoted reunion of The Cosby Show.[43] "The Truth", however, placed ahead of the season finale of The Practice.[43] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the episode made its first appearance on Sky1 on September 26, 2002 and received 1.03 million viewers, placing The X-Files second in the top ten broadcasts for Sky1 for that week, behind The Simpsons.[44] The episode was included on The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 – Super Soldiers, a DVD collection that contains installments involved with the alien "Super Soldiers" arc.[45]

The entry received mixed reviews by critics; the main reason for criticism was that, instead of creating a conclusion, the episode raised new questions for the audience. Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, gave the episode a scathing review and awarded it one star out of five.[13] The two, despite calling the opening "promising", derided the episode's ending—especially the revelation of alien colonization of December 22, 2012—writing, "is this really what the series was about?"[13] Furthermore, Shearman and Pearson concluded that the problem with the episode was that the show, which he called "brilliant—frequently, truly brilliant" decided "to define itself in the summing up" with the episode, which did not answer very many questions.[13] UGO named the episode the fourteenth "Worst Series Finale" and wrote that the episode—and the show's eighth and ninth seasons by extension—were negatively affected by the series' lack of a defining plot line. The article noted that, while the episode claimed to wrap up the story arcs for the series, "the trial of Mulder ultimately resulted in very little satisfying payoff to the series' overarching mysteries".[46] Joyce Millman, writing for The New York Times, after the premiere of "The Truth", said of the show: "The most imaginative show on television has finally reached the limits of its imagination."[47] M.A. Crang, in his book Denying the Truth: Revisiting The X-Files after 9/11, was critical of the episode's trial sequences. While he stated that these scenes "do a good job of bringing together the many disparate threads of this arc", he felt that they were "interminably dull".[48]

Not all reviews were critical. Tom Kessenich, in his book Examinations, wrote a rather positive review of the episode.[49] He noted that, while the episode "told us nothing of significance" regarding the "big picture" mythology story arc, the chance to see Mulder and Scully together one last time resulted in "an exquisite Mulder-Scully moment".[49] He was particularly pleased with the final scene, noting that it was an appropriate conclusion; he called it "fitting", as well as "wonderful".[49] Kessenich maintained that, were it not for the return of Duchovny, "nobody would have given a damn about the end of this series."[49] Julie Salamon of The New York Times gave the episode a positive review. Salamon noted that "Until the end, the series maintained its mesmerizing visual gloominess, cleverly punctuated with suggestive plays of color and light".[50] She claimed the show "also retained its conspiracy-theory heart that has appealed so greatly to viewers".[50] John C. Snider of SciFiDimensions praised the episode, stating "The Truth is a satisfying conclusion to the series, with plenty of twists and turns, a few surprise guest appearances, and an explosive finale complete with requisite black helicopters. The romantics among us will also be pleased with the culmination of the Mulder/Scully relationship".[51]

In 2011, the finale was ranked number twenty-two on the TV Guide Network special, TV's Most Unforgettable Finales.[52]