The End (The X-Files)
The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.
In this episode, the assassination of a chess grandmaster leads Mulder and Scully to learn that the real target was a telepathic boy named Gibson Praise.
In Vancouver, an international chess tournament is held at an arena between Anatole Klebanow, a Russian grandmaster, and Gibson Praise (Jeff Gulka), a young American prodigy.
At FBI Headquarters, Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) reveals to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) that Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) is leading the case investigating the shooting.
Despite Spender's request that Mulder not be involved, he bursts into the briefing and offers the explanation that the assassin was firing at Gibson, not Klebanow.
Fowley accompanies Mulder and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) when they visit Gibson in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Meanwhile, a prison guard hands the Shooter a flattened Morley cigarette box, which conveys he's a dead man.
The Smoking Man meets with Spender in the FBI parking lot but disappears when Mulder spots them talking.
Skinner and Fowley think this may result in adverse attention from the Attorney General, and that the X-Files could be closed down if things go wrong.
Skinner tells Mulder of the Shooter's death, and that a flattened Morley cigarette box was found in his cell.
The Complete X-Files notes that a "chess motif" is weaved throughout the episode, perhaps most symbolically in the way The Smoking Man "plays Mulder to a checkmate, using Jeffrey as a pawn.
"[3] The episode introduced two new characters in Gibson Praise, played by Jeff Gulka, and Diana Fowley, portrayed by Mimi Rogers.
[5] During breaks between shooting, actors Duchovny and Anderson answered questions for the audience and over thousands of dollars worth of equipment was raffled off.
In order to properly send off the Vancouver crew, Chris Carter personally directed the second unit filming for this episode.
[10] In a 2000 review of season five for the New Straits Times, Francis Dass called "The End" a "gem" and praised the acting of Jeff Gulka, saying that he was a "great child actor".
Handlen criticized the episode's lack of resolution, writing that "The show can feed our social paranoia […] but when it comes time to deliver on all this, to finally pull back the curtain and move on to the next stage, it fumbles things.
However, Handlen did call The Smoking Man's return "thrilling" and wrote that the burning of Mulder's office was "arguably one of the most iconic visuals in the run of the series".
[12] 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 three-and-a-half stars out of five.
However, Shearman and Pearson wrote that "'The End' works in spite of itself", citing the arrival of Diana Fowley and the confrontation between The Smoking Man and Jeffrey Spender as positive points in the episode.
