“Nothing Important Happened Today” is episode one of season nine of The X-Files.
This is the first episode of what was the final season of The X-Files for over a decade.
In a bar in Baltimore, a man removes the ice from his drink. He sees a woman come in and goes over to speak to her, talking about ice and chloramine and how it isn’t as safe as they say in the news. She asks him if he wants some air. He’s driving her home, he thinks, when they come to a bridge that starts opening. She jams his foot on the accelerator and the car drives off the bridge. At the bottom, the woman is still as the man struggles to free himself. When he does, she reaches up and grabs his leg.
48 hours later in Washington, Scully goes to check on William, shutting the bathroom door where someone is showering. There’s luggage in her apartment.
Doggett and Reyes are getting ready. She’s invited in by someone called Brad. Brad is at the FBI and he’s watching the news about the man in the car, Carl Wormus, when he hears a noise. Reyes is outside; she says she was leaving him a note. She comes in and he kisses her. She resists a bit. Brad – Assistant Director Brad Follmer – has something to show her, Security camera footage from the parking garage. Related to the investigation of Kersh that Doggett said he was doing in the season eight finale, “Existence”.
Doggett bumps into Kersh in the lift. He tells him it’s nothing personal. Kersh is sure that, if Doggett can’t find anything, no-one can. Doggett finds Reyes in the office. She thinks the investigation may be impossible. She has the security footage from the parking garage. Doggett, Skinner, the car chase and explosion are not on it. She doesn’t think there’s any evidence in the garage either – she looked and they’ve had 48 hours to clean up – and the witnesses won’t stand against the tape. Doggett heads to Mulder’s apartment. It’s empty.
At the Greater Maryland Water Reclamation Facility, the woman from the crash surfaces in one of the pools as a worker walks past. He’s reading an article about the death of Wormus, who was an EPA Deputy Director. The worker is trying to call a ship when he sees the naked woman walking off.
Doggett has now turned up at Scully’s; her phone was off the hook and he was afraid she’d vanished too. Scully says Mulder is gone. He’s just gone.
The worker at the facility is looking for the woman. She drags him into a pool and underwater.
Skinner is telling Reyes he doesn’t know where Mulder is and isn’t sure he’d tell her if he did when Doggett enters. Doggett says it’s just his and Skinner’s word against Kersh and the FBI. Reyes says it’s more complicated. Skinner asks Doggett to drop the investigation. No-one got to him; they didn’t need to. Doggett says Skinner is afraid of them. Skinner denies it. Doggett asks what Skinner is afraid of then. Skinner stands by his actions, including shooting Krycek – which Skinner seemed to find satisfying anyway – but he says Doggett will push until someone gets killed. He fears for Scully, Mulder and William. Doggett guesses he’s alone then. Reyes says he isn’t.
Later, Reyes meets Follmer in a bar. He is concerned about her being caught up in the investigation with Doggett. Reyes says there isn’t one now. Reyes guesses she’ll be heading back to the New Orleans field office now. The X-files will be dropped along with the investigation, and this was her dream assignment.
Doggett isn’t going to leave the matter alone, even though others think he should. He upsets Scully at one point, who insists her baby is normal. She may be wrong about that. The Lone Gunmen help, but they’re suffering the aftereffects of “The Lone Gunmen: All About Yves”.
The story continues in the next episode, “Nothing Important Happened Today II”.