“Nothing Important Happened Today II” is episode two of season nine of The X-Files.
A man uses a palm scan, passcode and retinal scan to get through some security. He tells a guard he has an urgent communication to deliver to Dr. Nordlinger; the guard says he can do that. The man, who the guard called Captain, says he’s been asked to do it himself. This is apparently not proper procedure. Nordlinger opens a door to a lap and the captain hands him a decrypted message which says they are to return immediately. Nordlinger confirms receipt and the captain leaves. He heads to what looks like a bridge, because it is, and an ordinary-looking freighter changes its course.
The credits text says ‘Nothing Important Happened Today’.
In the previous episode, “Nothing Important Happened Today”, Doggett was being dragged down into a pool of water by the woman. A woman it turned out he knows, Shannon McMahon. Follmer and his men leave and McMahon breathes into Doggett’s mouth.
At the FBI, Reyes arrives in Follmer’s office. Skinner is there too, and advises her to keep quiet and cooperate. Follmer is reigning them in; unauthorised autopsies and breaking and entering at a state water facility. And Reyes’ partner is nowhere to be found. Skinner and Reyes can give a nice spin on the mess. Skinner advises Reyes to at least realise Follmer is the only one who can help. Reyes says they had a tip about a conspiracy and are running a legitimate FBI operation. Follmer doesn’t believe that there’s a conspiracy and that taking on the whole of the FBI is a bad idea. The witch-hunt will not expose anything but Reyes, unless she distances herself from Doggett. She walks out the door, distancing herself from Follmer.
Doggett wakes up in bed, coughing. McMahon is there and she says he was trying to contact her. She pulled him under to stop him from being caught. They might have figured it out, as Doggett is starting to. She’s the product of 50 years of research, the program that Knowle told him about. She’s a bioengineered combat unit with no weaknesses. She doesn’t sleep and can breathe underwater. Knowle and her were drafted out of Bravo Company together. They were the first. Doggett says Knowle is dead; McMahon says not. They can’t be killed. She and Knowle are alike in almost every way; the difference is she hates what she is. The program is expanding and she needs his help to stop it. The two men she killed were preparing the water supply.
The freighter has arrived at the Port of Baltimore. The captain heads out, even though he’s not supposed to. They’re at a civilian dock and can’t risk not making contact.
Skinner turns up at Scully’s. She and Mulder asked him to leave this alone and to let Mulder disappear, due to concerns about William and Mulder’s safety. Why is Scully risking it by getting mixed up with Doggett’s investigation? Because something unexplainable happened with her baby. Skinner thinks Scully is making a mistake, but she needs answers. Mulder can’t be brought back; it’s too dangerous.
The captain is trying to contact Carl Wormus from a payphone. Wormus is, of course, dead. The captain returns to the ship and finds Knowle Rohrer there, who says that the other man has been relieved.
Reyes calls Scully in the morning; there’s something she needs to hear. From Doggett. Reyes passes him the phone and Doggett tells Scully they may have answers about her baby. Scully heads to Doggett’s where McMahon is. McMahon says that a new additive is being put in the water supply; what better way to deliver something to every home in America? Scully says chloramine is a substitute for chlorine and is harmless. McMahon says yes, unless some changes its molecular makeup. To breed a generation of super soldiers by mutating offspring. She was the first generation; now they have successfully given birth to a super soldier from a mutated egg. Scully asks how she can trust McMahon. McMahon shows her the lumps on her neck.
Knowle is onboard what is presumably a disguised Navy ship, poking around for something. Then there’s McMahon; can she be trusted? It’s not clear. And there’s help revealed from an unexpected source.