“Requiem” is episode twenty-two of season seven of The X-Files and the season finale
In Bellefleur, Oregon, a police car driven by a Detective Miles is trying to tell a deputy, Ray, over the radio to wait for backup. Then the car’s electronics go out and Miles, unable to stop in time, crashes into the deputy’s car. The woods are on fire and Miles’ watch is spinning. The deputy is slumped inside his car with inflamed patches around his eyes. Miles steps in fizzing green foam, then sees Ray, another Ray, standing there, with wounds bleeding green.
Mulder is in his office; the X-Files are being audited. The auditor says their numbers, by FBI standards, are out of control. Mulder says they can’t be compared to other departments. The auditor asks if aliens where why Mulder got started, and his sister’s abduction, with a government conspiracy. Because according to Mulder’s case report, the issue has been resolved. Mulder’s sister is dead as are the men who took her. What’s left to investigate?
In the penal colony of Forj Sidi Toui in Tunisia, Marita Covarrubias is arranging Krycek’s release. The last time Krycek saw her, he’d left her for dead. And she would leave him to rot, if it was up to her.
Scully is now being interviewed by the auditor. She says it’s hard to evaluate what they do by standard measures. She’s asked if she believes there was a conspiracy of alien human hybrids and humans leading to an alien invasion. Scully says there was a conspiracy and she was taken by men and subjected to medical tests which left her with cancer and barren. She’s seen things she cannot deny.
Krycek asks Marita who sent her. The Smoking Man. He’s dying.
The auditor is now telling Mulder that things need to change. Cost-benefit analysis. He personally doesn’t care one way or another, but Mulder is primarily doing information gathering. That can be done on the internet. Mulder disagrees. The auditor says if Mulder is looking for aliens, he needs to narrow his search to where they are. Reduce his vision.
In Bellefleur, two young men stop by the two police cars. One sees Miles and asks him if that’s his car. Yes; a small accident. Everything is alright. The two had heard a military jet collided with a UFO. Miles says the Navy found their plane and there’s no evidence of another. There’s nothing out here. No fire, no sign of fire. Go home.
Mulder tells Scully they’re in big trouble. Scully says they’ve tried to shut the X-Files down before. Yes, but previously he’s never actually assaulted an auditor. Mulder reduced his vision. The phone rings and Mulder answers. It’s Billy Miles, from “Pilot”, who asks Mulder if he remembers him. Yes, he does. Billy says it’s happening again, but not to him. Mulder and Scully decide to go waste some money.
Krycek and Marita Covarrubias arrive at the Watergate Apartments. They’re let into an apartment. CSM is there. In a wheelchair, looking ill. And that’s before the hole in his throat. CSM says they have an opportunity to recover an alien ship in Oregon. They could rebuild the project.
The two young men who spoke to Miles are searching the woods with a Geiger counter. One, Gary, gets lifted into the air, moving fast. The other, Gary, sees his torch light reflect on some sort of field and calls out for Gary. Then his torch starts to glow red hot and the Geiger goes off the scale. He runs.
Mulder and Scully meet Billy, now a deputy. Billy explains about the crash and that Ray is missing. His father rolls up in his battered car and says it looks like there was no crash at all. They head out and stop on the road where Miles crashed. And where there’s an ‘X’ painted on it. Which Mulder painted back in the first episode. Mulder has found the residue from the green blood and Scully has found three shell casings. Miles takes them and puts them in his boot. Where Ray’s body is.
Mulder and Scully head to see Ray’s wife, who they recognise. Theresa Nemman, an abductee. According to her, Ray was an abductee too, but he kept it quiet. She has extensive medical records and photos. That night, Mulder is looking at them when Scully comes to see him. She feels odd and cold. Mulder thinks Scully should go home; she’s suffered too much.
For the first time, no true cliff-hanger ending or story to continue. Though there are matters unresolved to look into in season eight and “Within”.