[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E01Redux 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E02ReduxII 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E03UnusualSuspects 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E04Detour 4]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E05ThePostModernPrometheus 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E06ChristmasCarol 6]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E07Emily 7]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E08Kitsunegari 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E09Schizogeny 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E10Chinga 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E11KillSwitch 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E12BadBlood 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E13PatientX 13]] | '''14''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E15Travelers 15]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E16MindsEye 16]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E17AllSouls 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E18ThePineBluffVariant 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E19FolieADeux 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS05E20TheEnd 20]]]]-]]]
'''Season 5, Episode 14:'''
!The Red and the Black
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilestheredandtheblack.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"They're ... they're taking her. They're... oh, my God."'']]
->Written by Creator/ChrisCarter & Frank Spotnitz\\
Directed by Creator/ChrisCarter

->'''Mulder:''' If I could give you those memories, if I could prove that I was right and that what I believed for so long was wrong...\\
'''Scully:''' Is that what you really want?

Mulder and Scully continue to search for the truth behind the abductions of Scully, Cassandra Spender, and others like them. Mulder has a confrontation with Krycek, who tells him the aliens exist and are split between a group planning to colonize Earth and another rebel group.
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!!Tropes:
* AntiVillain: The Well-Manicured Man was already established as ALighterShadeOfBlack, but here he is the only elder of the Syndicate to risk opposing colonization.
* BigNo: Mulder to the rebel alien on the truck, before it disappears.
* {{Double Entendre}}:
-->'''Krycek:''' You must be losing it, Mulder. I could beat you with one hand.\\
'''Mulder:''' Isn't that how you like to beat yourself?
* EnemyMine: Krycek forces this on Mulder. To drive the point home, he ''kisses Mulder on the cheek'' and wishes his "friend" good luck in Russian.
* EvilVersusOblivion: The Well-Manicured Man and Krycek both oppose colonization.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The Well-Manicured Man finds himself at an impasse with the rest of the Syndicate. [[spoiler:He'll end up betraying them to help Mulder in the movie.]]
* GainaxEnding: InUniverse. Mulder can make no sense whatsoever of what he saw, but whatever it was is implied to have reignited his belief.
* HesBack: Mulder's beliefs in alien life are restored by the end of the episode, returning him to the man we know best.
* HoldingHands: Scully takes Mulder's hand near the end.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The title is a reference to [[Literature/TheRedAndTheBlack a famous novel]] by Stendhal. It's unclear though what connection the book has to the episode itself.
* MythArc
* NotMeThisTime: Krycek to Mulder:
-->'''Krycek:''' I'm not here to kill you, Mulder, I'm here to help you.\\
'''Mulder:''' [[SarcasmMode Hey, thanks.]]\\
'''Krycek:''' You know, if it wasn't in my best interests, I would just as soon squeeze this trigger.\\
'''Mulder:''' What's stopping you?\\
'''Krycek:''' Hear this, Agent Mulder... listen very carefully because what I'm telling you is deadly serious. There is a war raging, and unless you pull your head out of the sand, you and I and about five billion other people are going to go the way of the dinosaur.
* WhamShot: The person sending Agent Spender letters who is his father? It's the Cigarette Smoking Man!
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->''"A struggle for heaven and earth. Where there is one law: fight or die. And one rule: [[TagLine resist or serve]]."''