[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E01Within 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E02Without 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E03Patience 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E04Roadrunners 4]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E05Invocation 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E06Redrum 6]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E07ViaNegativa 7]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E08Surekill 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E09Salvage 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E10Badlaa 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E11TheGift 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E12Medusa 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E13PerManum 13]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E14ThisIsNotHappening 14]] | '''15''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E16ThreeWords 16]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E17Empedocles 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E18Vienen 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E19Alone 19]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E20Essence 20]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS08E21Existence 21]]]]-]]]
'''Season 8, Episode 15:'''
!Deadalive
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesdeadalive.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"We all have a life in our hands. I have yours... you have Mulder's... and Scully has her unborn child. It's who's willing to sacrifice."'']]
->Written by Creator/ChrisCarter & Frank Spotnitz\\
Directed by Creator/TonyWharmby

->''"It's so improbable... and I would have said impossible before this. The clinical fact he's alive when effectively this man, his tissue and I presume his neural and vascular systems are all in a state of decomposition."''
-->-- '''Dr. Lim'''

Three months after Mulder's death, the body of Billy Miles, a man abducted at the same time as Mulder, is found in the ocean. Just as he's about to be autopsied, he seemingly comes back from the dead - turns out, he was never really dead, his vitals were just slowed to virtually undetectable levels. This leads Skinner to believe Mulder may also still be alive.
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!!Tropes:
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Scully puts her hand through Mulder's hair.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Mulder was apparently in a sort of coma for three months while buried, his life signs barely detectable, but without water or nutrients to sustain him. Only alien science can explain it away.
* BaitAndSwitch: When Mulder finally wakes up, he asks Scully who she is. This leads us into thinking that his abduction gave him severe amnesia, [[HesBack but when he smiles at her response, we can all breathe a sigh of relief]].
* BodyHorror: Billy's skin peeling away in the shower is one of the more disturbing images on the show.
* CryIntoChest: Scully to Mulder as he lies in the hospital.
* DeathGlare: Doggett gives Krycek an epic one when Krycek mockingly drops the vaccine to cure Mulder.
* FakingAmnesia: Jokingly, Mulder pretends to not know who Scully is for a brief moment when he wakes up in the hospital.
* HeldGaze: Mulder and Scully when he wakes up in the hospital.
* HoldingHands: Scully holds Mulder's hand while he's unconscious, and he twitches to show he's awake.
* PetTheDog: Despite how much of a jerkass Kersh was in the past and going forward, he attends Mulder's funeral and is genuinely solemn. A possible hint of his eventual HeelFaceTurn.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Everyone has believed Mulder to be dead for the last three months. Not too far off from the truth, but in reality he's just been [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine in a sort of coma]], with vital signs so weak they were undetectable.
* SadisticChoice: Krycek offers Skinner the vaccine that will save Mulder's life, but to get it Skinner must kill Scully's unborn baby.
* ShoutOut: Creator/RobertPatrick pursuing a fleeing car on foot while attacking them in a parking garage. [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay Sound]] [[ActorAllusion familiar?]]
* TimeSkip: The beginning of the episode shows Mulder's funeral, then skips to three months later.
* UnrequitedLove: Heavily implied from Doggett to Scully over the course of their time working together, and that she knows. For his part, Doggett never acknowledges it to her verbally, sharing a look at the end of the episode with her that sums it up, realistically understanding the futility of it, that her heart already belongs to Mulder.
* UnbrokenVigil: Scully finds out Mulder is alive and at the hospital, and verbally chews out anyone who says she shouldn't be there or she should leave.
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->''[[HesBack "Anybody miss me?"]]''