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The Red and the Black
"They're ... they're taking her. They're... oh, my God."
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?
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.
Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: The Well-Manicured Man was already established as A Lighter Shade of Black, but here he is the only elder of the Syndicate to risk opposing colonization.
- Big "NO!": 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? - Enemy Mine: Krycek forces this on Mulder. To drive the point home, he kisses Mulder on the cheek and wishes his "friend" good luck in Russian.
- Evil Versus Oblivion: 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. He'll end up betraying them to help Mulder in the movie.
- Gainax Ending: In-Universe. Mulder can make no sense whatsoever of what he saw, but whatever it was is implied to have reignited his belief.
- He's Back!: Mulder's beliefs in alien life are restored by the end of the episode, returning him to the man we know best.
- Holding Hands: Scully takes Mulder's hand near the end.
- Literary Allusion Title: The title is a reference to a famous novel by Stendhal. It's unclear though what connection the book has to the episode itself.
- Myth Arc
- Not Me This Time: Krycek to Mulder:Krycek: I'm not here to kill you, Mulder, I'm here to help you.
Mulder: 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. - Wham Shot: The person sending Agent Spender letters who is his father? It's the Cigarette Smoking Man!
"A struggle for heaven and earth. Where there is one law: fight or die. And one rule: resist or serve."
