‘The X-Files’ Season Finale: William Returns & [Spoiler] Dies — But Are They Really Dead?

Finally, some answers! ‘The X-Files’ delivers the truth about William in the season finale, but still leaves us hanging with a major cliffhanger. Who is William really, and what does this mean for Mulder and Scully? Find out!

Scully has been right this whole time. Jackson, the teenage boy we met earlier this season, is actually William. The episode starts in William’s point of view. He has the same visions, the same connections to his mother that she’s experienced. He knows who Scully is, and he wants to find her just as much as she does him. Here’s the problem — agents are still chasing him, trying to capture him for the Cigarette Smoking Man. He has “everything that the world wants, what people would kill for.” What we know from the beginning of the season is that he’s the key to stopping the end of the world. Which, by the way, is coming.

Through their mind meld, Scully knows where William’s hiding and sends Mulder to find him. Too bad everyone’s trying to stop him, especially the Smoking Man. William also has a connection to his father, his real father. The Smoking Man wasn’t bluffing when he told Skinner that he had secretly impregnated Scully. Which is disgusting, and a discredit to her character, but there’s nothing we can do about that right now. Mulder and Scully don’t know any of this, and it’s dreadful to think that Mulder’s out there searching for his long lost kid. William has visions of the Smoking Man raising a gun to Mulder, but it goes blurry from there. Is he really going to kill him?

Along with the shapeshifting we saw earlier in the season, William has some Eleven-grade powers. He can send bullies to the hospital just by concentrating, shatter windows by stomping his feet, and even make eggs hatch. Oh, and cause people to explode into a million pieces. Dope. Mulder’s relentless in his pursuit, and after a lot of mayhem, finally finds him in Norfolk, Virginia, the city where he grew up. William is suicidal, and desperate to not be on the run anymore. He doesn’t believe that Mulder can actually protect him.

Or rather, he doesn’t want Mulder to protect him. William goes on the run again, this time with Mulder, Scully, and Skinner on his tail. They corner him at an old factory, where he’ll do anything to escape. He even shape-shifts into Mulder to trick Scully. “Mulder” tells Scully to let him go, and that William loves her. The real Mulder shows up, though, and it happens all over again. Someone else tailing William — the Smoking Man. Here’s where things get wild.

While Mulder and Scully are tracking down William, Skinner tries to fight his nemesis, but it’s all for naught. The Smoking Man hits and runs over Skinner with his car. Walter Skinner is DEAD. Here’s the thing, though; maybe he’s not. We see his body under the car, but not his face. And the Smoking Man doesn’t bother to check. Fingers crossed that this really isn’t the end for him.

This leaves the Smoking Man free to continue pursuing William. Mulder gets in his way, though, and we see the confrontation first envisioned by William at the beginning of the episode. Smoking Man shoots Mulder in the forehead, and he falls off a dock, into the murky water below. Then…Mulder runs up behind the Smoking Man with his gun raised. Dude actually shot William, disguised as Mulder again. And Mulder shoots the Smoking Man about a zillion times, finally (hopefully) getting rid of him for good.

Scully and Mulder break down in tears knowing that William’s gone. She confesses that she found out he was “only a lab experiment.” Neither of them were William’s parents, really. But…they are parents. Scully’s pregnant! No, seriously. Scully’s pregnant WITH MULDER’S BABY. If anything, this finally gives us confirmation that they’ve had sex.  Hey — shouldn’t someone check on Skinner? Pretty sure Scully and Mulder didn’t know about him dying. Of course, this is where the season ends. And there’s still no word on if we’ll get another season out of the show.