One Son

"One Son" is the twelfth episode of the sixth season and the 129th episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 14, 1999 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom on Sky1. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. "One Son" received a Nielsen rating of 10.1 and was watched by 16.57 million viewers. The episode was generally positively received by critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. While Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright) reveals the truth about the alien conspiracy to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), her ex-husband—the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis)—does the same to her son, Jeffrey Spender (Chris Owens) in an effort to convince him to work with the conspiracy. But even as Mulder is deceived by Diana Fowley (Mimi Rogers), Scully stays true to the investigation, and the two find a surprise ally. Meanwhile, the Syndicate reach the climax of their plans, only to find that the end is not as they expected.

"One Son" is a direct continuation of the previous episode, "Two Fathers". The episode, along with its predecessor, was written in order to eliminate the Syndicate and relaunch the series' mythology. Producer Frank Spotnitz was particularly critical of the visual effects used in the episode, going so far as to say that several of the effects were among the worst ever created for the show.

Read more about One Son:  Plot, Reception, References

Famous quotes containing the word son:

    Remember that every son had a mother
    whose beloved son he was,
    and every woman had a mother
    whose beloved son she wasn’t.
    Marge Piercy (20th century)