Themes
The episode portrays Mulder as a Christ-like figure. As scientists experiment on him, he is placed on a cross-like table, which has been interpreted to be symbolic of the cross to which Jesus was nailed. Mulder wears a metal ring around his head, similar to the biblical crown of thorns. Donaldson notes that The Smoking Man's advice to Mulder to save himself echoes the bystanders who told Jesus to save himself from the cross. She draws parallels between Mulder's status as the "savior" of the human race—because of his immunity from the alien infection—and Jesus, whom Christians venerate as humanity's savior.
Donaldson, in her essay "The Last Temptation of Mulder", writes that in Kazantzakis' novel Jesus "represents what is the utmost human challenge, that of releasing the divinity within from its earthly confines." In this way, the Jesus of The Last Temptation of Christ represents "utter humanity" and the "struggle between the spirit and the flesh". Mulder is similarly challenged when he is enticed by The Smoking Man and overcomes temptation by giving up his dream life and embracing his destiny to stop the alien invasion. Several characters in the episode resemble those in the novel. For instance, Fowley is similar to Kazantzakis' version of Mary Magdalene—both characters "thwart the mission" of the hero. Scully parallels Kazantzakis' version of Judas Iscariot, as they both call the heroes out of their respective trances.
According to McIlwain, the episode represents the series' ultimate "coalescence of science, religion, and metaphysics". It is one of the few episodes in which Scully sets aside her empirical reasoning to save Mulder's life. Scully, representing the more rational one "who must anchor herself in the certainty of scientific facts", discovers the aliens shards and deduces that they hold the key to "every question that has ever been asked". Mulder, on the other hand, represents the one who "seeks the truth among a realm of possibilities too fantastic and beyond the realm of scientific validity" and possesses the needed tool—his immunity—to solve the puzzle. The episode also explores the moral side of The Smoking Man and his affinity for evil. Kenneth Silber of Space.com notes that The Smoking Man's "enticing blandishments confirm he is a highly dangerous foe, one whose Machiavellian creativity borders on the Satanic." Timothy Dunn and Joseph J. Foy note in "Moral Musings on a Cigarette Smoking Man" that The Smoking Man's evil deeds have little to do with his mission in the Syndicate, instead reflecting his desire for "completely gratuitous" evil. The two cite his line "Aren't you expecting me to sprout vampire fangs?" as evidence that The Smoking Man is aware of his crimes but casually shrugs them off.
Read more about this topic: The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“In economics, we borrowed from the Bourbons; in foreign policy, we drew on themes fashioned by the nomad warriors of the Eurasian steppes. In spiritual matters, we emulated the braying intolerance of our archenemies, the Shi’ite fundamentalists.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)