How far is Mulder willing to go for his crusade, and what will it take for him to call it quits?

Since the very inception of The X-Files, Mulder’s raison d’être has always been about his crusade for answers and the truth behind his sister’s abduction. Sitting in the FBI’s basement, it consumed his life, and ultimately those around him, as he spiralled deeper and deeper into a conspiracy about the government’s complicity in a plan for alien colonisation.

This crusade cost Mulder dearly, losing friends and family in a costly trade for the truth. This truth and his connection to it made an end to the campaign seem nearly impossible. However, the end of season eight would change this. Over the course of a six-episode arc, Mulder’s quest would find a resolution.

Even before this arc, however, signs pointing towards the end of Mulder’s battle with the truth had already been laid out (likely in response to Duchovny’s own wish to leave the show). Episodes such as Sixth Extinction: Amor Fati and Closure sought to end Mulder’s most significant reason to fight and to reflect on his ultimate goal. In the months before his abduction, they paint a picture of Mulder as a wary figure slowly loosening their grip on something that has controlled his life for a decade.

In response, season eight’s sextet has Mulder deal with the end of his crusade in a similar manner to the six stages of grief, beginning with Three Words and Mulder’s anger and denial.

A mythology-laden episode, it drops Mulder back into the deep end of the conspiracy rabbit hole, except things aren’t how they used to be. Things have moved on in the X-Files, and the FBI no longer wants him anywhere near them. With his life’s work taken out from under him and seeing his crusade come to nothing, it causes him to lash out, making Agent Doggett the focus of his rage.

Desperate to cling to anything that makes sense to him, he tries fighting the future alone, only to find a similar story waiting for him. The truth he sought so defiantly to expose has been obfuscated beyond recognition. The conspiracy once held by a handful of men has turned into a government-wide affair, and unlike CSM and the original group, they think nothing of squishing a bug that’s been annoying them. It’s a crushing blow that leaves Mulder on the outside looking in, igniting Mulder to reflect on what’s most important in his life.

His reflections continue in the episode, Empedocles, as well. It’s a monster-of-the-week story that has Mulder offer his advice on the supernatural elements surrounding an office shooting. Much like the last episode, the theme of things moving on in Mulder’s absence is present throughout. The messaging surrounding the changing of the guard is more overt during this episode as the Doggett and Reyes duo get their first full outing.

Seeing that some would fight for his cause results in Mulder’s acceptance of a possible end to his crusade over the next two episodes, Vienen and Alone. These themes of acceptance come through especially strong during the former episode. Mulder and Doggett’s buddy-cop routine offers the perfect opportunity to open Doggett’s eyes to the truth and give Mulder the successor he’s always wanted.

By the end of these two episodes, Mulder seems at peace with his decision. This is bolstered by his renewed focus on Scully, whose baby is due any day. With something new to focus on, Mulder has a new quest to champion and is finally ready to enter the final stage of ending his crusade.

Essence and Existence are about resolution and moving forward. It sees Mulder’s crusade and his new life clash in dramatic fashion. To secure a new chapter in his life, the story sees Mulder strive for one last push to seek the future he’s always aspired to but has been held at arm’s length because of his crusade. It’s a fresh start that is ultimately squandered in later seasons, however.

The final episodes of the X-Files’s eighth season successfully portray the end of Mulder’s battle to keep ahold of his crusade. In a battle that started well before these stories made it to the screen, these episodes take Mulder’s character through a journey of grief and acceptance to discover that there’s more at stake than the truth. It’s just a shame that in later episodes and seasons, the show sought to rewrite this resolution, ultimately messing with a perfect ending.