The X-Files: My Struggle III

"My Struggle III" is the first episode of season eleven of the paranormal mystery series The X-Files and the 2007th episode of the series overall. It was written and directed by series creator Chris Carter. The episode first aired on the FOX Network on Monday, January 3rd, 2018 at 9:00 pm. In this episode, Dana Scully has a seizure and is taken to the hospital. In the midst of her stay, she experiences intense visions and knows that the Cigarette Smoking Man is going to wipe out humanity. Fox Mulder drives to South Carolina to confront him, but instead encounters Mister Y - a former colleague of his father from the old Syndicate days.

Notes & Trivia

 * The X-Files was created by Chris Carter.


 * "My Struggle III", "XF: My Struggle III", and "TXF: My Struggle III" all redirect to this page.


 * This episode is rated TV-14 (LVD).


 * Story archetype: This episode follows the series trope of the government conspiracy plot lines that has been a mainstay of the series. This episode is a continuation of the season ten finale, "My Struggle II", and focuses on the character of the show's primary antagonist, the Cigarette Smoking Man.


 * Co-producer Garfield Whitman is credited as Garfield Cunningham Whitman in this episode.


 * The opening credit sequence ends with the words "I want to believe", which then dissolves certain letters to form the sentence "I want to lie".


 * This is the first credited acting work for Erica Govier.


 * This is the first appearance of Mister Y, who appears to be a former member of The Syndicate.

Allusions

 * The Cigarette Smoking Man's real name is revealed to be Carl Gerhard Busch in this episode. Previously, he was identified as C.G.B. Spender.


 * This episode reveals that the events of "My Struggle II" were actually all just part of Dana Scully's seizure vision.


 * In The X-Files continuity, the 1969 moon landing was faked. C.G.B. Spender had a hand in the cover-up.


 * This episode shows that the Cigarette Smoking Man was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This was previously established back in the season four episode, "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", which shows that the Smoking Man was the actual shooter in the Texas school book depository, and not Lee Harvey Oswald.

Quotes

 * Fox Mulder: Oh. That's the plan. A secret space program? I don't think so. I think this is a power play. You want me to kill him so you can implement your own plan. You want to see blood in the streets. The colonization of space? How do you plan to do that? Transport all humanity off-planet? Seven billion people? That's not possible. Only a chosen few. And you call him evil?

Crew

 * Mark Snow - Music by
 * Robert Komatsu, ACE - Editor
 * Mark Freeborn - Production designer
 * Craig Wrobleski - Director of photography
 * Garfield Cunningham Whitman - Co-producer
 * Gabe Rotter - Producer


 * Darin Morgan - Consulting producer
 * James Wong - Consulting producer
 * Grace Gilroy - Producer
 * Chris Carter - Executive producer
 * Glen Morgan - Executive producer
 * Rick Millikan, CSA - Casting

Keywords
Hospital | JFK assassination | Moon landing faked | Morse code | Smoking