10 Amazing TV Episodes (That Doomed Great Shows)

The wisdom of continuing the X-Files after the conclusion of the 'mythology' story arc was much the same as the decision to cancel Twin Peaks, except this time at least Fox had a vague idea where they intended the future of Mulder and Scully to go beyond the alien invasion conspiracy.

The X-Files were split into two categories, the 'monster of the week' episodes and the 'mythology' episodes, that took up roughly a third of the series eventual nine season run. One Son was to be the conclusion to the six season story arc that had run since the very beginning.

The Syndicate, a shadowy organisation run by a small group of nefarious businessmen and their smoking goons, were to oversee the colonisation of Earth by alien invaders. This plan had been set in motion as far back as the 1947 Roswell incident and would see the spread of a virus, infecting humans via the black oil, which would turn humans into alien-human hybrids.

The episode was immensely cathartic and an appropriately epic climax to the story that viewers and invested six years in. The Syndicate gather in an enormous aircraft hanger, ready to greet their new masters, only to be burnt alive by a rebel alien faction, working for the humans against the colonists. The story had to end somewhere but once the balloon is burst, there's no re-inflation. The really crazy decision was to continue The X-Files at all, after this immensely rewarding finale and gripping conclusion to the story.