| "Nothing Important Happened Today" | |||
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| The X-Files episode | |||
Carl Wormus being dragged under water by Shannon McMahon |
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| Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 1-2 |
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| Directed by | Kim Manners Tony Wharmby |
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| Written by | Chris Carter Frank Spotnitz |
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| Production code | 9ABX01-02 | ||
| Original air date | November 11, 2001 November 18, 2001 |
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of season 9 episodes List of The X-Files episodes |
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"Nothing Important Happened Today" is the collective name for the 182nd and 183rd episodes of the science fiction television series The X-Files. Part 1 first aired on November 11 and Part 2 aired on November 18, 2001 on Fox in the United States and Canada. Both episodes subsequently aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The story was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Kim Manners (Part 1) and Tony Wharmby (Part 2). The episodes' story continues on from the previous episode, "Existence".
"Nothing Important Happened Today" was a storyline milestone for the series. It introduced both the story arc about baby William which would continue to develop throughout the ninth season and AD Brad Follmer, a recurring character for the show's ninth season. Part 1 deals with the investigation of Deputy Director Alvin Kersh by Special agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Doggett's related investigation into the death of EPA official Carl Wormus. In Part 2, Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), and Doggett are led to a ship, where they find evidence of experimentation on human embryos. Although the episodes earned low Nielsen household and syndication ratings in the United States compared to previous X-Files premieres, and received meager attention in the United Kingdom and Ireland, they were generally well-received by fans and critics alike.
The episode was supposed to mark the first appearance of recurring regular Lucy Lawless as Shannon McMahon, a female Super Soldier, but Lawless' high-risk pregnancy prevented her from returning to the show. These episodes marked, however, the first appearance of recurring regular, Cary Elwes as Brad Follmer, an FBI Assistant Director.
Contents |
Carl Wormus, an United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, picks up a beautiful woman, Shannon McMahon (Lucy Lawless), in a Baltimore bar. While driving home with her, she forces the car off a bridge and then holds Wormus underwater until he drowns. Later, Special agent Monica Reyes meets Assistant Director Brad Follmer in his office, where he hands her two videotapes from the night of the birth of Agent Dana Scully's son. They show no evidence of the events Special agent John Doggett reported. Doggett goes to Agent Fox Mulder's apartment to consult him, but finds it empty.
McMahon, who has swum into a water reclamation plant, drowns a worker there named Roland McFarland. Doggett goes to Scully to try and find Mulder, but she refuses to disclose Mulder's whereabouts and urges Doggett to drop his investigation into Kersh's actions. When Doggett refuses, Scully asks him to leave. Doggett tries to contact some of his old friends from the Marine Corps, including McMahon, to find out what happened to Knowle Rohrer. Meanwhile, an unseen figure slips Reyes (who is working in the X-Files office), an obituary of Wormus. Meanwhile, Scully's baby causes the mobile of his crib to spin of its own accord. Shocked, she contacts Doggett, now urging him to continue his investigation. He calls her in to perform an autopsy on Wormus' body, where she finds fingerprints on his ankle. After leaving, they see McMahon, who removes the body from the morgue. Follmer, who has been ordered to rein in Doggett's investigation by Alvin Kersh, arrives at the scene and accuses Scully and Reyes of moving the body.
The Lone Gunmen find that Wormus had been receiving data from McFarland, the drowned reclamation worker. Agent Doggett breaks into McFarland's office with AD Walter Skinner and finds files on Chloramine, but Follmer arrives. Doggett slips into a filtration tank to hide, but is pulled deep under water by McMahon.
A captain of a navy ship delivers a communication to Doctor Nordlinger, who orders the ship's captain to return the ship to its base. Brad Follmer leaves the water reclamation facility after failing to spot Doggett, who passes out under water. Shannon McMahon keeps him alive by passing air from her lungs into his. Back at FBI headquarters, Monica Reyes is called into Follmer's office. Follmer warns her to distance herself from John Doggett and his investigation of Alvin Kersh, but Reyes believes Follmer has his own political agenda and walks out. Doggett wakes up at his home to find McMahon, who tells him that both she and Knowle Rohrer are Super Soldiers, and that they cannot be killed. Doggett calls Dana Scully to his house, and McMahon tells them that the program is to be expanded by adding Chloramine, a mutation-inducing chemical, to the water supply. Meanwhile Rohrer approaches the captain onboard the ship, informing him that he is now second-in-command. He later queries the captain as to the vessel's mission. The body of the original officer is found in the water nearby.
Scully examines McMahon and finds her to be physically normal. Reyes tries to find out more about McMahon's history and learns that she is a Department of Justice employee and had been contacted by Wormus and McFarland in their attempts to expose the plans to contaminate the water supply. The Lone Gunmen intercept a call from the Captain to Wormus, telling him to contact the FBI. The Captain then pulls a gun on the Navy Seal guarding the entrance to the lab, demanding that Nordlinger hand over the project's data. He doesn't notice Rohrer creeping up behind him.
After hearing Reyes' findings, Scully, Reyes and Doggett go to the ship. They expect to meet the captain, but instead find Rohrer, who Doggett shoots repeatedly to no effect. Just as Rohrer is about to crush Doggett's skull, he is decapitated by McMahon. Rohrer is presumed dead, but soon awakens and stabs McMahon. Both bodies tumble into the water. The three agents board the ship, which is abandoned, and find the captain's decapitated body. Scully gains access to the now empty lab, but is forced to leave when Doggett finds a time bomb on the bridge. The agents narrowly escape the explosion.
Later, Doggett confronts Kersh, who was not implicated in the conspiracy. Kersh explains to Doggett that he left the evidence that helped Doggett, and that he had told Fox Mulder to flee, but ultimately it was Scully who actually convinced him to do so. Meanwhile, Scully dreams of McMahon's and Rohrer's lifeless bodies below the harbor. Suddenly, she sees McMahon's eyes snap open. Scully wakes up immediately, but goes back to sleep as the camera pans up to focus on the child's mobile, which starts to move of its own accord.
The phrase "Nothing Important Happened Today" comes from King George III's fictional diary entry on 4 July 1776, the same day that America declared Independence from Britain (this is a likely reference to Louis XVI's hunting log, which contained the entry "rien" [nothing] for the date of the Storming of the Bastille). Part 1 marks the first appearance of Assistant Director Brad Follmer, who was named after Chris Carter's writing assistant.[1] Five different actors portrayed Baby William: Rikki Held, Rowdy Held, Ashley Knutson, James Riker and Travis Riker. The tagline for Part 2 is "Nothing Important Happened Today", replacing the usual phrase "The Truth is Out There."
Carter, after learning about the 2001 cancellation of Xena Warrior Princess, thought that Lucy Lawless might be interested in new and different opportunities as an actor.[2] According to Lawless, one reason why she made an appearance on the show was that her daughter was a "mad X-Files fan". She further commented that she knew about the show and based her character Xena on Fox Mulder.[3]
Originally, Shannon McMahon was to be a recurring character and was due to be featured in "The Truth", the series finale of The X-Files. However, Lawless, who has a history of miscarriages, became pregnant shortly after part two of these episodes was filmed; her high-risk pregnancy prevented her returning to the series for future episodes. Carter called Lawless "hot stuff", saying it was "fun" having a female Super Soldier, something that had never occurred to him or to the show's production crew.[4]
In the first underwater scene, most of which was shot at the water tank at Universal, Lawless had to be seat-belted into a car that was supposed to be submerged thirteen feet. In actuality, the water tank was four feet deep. Lawless, being six feet tall, had to kneel and breathe into a hookah while filming the scene. One of the hardest part for the special effects team for the episode was to hide the fact that Lawless was wearing a swimming suit.[4]
"Nothing Important Happened Today, Part 1" earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.5, with a 10 share. It was viewed by 6.850 million households and was viewed by a total of 10.600 million viewers in the United States alone. Part 1 became the second most watched episode of the ninth season behind the series finale "The Truth". Part 2 earned a rating of 5.9, with a 9 share. It was viewed by 6.225 households and 9.400 in total viewership.[5] The second part of the episode, which aired on Sunday, November 18, competed with Saving Private Ryan which aired on ABC. This episode earned the lowest rating of the evening, and received lower ratings and viewership numbers then The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle.[6] When talking about the ninth season, Carter stated, "We lost our audience on the first episode. It's like the audience had gone away, and I didn't know how to find them. I didn't want to work to get them back because I believed what we are doing deserved to have them back".[7] "Nothing Important Happened Today", together with other mytharc episodes, were featured in the DVD release, The X-Files Mythology, Volume 4 - Super Soldiers.
A reviewer from Critical Myth gave part one 6 out of 10 points and stated that the episode was "decent", but that it "suffered" thanks to being a "three-part mythology arc".[8] However, part two was given a more positive reaction, and received 9 out of 10 points. The reviewer called it a "wonderful addition to the mythology" arc.[9] An unnamed staff writer of Airlock Alpha was mostly positive about the episode, with the exception of Cary Elwes as Brad Follmer, calling Elwes' acting "forced".[10] Rob Lowman from the Los Angeles Daily News said that Carter had been able to "breathe new life" into the series mythology arc, and had a positive view of Lucy Lawless performance.[11] Marisa Guthrie from the Boston Herald felt that Gillian Anderson's character, Dana Scully had been "rendered impotent".[12]