When we last saw William, Dana Scully was fitting the special child in a UFO onesie. She gave up her own flesh and blood to protect him. Little did she know that move might have saved the human race. In “Ghouli,” poor Scully has do something that’s even harder than giving up her child in the first place; she has to say goodbye all over again. And despite fans wishing and hoping for a happy ending, it’s straight up tense drama when Gillian Anderson is told she has to turn on the waterworks and say farewell. In her best work of the revival thus far, Anderson taps into the strength that Dana Scully continues to embody in an episode that is a testament to the power and resilience of motherhood. Whether it gets there or not will depend on William. We’ve always known he had special powers, but it’s clear that he has something we’ve seen in the show before; the ability to control people’s visions. Taking a (web)page from the real life Slender Man stabbings, two teenage girls end up knifing each other when they “see” Ghouli on an abandoned ship. William, now known by his adoptive name Jackson Van De Kamp, had no intention of harming the girls, both of whom were his girlfriends, which seems like an unnecessary device meant to get them to buy into the existence of Ghouli. Regardless, Ghouli as a work of fiction is just real enough to land on the desk of Fox Mulder. Was Ghouli a coordinated effort by William to get the attention of his parents? As maligned as some episodes have been, I have to say the pieces of Chris Carter’s revival myth arc story are really coming together. That doesn’t excuse poor execution in the three previous mythology episodes, but that storyboard is looking good right about now. In “Ghouli,” a few things are confirmed: William shared his vision of the end times, the pandemic virus of “My Struggle II,” with Scully. He’s part of “Project Crossroads,” a secret government project that led to alien/human hybrids. CSM, the shady bastard he is, is the “figurative father” of William, using Chris Carter’s words, and impregnated Scully against her will, which is a problematic storyline on many levels. The revelation in “My Struggle II” rightfully doesn’t sit well with a lot of fans, considering how much has been taken away from Scully in this series.
