No, don’t tell me. I’m enjoying speculating based off what I’ve seen on the show.

Yes, talking about Alex Krycek may seem like old news. Watching the entire X-Files series is something I’ve finally gotten around to during lockdown. I’ve been curious about Alex Krycek ever since I encoutered him in a slash fanfiction cross-over with Forever Knight. The story got me curious about The X-Files in general years ago. I started watching it, but only now am I seeing all of it. Watching once more has gotten me wondering about Alex Krycek. How much of what he said was true? For Krycek was more than willing to lie, but I’m uncertain if all he said were lies. He appeared to have connections in Russia. They couldn’t keep him out of trouble or intact, but they allowed him to hobnob with and give orders to some very interesting people. How much of that was due to his mysterious background or his ability to fast-talk in a tight situation? Perhaps a measure of both.

I do believe Alex Krycek was the Smoking Man’s personal protégé. For all that Krycek has interacted with (and tried to manipulate) the entire Syndicate, Well-Manicured Man once referred to him as one of the Smoking Man’s bumbling assassins. Not long afterwards Krycek was nearly blown up in a car, an “accident” which appeared to be of the Smoking Man’s design. Krycek called the Smoking Man and threatened him shortly after. This may have begun Alex Krycek’s period as a rogue agent, out for only himself. He may have been planted in the F.B.I. to spy on Mulder, he may have betrayed Mulder and tried to destroy Scully, but I believe Krycek was loyal to the Smoking Man until his mentor and master tried to kill him. I say mentor because, yes, I do believe much of what Alex Krycek was and became was due to the Smoking Man's tutelage. After that betrayal, Krycek started playing his own games, trying to grasp whatever power he could for himself.

In spite of wanting to kill the Smoking Man, I still feel like Krycek wanted to his impress his former mentor, to get the Smoking Man to acknowledge him. It may have maddened Krycek a bit, the favoritism and/or attention the Smoking Man showed his sons when neither of those boys had the stomach for the dirty work their father was engaged in. I think Krycek was a little shocked at how naive Jeffrey Spender was, how little he knew. He was used to dealing with Mulder whom had proven himself to be capable and intuitive, even though Mulder clung to what Krycek may have viewed as impractical and archaic ideals. There was always a spark of something beneath the animosity between Mulder and Krycek, something a little deeper. It was this which inspired so much slash fiction between them, for those moments in the canon between them were often enigmatic and not quite definable. This something didn’t quell the adversity between the two men, but it gave it another layer which always held my attention.

I’m reaching the end of Krycek’s time as a character on The X-Files. No doubt he had it coming. It’s interesting that Krycek’s demise came when Mulder himself was departing from The X-Files. He wouldn’t be coming back like Mulder, Scully and the Smoking Man. He’s left behind with Mulder’s youth, something else I find interesting.

Alex Krycek may well have tales to tell from beyond the grave which have never been told. At the same time one of the things that makes him intriguing is that he remains a mystery. I can’t picture him resting in peace, regardless.