"
Requiem" is the twenty-second episode and the finale of the
seventh season the
science fiction television series
The X-Files, and the show's 161st episode overall. It premiered on the
Fox network in the United States on May 21, 2000. The episode was written by
Chris Carter, and directed by
Kim Manners. The episode helped to explore the series' overarching
mythology. "Requiem" earned a
Nielsen household rating of 8.9, being watched by 15.26 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Many applauded the way it made the series' increasingly marginalized alien mythology relevant again, although others lamented the partial loss of
David Duchovny.