"The X-Files (Season 10 and 11) (2016/2018 Television Mini-Series)" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

I'm glad Mulder and Scully are a couple again. That didn't take very long.

Me, too. Maybe there was time skip btw episodes. In any case, I'm looking forward to a shift to the monster-of-the-week format starting next week it seems.

 

[Spideyzilla]

Wow, what a turn around. Next to the Darin Morgan episode from last season, this has got to be the best episode of this whole revival. What an excellent episode. It had everything I wanted out of The X-Files: fun, mystery, some spookiness (that ending really creeped me out), Mulder and Scully banter and chemistry, a great mystery, and an engaging storyline. It was well written and directed, and the cast, especially Duchovny, looked like they were having a blast. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said, but this was an absolute treat, and a complete 180 from last week's tire fire. Well done, Glen Morgan! And hey, the mythology suddenly got interesting again, how about that! I'd argue that this episode moved it in a direction where we (gulp) almost don't need CSM. I get that the plot is that CSM and this new syndicate are at odds, but I kinda of like where this one was going in terms of furthering the mythology, and even moving it away from aliens a little bit.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files "Plus One"

Chris Carter has completely lost his touch. To be absolutely fair to this episode, a lot of the premise and backwards attitudes are consistent with the first 9 seasons. But see, I don't put up with a lot of crap they did on the old show in a modern show anymore. If The X-Files isn't going to evolve its storytelling, it shouldn't have come back.

Where to begin? How about Mulder merely handing that poor guy his card? That moment right there told me Mulder and Scully are absolutely useless and always have been. They didn't think to offer that guy FBI protection? Or at least stay with him while he was going through this? I mean the deaths only happened when the people were alone, right? Why not make sure to give this guy a person to watch them? What are the X-Files even for if they can't help protect innocent people from stuff like that? What is the actual point of Mulder and Scully? Answer: There doesn't seem to be one.

And then Mulder makes a joke about him losing his head. You know, you forgive that kind of thing from Lennie Briscoe, because Briscoe has never met the victim in question, and is using it as gallows humor to defuse the tension of being with a dead body. Mulder actually thinks that quip is funny in that circumstance. Worse, this wasn't some random guy. He and Scully had met the lawyer, and basically failed to save his life. And Mulder doesn't care. One of the worst things about Mulder on the old show was his disregard for other people. It was the 90's, so I forgave it, because it's not like there was a ton of better written television shows with better characters to compare it with. Now that there have been, I call foul. It is unacceptable.

Also, does is never occur to Mulder that Scully has gone through menopause and that's why she can't have kids? Plus, I seem to remember her ova was stolen by aliens in the original series. He is being so indelicate and the look on her face says "Geez, do I have to spell this out for you?"

Also, let me see if I get this straight: Mulder and Scully live in the same house and chill on the couch but still aren't back together? I'm calling b.s.. That's a retcon from last week.

Also, doors to patients' bedrooms in mental hospitals do not have locks precisely for the reason the episode showed. In an emergency, the staff need to be able to reach the patient in crisis immediately. Also, there are no hospital staff that afraid of their charges. If the patient IS that dangerous, they are put in a worse institution that can handle them. In reality, if Judy is as bad as the nurses say, she'd be somewhere else, somewhere MUCH more strict, and certainly someplace without a lock on the bedroom door. It's been over 20 years! How does Chris Carter still not know this? He has obviously been throwing out my hatemail for the past 20 years.

I look forward to next week's episode, which is clearly written by Darin Morgan. Because Chris Carter has no idea what he is doing. When the current episodes aren't written by him, the show is fine. He is the sole reason the relaunch is sucking. *.

 

[Yojimbo]

Plain dumb luck the twins turned on each other. Good job, FBI agents.

If I remember right, Karin Konoval was in an older episode of the series but I think it was as a different character than these twins. Or was it on Millennium?

Geez, that bed scene was painful. Did Mulder get his memory zapped? I know the timeline has always been screwy on the original run but shouldn't he know what Scully was alluding to? Man. Plus, Carter's writing was an eyeroll especially with Mulder saying 'the President bringing down the FBI in a world that’s going to hell.'

Thank goodness next week's episode looks awesome.

 

[Yojimbo]

"The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" was hilarious. Hilarious but poignant. If anything, that could have been the series finale. That shot of one of the A-maze-ing Laughter statues and Mulder, the juxtaposition -- Mmn. Memory and legacy. Has the world really passed by Mulder?

Though it was kinda of scary how seemless they added in Trump quotes into dialogue like with the alien in the final X-File scene. So biting how those two young agents had contempt for Mulder.

And Skinner for the win.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files "The Lost Art Of Forehead Sweat"

Aiight! Let's get some Darin Morgan all up in heyah!

If Darin Morgan wrote every episode of The X-Files, we wouldn't be in the mess we're currently in.

For the record, if the actual original series had ended the way Reggie's fantasy did, I would not have objected. And even if I did, my heart really wouldn't be in it. It was at least better than what we got.

Also for the record, upon Dana Scully declaring that a flavor of off-brand gelatin tasted like "Leprechaun taint", the episode was automatically going to get five stars from me, no matter what else happened. Everything past that point was pretty much gravy as far as I was concerned.

The episode was surprisingly political, but I think the Mandela Effect has gotten political, because a lot of it HAS gotten intentional. Maybe not quite the level of Dr. They, but political pundits say a lie on TV, and their followers instantly believe it, and call evidence to the contrary fake news. And suddenly utter crap is up for debate. Our discourse has, well, coarsened, due to the fact that truth no longer matters to either the public or media. It's not even about Trump. It's far larger than him, and the problem would exist with or without him. It's all about The Narrative. Whatever FEELS true. We cannot alienate half of our audience by suggesting voting for a child molester or a sexual predator is a moral failing. It might upset those voters to point that out. It's just half of the story, and what some people say, and we'll have to leave it there.

Mulder was right about something. Conspiracy theories have gotten stupider and lazier. One of the cool things about the old conspiracy theories is that they make weird kind of sense on some level, and you believe that by connecting the dots, you may be smarter than the people who reject "The Truth". That's their appeal, and what Art Bell tapped into, and was probably the biggest reason the original series was the success it was. It tapped into some very real fears that we were all being lied to, and that we were smart enough to ask the tough questions. Skepticism of the line fed by the government used to be done by smart people, or at least people who could pass as smart if you untied them from the table. A good conspiracy theory is plausible, if only because it cannot be disproven. That is the genius of them.

But now we have the Birthers.

Birthers: "Show us the birth certificate!"

Obama: "Here my certificate of birth in long-form. As an additional gift I've attached Bin Laden's head while smoking Trump at the Correspondent's Dinner."

Birthers: "No, I mean the birth certificate! Show us the birth certificate!"

Obama: "Uh, this IS the..."

Birthers: "Not the certificate of birth! The birth certificate!"

Obama: "Oh my."

Birthers: "Derp."

And so on. Conspiracy theorists used to be cool, overexcited, loners. Now they are all bumpkins and rubes, who will believe anything Sean Hannity tells them to. They turned from The Lone Gunmen into the folks from Deliverance. Objective facts doesn't matter to these yokels. For current conspiracy theorists, proof is irrelevant. And for a man like Mulder, who has spent his entire life searching for proof for the things he believes in, the idea that it doesn't actually matter has got to be the most disheartening thing in the world. People will believe anything, no matter how stupid it is. I can see why he lost his taste for it.

"I'm Fox Freaking Mulder!" Prediction: That is going to be a popular gif.

I love Mulder's outrage at Scully wondering if he confused the Lost Twilight Zone episode with an Outer Limits. "Do you even freaking KNOW ME?!" That strikes me as a man who has just been deeply personally offended by someone he cares about and thought he knew.

I loved Reggie figuring out the Peacocks. Eww!

Those better not be killer cats. Remember when I said The X-Files would be better off if Darin Morgan wrote every episode? The killer cat episode is case in point.

Mulder talking about parallel universes was the most epic nerd fight, and only truly hardcore nerds would get what that was about. It was about which is better: Fringe or The X-Files. And fans of both shows have loud opinions about that. I personally lean towards Fringe, just because that was kind enough to actually give us a freaking ending (no matter what it was), but the fact that The X-Files has Morgan, and Fringe doesn't, means that the case could be made either way.

For the record, I know Morgan was a consultant on Fringe. But he never wrote an episode, which seemed to me to be the biggest waste of the entire hire. Seriously, Fringe. What was wrong with you?

I love that Reggie's ride is from the men in white coats. Skinner: "Where are they taking Reggie?" I actually didn't like that joke because it made no sense, and everything else in the episode could at least be reasonably explained. It's a hazard of enjoying a Darin Morgan episode, but not every Darin Morgan episode does something like that, and I always prefer the ones that don't have that moment.

I love the ending of Scully declining to taste the gelatin because she'd rather remember it as it was. And that was very sweet. The fact that she used the Bigfoot print as the gelatin mold struck me as a very romantic and personal notion. Which is weird. But in an episode where Mulder wears tree camouflage to search for peace and quiet by hunting for Sasquatch, maybe that's not very weird after all.

Darin Morgan is the only person on Earth who has ever made Trump-speak barely tolerable by me. And it still shows the crazy hoops he had to jump through to do it. But damn it, he still did it. He is a king. Five stars. *****.

 

[Yojimbo]

Well, it was a safe move in finally addressing William. In the end, not a teary reunion or being unceremoniously killed off. Still, he got to talk to his mom will pretending to be Francois Chau in a bittersweet send off of sorts. But some closure even though CSM and the vision are still in play.

My two quibble is, one: I thought William's powers were nullified before Scully put him in the blind adoption. Eh, guess it didn't take. Two, eye roll for dumping more on Scully.

It was amusing that William ended up writing a website about monsters, hacked the DOD, touches his forehead to his girlfriend, and fakes his death to get out of trouble. Are we 100% sure he's not Mulder’s son? Man...

 

[Fone Bone]

Are we 100% sure he's not Mulder’s son? Man...

He's Mulder's son. Cancer Man tried to have him killed. I don't think he would have done that if he was actually his.

The X-Files "Ghouli"

That was acceptable. Not great, but considering the dark subject matter, it could have been worse. At least James Wong wrote it instead of Chris Carter. But I knew going by the teaser that this would not be fun.

I love the idea of Jackson using Marvin Candle as a disguise. Equally funny is that Mulder goes by Bob in coffee shops because he doesn't want to have to explain Fox every single time. The episode had a lot to do with questioning identity and the Bob thing sort of fed into that.

Mulder is right that older monsters are better than newer ones. Aside from them having personalities, they had pathos and things about them you could relate to. The monster in Alien is scary. But that's all it is. There is nothing else to it.

I unreservedly love the idea that Jackson was alive the entire time in the morgue, and heard Scully's entire monologue. Were I him, after that I would have reached out, but the show still need SOME mysteries.

Poor Skinner. He's totally under Smoking Man's thumb, and his genuine shock and sympathy at the idea that William died had to sting doubly for him for that fact. For the record, the agents who were sent to kill William did so on Cancer Man's orders. I do not believe William is actually his son for a minute.

Episodes centered around the mystery of William have sucked going all the way back to the original series. I'll chalk up the fact that this didn't as an actual win. ***.

 

[Yojimbo]

"Kitten"

If Skinner falling in a spike pit wasn't the definition of his career at the FBI, I don't know anything.

After this episode, I wish it was a monster of the week. Canned fear being sprayed on a town is more worse. More worse is the literal and figurative image of them becoming toothless. My memory serves me right, there was a similar story in season 1 or 2.

The one thing I'm on the fence about them not calling out Skinner on CSM and Scully because it seems like the episode was about settling the loyalties between the three.

3 week wait. Ok. Ok. Ugh.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files "Kitten"

That was a very interesting episode, that sort of solidified the idea that Skinner is on Mulder and Scully's side, and always has been. I think Skinner's speech at the end is the thing that convinced Mulder of that too. Honestly? That was Mitch Pileggi's best performance on the series. From some reason all of the X-Files actors are better now than they were before the show came back. But Pileggi is like to the Nth degree. He's amazing now.

It's interesting to see Haley Joel Osment as an adult. He gained a LOT of weight, which might be why he doesn't get cast very much. But he's still a talented actor so that strikes me as a shame. He was good here as both the father and the son.

Other than the gas there wasn't really a supernatural element to the show this week. The X-Files straddles the line between science fiction and fact, and despite the fact that the gas is kind of a crazy idea, the show veered closer to fact than usual.

It amazes me that Kirsch actually believe Mulder and Scully know more than they do. On the one hand, it's a nice, unearned compliment to their skills as rabble-rousing FBI agents. But on the other hand, it shows why Kirsch was so ineffective and bad at his job on the original series. He never had an accurate read of any of the cases. Scully was a skeptic. Kirsch was simply the guy who got everything wrong.

But the idea that Skinner gave up a promising career to throw in with Mulder and Scully holds up to scrutiny. I loved hearing Kirsch tell them that, and their surprised reaction to what should have been a no-brainer. But The FBI's Most Unwanted? Skinner is an equal part of that, and always has been. Mulder is considered a dead end at the FBI, so it surprises me that Mulder and Scully never bothered to wonder why Skinner is still their boss after all this. Food for thought.

Good episode this week. ****.

 

[Yojimbo]

"Rm9sbG93ZXJz"

Certainly a fascinating experimental. So absurdist yet so real. The monster of the week is modern day tech. I liked the juxtaposition of the robot voices creating a bigger sense of loneliness and terror with Mulder and Scully being the only people in the episode until the diner at the end.

The first thing Mulder says to Scully at her house is how much better it is than his. lmao.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files “Rm9sbG93ZXJz”

An experimental X-Files episode! Co-written by Millennium’s Kristen Cloke! Lara Means lives!

So basically, what I’m seeing the trope is, is that Mulder and Scully communicate with each other non-verbally and verbally only rarely. Also no musical score past the teaser. And they don’t realize the AI is sinister until it is too late. And Mulder and Scully are the only characters until the end.

But as I was watching this episode, I realized I could not relate to the problems. This episode addressed the modern concerns of rich white people. I’m white but I’m poor, so I don’t get it. The closest thing to a smart device I own is my Blu-Ray player and my digital cable box. I don’t even own a cell phone. Scully has a computer in her refrigerator? Why? What possible use can it have there? I already thought the idea of somebody having a phone in the bathroom was weird.

I like that even though this is dealing with rich people problems, Mulder resents Scully is richer than him. He raises the question about why she has a nicer house than him. But the real question raised to me is how is it this is the first time he’s been over there?

The X-Files has one foot in science fiction, and one foot in reality. The AI bot that was created in 2016 and turned quickly into a racist troll was actually a thing. I was amazed at how ill-conceived an idea it was, and Chris Carter basically said, “That’s an entire episode.”

I like Mulder’s reaction to seeing the vibrator. It’s not like HE’S helping her out there anyways. Plus, all of the times she’s overlooked catching him watching porn, says he could cut her a little slack here.

I love that Scully’s password is Queequeg. I miss that dog. The Lockness Monster SUCKS.

This was a fun detour, but with only four episodes left, I’d wish they’d be leaner heavier into the mythology at this point. ****.

 

[Yojimbo]

This was a fun detour, but with only four episodes left, I’d wish they’d be leaner heavier into the mythology at this point. ****.

4 or 3? I could have sworn it was 3 and only the last episode deals with the alien arc. So yeah, the finale might be rushed to say the least.

 

[Fone Bone]

4 or 3? I could have sworn it was 3 and only the last episode deals with the alien arc. So yeah, the finale might be rushed to say the least.

I meant 4 including this episode. Only the last episode deals with aliens? Did I mention Chris Carter has no idea what he is doing?

 

[Yojimbo]

I meant 4 including this episode. Only the last episode deals with aliens? Did I mention Chris Carter has no idea what he is doing?

Mm, I'm not totally sure if it's just the last episode or not. I think it's far from just X-Files but a lot of shows have a hard time making a good season finale, whether it's the end of the series or not or if they're being renewed ahead of time or not, and they always seem rushed or ill-structured. The season finale's kinda of become a lost art, imo. Rather hard to shock an audience nowadays perhaps.

 

[Fone Bone]

Mm, I'm not totally sure if it's just the last episode or not. I think it's far from just X-Files but a lot of shows have a hard time making a good season finale, whether it's the end of the series or not or if they're being renewed ahead of time or not, and they always seem rushed or ill-structured. The season finale's kinda of become a lost art, imo. Rather hard to shock an audience nowadays perhaps.

The problem is that this is an on-going problem for Chris Carter. It's 25 years later. He should be better at this story arc stuff than he is.

 

[Yojimbo]

So a supernatural episode that was scary but the most horrific thing was the lynch mob scene ending with the alleged pedophile getting shot in the head by that cop. Yeesh. Got real. The Teletubbies knockoffs were creeptastic as well. Gugh. That song.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files "Familiar"

Normally this is the type of X-Files episode I hate. It involved small children being murdered and a supposed "innocent" pedophile beaten to death by an angry mob. Normally I hate this crap. Why didn't I this time?

Mostly because the episode takes it seriously. Mulder is not making puns about discovering kids' bodies, and is in fact quite upset by the small girl's death. The X-Files will often have a ton of Mulder jokes in a pitch black episode to even the tone. In my mind, those jokes simply wind up making Mulder look reprehensible.

I knew a lot of the guest cast from elsewhere. Roger Cross was from 24 and Arrow and Jason Gray-Stanford was on Monk. I liked the character Cross played and was glad he survived. He was the one sane person in the entire town, and it's the fact that he's also a cop which makes me feel a little bit better about this messed up town's future than I might have. I am certain he is the next chief of police. Which can only help things.

The one thing in the episode that didn't ring true to me was the Chuckie T doll. He looks frightening and scary, and no toddler would look to him for comfort. Yeah, he's a great horror movie monster. But he's frightening. You don't hand a toddler an action figure of Pinhead, Jigsaw, or Freddy Krueger and expect them to cuddle it.

I hated watching this. But I will concede it was a very good episode. It was frightening, the mystery was great, and the ending ambiguous. Which is what a normal monster of the week episode not written by Darin Morgan should be. ****.

 

[Fone Bone]

The X-Files "Nothing Lasts Forever"

The episode title seems appropriate. This will probably wind up being the second to last episode ever.

Before we get into it, let's talk about the elephant in the room: The next week's preview. It referred to the finale as the "Season Finale", rather than "Series Finale". Which tells me something REALLY bad. Chris Carter is gonna screw us big-time, with no recourse or way out, and Fox is hoping to soften the blow. If we were not headed for a terrible cliffhanger in what is almost certainly going to be the last episode, Fox would be selling it as the last episode.

How was this week? A bit ghoulish, to be honest. The series has always portrayed religious people as crazy, but this episode didn't actually pick a side, and said it was ALL religious people. The chick stabbing people in the heart in the name of God struck me as no less crazy as the Hollywood starlet who drinks human blood, and her husband who sews himself together with people to live forever. Everybody is just out of their freaking minds this episode.

Even Scully. I am amused and a bit alarmed that Scully's faith in God ultimately happened for an utterly stupid reason. Because she got a dog. And honestly, I betting there are a ton of people with faith stories similar to that. Scully is just rare in that she is self-aware and self-deprecating enough to be willing to admit it.

I love Mulder asking if she cut her hair, and her responding "Are you kidding me?"

The Mulder and Scully stuff was great in a way the case wasn't. I was invested in these two people, and what they mean to each other. I don't really care about all of the aliens and monsters and cults, and never did. Which is why I am so upset that next week is probably going to be unresolved. Both of these characters deserve better, but Chris Carter has NEVER looked out for his actors, the show's fans, or the actual health of his franchise. And I feel like we are going to crash and burn next week.

But hey, Joel McHale's voice cameo was fun, no?

I liked the second to last episode. But it also told me I am probably going to hate the last. ***1/2.

 

[Yojimbo]

I lost interest in the episode from the weird cold open. It was a bizarre one. But Mulder doing that spiel to get those 2 young agents to leave them alone and Scully acknowledging it was pretty funny.

The teaser for next week didn't look any better.