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THE X-FILES


Jay

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The X-Files 11x03 Plus One

 

Well, that was alright.  Felt largely like a "classic" X-Files episode - people are dying in a weird way, Mulder and Scully go investigate, Scully believes there must be a scientific explanation, Mulder thinks there's a supernatural one, etc.  Most of the doppleganger related stuff was done pretty well.


What stands out from this episode was the conversations Mulder and Scully have alone in their hotel room.  It seemed weird and out of character - even though we're 15 years beyond the original run - for Scully to suddenly be thinking about her age and if she should have had kids, if he'd want someone younger, etc.  The show can't seem to decide if they are a couple now or not, at one point they share a bed, but they also clearly rented 2 separate rooms?  Like wtf?  Why can't Carter just let them be happily together and solve weird murders together every week?

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Episode 4....crikey. Was it written on drugs?

 

I know what Carter was after -- pure comedy satire on current state-of-affairs in the US, but still. I can't remember any episode of the 90s show being as goofy and bizarre as this.

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46 minutes ago, Thor said:

Episode 4....crikey. Was it written on drugs?

 

I know what Carter was after -- pure comedy satire on current state-of-affairs in the US, but still. I can't remember any episode of the 90s show being as goofy and bizarre as this.

 

All the Darin Morgan episodes were a similar tone.

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1 hour ago, Thor said:

Episode 4....crikey. Was it written on drugs?

 

I know what Carter was after -- pure comedy satire on current state-of-affairs in the US, but still. I can't remember any episode of the 90s show being as goofy and bizarre as this.

 

Jose Chung, and this was very much a Darin Morgan episode in that style.

 

I didn't initially like "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat", it was jarring, but then I really warmed up to it, and legitimately laughed out loud a few times, and then I realized I enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

So far the only one I didn't care for was the second episode "This" with Langly.  That one didn't work at all.  "Plus One" seemed the most X-Filesy but I agree with @Jay that the one bedroom conversation with Scully and Mulder in bed, going on about a younger woman, was weird.  Didn't feel like Scully and it was awkward.  Otherwise a good MOTW entry.

 

 

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Scully's human afterall (or is she?), with typical human frailties and insecurities, so it's not outside the realm of possibility she'd be asking Mulder such a question.

 

But I'm still weirded out by them being a couple. I liked The X-Files better when they were just work colleagues who had to put up with each other and had their limited lives apart from one another outside the FBI (well she did, at least).

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The X-Files 11x04 The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat

 

Ehhhhh.  So, last season's Darrin Morgan episode (the werewolf one with Rhys Darby) was great, but it had one problem I noticed: A huge part of it, basically the entire middle third of the episode, was just Mulder and Rhys Darby standing in a cemetery talking; IE, a lot of characters TELLING us stuff instead of the episode SHOWING us stuff.. or, at least, varying the conversation, and have it take place in multiple locations to make it more interesting and give it more of a momentum and drive.  When you stay in one location for a long time and nothing is technically happening there except exposition/talking, momentum screeches to a halt!  For a show that was coming back after ~15 years off the air and it being a repurposed Night Stalker script, it was forgiveable, because overall the episode was good (and easily the best of the season).

 

This episode has the EXACT same problem!  Overall, the episode is fun and plays with a fun concept (Mandela Effect), but.. sadly, again, the entire middle third of the episode is just Mulder, Scully, and Brian Huskey talking in a garage.  Again all drive and momentum came to a halt.  Big bummer.  Overall, though, pretty fun, and again certainly the best episode of the season so far.  Lots of funny moments throughout, especially the bits where Huskey was inserted into old footage.  Good stuff.

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The X-Files 11x05 Ghouli

 

Mostly meh episode that at least played with an interesting concept (seeming like a "monster of the week" episode, but then actually being about the overall story with Williams, etc).  It was mostly just boring though, and I have no attachment to the Williams character at all, despite the show desperately trying to make him relevant.

 

The X-Files 11x06 Kitten

 

ZZzzzzzzzzz.  Haley Joel Osment was good (he's turn into a good adult actor), but trying to create this new backstory and motivation for Skinner 25 years later was just weird and ineffective.  I do think, though, they they've finally found a good groove of Mulder and Scully investigating things, the way they interact with each other is back to being like the heyday of the show again.  I overall do enjoy watching them investigate random spooky mysteries each week, and I hope they do more of these than the conspiracy stuff in the second half of the season coming after the Olympics.

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  • 1 month later...

This final doesn't really exist. I really like all the 11th season, very much.

But all the My Struggle stuff is so bad.

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The X-Files 11x07 Rm9sbG93ZXJz

 

Well bloody hell, that was great!  Where did an episode like this come from?  Just when I had given up hope on this season, this comes along to blow expectations out of the water.  This should have been the 2nd episode aired this season, really let people know they were capable of greatness again after the mostly dreck they've been airing in the reboot era...

 

I wouldn't say the episode is perfect, but the concept behind it is great, the execution is largely great, and it just had so many moments to make you smile.  This is the kind of cool, random off-the-wall episode the original run was able to do once it became a hit, and the type of 'sode the reboot era has largely been missing.


Really fun stuff!

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That finale was awful, one of the worst episodes of the show. All the My Struggle eps have lowered the bar and made me yearn for The Truth and I Want To Believe, which I’m sure are deservedly not popular here, but had a basic semblance of coherence.  That final scene where Scully talks about William, so tone deaf and insulting. Made the already inferior seasons 8 and 9 worse knowing this is how the William story would pay off. Dreadful. 

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The X-Files 11x08 Familiar 

 

Sigh.  I had SUCH high hopes after last week's great episode but alas... this was just a sub-par monster-of-the-week with nothing really special about it, and it kind of felt like well-worn territory, nothing terribly original.  I guess the Mr Chucklehead imagery was decently creepy, but that's about it.  Oh well.

 

The X-Files 11x09 Nothing Lasts Forever


Meh, that wasn't that great either.  The whole secret cult consuming organs to remain young thing felt like already-trodden territory, and none of the individual sequences in the episode were all that interesting other than maybe the old/young actress lady.  Some of Mulder and Scully's conversations about faith were nice, at least.

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I discovered The X-Files as a teen, several years after the end of its original run. I'd binge it in the evenings and I loved it, yes, even the mythology episodes. My tastes have changed quite a bit since then though. There's a lot I still love about the show, but I've really just been watching these last 2 seasons for the nostalgia and because I like seeing Mulder and Scully in a somewhat updated 2010s environment.

 

That said, I loved Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster last year and The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat, Ghouli and Familiar this year. These episodes felt like classic X-Files to me and made me realize just how much I've missed the show and it's always entertaining, sometimes even good writing. :lol:

 

As for the finale, it was alright I guess. It was a bit gory for me and every bit as ridiculous as the other "My Struggles," but it at least had some fun chase scenes and an entertaining if dumb soapiness to it. All things considered, I'm ok if this is the end. I still have to go back and watch 11x09 though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The X-Files 11x10 My Struggle IV

 

Welp, that mostly sucked.  Not really a fan of seeing Mulder and Scully's kid kill a bunch of people, or hte X-Files being shut down yet again (yawn).  Sure there was a bunch of character deaths (Reyes I guess and seemingly Cigarette Smoking Man) but on this show anyone can come back so it's not like it really matters.

 

The ending with Scully being pregnant and Mulder and Scully seemingly finally getting together for real was nice, but I mean, it seems like they should have been together already, and every new movie or season flip flops on if they are together or not, blah blah blah


Disappointing end to a disppointing resurrection.  Why did they do nothing this year with those 2 younger agents they introduced last year?  The world needs more Lauren Ambrose!

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  • 11 months later...

I've been in the middle of a rewatch lately and I'm four episodes into Season 5. I'll post my full-on retrospective on this whole series once I'm done.

 

Mulder and Scully were like my favourite people ever when I was 10.

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  • 6 months later...

Believe it or not, I'm watching season 10 of this for the first time. I don't get why people don't like this. It's great. Even though old Scully looks a bit like a shrivelled prune, I like how the series isn't overly modernized. In fact, it's modernized very tastefully in the right places.

Episode one looks like David Duchovny sleepwalking, but it only gets better from there.

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1 hour ago, gkgyver said:

I just rewatched the Old Souls and Starlight episodes. Just so so good. 

 

Sein Und Zeit and Closure? I remember hating those when they first aired. I felt let down by pretty much all of Season 7 back then. But now I love it. Weird.

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Yes, Closure. Too lazy to google the original titles. I don't know, these are just really powerful episodes, which is what happens when you build characters and tell about them for so long, and don't just do so much cheap emotion all the time like so many series, but save it for important moments. Like, you don't see Mulder do emotional outbursts in the series very often, and when he finally realizes his mom really did commit suicide, that's a really powerful moment to me. And the subject of these two episodes is very heavy, and not so out there like others, I find the subject of children souls being prevented from suffering really touching. And it's also very shocking and out of left field to suddenly find a graveyard of two dozen murdered children.

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