Mulder and Scully are back and the truth
is still out there for the viewers to continue the adventures of the X-Files.
Here I’ll do and episode by episode score and review then a brief season
overview and score. (Disclaimer few but some spoilers)
My Struggle
The season picks up with new
developments in the mythology, 8 years after the I Want to Believe film
storyline. We find Fox Mulder to be less of a recluse but still in a retired
state until internet conspiracist, news anchor Tad O’Malley when he believes to
have come across a missing link to Mulder’s lifelong search for answers to the
government conspiracies of extraterrestrial life. With the help of his trusted former
partner Dana Scully they run a series of tests to validate O’Malley and his
victim’s claim that they were exposed to alien DNA. Scully through talking with
the victim is reminded of her own personal experiences of being abducted and
giving birth to a child that also shares alien DNA. The episode would reveal
that the work of the previous seasons of The X-Files were misguided, instead of
the major governments of the world preparing for an alien invasion the new
found theory is the alien technology was taken by the government from crash
sites, salvaged, enhanced used in wars while many of it was hidden from the
public while the govt. would also replicate abductions on people to conduct experiments
with alien DNA with gene-editing for decades.
Overall: Entertaining episode with a new
good alien mythology twist but some choppy dialogue between characters here and
there. Even if it’s not the preferred method of watching for any first time
viewers to jump into a deep mythology this is a decent starting spot to get a
taste of the series before wanting to binge watch seasons on Netflix or Hulu.
Episode
Grade: 7/10
Founder’s Mutation
The second episode by definition is
sci-fi at its roots! From the opening 2 min montage we get hit with what seems
like a regular scientist showing up for his job being tortured with a persistent
high frequency sound only he can hear but before killing himself to end the
suffering he tries to extract data from a top secret Department of Defense hard
drive. This episode is not shy to show gore, deformities, and a mystery around government
experiments on pregnant women that give children supernatural powers, all pieces
essential to making a quality standalone x-files episode. This episode has
amazing cutaways to Scully’s alternative life if she had kept their child William
instead of putting him up for adoption and some of her fears of her son facing challenges
dealing with alien DNA in adolescence. And to end the episode there is Mulder
having these same visions but instead his fears of William being abducted by
aliens reminiscent in how his sister was.
Overall: An improvement over the premier
and open ending to a great episode. X-Files stand-alones are episodes any
regular viewer can sit down any night and just watch it start to finish without
needing much background into the show almost like The Twilight Zone or Alfred
Hitchcock Presents. James Wong (creator of the Final Destination franchise) did
an excellent writing job on his return to the series delivering on his
strengths.
Episode
Grade: 8.5/10
Mulder and Scully Meet
the Were-Monster
Might be a little early but I’m putting
this in the classic threshold for “monster of the week” category. This episode
hits on so many levels it gives us a Mulder who feels he is losing a fight to
believe in the previously unexplained cases now can through advances in science
and disposed as internet myths. Scully (often in the role of the scientific skeptic)
serves as a moral motivator to Mulder pushing him along in refinding his faith
in wanting to believe. And then onto the monster we’re given a number of
comedic moments involving him and actually having a great 10-minute heart to
heart talk between him and Mulder piecing together the loose ends of the case
but also encouraging him there is still reason out in the world to believe
Overall: Darin Morgan reminds the fans
he’s not only one of the best X-Files writers (which is impressive when you
look at the roster) but one of the best writers to have worked in television
and delivered a good message and twist within. This episode is in the highest echelon
with "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", "The Goldberg
Variation" "Small Potatoes" and “Paper Hearts”. All MUST WATCH episodes
of television.
Episode
Grade: 9.5/10
Home Again
Episodes like this are meant to play the
strings of your heart like Carmignola can play the violin, and boy does it. Although
it isn’t a mythology episode this is where the emotional investment into the
main characters of the series for over a hundred hours. This episode is very reminiscent
of where Scully lost her father, Mulder dealing with Scully’s abduction and
health struggles that nearly led to her death. Now of course this episode plays
to the paranormal and here it’s a monster called “Trash Man” and in reality he’s
serving as a hero removing corrupt city officials hurting the inner city and
the homeless population but he is honestly a backseat character to the
emotional trip we’re given with Scully.
Overall: This was exactly what this
season had called for at this point and trusted writer Glen Morgan came through.
Gillian Anderson’s performance was as strong as ever and she’s an Emmy and
multiple Golden Globe Award winner so this is sending a reminder to anyone who might’ve
forgot what she’s capable of on screen. Monster wise good mystery that provides
just enough closure in that department but again the focal point of the episode
definitely sits with Scully and Mulder outside of the case.
Episode
Grade: 8.5/10
Babylon
Sometimes we get in our own way of when
something is going good and this applies to show creator Chris Carter on this
episode. Primarily Carter is and has been handling the bulk of the mythology
episodes with the occasional stand-alone here and there and this is one of the
cases where, we get to see Carter exercise his non mythology writing. It’s not
very good; borderline awful but a couple bright spots. I can thank him for 2
things that helped prevent this from being an all-time bad episode, one being Agents
Miller and Einstein (she claims distant relation to Albert). Miller captures
everything we loved about a young Mulder and Einstein a younger Scully when she
was as skeptical as ever and the fact we got to see a cross team up between Miller/Scully
and Einstein/Mulder, makes for refreshing humor. Second, the Mushroom hallucination
one character goes on. I will say no more.
Overall: This episode actually suffers from
a poorly paced plot with bad stereotypes and possibly a subliminal agenda by
Fox. Even with that the character dynamics within the episode were great enough
to want to see more in the future. Oh and Carter leave the stand-alones for a
while your last couple haven’t been up to par if you include the 2nd
film.
Episode
Grade: 6/10
My Struggle II
If you haven’t watched the
X-Files prior to this, I’ll let you know you can always expect something great
for the finales and this is no different. Opening like the start of the season
we see Scully’s background on her 23 years since joining the X-Files and from
there we’re deep into the mythology again. Great news is the additions of last episodes’
agents Miller & Einstein return as supporting characters to Mulder and
Scully. I won’t give away spoilers for this episode it will leave you on the edge
of your seat for the full 44 mins in a “24” fashion where it’s a race against
the clock with constant twists with every now bit of information given.
Overall: Episode left me
wanting just 5 more minutes than note it left us with, the cliffhanger. This
plays to all of Carters strengths and is encouraging to the fans that questions
previously unaddressed in the 2nd X-Files film and the earlier season
premier are being answered or could be addressed in the 11th season
if renewed.
Episode
Grade: 9.5/10
Season Overall:
This might not be the ideal starting spot for getting into the series (Season 1 Episode 1 is) but if this was your first experience this wouldn't be all to bad and might find more enjoyable because of the length. Each episode
has a cinematic feel to it which can be a testament of taking a 13-16-episode
budget and investing it all into a short 6 episodes. Mythology was mind blowing
and we were gifted with some great stand-alone, monster of the week episodes.
The ball is in Fox court to renew the series for another 6 episodes in 2017 and
at the end of the day would be well worth it.
