Spoilers The X-Files: Season 11

Season 11 of the X-Files premieres in a little over two weeks (Jan. 3), so it's time for a shiny new discussion thread.

The first five episodes (so, half of the season) have been released to select critics and we now have episode titles, brief summaries, and credits for those five.

Spoiler: First Five Episodes

"My Struggle III" airing January 3rd. The episode picks up after the last event series’ cliffhanger. Mulder and Scully learn that they aren’t the only ones desperately searching for their long-lost son, William. The very fate of the world may depend on it. Written and directed by Chris Carter.

"This" airing January 10th. An old friend reaches out to Mulder and Scully in a seemingly impossible way, revealing a chilling secret. Written and directed by Glen Morgan.

"Plus One" airing January 17th. A spate of deaths, in which the victims were plagued by their own doppelgangers, lead Mulder and Scully to a pair of twins playing a dangerous game. This episode guest stars Karin Konoval and is written by Chris Carter. Kevin Hooks directs.

"The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" airing January 24th. Exploring the idea of The Mandela Effect, in which large groups of people remember an alternate history, Mulder and Scully find out how the X-Files themselves may really have originated. Brian Huskey guest stars as "Reggie Something." Written and directed by Darin Morgan.

"Ghouli" airing January 31st. When a pair of teenage girls attack one another, each believing the other to be a monster, Mulder and Scully find that their investigation could possibly lead back to their long-lost son, William. Written and directed by James Wong.

Indiewire has a review up for the front half of the season here, which is a little spoilery.

 

Found another review: https://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2017/12/18/the-x-files-season-11-review/#425ee6cd5965

This one is a bit spoilery as well.

A lot of the reviews so far seem to be along the same lines.

 

They've released a new almost 5 minute long behind the scenes video, The X-Files Declassified: The End of the World.

 

I was not happy with the cliffhanger last year but I'm still kinda looking forward to the series again. I really wish they would streamline this arc though because it's so convoluted that I don't understand it and I'm not sure I want to rewatch the first 9 seasons just to catch up. I still enjoyed some of the episodic episodes last year though. I also wish Doggett would make a come back because I liked him, as well as some of the later seasons.

 

That promo looks incredible!

Yeah, I'd like to see Doggett one last time, as well. They wrap up filming tomorrow or the next day in Vancouver and I haven't heard a peep about Robert Patrick filming anything up there, so it looks like no Doggett for Season 11. A shout-out or brief mention of his character would still be nice, though.

 

2 days to go until the premiere of Season 11!

 

So how do we get to see this in the UK? I didn't even know that there was a season 11, and here it is coming in 2 days?

 

I'm a fan of the mythology episodes more than the MOTW, though I enjoy both, but the reviews are making me worried about My Struggle III. How much will it retcon? Of course, it can all change again in the finale but it'll be interesting to see just what controversial things that have been alluded to in the reviews happen in the premiere.

 

Channel 5 are getting it (though it's not showing up on TiVo for me yet). They have shown a couple of trailers but most of what I knew about it returning was from here.

 

I'm planning to rewatch the two mythology episodes from last season as a refresher before the new season starts. I've already forgotten most of it.

In other news, Gillian Anderson reiterates that she's done after season 11.

 

I wonder if they'll bring in a new (or old) partner for Mulder if they decide to keep going?

 

I'm skeptical that a Scully-less Season 12 would actually work better than the Mulder-less Season 9. I almost think that they're better off going with 2 new characters completely (or Doggett and Reyes again in a complete mindfuck to the audience). But of course Duchovny would be in a potential season 12 if he wanted to do it.

Although if they were to kill Scully off at the end of Season 11, she wouldn't be "appearing" just a foot off screen like Mulder often did in Season 9. So at least that would be better since the biggest problem with Season 9 IMO is how important the character of Mulder was to the whole season even though the character didn't appear until the (at the time) series finale.

 

I know a lot of people didn't like Einstein and Miller, aka Scully and Mulder jr,. last season but it does seem to be me like Einstein would be the most obvious choice for a replacement. I've been assuming that was pretty much the whole reason they introduced them, to replace Mulder and/or Scully if one or both of them decided to leave but Fox and Carter wanted to keep the show going.

EDIT:
The premiere is tonight, here's the description:

I'm not real optimistic with this one, since pretty much everything I've heard about it is bad.

 

They can't possibly retcon more than they already have

 

I'm really hoping they reveal that the whole it was all the government, not aliens thing was a lie. I just don't see how that can work with everything that happened in the first 9 seasons.

 

100% on RT so far for the premiere!

 

It's got a 66 on Metacritic with 8 positive and 5 mixed reviews, the highest score is 83 from Indiewire's Shannon Miller, and the lowest is a 43 from The Daily Beast's Ira Madison III. That is 6 points higher than Season 10, which had 17postive, 17 mixed, and 1 negative.

 

How big a retcon do you consider Bobby Ewing's shower scene to be?

 

Down to 93% now. The bad reviews are coming.