This is on my list to watch after Babylon 5
The X-Files - First Time Watching
- Thread starter tomalak301
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Tunguska/Terma
This show is starting to frustrate me. The more I see this mythology arc, the more I'm confused by it. We have colonists, Bees, Bounty Hunters, Black Oil, and the one consistant we always get are half truths and more lies. I remember way back in season 2, I was really enjoying the mythology because it felt tightly plotted, and each episode gave us more direction towards unraveling everything. Not only that, but it was easy to understand. Jump forward to Season 4, and my head hurts. I'm still enjoying this show (Minus Netflix being bastards by not showing subtitles, especially for Terma which really needed subtitles
) but I'm about ready to give up on the mythology and wonder what good stand alone episodes there are.
Not once in these episodes, dealing with the black oil, was the previous episodes about the Piper Muru ship referenced. It was almost like we have this new alien thing and there are no reminders that yeah we've seen this stuff before. I wonder what it was like when these episodes aired originally and the time between the first black oil episodes and these were over a year? There was a time when I wasn't really watching X Files as much as I did so maybe that is affecting my judgement, but I got to think when the episodes aired originally it was much worse.
I guess my problem is this mythology arc is all over the place. We have the Cancer guy in the Shadows, Native American guys who don't show up again for some reason even though they looked to be good recurring characters (I am talking about the guy from the Season 3 Trilogy premiere), Bounty Hunters, black oil, colonists, and two versions of Samantha Mulder in two years. Like I said, my head is starting to hurt and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
I still like the overall show though but I'm not ready to put it in my favorite shows of all time like TNG, Farscape, or (I hope) Orphan Black. I'll keep watching but come on show, start putting some of this stuff together, or reminding us of things that have happened so far. The more confusion there is, the more frustrated I'm going to get.
This show is starting to frustrate me. The more I see this mythology arc, the more I'm confused by it. We have colonists, Bees, Bounty Hunters, Black Oil, and the one consistant we always get are half truths and more lies. I remember way back in season 2, I was really enjoying the mythology because it felt tightly plotted, and each episode gave us more direction towards unraveling everything. Not only that, but it was easy to understand. Jump forward to Season 4, and my head hurts. I'm still enjoying this show (Minus Netflix being bastards by not showing subtitles, especially for Terma which really needed subtitles
) but I'm about ready to give up on the mythology and wonder what good stand alone episodes there are. Not once in these episodes, dealing with the black oil, was the previous episodes about the Piper Muru ship referenced. It was almost like we have this new alien thing and there are no reminders that yeah we've seen this stuff before. I wonder what it was like when these episodes aired originally and the time between the first black oil episodes and these were over a year? There was a time when I wasn't really watching X Files as much as I did so maybe that is affecting my judgement, but I got to think when the episodes aired originally it was much worse.
I guess my problem is this mythology arc is all over the place. We have the Cancer guy in the Shadows, Native American guys who don't show up again for some reason even though they looked to be good recurring characters (I am talking about the guy from the Season 3 Trilogy premiere), Bounty Hunters, black oil, colonists, and two versions of Samantha Mulder in two years. Like I said, my head is starting to hurt and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
I still like the overall show though but I'm not ready to put it in my favorite shows of all time like TNG, Farscape, or (I hope) Orphan Black. I'll keep watching but come on show, start putting some of this stuff together, or reminding us of things that have happened so far. The more confusion there is, the more frustrated I'm going to get.
Tunguska/Terma
This show is starting to frustrate me. The more I see this mythology arc, the more I'm confused by it. We have colonists, Bees, Bounty Hunters, Black Oil, and the one consistant we always get are half truths and more lies. I remember way back in season 2, I was really enjoying the mythology because it felt tightly plotted, and each episode gave us more direction towards unraveling everything. Not only that, but it was easy to understand. Jump forward to Season 4, and my head hurts. I'm still enjoying this show (Minus Netflix being bastards by not showing subtitles, especially for Terma which really needed subtitles
Not once in these episodes, dealing with the black oil, was the previous episodes about the Piper Muru ship referenced. It was almost like we have this new alien thing and there are no reminders that yeah we've seen this stuff before. I wonder what it was like when these episodes aired originally and the time between the first black oil episodes and these were over a year? There was a time when I wasn't really watching X Files as much as I did so maybe that is affecting my judgement, but I got to think when the episodes aired originally it was much worse.
I guess my problem is this mythology arc is all over the place. We have the Cancer guy in the Shadows, Native American guys who don't show up again for some reason even though they looked to be good recurring characters (I am talking about the guy from the Season 3 Trilogy premiere), Bounty Hunters, black oil, colonists, and two versions of Samantha Mulder in two years. Like I said, my head is starting to hurt and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
I still like the overall show though but I'm not ready to put it in my favorite shows of all time like TNG, Farscape, or (I hope) Orphan Black. I'll keep watching but come on show, start putting some of this stuff together, or reminding us of things that have happened so far. The more confusion there is, the more frustrated I'm going to get.
I don't know either, I'm in the middle of the 5th season now, and the only think I can guess is the black oil from under the Pacific is different than the black cancer the Russians were mining out of the comet remains in Tunguska. The other thing that bothered me with that one is Mulder is just back. From Siberia to DC in between scenes, like it's not that difficult to do in real life, forget about alien conspiracies and double agent Kryceks.
Tunguska/Terma
This show is starting to frustrate me. The more I see this mythology arc, the more I'm confused by it. We have colonists, Bees, Bounty Hunters, Black Oil, and the one consistant we always get are half truths and more lies. I remember way back in season 2, I was really enjoying the mythology because it felt tightly plotted, and each episode gave us more direction towards unraveling everything. Not only that, but it was easy to understand. Jump forward to Season 4, and my head hurts. I'm still enjoying this show (Minus Netflix being bastards by not showing subtitles, especially for Terma which really needed subtitles
Not once in these episodes, dealing with the black oil, was the previous episodes about the Piper Muru ship referenced. It was almost like we have this new alien thing and there are no reminders that yeah we've seen this stuff before. I wonder what it was like when these episodes aired originally and the time between the first black oil episodes and these were over a year? There was a time when I wasn't really watching X Files as much as I did so maybe that is affecting my judgement, but I got to think when the episodes aired originally it was much worse.
I guess my problem is this mythology arc is all over the place. We have the Cancer guy in the Shadows, Native American guys who don't show up again for some reason even though they looked to be good recurring characters (I am talking about the guy from the Season 3 Trilogy premiere), Bounty Hunters, black oil, colonists, and two versions of Samantha Mulder in two years. Like I said, my head is starting to hurt and I'm not sure that's a good thing.
I still like the overall show though but I'm not ready to put it in my favorite shows of all time like TNG, Farscape, or (I hope) Orphan Black. I'll keep watching but come on show, start putting some of this stuff together, or reminding us of things that have happened so far. The more confusion there is, the more frustrated I'm going to get.
I don't know either, I'm in the middle of the 5th season now, and the only think I can guess is the black oil from under the Pacific is different than the black cancer the Russians were mining out of the comet remains in Tunguska. The other thing that bothered me with that one is Mulder is just back. From Siberia to DC in between scenes, like it's not that difficult to do in real life, forget about alien conspiracies and double agent Kryceks.
That also bothered me. No explanation for Mulder just showing up out of the blue like that. Also since I don't have subtitles and don't speak Russian, can someone explain Alex Krychek's side of the story from season 2 to now? This guy is a double agent, betrayed Mulder, had an audio recording of something I have forgotten, might be responsible for Scully's sister's death, trapped in a missle silo infected with the black oil which did escape him, and knows Russian. Anything else I should know?
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Well that is obvious but what about that final scene in Terma?
Paper Hearts
Yeah I was frustrated with this show lately, and I still am, but tonight I was reminded that X-Files can deliver a good quality 44 minutes of television. This episode felt like the X Files of the first three seasons, getting into the psychological effects and having a creepy, disturbing individual as the villain. Roche was a great villain, and the use of Mulder's Sister here was just a really well done story. I'm calling it the best episode I've seen of Season 4 yet.
Maybe when I get to the Mythological episodes, I can just groan hoping that the next one will be one of this quality. I'd say it's one of the best episodes of the series.
Yeah I was frustrated with this show lately, and I still am, but tonight I was reminded that X-Files can deliver a good quality 44 minutes of television. This episode felt like the X Files of the first three seasons, getting into the psychological effects and having a creepy, disturbing individual as the villain. Roche was a great villain, and the use of Mulder's Sister here was just a really well done story. I'm calling it the best episode I've seen of Season 4 yet.
Maybe when I get to the Mythological episodes, I can just groan hoping that the next one will be one of this quality. I'd say it's one of the best episodes of the series.
"Paper Hearts" is one of my favorites.
I personally love the mythology episodes, but I find they are most enjoyable when watched in a marathon without all the filler episodes in between. I've watched X-Files several times through, and once I watched nothing but mythology episodes. I was surprised at how much sense it all made when I watched it that way. I think hindsight helps a lot, too. It's easier to put the pieces together on a second viewing.
I personally love the mythology episodes, but I find they are most enjoyable when watched in a marathon without all the filler episodes in between. I've watched X-Files several times through, and once I watched nothing but mythology episodes. I was surprised at how much sense it all made when I watched it that way. I think hindsight helps a lot, too. It's easier to put the pieces together on a second viewing.
Memento Mori & Leonard Betts
I would say so far the 4th season has been a little on the rocky end for me, mainly because there really hasn't been anything that has gripped me like some of the episodes in Season 3.
Well, the last few episodes (I include Paper Hearts in that) have been really good, but it's the two episodes in bold I wanted to spotlight. Betts was a great Monster of the Week story which looked creepy but it was the end of the episode that caught my attention. This is the start of a personal storyline for Scully, with the onset of her Cancer.
Memento Mori might be one of the more powerful episodes of The X Files I've seen in a long while. I've started to groan at the mythology episodes, but this one actually did tie back to Season three and Nisei, and even back to Season 2 with Scully's abduction. I can get behind this storyline, mainly because it personally affects the characters, rather than have Scully and Mulder on a wild goose chase to the truth, getting close but then having it taken away later on. I'm really excited to see where this goes, especially meeting the hybrids and getting to know more about the Syndicate's project of human/alien fertilization. The scene at the end with Mulder and Scully's embrace almost made me choke up a little. There might actually be some hope for this season after all.
I would say so far the 4th season has been a little on the rocky end for me, mainly because there really hasn't been anything that has gripped me like some of the episodes in Season 3.
Well, the last few episodes (I include Paper Hearts in that) have been really good, but it's the two episodes in bold I wanted to spotlight. Betts was a great Monster of the Week story which looked creepy but it was the end of the episode that caught my attention. This is the start of a personal storyline for Scully, with the onset of her Cancer.
Memento Mori might be one of the more powerful episodes of The X Files I've seen in a long while. I've started to groan at the mythology episodes, but this one actually did tie back to Season three and Nisei, and even back to Season 2 with Scully's abduction. I can get behind this storyline, mainly because it personally affects the characters, rather than have Scully and Mulder on a wild goose chase to the truth, getting close but then having it taken away later on. I'm really excited to see where this goes, especially meeting the hybrids and getting to know more about the Syndicate's project of human/alien fertilization. The scene at the end with Mulder and Scully's embrace almost made me choke up a little. There might actually be some hope for this season after all.
Small Potatoes
X Files doesn't seem to do all that great with the comedy shows, but I really liked this one. This was the one with a pretty likeable "monster of the week" who was able to change shape and we got some great scenes between "Fake" Mulder and Scully. It was a fun episode, in a season I already think is not as good as Seasons 2 or 3.
As for what else I've seen, that two parter with Max Fenig was pretty cool, but was that guy at the end really abducted by Aliens? What was the technology alien source thing in the bag again? It felt like the episode ended abruptly but it was nice to see Max again. It has been a while since I've seen the season 1 episode he was in, but he was more nuttier here than it was in that episode.
I am looking forward to them getting back to Scully's cancer, as in terms of the mythology, is one of the things I'm intrigued by right now. And I know after I finish season 5, I probably should see the Movie again which might explain the black goo (I have seen the movie but it was out of context) better than the original season premiere.
Zero Sum
Now this was a great episode, utilizing something from the premiere and expanding on it. I still get frustrated by the repetitiveness of everything, but seeing Skinner go up against CSM was great, especially the final scene in the apartment. I did miss Scully though, but I read up on the episode and she was filming a movie at the time, so the onscreen reason for her disappearance was nice. Also nice to get a call back to her abduction.
X Files doesn't seem to do all that great with the comedy shows, but I really liked this one. This was the one with a pretty likeable "monster of the week" who was able to change shape and we got some great scenes between "Fake" Mulder and Scully. It was a fun episode, in a season I already think is not as good as Seasons 2 or 3.
As for what else I've seen, that two parter with Max Fenig was pretty cool, but was that guy at the end really abducted by Aliens? What was the technology alien source thing in the bag again? It felt like the episode ended abruptly but it was nice to see Max again. It has been a while since I've seen the season 1 episode he was in, but he was more nuttier here than it was in that episode.
I am looking forward to them getting back to Scully's cancer, as in terms of the mythology, is one of the things I'm intrigued by right now. And I know after I finish season 5, I probably should see the Movie again which might explain the black goo (I have seen the movie but it was out of context) better than the original season premiere.
Zero Sum
Now this was a great episode, utilizing something from the premiere and expanding on it. I still get frustrated by the repetitiveness of everything, but seeing Skinner go up against CSM was great, especially the final scene in the apartment. I did miss Scully though, but I read up on the episode and she was filming a movie at the time, so the onscreen reason for her disappearance was nice. Also nice to get a call back to her abduction.
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Strongly disagree and you might also, once you get further into the series.
It feels like I'm already deep into the series, but then I have to remind myself that I'm at the end of Season 4. Man a lot of stuff has happened in this series already.
You are, that's why I wrote "deeper".
It might help if you don't think of the episodes in question as "comedy", the show is a drama afterall, but perhaps as "whimsical" or maybe "comedic". It is more like Buffy in that several of the episodes have lots of funny stuff in them, but none of them, IMO, fall into the category of all out comedy.
When the show goes for laughs, it can be very funny, but basically it is a drama. The Sopranos.was like this too. There are a few of these episodes you haven't gotten to yet.
I want to do this on my next rewatch.
Season 5 has gotten off to an interesting start, probably better so far than Season 4. Going into it, I actually found a lot of Season 4 to be average but decent, so I was hoping S5 can maybe pick up the pace a little or at least have more interesting episodes.
Redux got that off to a pretty good start. This kind of felt like a transition from what we've seen so far to what is to come. Yeah I know the black goo plot is coming back (Because I've seen the movie but plan to see it again) but this episode kind of felt like a f(irst half of the) series finale. Mulder is starting to be convinced that all this he was after is indeed a hoax, and Scully's Cancer has gone into Remission. It was pretty good for a conspiracy thriller.
Detour was just ok for me. The MOTW was decent, but it was the sense of feeling alone that I really liked. We got some moments kind of like that episode in Season 3 where Mulder and Scully were trapped on a rock and it's those personal moments between the two of them that I gravitate too the most.
Unusual Suspects is probably my favorite of the ones I've seen so far. We got to see the birth of the Lone Gunman, in a very X-Files-ish way, and I appreciated the return of X.
The Post-Modern Promethus is the episode I wanted to comment on the most, however. This episode was strange. I know it was a take on Frankenstein, but I was wondering the reasons why it was filmed entirely in black and white. Was it really to just get the feel of the time, or was there something more to it? The use of Cher was as good, if not better than the use of Johnny Mathis in last season's Home, and it was weird to see one of the supporting characters from Seinfeld and a former host of Family Feud in an episode of The X Files.
Redux got that off to a pretty good start. This kind of felt like a transition from what we've seen so far to what is to come. Yeah I know the black goo plot is coming back (Because I've seen the movie but plan to see it again) but this episode kind of felt like a f(irst half of the) series finale. Mulder is starting to be convinced that all this he was after is indeed a hoax, and Scully's Cancer has gone into Remission. It was pretty good for a conspiracy thriller.
Detour was just ok for me. The MOTW was decent, but it was the sense of feeling alone that I really liked. We got some moments kind of like that episode in Season 3 where Mulder and Scully were trapped on a rock and it's those personal moments between the two of them that I gravitate too the most.
Unusual Suspects is probably my favorite of the ones I've seen so far. We got to see the birth of the Lone Gunman, in a very X-Files-ish way, and I appreciated the return of X.
The Post-Modern Promethus is the episode I wanted to comment on the most, however. This episode was strange. I know it was a take on Frankenstein, but I was wondering the reasons why it was filmed entirely in black and white. Was it really to just get the feel of the time, or was there something more to it? The use of Cher was as good, if not better than the use of Johnny Mathis in last season's Home, and it was weird to see one of the supporting characters from Seinfeld and a former host of Family Feud in an episode of The X Files.
Bad Blood
Yeah I'm still watchign X-Files, and I'm still really enjoying this series, but I wanted to, 1)Bring this thread back up to show I still am watching, and 2) Talk about this episode from a comedy perpsective.
I've criticized X-Files for not doing comedy really well, and there was someone upthread who said keep watching, there is better comedy later in the series. I wonder if this was the episode he talked about because this one was great. Loved the satire of both characters and the subtle humor this episode showed. Also, the Vampires were creepy, in a fun kind of way.
I'd say so far I'm enjoying season 5 more than season 4. There are more standalone shows here and I keep thinking about this season from the point of view of there is a movie coming. So far my 5 favorite episodes are:
Christmas Carol (Didn't really care for Part two very much)
Usual Suspects
Bad Blood
Kill Switch
The Post Modern Prometheus
Yeah I'm still watchign X-Files, and I'm still really enjoying this series, but I wanted to, 1)Bring this thread back up to show I still am watching, and 2) Talk about this episode from a comedy perpsective.
I've criticized X-Files for not doing comedy really well, and there was someone upthread who said keep watching, there is better comedy later in the series. I wonder if this was the episode he talked about because this one was great. Loved the satire of both characters and the subtle humor this episode showed. Also, the Vampires were creepy, in a fun kind of way.
I'd say so far I'm enjoying season 5 more than season 4. There are more standalone shows here and I keep thinking about this season from the point of view of there is a movie coming. So far my 5 favorite episodes are:
Christmas Carol (Didn't really care for Part two very much)
Usual Suspects
Bad Blood
Kill Switch
The Post Modern Prometheus
I think it might not have been mentioned here yet, Kumail Nanjiani is doing a re-watch podcast called the X-Files Files that's turning out to be really popular - he even got Mark Snow as a guest (episode has not been aired yet), and he started the podcast only weeks ago.
Very well worth listeining to, even if you're not watching along with the show.
Very well worth listeining to, even if you're not watching along with the show.
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