The Truth Is In Here: The X-Files Review Thread

[C_Miller]

Yeah, I noticed that you could tell that she had been pregnant almost immediately before filming this episode, but I could have sworn we saw her pregnant when she was on the "Alien" ship being studied. It's been a couple days, so I could be wrong. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get clarification on where she was? I was pretty sure she was officially abducted, but Smoking Man seems to have been in power of her return...

Anywho, yes, I have a feeling this one will go into my personal favorites as well. Fitting since, David Duchovny asked the writers to write him a Beyond the Sea-esque episode. He seems to be relatively invested in this show. I'm following along with the episode list on wikipedia to see when I have mytharc episodes and I've noticed that he has written a couple episodes, which is always cool. I'm actually going to be really sad when he leaves the show. Episodes like this make me just want to pretend the end of season seven is really the end of the show...

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, I noticed that you could tell that she had been pregnant almost immediately before filming this episode, but I could have sworn we saw her pregnant when she was on the "Alien" ship being studied. It's been a couple days, so I could be wrong. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get clarification on where she was? I was pretty sure she was officially abducted, but Smoking Man seems to have been in power of her return...

Yeah, Gillian was pregnant in that abduction scene, but I don't think Scully was meant to be. I always thought her belly was being pumped up or something by that machine she was attached to.

And no, you never find out where she was. They will never ever bring up her abduction again.

 

[DevilEyes]

Yeah, I noticed that you could tell that she had been pregnant almost immediately before filming this episode, but I could have sworn we saw her pregnant when she was on the "Alien" ship being studied. It's been a couple days, so I could be wrong. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get clarification on where she was? I was pretty sure she was officially abducted, but Smoking Man seems to have been in power of her return...

Anywho, yes, I have a feeling this one will go into my personal favorites as well. Fitting since, David Duchovny asked the writers to write him a Beyond the Sea-esque episode. He seems to be relatively invested in this show. I'm following along with the episode list on wikipedia to see when I have mytharc episodes and I've noticed that he has written a couple episodes, which is always cool. I'm actually going to be really sad when he leaves the show. Episodes like this make me just want to pretend the end of season seven is really the end of the show...

Season 7 was so bad, and Duchovny seemed so tired and phoning it in by that time, that the ending of that season and the cast change was a welcome relief. But you have a long way to go until then - seasons 2, 3 and 4 are brilliant, so is season 5 for the most part, and a part of season 6.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, I noticed that you could tell that she had been pregnant almost immediately before filming this episode, but I could have sworn we saw her pregnant when she was on the "Alien" ship being studied. It's been a couple days, so I could be wrong. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get clarification on where she was? I was pretty sure she was officially abducted, but Smoking Man seems to have been in power of her return...

Anywho, yes, I have a feeling this one will go into my personal favorites as well. Fitting since, David Duchovny asked the writers to write him a Beyond the Sea-esque episode. He seems to be relatively invested in this show. I'm following along with the episode list on wikipedia to see when I have mytharc episodes and I've noticed that he has written a couple episodes, which is always cool. I'm actually going to be really sad when he leaves the show. Episodes like this make me just want to pretend the end of season seven is really the end of the show...

Season 7 was so bad, and Duchovny seemed so tired and phoning it in by that time, that the ending of that season and the cast change was a welcome relief.

I didn't really have any issues with Duchovny specifically, but the show was definitely losing itself around that time. However, the cast change in Season 8 and the storyline that results from Duchovny's absence makes that season one of my absolute favorites.

 

[C_Miller]

I don't know. The show's doing a good job of getting me invested in these characters and I'm having trouble picturing the show without Mulder, but I fully plan on sticking with it.

 

[RoJoHen]

Back in the day, I think it was impossible for anybody to picture the show without Mulder (I mean, Mulder practically IS the X-Files), but I believe it all works out. You'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Yeah, I noticed that you could tell that she had been pregnant almost immediately before filming this episode, but I could have sworn we saw her pregnant when she was on the "Alien" ship being studied. It's been a couple days, so I could be wrong. Speaking of which, are we ever going to get clarification on where she was? I was pretty sure she was officially abducted, but Smoking Man seems to have been in power of her return...

Anywho, yes, I have a feeling this one will go into my personal favorites as well. Fitting since, David Duchovny asked the writers to write him a Beyond the Sea-esque episode. He seems to be relatively invested in this show. I'm following along with the episode list on wikipedia to see when I have mytharc episodes and I've noticed that he has written a couple episodes, which is always cool. I'm actually going to be really sad when he leaves the show. Episodes like this make me just want to pretend the end of season seven is really the end of the show...

Ooops, you're right. The scene I meant was the one on the abduction table.
For some reason I thought it was a flashback in this episode.
And yeah, in that scene it looked as if they pumped her belly up. Interesting how creepy a pregnant belly can look, isn't it?

 

[C_Miller]

Firewalker
(***)

This felt like a season one episode and for that it gets a major pass. Not that it was bad by any means, but after one breath, it didn't feel like anything special. It actually reminded me a lot of Ice and Darkness Falls, which I felt had superior tone to this one. However, it was nice to see Mulder and Scully again taking care of an X-File. Seeing this makes me realize even more what was missing during the first part of the season. Scully adds so much to the show. Even though Mulder is getting to be more of a skeptic and Scully more of a believer, they still balance each other out. It's nice to see that back.

 

[C_Miller]

Red Museum
(***1/2)

So, knowing things pretty much signs your death certificate. Anyone who has any information on anything seems to be executed. Therefore our fearless heroes should live nice, long and healthy lives. Anywho, I enjoyed this episode, although I think it's the weakest of the mythology episodes so far. It kind of pulled a Gender Bender by only being part of the Government Conspiracy/Alien plotline in the last fifteen minutes or something like that. For the most part, it was actually rather hard to follow. In my opinion, there were a lot of unnecessary things that only seemed to muddle the plot line down like the religious group and that child molester. This episode would have benefited from being a lot more straight forward. Otherwise I liked it. Even more so than the aliens, I'm really interested in the Government Conspiracy, which only really comes out in these alien episodes. I'd think people like the Smoking Man would be against all this other supernatural stuff too.

 

[C_Miller]

Excelsis Dei
(1/2)

Easily the worst episode of the series so far, for me. I actually watched it yesterday and yet, I can't remember a single thing about it. It wasn't as offensive as Shapes, but it broke my cardinal rule of entertainment. It was boring. I don't need to have 24/7 wall to wall action, but if there's not any type of action, there needs to be tension. Take Duane Barry, for example. For 40 minutes of a 45 minute episode were taken up by Mulder talking to a crazy man over the phone or in person, yet the tension drove the episode and made it one of my favorites of the series. This had no action or no tension. It was simply dull.

Aubury
(****)

Next to the mythology arc, this is what The X-Files does best. Small Midwestern towns with deep secrets of a paranormal variety. This is a great done-in-one tale that tells a compelling story that I don't need to see revisited. That's a successful story. It was also a nice little reveal that I did not see coming. The double twist was an even better touch. It's been a while since I've seen a show that can do a believable double twist like that without feeling contrived. I thought that this was going to be your standard psychic story, albiet a well-told psychic story. However, this propelled it out of the average/enjoyable range to the great range.

On top of all that it was extremely well acted. Deborah Strang, Morgan Woodward and Terry O'Quinn give their roles everything they had. It was nice seeing such varied and 3 dimensional performances come from our guests to help break the monotony of just having Mulder and Scully be the sole focus. As much as I love both of them, it's nice to see some three dimensional characters for them to play off of. It seems like they're always running into caracatures that are meant to slow up our heroes, but here we got some believable people working with our heroes. Points for the make up job on Strang. She looked completely different by the end of the episode.

P.S. Gets an extra half point for the appearance of Terry O'Quinn. A Star Trek alum and the future John Locke. Can we just get him to join the X-Files please?

 

[C_Miller]

Irresistible
(****1/2)

Dammit X-Files. I have to do homework at some point! But it's going to have to wait another episode... Anyone who told me that Season 2 is better than Season 1, I'm starting to agree with you. It was excellent to see Scully begin to deal with her issues, something we rarely see her do. It's completely understandable. She just suffered a major trauma. Whether she was just kidnapped or abducted. And it's great to see some of the effects of that. Just in case I thought I was watching Star Trek Voyager. Scully breaking down at the end was truly a great moment. I equate it to Buffy destroying The Master's bones in "When She Was Bad."

Again, the supporting cast really boost this episode. Pfaster was beyond creepy and there was absolutely nothing supernatural about him. That's the best part. I love it when a show like this pulls off just a really creepy story. In fact, this would have been a good one to do when the X-Files were disbanded. I could have accepted this as something for them to do while they couldn't do the paranormal stuff. I also liked Bocks. Like the character from the previous episode, it's nice to see kind of a "foil" to the Mulder/Scully dynamic. He's no Terry O'Quinn, but he serves his purpose. You know, he made me want some Lone Gunmen action soon.

P.S. This episode could have sucked and I would have given it this score just for implying that Mulder is a Redskins fan.


Die Hand Die Verletzt
(--)

YES! High School run by a cult. I'm pretty sure that this was based on my school... but I don't have concrete evidence. That being said, this is a pretty average episode. I must say that a lot of it can probably be broken down to bias. The occult never really interested me. Unless it's done by Joss Whedon. I also feel like this episode crossed a lot of lines for typical prime time television. Child sacrifices and using a girl to harvest children to sacrifice unsettles me and I'm really hard to make uncomfortable. I did like Mulder trading verbal barbs with Shannon's father. I'm beginning to think Mulder can do no wrong. Everything this guy does is just a hundred different kinds of awesome. Otherwise this was really just too unsettling to find entertaining, which is the main reason for watching TV. I can't give this episode a grade for that reason.

On a lighter note, we see our famous Vancouver woods in their clearest appearance since season 1. I almost expected Billy Miles, Dr. Nemman or The Jersey Devil to pop out at some point.

 

[Harvey]

O'Quinn doesn't join The X-Files, but he does make two more appearances, and is a semi-regular on Millennium, which is a spin-off to The X-Files. Sort of.

 

[C_Miller]

I'll look forward to that. Terry O'Quinn is a favorite of mine, if you couldn't tell. I don't think I've ever heard of Millennium. Do you recommend it after I finish with The X-Files?

 

[Harvey]

Millennium takes place during seasons 4-6 of The X-Files. After it was canceled, there was a minor crossover of the main character (Frank Black, played by Lance Henrikson) onto The X-Files early in its seventh season.

As far as the show, it's wildly inconsistent. Each season had a different showrunner, and differ dramatically in tone and violence. In my opinion, the first season is a flawed but brilliant one, the second season is a juvenille disaster, and the third season...well, I liked it more than the second, but must confess I never finished it. Other fans will tell you the exact opposite of that, though, so it's best you decide on your own terms.

The most direct crossover with The X-Files is the season two episode, "Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense." It's brilliant and worth seeing even if you give the rest of the series a pass.

Speaking of spin-offs, there's also The Lone Gunmen, which ran concurrent with the eighth season of The X-Files. It's much more comedic (or, in the very least, it tries to be). But you've got a ways to go until then.

 

[Aragorn]

You also need to watch all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street to understand a future episode.

Just kidding.

 

[saturn5]

You also need to watch all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street to understand a future episode.

Just kidding.

Is his character Munch though? If so then Richard Belzer must hold the record for the actor who plays the same character on the most shows?

 

[C_Miller]

Yes, that is true.

Homicide: Life on the Street, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Trial By Jury, The X-Files, The Beat, Arrested Development, and The Wire.

 

[Starbreaker]

But the X-Files is a fictional show on Law & Order: SVU.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

But the X-Files is a fictional show on Law & Order: SVU.

And although I can't prove it, I'm sure somewhere in The X Files must be a reference to prove it's the other way around. So it evens out.

 

[C_Miller]

Fresh Bones
(***1/2)

Voodoo and zombies galore! This is a topical episode in more ways that one. First it deals with zombies and we seem to be having a zombie crazy now Second, it deals with Haitian Refugees, which is unfortunately a big reality today and corrupt military officials harming people who are under their domination. This was a rather good episode. Sad because it's so realistic, but a good episode at that. You know, I think I'm starting to make peace with Monster-of-the-Week episodes. This season with episodes like The Host, Aubrey, Blood, Irresistible and this one, good Monster episodes are a lot more common than they used to be. A good one is no longer the exception like it was when Beyond the Sea popped up. While the mytharc is great, those episodes are becoming more common, therefore less special, so I do see the show becoming more consistant in that sense.

I'm really starting to warm up to the new Deep Throat. He's still not as endearing as Jerry Hardin was, but I'd argue he's almost more believable than he was. I believe it when he says that his life is on the line when he tries to give Mulder information. Because of this we are allowed to get an idea of what the truth means. It means more than just Mulder's abducted sister. It adds a little scope to the universe.