The X-Files : Season X (Spoilers!)

[Starbreaker]

Wow, I thought that was actually pretty great.

So are they actually going to be changing the show's whole mythology, or is this just another fake out? The presence of you know who at the end makes me think it's the later, or perhaps some kind of a combination.

It was always implied that Scully and the rest of the women were abducted by humans with screen memories made to look like Greys. Then there were the weird hybrid super soldiers and clones. Aside from the occasional alien/mutant, the only major extraterrestrial thing they did was the black oil.

 

[Gepard]

I do find it funny that the ultimate, real Truth (apparently) turns out to be basically what the Man In Black Jesse Ventura lookalike told Mulder all the way back in "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space':" that "UFOs" and "alien abductions" are just smokescreens, perpetrated by the government to distract truth seekers from the much more mundane evil conspiracies perpetrated by humans.

Given that Jose Chung's is by far the best episode of the series, I have no problem with that.

 

[sidious618]

There's no way they're going the no aliens route. The Syndicate talked about the aliens and colonization among themselves so it wouldn't work. Plus, if that really was the twist they wouldn't put it 30 minutes into the first episode.

 

[Gepard]

Probably. But – speaking as someone who has only ever had the thinnest of patience for the mytharc episodes – I kinda hope they've decided to put all the conspiracy nonsense to bed once and for all. Sweep the most absurd alien stuff under the rug, and never mention it again. Make "My Struggle" the X-Files version of ENT's "Stormfront, parts 1 and 2," where Manny Coto wrapped the Temporal Cold War junk up into a big ball and put a bullet in it.

 

[sidious618]

I think Carter is too in love with the mythology to do that.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Great episode.

 

[Random_Spock]

I thought it was ok. Grinned like a fool over the 'for better for worse' line though. And Tad's reaction was gold. They're so married.

 

[tomalak301]

I hope they aren't planning to retcon the series. I was watching this and thinking about some of the things from the series like the black oil, Mulder's sister being abducted, Scully's abduction and I just hope this doesn't wipe that out. It was a very promising start though.

 

[Beagleman]

Wow, maybe it's nostalgia speaking, I thought it was great, feels like no time has gone by at all...

 

[Warped9]

It was almost like falling into an old groove again.

It's not an episode that wowed me, but it felt right and so familiar. If not for the obvious difference in the actors' ages it was as if seeing a new season immediately following the Season 9 finale.

I don't think this will wipe out the previous mythology. This new conspiracy theory was just another smokescreen in of itself. And this new global domination conspiracy doesn't negate the original hiding the truth of alien existence conspiracy.

But next we get to monster-of-the-week stories which I liked best.

 

[1001001]

I hope they aren't planning to retcon the series. I was watching this and thinking about some of the things from the series like the black oil, Mulder's sister being abducted, Scully's abduction and I just hope this doesn't wipe that out. It was a very promising start though.

I'm not sure what to think of the "new" narrative. Might be a smokescreen, might be real. With so few episodes, including a couple of non-arc stories, it's hard to believe we'll learn much of the truth unless the pace is accelerated greatly.

Or, they renew it and keep going...

 

[Tim Thomason]

*When the old doctor calls Roswell "a smokescreen," Mulder replies "so I've heard" -- most likely referring to Deep Throat's own dismissal of the Roswell crash from waaaay back in the second episode of the series.

How was Roswell a "smokescreen"? The Man of Medicine was there, at Roswell, and saw the crashed saucer and killed alien and did the autopsy and everything. Maybe making such a big deal out of Roswell and nothing else (per the opening) is what he means, but the narrative has explicit flashbacks showing the Roswell Incident as taking place as expected. Although maybe this will tie in with the overall plot around what is really going on or not.

From what I can tell, the only Truth that Fox has learned is that the Government has had UFO technology for decades and has been using them with impugnity (as alsoseen in Dreamland... which the characters wouldn't remember anyway). This doesn't negate the fact that known aliens have been around doing their own thing (and abducted Mulder that one time). I don't think he seriously believes that aliens, post-Roswell, are all a hoax perpetrated by the Government. At least not again (see Season 4).

I suspect that Tad O'Malley is a bigger piece than appears, and all the ultra-right wing conspiracy theories will be debunked in some manner.

 

[marillion]

Loved it... Had the look and feel of the X-files we know and love... And I really appreciated that the opening credits were not significantly changed.

My only nitpick was that they kept referencing Roswell, but the UFO crash at the beginning took place in northwestern New Mexico... Roswell is in the southeastern part of the state... More to the point, it looked like NW NM, more than SE.. I was thinking that they were referencing the supposed crash of a UFO near Aztec, NM, up near Farmington (where I currently reside). When they then started talking about Roswell, I got confused. Seems weird a show so steeped in mythos would make such a mistake... Or maybe I should really just relax...

 

[The Habs Fan]

The overnight ratings are in and The X-Files scored a 5.1 (13.57 million viewers). The highest rating for a show leading out of an NFL Conference Championship game since 2012 (American Idol).

Full breakdown here: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2016/01/25/tv-ratings-sunday-jan-24-2016/

It'll be interesting to see what tonight's episode gets.

 

[tomalak301]

I'm not sure what to think of the "new" narrative. Might be a smokescreen, might be real. With so few episodes, including a couple of non-arc stories, it's hard to believe we'll learn much of the truth unless the pace is accelerated greatly.

Or, they renew it and keep going...

There's been so many smokescreens on this series that they might as well change the tagline to something like "The Truth is somewhere...maybe, probably".

 

[davejames]

Well, it was definitely cool seeing Mulder and Scully again (I completely skipped the last movie so it's been even longer since I've last seen them)... but unfortunately that was about the only thing I liked about the episode.

The story felt incredibly tired and outdated, the editing was weird and clunky in a lot of places, the actors looked (and sounded) completely bored with what they were given to do, and it basically felt like Carter was trying to make the show in the exact same style as before... forgetting the fact it's no longer the 90s and times have moved on.

And maybe it's because I'm no longer a teenager who's fascinated by alien conspiracy theories, but I just had a hard time taking any of the conspiracy stuff in this episode seriously. It somehow sounded even more loony and ridiculous than the original conspiracy did, and I basically found myself as fed up and impatient with it as Scully was for most of the episode.

 

[RoJoHen]

I hope they aren't planning to retcon the series. I was watching this and thinking about some of the things from the series like the black oil, Mulder's sister being abducted, Scully's abduction and I just hope this doesn't wipe that out. It was a very promising start though.

The aliens still exist. The conspiracy still exists.

The conspiracy was just never as cut and dry and we may have been led to believe. Scully was never abducted by aliens. She was abducted by men who happened to be playing with alien technology. Same with Mulder's sister. We learned this years ago.

I think the main difference here is that Mulder now believes the conspiracy is a lot more insidious and far-reaching than it was before.

I liked the episode. A little bit awkward given how much time had passed, but I was expecting that. I think they need a monster episode to get back in the full swing of things.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

The crash seen in the beginning was in northwestern New Mexico and not Roswell. Any mentions of Roswell came from modern characters -- Mulder, O'Malley, the Old Doctor -- with the Old Doctor even saying the "smokescreen" line about it.

I think we're all just conditioned to associate any UFO crash in 1947 with Roswell by decades of pop culture exposure (in which the X-Files played a large role).

ETA: great news about the ratings! Hopefully the second episode manages to hold on to a high percentage of those viewers.

 

[JD]

There's no way they're going the no aliens route. The Syndicate talked about the aliens and colonization among themselves so it wouldn't work. Plus, if that really was the twist they wouldn't put it 30 minutes into the first episode.

I hope they aren't planning to retcon the series. I was watching this and thinking about some of the things from the series like the black oil, Mulder's sister being abducted, Scully's abduction and I just hope this doesn't wipe that out. It was a very promising start though.

All of the stuff focused on The Syndicate, The Colonists, The Black Oil, ect. was played out so matter of factly as aliens, and with so much detail to the whole thing that I don't see how they can just retcon it away.

So is anybody else wondering if the person who gave CSM his cigarette is anyone significant? I have to admit, I was kind of expecting it to be Tad O'Malley.

 

[RoJoHen]

So is anybody else wondering if the person who gave CSM his cigarette is anyone significant? I have to admit, I was kind of expecting it to be Tad O'Malley.

It'll probably end of being Tad O'Malley, but I wouldn't be mad if it turned out to be a resurrected Krycek. Did anybody notice if he had a plastic hand?