With the right writing/writers,The X-Filescan be relevant, no matter the era.
A return to transcendence?
Too much to ask.
Credit: Ed Araquel/Fox
Show em how its done!
The problems with My Struggle begin with its massive scope of obligations.
All this, whilealsoexpressing Carters Trust No One obsessions and aiming to be zeitgeist-tapping pop!
The episode was a mediocre pilotanda sad reunion specialanda flawed rebootanda lunatic fringe soapbox rant, all at once.
Mulder: Yes we have.For better, for worse.)
and stormy speeches (Its about controlling the past to control the future!
Its about fiction masquerading as fact!).
The result: static storytelling, inert drama, cliches.
As ifThe X-Filescould be so tidily summarized!
It was amusing to see them try.
We saw a hand (presumablyMulders) stacking a series of photos into a manila folder.
(Dig Teen Fox rocking the Spock ears and blue tunic!)
Frozen moments ofMulderand Scully in various clinches.
The images were goofy.
Also: Who knewMulderand Scully had a set photographer trailing them on their adventures?
Using actual footage, as mostprecapsdo, would have made the sequence too long.
A better approach might have the featuring joint or duelingDuchovny/Anderson narration.
(More on this in the next episode.)
*MuldersbitterFooFighter 101 lecture slyly foreshadowed the revivals new gloss on the shows mythology.
(Always on the sevens, theseETs!)
Edgar Mitchell was name-dropped.
Scully didnt appreciate the psychic violation.
Sveta, you do NOT f with Scully!
Later, though, Sveta confessed that shed only ever been manhandled by humans.
But Carters clever twist is that Mulder and Scully but especially Mulder feel that burn as well.
(How does all of this square with Mulders family history, i.e.
Bill Mulders involvement with the conspiracy and his sister Samanthas abduction?
TBD… though I wouldnt be surprised if the revival doesnt concern itself with trying.)
NEXT:Mulderand Scully meet a real monster of the week: Tad the Scully-wooing Cad!
(Does psychic Sveta =John Q.
He was convinced he everyone is under constant surveillance.
He was a conspiracy nut.
Sample nuttery: 9/11 was a false flag operation and a warm up for World War III.
And he believed in aliens.
Just ask him about theKelly Cahill Abduction of 1993.
Tad was also a cad.
(Scullys emotional fragility: interesting or retrograde?)
Wanna get Mulder hot?
Just bat your eyes and whisper Ununpentium-fueledgravity warp drive.
Call their epic rap: Fear of a Black Helicopter Planet.
How is this conspiracy getting away with murder, manipulation, and grand-scale prep without anyone noticing?
(Hey, East Coast: your blizzard?
ITS THE BEGINNING OF THE END!)
It was like a super-cut of Elliots rants onMr.
Tad played hypeman to Mulders emcee:
Mulder:A conspiracy bigger and more secret than The Manhattan Project!
Tad:More odious and far-reaching!
Was I supposed to like Tad OMalley?
Or was he an agent of the conspiracy tasked with leading them astray?
Im going with the former.
I… dont know!
Maybe… a deliberately muddy blend of both?
When I was on the set of this episode last June, Carter hadthis 2009 issue ofUtneReaderwith him.
The cover story: Post Pundit America: The End of Attack Politics.
I was also greatly amused by the brazen outrageousness of the episode.
(The shows old, righteous touchstone.)RememberAssangeandSnowden.
(The revivals new, trickier touchstones.)
Saying these things would be incredibly irresponsible.
Yet her protest didnt last long.
This did not sit well with their old nemesis, the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis).
And still smoking, albeit through a tracheotomy hole in his throat.
I want to believe!
But my expectations for what this miniseries can achieve have been greatly corrected.
Im always glad to see you, Mulder, said Scully.
And Im always happy to find a reason, said Mulder.
Im glad to see you guys again, too, I guess.
But did it have to bethisreason?
Give me your thoughts below or on Twitter:@EWDocJensen.
