- Nov 29, 2008
- 16,598
- 6,346
Alright, I just spent several months watching this series, so you know I've got something to say. A lot to say. I couldn't find another X-Files thread, except ones specific to the reboot seasons. Maybe there was one and it got abducted in the great purge of '25. Regardless, this is my first thread since, I think, 2008...which I'm pretty sure was debating Peter Budaj vs Andrew Raycroft for the Colorado Avalanche's starting goalie position (huge winner of a thread). Anyway, I hope it can generate discussion about the series. If not, at least I'll give you plenty of bathroom reading material.
My personal history with the series is that I was a fan from a very young age (shocker!). I thought my 2nd grade teacher looked like Mulder, which my Mom decided to tell him for some reason (thanks, Mom). Despite my initial obsession with the series, I only watched it on and off - mostly off.
The earliest episode I remember watching is "Tooms" (1x21); the latest episode was "Sunshine Days" (9x18), the penultimate of the original run. I'm sure I watched the series finale, but can't remember doing so. A decade ago, I decided to rewatch the entire series, cementing my fandom. Naturally, I was extremely excited for the reboot seasons, only to quickly become disenchanted.
With that background out of the way, here are my thoughts/notes after this latest X-Files binge:
Season | Score | Comments | Best Episode | Worst Episode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
One | 9 | The X-Files in its purest form. S1 has five or six classic episodes, with a strong emphasis on horror - a trait most seasons lack. Despite brief appearances by The Cigarette Smoking Man, The Lone Gunmen, and Walter Skinner, there are only three main recurring characters - Mulder, Scully, and Deepthroat. As a result, this is pretty much the only season with significant character development, as Mulder and Scully become caricatures fairly quickly. Aside from the pilot and season finale, S1 has very little series lore, meaning almost every episode is a 'Monster of the Week' type. Likely the result of having to come up with so many fresh plots, S1 has a lot more stinkers than the average season. But because its top episodes are so ridiculously good, S1 is easily one of the best seasons. | 1x20 "Darkness Falls" | 1x9 "Space" |
Two | 8 | S2 feels like a continuation of S1, but with a few tweaks. It has fewer bad episodes than S1, but its top end isn't as high as S1's. The storylines are also a little more "out there" compared to S1, which often blurred the line between paranormal and scientific (albeit leaning towards the former). In addition, there's a little bit of rehash, like the episode "Firewalker" being an inferior clone of S1's "Ice." On the plus side, the cast becomes more well-rounded here, with added supporting roles for The Cigarette Smoking Man, Skinner, and Mr X. S2 is the season most responsible for developing the X-Files' mythology about the government conspiracy to cover up the existence of aliens. Though said mythology gets ridiculous in later seasons, here it's very strong. To that point, this is the only season where I nearly chose a 'Mythology' episode as the best (2x17 "End Game"). | 2x2 "The Host" | 2x18 "Fearful Symmetry" |
Three | 9 | This is probably the peak of The X-Files for many, and it's hard to argue that opinion. The show was at the apex of its popularity, and with only one or two exceptions, every episode is decent, with a handful of classics mixed in. The episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is often cited as the best X-Files episode and won two Emmy awards. The series' mythology plot line is still very strong (for now), creating a perfect balance between the Mythology and MOTW episodes. Not the best season for horror, but there's a notable increase in gore. The headliner for S3 is the abundance of comedy. The show had gotten so big that there was a lot of freedom to play around with the characters, though (as mentioned) it comes at the expense of horror. The season finale was pretty light, but that is an unfortunate trend for this series. | 3x4 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" | 3x18 "Teso dos Bichos" |
Four | 6 | The cracks are starting to show in S4. The episode "Home" (one of only two series episodes with a TV-MA rating) is probably the most infamous X-Files episode. But outside of that, the first half of the season is pretty rough. Things rebound in the second half, though. I liked how even the MOTW episodes felt strung together by various plot threads, something we hadn't seen since the first half of S2. But generally, the MOTW episodes are very mixed, and the mythology...holy convoluted, Batman. Strong characters are stupidly killed off in unsatisfying ways, and the finale ends on an anticlimactic cliffhanger (maybe in 1997 it carried some weight, I can't recall). There's also a major subplot introduced that has divided fans over the years. Personally, as someone who has experienced it in their circle, it worked okay for me; your mileage may vary. Overall, a very hit or miss season. My rating might be somewhat of a hot take, but in my opinion, the momentum building up in S1-S3 is gone. | 4x2 "Home" | 4x11 "El Mundo Gira" |
Five | 7 | Pretty solid season; most episodes are okay, nothing truly horrible. The series continues to lean more into comedy than horror, but there's still a decent horror episode or two in S5. As far as the mythology goes, my God. It's not that the mythology episodes are bad, per se. They're generally good, but they have the same problem as the TV series Lost. They're often two-parters and create a bunch of intrigue in the first half. But when when the cards are on the table in the second half, none of it makes any damn sense. There's a massive plot point introduced midseason that's scrapped insanely quickly and never mentioned again. I don't want to spoil it, but a rough equivalent would be if a main character's spouse died and then no one ever talked about it again. Overall, S5 feels like a filler season, probably because they were filming the first X-Files movie in unison. But for all my complaints - and trust me, they're valid - S5 still has 4-5 absolute bangers, headlined by the Rashomon (1950)-esque episode "Bad Blood." | 5x12 "Bad Blood" | 5x9 "Schizogeny" |
Movie 1 | 6 | See my review here. | ||
Six | 9 | If The X-Files were Friday the 13th, S6 is fittingly Jason Lives (1986). The creators have done pretty much everything else, so now it's time to play around. Body swapping, a Hitchcockian Rope (1948) episode, Mulder and Scully caught in a natural disaster, a Groundhog Day episode, a Christmas ghost episode - this season has it all. We're a far cry from S1, but in my opinion, this is an appropriate turn for a series on television for this long. S6 has a different feel due to moving production from Vancouver to California, providing a less gloomy backdrop for its change in tonal direction. There are very few bad episodes, easily the lowest rate of any season. In a welcome turn, the mythology is servicable, with S6 wrapping up some main plot points decently enough...before opening another can of worms in the season finale. If I have to nitpick, the characters have ceased all development. After all they've seen, Mulder is still searching for "the truth," and Scully still doesn't believe in aliens. C'mon people, you've been dealing with a shapeshifting alien bounty hunter for like four seasons! Overall, if episode-to-episode entertainment value is the measuring stick, S6 is the gold standard. | 6x21 "Field Trip" | 6x16 "Alpha" |
Seven | 5 | Just like Jason Lives (1986), sometimes it's impossible to put the genie back in the bottle (and that analogy really fits, given there's an episode with a genie). Though S7 has a few strong episodes, the series is running out of gas. There's still an emphasis on comedy, but it's more of the "someone slipped on a banana peel" variety rather than the witty humor of S6. "First Person Shooter" is Jason X (2001) level of cheese (imagine watching an episode like "Ice" and this back to back), and "Fight Club" is cringey, a low point for the series. Did I mention there's an in-universe movie about Mulder and Scully starring Tea Leoni and Garry Shandling? Episode 4, appropriately titled Millennium, serves as the series finale for X-Files creator Chris Carter's cancelled Millennium TV show, which is kinda cool (though the episode was just okay). As for the lore, S6 ended much of it, so S7 feels like it's starting fresh. And the season doesn't do much with its clean slate, instead opting to wrap up one of the longest plot threads in the series in a stupid, unsatisfying manner. S7 contains some major deaths, and like the rest of the major deaths in the series, they're unsatisfying and pointless. | 7x12 "X-Cops" | 7x20 "Fight Club" |
Eight | 8 | The X-Files, starring…Robert Patrick as John Doggett? Wanting to step back into a part-time role, David Duchovny only appears in half the episodes, and Gillian Anderson renegotiated her contract for more time off, so we have a new lead character. Shockingly, it's to the show's benefit. After a rough S7, the series goes back to its roots: horror. There's not a single comedy episode to be found, nor is there even any levity until Mulder returns halfway through the season. That makes S8 the closest we've seen to S1. It's not perfect; there's way too much focus on Mulder when he's not there, and some manufactured tension between Doggett and the other characters, which felt lazy. Similar to S2/S4, S8 is a little soap opera-y with many MOTW episodes strung together by overarching plot threads. But otherwise, I can't complain much; this is one of my favorite seasons. Only a couple stinkers, halfway decent lore, and a number of strong horror episodes. For a show made iconic by Mulder and Scully, my favorite episode in the series has no Mulder and 5 minutes of Scully. Go figure. | 8x7 "Via Negativa" | 8x8 "Surekill" |
The Lone Gunmen | 6 | I can't believe this show exists, largely driven by Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), no less. This X-Files spin-off about the show's hacker/conspiracy theorists/journalists only lasted 13 episodes and aired during a mid-season break in S8 of The X-Files. The series is mostly harmless fun, like a goofier Mission: Impossible (1996), with humor so juvenile it almost seems geared towards a younger audience (or immature adults...cough). Frustratingly, we don't get much development for The Gunmen; much of the emphasis is on new characters Jimmy and Yves. In some episodes, it's as if the series treats the trio as a single character rather than individuals, so Jimmy and Yves carry a lot of the load. The two 'Gunmen' episodes of The X-Files (5x3, 6x20) taught us more about the characters than this entire series did. On top of that, this show was hurt by generally low stakes. There's no overarching narrative, and this is an espionage-comedy rather than science fiction, so the stand-alone episodes are all about the gags and humorous dialogue, firmly making this popcorn entertainment. That said, things really pick up in the last few episodes, and the season(series) finale starts to establish a plot. Unfortunately, the series ends on a cliffhanger. Fortunately, it's resolved during S9 of The X-Files. (Side note: the series finale/cliffhanger, episode 13, aired on 5/11/01. The series cancellation was announced on 5/17/01. Two weeks later, episode 12, aired on 6/1/01. I have no idea why. This is a bigger mystery than anything you'll find in The X-Files.) | 1x13 "All About Yves" | 1x7 "Planet of the Frohikes" |
Nine | 7 | The X-Files, starring... Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes? The final season of the original X-Files run is a punching bag for fans, with "stop at S8!" being a common sentiment online. I can understand why the show, now completely without Mulder (due to a contract dispute), would've lost fan interest back in the day. But judging it on its own merits, I was pleasantly surprised during this rewatch. As I alluded to, Doggett and Reyes are now partnered up on the X-Files. I like both characters and it feels like we're watching a new show, but one that's still the same at its core. This is definitely more of an ensamble, with beefed up roles for Skinner, Carey Elwes, and James Pickens Jr. The percentage of decent episodes in S9 is one of the highest of any season, with "Scary Monsters," "Jump The Shark" (conclusion to The Lone Gunmen spinoff), and "Sunshine Days" amongst my favorites. Mulder isn't in the show at all (with one exception), which brings us to Scully. Gillian Anderson is first billed, but saying she's the star of the show is kinda like saying Tom Skerritt is the star of Alien (1979). Like yeah, she's in it and has a big role. But the X-Files cases are all handled by Doggett/Reyes, with Scully now teaching at the FBI Academy. She'll pop in to do an autopsy or provide some exposition, sure. But the only Scully-centric episodes are the Mythology episodes, or as I like to call them, "What's wrong with my baby!?" Scully's baby arc is fairly pointless and unsatisfying, and the weakest part of the season. Nine seasons in and without her partner, the show simply doesn't know what to do with Scully, and there is way too much focus on Mulder for a character that appears in one episode (in one cringe inducing episode, a Mulder stand-in is used for a few long shots). That brings me to the 90-minute finale, which sees the return of David Duchovny. The episode feels completely divorced from the rest of the season, almost geared towards viewers who hadn't watched the show in years but were popping back in to see how it all finished. It's partially a clip show, and to be fair, the episode does a decent job of connecting and making sense of years' worth of plot points. But in general, it feels like a mythology episode pulled out of S4 or S5. That is to say: it starts off with a bang, builds some intrigue, and concludes with a relatively unfulfilling thud. | 9x18 "Sunshine Days" | 9x5 "Lord of the Flies" |
Movie 2 | 6 | See my review here. | ||
Ten | 4 | 14 years after the original series run and 8 years after the last movie, The X-Files returned in a mini-series event. And woof. There are only six episodes, and five of them are meh-to-bad. Mulder's drug hallucination in the episode "Babylon" is probably the cringiest moment of the entire series. And yet, I've got to give the Golden Sombrero to season finale, "My Struggle II," which escalates things up to 11 out of nowhere, only to be (largely) retconned out of existence in S11; they knew they screwed up. The younger Mulder and Scully rip-offs - Einstein and Miller - were a bad idea. They start off as a gag, but then play key roles in the season finale, which doesn't work because they're intentionally derivative of Mulder and Scully and therefore don't work well outside of a tongue-in-cheek environment. The saving grace for S10 is the hilarious "Were-Monster" episode; it's classic X-Files and probably a top 25-30 episode. It was worth dusting off Mulder and Scully for that one fleeting moment of glory. | 10x3 "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" | 10x6 "My Struggle II" |
Eleven | 6 | The X-Files reboot is back again for 10 new episodes...and it's better. Let's be real, S10 set the bar pretty low. So low, in fact, that according to my Hulu history (and memory), I jumped ship halfway through S11. The joke's on me because I missed out on two above-average episodes, not including the one I caught. "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" is another hilarious modern-day classic from Darin Morgan; "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" is The X-Files' take on Black Mirror and does a pretty good job; "Familiar" is the first good horror episode we've gotten since way back in S9. On top of these three quality episodes, there's nothing too bad here...except the Chris Carter mythology episodes. The "My Struggle" quadrilogy of episodes is absolute diarrhea (which is probably what you're doing if you're still reading this). Just awful, rehashing the same tired plot lines from thirty years ago. One legacy character, who has a pretty small role in S11, is done so dirty that it almost tarnishes their work in the initial run. Speaking of which, there is so much character regression. Mulder and Scully have been to hell and back with Skinner, but now they're at odds with him for most of the season, as if it's 1994 again. Total garbage mythology, but the three episodes I mentioned were really strong, so giving a light 6 to what was Mulder and Scully's final outing...so far? As I type this, more news about Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot is coming to light, with confirmation that he's spoken with Gillian Anderson (who walked away after S11, thus ending the reboot). Here's to hoping. | 11x4 "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" | 11x1 "My Struggle III" |
Still awake?
Here's the TLDR:
S1 is the best for horror (HM: S8)
S3 is the best for mythology (HM: S2)
S6 is the best for entertainment value
S7 is the worst of the initial run; S10 is the worst overall
And I'm a S9 truther.
There are plenty of bumps along the way, but the bottom line for me is that The X-Files had no business being as good as it was. This show pushed the limits of what you could show on local TV and still holds up decades later.
I'm going to assume you have a more active social life than I do (hot take) and don't have time to binge 217 episodes (and 2 movies) of a TV show that debuted 30+ years ago. So to wrap up this post, if you're ever looking for a quick, bite-sized fix of horror, here are my Top 10 Monster of the Week episodes:
Episode | Synopsis | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1x3 "Squeeze" | Mulder and Scully investigate a locked room mystery in which the victim's liver was removed by hand. | Followed by 1x21 "Tooms" |
2 | 1x8 "Ice" | Mulder, Scully, and a rescue team are sent to investigate the deaths of scientists at an Alaskan outpost in this homage to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). | |
3 | 1x20 "Darkness Falls" | Mulder and Scully trek deep into Olympic National Forest to investigate the disappearance of 30 loggers. | |
4 | 2x2 "The Host" | With the X-Files dissolved, Mulder is tasked with investigating the death of a half-eaten body found in the New Jersey sewers. | |
5 | 3x4 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" | A reluctant psychic teams up with Mulder and Scully to stop a serial killer targeting fortune tellers. | |
6 | 3x12 "War of the Coprophages" | While investigating a UFO sighting, Mulder stumbles across a small town plagued by cockroach-related deaths. | Horror/Comedy |
7 | 4x2 "Home" | Mulder and Scully investigate a case of small-town infanticide in this spiritual homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). | TV-MA |
8 | 5x12 "Bad Blood" | In this Rashomon (1950) episode, Mulder and Scully have to get their stories straight after an encounter with a supposed vampire. | Horror/Comedy |
9 | 6x21 "Field Trip" | Mulder and Scully investigate the deaths of two hikers found stripped to the bone. | |
10 | 8x7 "Via Negativa" | Doggett and Skinner investigate 22 cult-related deaths in which the victims were seemingly bludgeoned, but no forensic evidence exists. | TV-MA (Hot take, IMDB 7.5) |
And for the truly deranged amongst you, a second list of underrated (<8.0 IMDB score) Monster of the Week episodes that might be worth checking out:
Episode | Synopsis | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6x13 "Agua Mala" | During a Florida hurricane, Mulder and Scully investigate a series of disappearances; guest starring Darren McGavin. | Fun |
2 | 8x3 "Patience" | Doggett and Scully investigate small-town deaths in which the victims were drained of their blood in this spiritual precursor to Jeepers Creepers (2001). | |
3 | 8x12 "Medusa" | Doggett and Scully descend into the Boston Subway after the discovery of a dead undercover officer with his skin melted off. | |
4 | 9x14 "Scary Monsters" | Doggett, Harrison, and Reyes conduct a late-night welfare check in snowy Pennsylvania, where all is not as it seems. | Directed by Halloween 4's (1988) Dwight Little |
5 | 9x18 "Sunshine Days" | Doggett, Reyes, and Scully investigate a death seemingly tied to a man who lives in a replica of The Brady Bunch house. | Wholesome. Should've been the series finale, but that would've been way too controversial. |
Of course I ended up moving to Vancouver where the first 5 seasons were filmed! 
After that, I just got used to it.
