Spoilers

“This”

“This” was an excellent episode the X-Files.

Bringing back Langley of the Lone Gunmen in a creative and original way really started the episode with a cool mystery that led to a wild conclusion and a typical X-Files ending.

The hardest part to accept, however, was when Mulder and Scully were at Arlington Cemetery at the graves of the Lone Gunmen and made their Batman Leaps to figure out what the message was. The clues with the presidents and their death dates was bizarre and practically impossible to figure out. Mulder and Scully figured it out in just a few minutes. Adam West and Burt Ward would be proud.

Seeing Mulder and Scully really work together to survive and to get through the mystery was awesome. They truly are a great pairing and the chemistry was still alive after all of these years. And Scully kicked some serious ass in this episode.

Tying this mystery to the death of Langley gave Mulder a way to honor his old friends who had died back in season nine while Mulder was in hiding. It also brought back the idea of Deep Throat, whose gravestone contained another surprise.

The comment about how the FBI was not in the good graces of the Executive branch during this time was a direct reference to Trump and his troubles with the agency.

This monster-of-the-week entry was considerably more entertaining than the bizarre season eleven opener. It still played up the mistrust between Scully and Mulder with Skinner, something that this show has built on not only the last few episodes, but across the run of the series.