Spoilers

“Aubrey”

I thought that I was done with X-Files episodes that I had not seen. Then I started watching “Aubrey” and I realized quickly that I was not done with unseen X-Files shows.

The show kicked off right away with John Locke! My ever favorite LOST star, Terry O’Quinn, was playing a police detective involved in the case that Mulder and Scully would be involved in.

A female detective stumbled into the desert and digs up the bones of a missing FBI agent from the 40s. This leads to a look at a serial killer from the time and how it connected to three murders from the present.

I did like the story. It was inventive and the answer was a surprise. It had that same X-Files feel to it, but it was unlike other episodes.

Spoilers

“Red Museum”

“Excelsis Dei”

“Red Museum” was the episode that Chris Carter and David E. Kelley discussed a being a crossover with the CBS drama Picket Fences. Since The X-Files and Picket Fences were on different networks, the networks nixed the idea.

It turned into a different story, involving growth hormones. There is also a vegan religious group that gets targeted as suspects because of their oddness. This was another sheriff on the X-Files that was a big jerk.

The killer of Deep Throat, Crew Cut Man, was killed off screen in this episode, as he had arrived to try and help cover up what was going on with the tests that were being run.

In “Excelsis Dei” Mulder and Scully head to a private nursing home to investigate the claims of a nurse that she was raped by an invisible spirit. 

It was weird because in this episode, Mulder was really poo-pooing the idea of an invisible rapist at first and Scully was all in and trying to speculate possible ideas. It really felt backwards from a normal X-Files episode.

This episode winds up fairly unsatisfyingly and the whole bathroom filling with water thing made very little sense and seemed to be more laughable.

Spoilers

“Firewalker”

Mulder and Scully are out of a mission for the first time since Scully returned from her kidnapping and near death experience. 

This felt very much like the first season episode “Ice” just set in a different location.

That is not necessarily a bad thing since “Ice” is one of my favorite episodes from season one. Still, the repetition of the basic structure feels a little lazy.

However, there were some cool effects, including the bulging neck that are shown by those infected. It was really creepy.

“Firewalker” was watchable and it works as a monster-of-the-week episode that can bring Mulder and Scully back to the field.

Otherwise, at best, okay episode.

Spoilers

“Ascension”

Part two with Duane Barry and the kidnapping of Agent Scully. 

Very active episode of the show including a very tense snow lift ride. Show included:

• The capture of Duane Barry
• The death of Duane Barry
• Alex Krycek disappears when Mulder figures him out.
• Skinner reinstated the X-Files in the FBI
• Scully is taken and ‘tested’ on; still missing by episode’s end.

It was meant to look like Mulder had killed Duane Barry, but the show did not build on it. It was funny. One of the people at the meeting suggested that Mulder was behind it, Mulder said he did not do it, and everything just went on as normal. Bizarre.

Everything was done because Gillian Anderson was pregnant, and this gave her the time off she required. These two episodes are exceptional examples of what this series could be.

Spoilers

“Roland”

Roland is a decent episode that feels like several of the other episodes of season one.

This is yet another episode from this first season that I have not seen before. I am not sure why there were so many episodes in this first season that I missed. I am also curious when I start into season two if there will be fewer episodes that I have not seen already.

The most standout aspect of this episode was the performance by Željko Ivanek as Roland. His performance as the intellectually disable janitor Roland, who was separated from his identical twin when he was young. His brother was in an accident and died, though they were keeping his brain alive. This was a way that he was able to control Roland and get him to finish his work and kill his enemies.

Interesting, and okay.

“The Erlenmeyer Flask”

And then there was this one.

Whoa, this was so much better than Roland.

The X-Files mythology went into high gear as we see the death of Deep Throat. The way the mysterious governmental agents systematically destroy the evidence and manipulate the situation can become very frustrating. You see Mulder and Scully come so close and yet everything is pulled away.

The whole episode is centered around the use of extraterrestrial bacteria, bacteria that does not exist anywhere in nature. This episode gave a lot to Scully, who normally does not get to see the evidence outside of Mulder’s testimony. When she pulled out the original source of the bacteria, it makes it more difficult to believe that she could still be a skeptic.

At the end of the episode Mulder tells Scully that Skinner had told him that the X-Files was being shut down and they were being reassigned. Mulder dedicated himself to keep searching for the truth.

The season one episodes were a little more inconsistent than I remember about the rest of the series. It may have been a season to see how to make this series, what worked and what did not. There were some outstanding episodes here too.

Spoilers

“Born Again”

Once again, I have never seen “Born Again” before today. There have been several episodes of this first season of The X-Files that I do not remember at all. It has been a benefit of this rewatch.

This episode deals with the reincarnation of a police officer who was involved in a theft and killed. The reincarnation was in the body of a little girl and involved some kind of telekinesis.

There are some strange bits in this episode and, honestly, the little girl did not seem to be the best actress. This felt as if it were just a run of the mill episode of the X-Files.

There was a weird use of technology in the episode including a way to see last images seen.

It felt like just some lazy writing.

Honestly, this is not my favorite episode.

Spoilers

“Tooms”

Eugene Tooms returns to the forefront of The X-Files to continue his horror-filled lifestyle. Tooms, who originally debuted in “Squeeze” earlier in season one, was one of the first really popular of the ‘Monsters-of-the-week’ format that the X-Files used.

However, it also blended the whole conspiracy storyline into this episode as well as we meet Walter Skinner, FBI Assistant Director. Skinner would become a recurring characters and an ally for Mulder and Scully, though here he seemed to be in direct subjugation to the Cigarette Smoking Man, played by William B. Davis. This episode was the first time that we heard CSM speak.

Tooms remained as creepy as he was in “Squeeze” and continued to be a significant threat to Mulder and Scully. He did frame Mulder for attacking him, but that storyline bit did not go anywhere, which seemed a waste of time.

Otherwise, this episode was very good with Tooms getting his fifth murder and almost getting to his hibernation. Thankfully, Mulder and Scully found him and he wound up killed an escalator.

This episode also showed the growing connection between Mulder and Scully, as Scully put herself on the line a couple of times in order to help Mulder out.

Tooms was a fantastically creepy villain and helped give the X-Files credibility in episodes that are not just about UFO cover ups.

Spoilers

“Darkness Falls”

This was yet another X-Files season one episode that I do not remember at all. It has some of the best horror aspects to it.

Mysterious insects, who would only swarm when it was dark, would attack people, drain them of their liquids, and leave the bodies in cocoons.

So Mulder and Scully wound up stranded in a cabin in the woods with a limited amount of gasoline to keep the generator going so the lights will stay on.

There are a bunch of horror tropes going down in this episode and they were very effective. Including the moment when Mulder and Scully wound up trapped in a jeep being swarmed by the insects. However, they were able to survive because they were found before they could be totally drained of their fluids. They were all cocooned up though.

I did enjoy this episode with the anxiety of the claustrophobic location and the uncertainty of how they were going to find their way out of this situation. We also saw Scully panic more than I think we have ever seen before or since. She even blamed Mulder for a decision that he had made since he had done it without checking with the group. I didn’t expect that either, but it made perfect sense.

Spoilers

“Shapes”

This episode kicked off with a problem, but it was my problem. I immediately was distracted because the actor who played Butch from SOAP was one of the characters. Then, Deputy Hawk from Twin Peaks showed up as the sheriff in the episode. These familiar faces are not the fault of the show, but are something I have trouble getting past.

Mulder and Scully head to investigate a murder of a Native American. There is a whole Lycanthrope story happening among the Native Americans. A man that can turn into a wolf.

Unfortunately, the episode is damaged by the 1980s style special effects for the wolf. Some of the shots of the creature were truly bad.

The rest of the episode was solid, with a good story and some interesting ideas. The use of the Native American cast was excellent and they all did some quality work. Michael Horse, who was Deputy Hawk in Twin Peaks, does a really great job playing opposite Mulder and Scully.

A lot of the episode did feel like the basic werewolf type story and was pretty predictable.

The creature was called a Manitou and we got a couple of different people in this episode infected with it.