Spoilers

“Tunguska”

The X-Files is back to using the black oil in some horrifying manner. The mysteries of what the black oil is and what the government knows about it is the driving force behind this story.

Alex Krycek returned to cause trouble for Mulder and Scully. Mulder winds up in a Russian gulag and Scully winds up before Congress, being threatened with contempt of Congress if she does not reveal Mulder’s whereabouts.

Mulder and Scully get their hands on a rock that contains the black oil, to the chagrin of Cigarette Smoking Man.

There were some fun scenes in this episode including a handcuffed Krycek dumping a thug from Skinner’s apartment balcony. The thug, a courier for CSM, fell to his death. This show provided some real strength to the character of Krycek as he really outmaneuvered Mulder.

That final scene with the black oil dropping onto a confined Mulder, creeping beneath his face to cover his eyes in blackness was devastating.

This was a part one, and it was a tough one to stop on, but I did not have time to continue the part two before Smackdown.

Spoilers

“Unruhe”

This X-Files episode featured a really creepy villain, a cool paranormal effect that we have not seen before and another solid performance from our leads.

Unfortunately, as it seems to be the wont, Scully was put in jeopardy again.

The main villain, Gerry, as played by Taylor Vince, was great as the antagonist of the episode. His backstory really informed his psychosis and the fact that the paranormal aspect really did not have much to do with himself is a neat change for the X-Files.

But I am going back to the fact that Scully got taken again and had to be saved by Mulder. I understand that that could happen, but it sure feels as if that trope happens on too regular of a basis for this show. We need Scully to rescue Mulder more often, as she did in the previous episode, “Teliko.”

The whole concept of psychic photography was different and provided a cool effect for the show to play off. It was odd though considering that Gerry was not making it happen intentionally. That it was the side effect of the “howlers” in Gerry’s head (or at least that is the implication that I took from it).

This was a good episode featuring the monster-of-the-week story.

Spoilers

“Wetwired”

“Talitha Cumi”

After a series of excellent monster-of-the-week episodes, The X-Files came back to the governmental conspiracy mythology with a vengeance with the final two episodes of season three. While “Wetwired” was not as directly involved as it seemed, it did turn out to be a connected show where as “Talitha Cumi” expanded the mythos dramatically.

“Wetwired” dealt with the use of subliminal signals over the television to lead to a form of mind control. The best part of the episode was seeing how the signals affected Scully, turning her paranoid and angry at Mulder, whom she believed was betraying her.

When Mulder tracked Scully down at her mother’s house, Scully confronted Mulder at gunpoint about how he did not trust her, and he delivered one of my favorite lines of the series when he said, “You’re the only one I trust.” Gillian Anderson gave a great performance as the unhinged Scully.

We also learned (at least, I do not recall it coming up before) that Mulder is red-green color blind, which kept the signals from turning him into a crazed killer.

In Talitha Cumi, we meet Jeremiah Smith, played by Roy Thinnes, who has apparent healing powers and an ability to shapeshift. We discover that the alien bounty hunter from earlier in the series was out to kill all the different version of Jeremiah Smith that were out there.

This is the dramatic end to the show, leaving a cliffhanger over the summer until the beginning of season four.

Mulder’s mother had a stroke just after a confrontation she had with the Cigarette Smoking Man. We learned that she had a connection to him in the past, and that one of the weapons capable of killing the alien bounty hunters was hidden in a summer home of the Mulders.

I swear, every time Mulder has CSM pushed against the wall with a gun to his head, I want him to finish the creep off. How would everything have been different if he had taken care of the bastard?

The show still referred to him as Cancer Man a couple of times, and I believe the episode with the actual guy who could see cancer comes in season 4. That is my guess as to why they removed that tag from CSM.

Two very good episodes that concluded an excellent season of TV from the X-Files. Season three is definitely the best season of the show so far, and is arguably the best season of the series.

Spoilers

“Quagmire”

This was a great episode of the X-Files. A monster-of-the-week episode that sees Mulder and Scully in search of Big Blue, a supposed lake monster that is killing humans.

It turned out to be a killer alligator, which, by the way, is one of my biggest fears. We lose Scully’s dog Queequeg to the alligator.

The best part of this episode was when Mulder and Scully wound up stuck on a rock after their boat sinks in the pitch black and they have an amazingly meaningful conversation. Scully compares Mulder to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. The truth=the white whale.

This scene just makes this episode special. The 10 pages of dialogue for that scene was one of the best Mulder/Scully interactions of the series up to this point.

There was a lot of tension, not only when they were trapped on that rock, but also when the alligator was rushing at Mulder and he unloaded his weapon at the beast. I remember that tension from the first time I watched it.

There was some good humor in this too, as Darin Morgan, who was the writer of all of the classic humor episodes this season, did some touch up here and you can tell.

A slight story, but really enjoyable.

Spoilers

“Syzygy”

“Grotesque”

Two great episodes in a row. One where we see Mulder and Scully being affected by the planets, amplifying some of their deeper seeded character traits and another where it sure seems as if Mulder has lost his mind and has become a copy cat killer.

In that second episode, “Grotesque,” we actually find out Special Agent Bill Patterson, someone Mulder knew when he was at the Investigative Support Unit at Quantico, was working the case. Performed by Kurtwood Smith, it turned out that Patterson, who had been chasing the killer for three years of his live, diving into the darkness of the killer’s mind, had become the copycat himself and he had requested Mulder be assigned this case as a way to stop him.

Kurtwood Smith was also the surprise killer, Cupid on Picket Fences, making it a specialty of Smith being a hidden murderer. Honestly though, this episode takes a look at mental illness and the darkness that these FBI profilers envelope themselves with in order to ‘get into the head’ of the serial killers.

Smith and Duchovny both gave excellent performances in this episode.

Meanwhile, the first of these episodes included the planets causing Scully and Mulder to be at each other’s throats the whole episode. At first it was pretty subtle, but as they continued to act unlike themselves, it became more obvious what was happening without them ever coming out and saying … hey, why are we acting like jerks?

This episode was meant to lean toward the humor that the show has been including every once in awhile, but most of this humor, with the exception of the bit about why Mulder always drives the car, was not the best of the series.

Spoilers

“Revelations”

A young boy appears to be a stigmata, attracting a man who is killing fake stigmatics. Mulder and Scully are on the case to try and protect the boy from the evil force. However, in this episode, because of the religious implications of the case, Scully was the believer, the one with faith, and Mulder was the skeptic, the naysayer. It felt weird.

The little boy was from the Air Bud movies, actor Kevin Zegers. He is effective in the episode opposite Gillian Anderson, who does some excellent work. David Duchovny though just did not feel right. Mulder believes in everything, but having him so anti-religion felt against the character. Not that he had to believe in God, but how he was so dismissive to everything was so unlike Mulder that it was jarring.

And when Scully came up with the answer where Kevin had been taken, Mulder did not go with her. I found that to be hypocritical of him, since she has followed him through how many potentially hairbrained ideas before. I wanted him to go with her, even if he did not believe she was right. That would have shown that he believed in her. 

I did like how Mulder’s refusal to believe in the religious moments of the episode led to Scully having a crisis of faith and ending up in a confessional. 

Our evil killer was played by the excellent Kenneth Walsh, who was Windham Earle from season two of Twin Peaks. He was Simon Gates in this episode and he was creepy and eerie with his religious zealot persona. 

Some of the events that happened in the episode were shaky. Some coincidental things that could have been tightened up more, but overall, I enjoyed the episode and I liked the focus on Scully’s personal beliefs.

Spoilers

“Død Kalm” 

“Humbug”

Season two of The X-Files moves along with one of my favorite episodes and one that was decent. 

First up, Mulder and Scully age rapidly upon a ghost ship. They investigated the ship when crew members were found from the ship, ageing well past their times.

Mulder and Scully are at their best in isolation, places where the outside world is kept at bay. Here, it allowed Mulder and Scully to have some interactions that they might not have had in other instances. 

Problem with the episode was that the old age makeup did not look great. Mulder, in particular, did not look like an old man, more like a guy with a lot of latex on his face.

“Død Kalm” was okay, and the strength of the episode was definitely the relationship between our ever favorite FBI agents.

The next episode was “Humbug” which was one of my favs from the series. It was the time Mulder and Scully investigated murders at the freak show.

This was a great episode that really, for the first time, took a more humorous tone with the case. The writing of the dialogue was spot on in this episode. Mulder was as funny here as he has been yet, and shows what the show could be. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, the episode was written by Darin Morgan, who had helped his brother Glen on other scripts for the show and earned himself a full time job. He wrote some classic X-Files episodes including “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” and “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” both of which I love and can’t wait to get to during this rewatch.

The thing is that the show does not sacrifice the tension and horror with the comedy. It shows that The X-Files is capable of blending the tones together into something very satisfying and extremely clever.

It was fun to see Michael J. Anderson (who played The Man from Another Place on Twin Peaks) guest starring as Mr. Nutt. Another guest star was Vincent Schiavelli, who was once married to Miss DePesto herself, Allyce Beasley, and they appeared together on an episode of Moonlighting.

These kind of comedic episodes are some of my favorites of the entire series because they are done so well and yet does not rob the show of its signature style.

Spoilers

“Colony”

“End Game”

A two part episode that brought the mystery of the disappearance of Samantha Mulder back to the forefront, and gave us another of the recurring villains, an alien, shape shifting bounty hunter with blood that is dangerously corrosive to humans.

The use of Samantha Mulder was done extremely well in this episode, although to be honest the future use of the mystery of her disappearance becomes one of the most overused aspects of the series. I am not sure if the creators of the X-Files actually know what had happened to Samantha and they just wrote that she disappeared and decided they would answer it at some point, not knowing the truth.

We met Fox’s mother and father in the episodes and the father was definitely a questionable guy. He felt fairly withdrawn from his son (something we learn more about later in the series).

The confrontation between Skinner and X is the elevator during “End Game” gave us some real insights into both of these men, especially Skinner, who had been painted as a questionable agent, someone that could not be trusted. This showed that he may be more than what he had seemed before.

Mulder and Scully prove that they are better together than they are separately. I did feel like I have seen Scully kidnapped and in danger from the villains too much during this season. I did like how Scully came into the hospital at the end of the episode and basically saved Mulder’s life with her take charge attitude, not taking any crap from the doctor on duty.

This two-parter was really strong and was a solid pair of episodes in the mythology of the show.

Spoilers

“Irresistible”

This was a disturbing and scary episode of the X-Files, and it really didn’t have anything to do with aliens or the paranormal. What it had to do with was a frightening man who had a terrible fetish that led him to do atrocious things.

The man started by digging up bodies in the cemetery and defiling them, cutting hair and puling out fingernails. That was disturbing enough without needing to go into it further. Mulder and Scully was called in because the police officer believed that aliens may have been invovled, but Mulder shot that down quickly.

However, Scully was having reactions to the case, having flashbacks to her recent abduction and it was affecting what she did. It showed her own PTSD over the incident that she has clearly not gotten over as of yet.

Nick Chinlund was cast as the ‘monster’ this episode and he was remarkably chilling. His tone and normal feel made him all the more sinister. 

The local police detective involved in this case was a well known face to police show enthusiasts. Bruce Weitz played Sgt. Michael “Mick” Belker for years prior to this on the NBC show Hill Street Blues. He had won a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for the role, and he provided a nice foil for Agent Mulder. It was cool to see a local cop not turn the stink-eye to Mulder for once. It was a different kind of case, but Weitz was very supportive of Mulder, including being a believer at the beginning.

It was cool to see Mulder and how efficient he could be as an agent with his profile skills that was not paranormal related. You could see why Agent Mulder had been regarded as highly as he was at the bureau prior to his involvement with the X-Files.

I do like how Scully was able to fight back before Mulder arrived. I would have liked for her to have been able to subdue the suspect before Mulder came to the rescue, but I guess her fighting back was enough. I do not want Scully to be seen as a victim.

However, the scene at the very end when Scully broke down in tears with Mulder was a very strong scene too. It showed how important the characters were to each other.

Very good episode. Different from other X-Files episodes and that keeps the viewers unsure about what is next.

Spoilers

“One Breath”

Scully is back!

She shows up in a Washington hospital and no one is sure how she got there. However, she is in a coma and looks to be slipping away.

Her mother and her sister are there, and Mulder knew that she had a living will, stating that she did not want to be kept alive through extreme measures. 

Mulder is desperate, revealing what lengths he would go to in order to find out the truth about who did this to Scully.

Mulder actually had a gun pointed at the head of “Cancer Man.” They started referring to him as Cancer Man, but shifted to Cigarette Smoking Man after awhile. I believe that is because of the guy who, later this season, could give people cancer. CSM is a better name for him anyway.

I wanted Mulder to pull that trigger so badly. I remember seeing it the first time back when it aired and I was so rooting for him to plug him in the head. 

David Duchovny was outstanding in this episode, his desperation and panic was palpable. He knew what he was doing did not seem to be successful at all and his depression was obvious.

We also started working towards Skinner as an ally as we head a story from him about his past in Vietnam and saw him refuse to accept Mulder’s resignation. 

We get more of a glimpse at X too who brutally murdered a man that Mulder had been chasing. A man who had stolen a blood sample of Scully. In true X-Files fashion, we never learn anything about this guy.

It is great that Mulder and Scully are able to reunite on the show after Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy.

Spoilers

“3”

Scully is still missing, as Mulder places her file squarely in the X-Files, now reopened. Solo Mulder heads to LA to investigate a murder that had connections to a series of cases in the X-Files. Cases that have a connection to vampirism.

I did not like this episode very much. The biggest problem with it for me was the relationship that was forced for Mulder and the woman Kristen. I did not buy that for a second and it felt so out of character for Mulder, especially with Scully missing.

David Duchovny was solid but the absence of Gillian Anderson was absolutely felt. Bringing in vampires for this episode was not a good choice. Unlike later in the series where we had a more comedic episode with vampires, this one just never seemed to really work. It played with some of the vampire tropes, but was more of a mess than anything else.

Scully’s absence needed to be played up more than it was. Thankfully, I believe she returns very soon.

Spoilers

“Duane Barry”

Ooh, a really great episode of The X-Files. 

Series creator Chris Carter was the first time director for this episode and he did a fantastic job. It was tense, suspenseful and simple in the construction.

Duane Barry was a former FBI agent who claimed to have been abducted by aliens and had taken hostages. Because of the alien abduction claim, Mulder was summoned to help with the negotiations. The steps of the negotiations did not feel right to Mulder.

Mulder winds up going into the situation when one of the hostages gets shot, and Mulder begins to connect with Barry. 

The imagery of Duane Barry’s abduction from out of his memory were truly frightening. Of course, as in all things X-Files, you are never sure if this is true or just inside the mind of a mentally disabled psychopath.

Barry talked about the implants in his cheek, sinuses and abdomen. This would be important later as they eventually remove the one in the gut and Scully tries to identify it.

After being shot, Barry goes to the hospital. He is in critical condition, but wakes up and escapes. This was the weakest part of the episode because I had a hard time thinking that he would not have been secured better than he was and his escape seemed too simple.

He winds up grabbing Scully at the end of the episode before it flashes the “To Be Continued.”

There were great performances across the board.

The cliffhanger was scary with Scully begging for help from Mulder over the phone.

When I saw the episode, I did not remember much about it, but I knew this was the one where Scully would be kidnapped. I do not think I saw this before, but I did see the conclusion of it. This is a sensational episode and I am excited to see the next chapter.