By Nia Edwards-Behi
The X-Files has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. Everyone has that handful of films or TV shows that just mean something above others, and The X-Files is one of mine. I’ve already had two ‘waves’ of my Philedom, but it’s not something that’s every really gone away. Even when not actively obsessing about the show, ask me my favourite TV show, and it’s The X-Files. I doubt that will ever change. Were the last two seasons sub-par? Sure they were. Was 2008’s second big screen outing a bit of a mess? Yeah, maybe, but actually I really liked it. I took that film as a love-letter, and as a farewell.
So, when news came that The X-Files was being revived, it was part-elation and part-trepidation for me. Was this being done just to cash in on, well, just about everything being revived or remade at the moment? It certainly hasn’t been rushed – 2008 was, would you believe it, quite a while ago now, and indeed 2002, when the TV series ended, even longer ago. I was still at school then! I purposely steered clear of keeping too up-to-date with this mini-series’ development – I didn’t need any publicity machine to hype me up, and I definitely didn’t want to get too invested in what, really, could be terrible.
That being said, you bet I’ve been excited about this. You bet I’ve been counting down the days. And you know what? I’m not at all disappointed.
The opening episode, ‘My Struggle’, seems to have received quite a mixed critical response, but for me, it was quintessentially X-Files, and as an opener it was perfect. Yes, it was a lot of exposition, but this is an episode designed to ease us in, to reintroduce us to characters we love, who we’ve not seen for a while. It jumps right back into the conspiracy that’s been around since the start, and while some of the efforts to bring things up-to-date might be heavy-handed, it otherwise, and most importantly, shows us a present-day Mulder and Scully. Personally, I’ve always been more invested in them both as characters than necessarily in the plot – but luckily the plot’s always been pretty damn good too.
Mulder and Scully have separate lives now. Scully is a surgeon’s assistant and Mulder is…well, doing his Mulder thing of chasing things in the sky. They’re contacted by Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale), who brings them back into the deep end of conspiracies, aliens, men in black, abductions and exasperation. Mulder and Scully are both very tired, but it’s wonderfully evident that they both, for quite different reasons, feel duty-bound to be involved in all that’s going on.
The pissing contest between Mulder and O’Malley early in the episode is very amusing, and it fast reminds us why we love Mulder – O’Malley’s what he could have been, a smug, right-wing raving capitalist. It also establishes Scully as the level-headed one, though not without her own flaws. Scully has been a heroine of mine for a very long time. She’s back with some verve here, despite her world-weariness. Her quiet stoicism is still a sight to behold, even if her view-point can frustrate us. There’s a wonderful anger bubbling under the surface with Scully, and my favourite scene in the whole episode is when a would-be mind-reader, Sveta, tells her she doesn’t know what it’s like to be abducted by aliens. It echoes a wonderful scene in I Want to Believe, where a woman tells Scully she doesn’t know what it’s like to be a mother – a comment that leaves her rightly crest-fallen, due to having given up her son for adoption. Here, though, she locks a withering stare onto the other woman, and leans her face just ever so slightly closer. ‘Well…maybe you do,’ is all the response Sveta can muster. That’s my Scully.
If there’s something that doesn’t work for me in the episode it’s some of the interaction between Scully and O’Malley, but I’m rather hoping that’s due to some lazy snipping out of other scenes for time. Another joy of the episode is seeing a couple of other recurring characters, and the close of the episode was so very, very right – a great scene which sees the transformation of abduction imagery into that of assassination, and a very final sequence which made me scream out loud. Everything about the episode was right, even down to its flaws, and I felt right at home with it. No new ground was broken, but for me, that’s exactly how the series needed to start.
‘Founder’s Mutation’, the second episode, takes an entirely different approach, but is no less X-Filesian. Taking the format of the show’s regular Monster-of-the-Week episodes, we’re introduced, via a classic pre-title sequence, to a scientist, the company he works for, and his bizarre death. Mulder and Scully are soon on the case, investigating potential genetic experimentation on children born with defects.
I say it starts with a classic pre-title sequence, but actually it starts with a horrible catch-up voice-over from Mulder, to helpfully fill in the plot details of anyone unfamiliar with the series, or who didn’t bother watching seasons 8 or 9. The first episode had a much more successful version of this, but I suppose when we can’t expect people to pay full attention or know how to read between the lines it was a necessary evil. The main purpose of said voice-over is to remind us that Mulder and Scully had a son together, William, who was given up for adoption in what might be one of the most misguided and hard to forgive things that ever happened in The X-Files. William is given up for adoption, in strictest secrecy, for his own good, because he might be, y’know, part-alien or something like that.
The parallels between the narrative of this episode and Mulder and Scully’s personal history is rather heavy-handed and on the nose here, but, it’s nice to see it being addressed head-on. It was largely ignored in I Want to Believe, and so I can’t help but feel that maybe now they’re apart, but back in the business of things, Mulder and Scully are seeking to finally address the elephant in the room. I hope the issue resurfaces, however, as some resolution to the William narrative is desperately needed. I do hope that any resolution is slightly less ham-fisted, though. That being said, as someone deeply invested in Mulder and Scully as characters, the dream-like sequences which show both Scully and Mulder imagine a life with William, a life where their worst fears about him are realised, are painful to watch. These imagined scenes are much stronger than some of the dialogue between them, although there are some nice moments there too.
As for the actual case being investigated, while it starts off interesting, and has some really great body-horror moments, it’s got an incredibly weak ending, which is a little bit disappointing. This episode felt like part one of a two-parter, so I’m genuinely curious to see if this MOTW episode is really as stand-alone as it appears to be. Despite some disappointment, there’s enough classic X-Files here to keep me happy – Scully’s sarcasm! Skinner enabling the pair’s rule-breaking! The office! Scully not having a desk! Ah, yes. Yes, more please!
It’s curious to read the critical responses to these episodes, which generally seem to prefer the second episode over the first, while I feel quite the opposite. However, I’m very satisfied with this start to the series. Given the critical acclaim episode three is already receiving, I’m awaiting next week with some anticipation. Yes, next week. It’s been quite some time since I’ve watched a TV series like this, and that doesn’t half contribute to the nostalgia factor here. It’s a joy and a pleasure to see Mulder and Scully back where they belong – together, waving flashlights around, speech-making and eye-rolling.