The X-Files Season 2, Episode 15: Fresh Bones

Zombies and voodoo, what could possibly go right?

Very little, apparently. I thought 'Fresh Bones' was all over the place, and I'm not sure I really followed what was going on.

And for some reason, X showed up, despite this being otherwise unconnected to any of the past storylines. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like that kind of cross-continuity, but why would he waste his time on this?

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 14: Die Hand Die Verletzt

A witch hunt! Only not?

I kind of liked the subversion of the typically very conservative Christian school board by making them devil worshippers instead. Of course, then everything got very weird and seriously fucked up. Because apparently they aren't devil worshippy enough.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 13: Irresistible

OK, so clearly Scully is not OK. This case, more than any of the others she's worked since 'Ascension' and 'One Breath' definitely got to her, and we even got to see some of her own flashbacks that were triggered during her abduction, though we don't necessarily know how reliable those flashbacks are.

But almost more importantly, the show is back to doing what it does best, which is telling creepy and unsettling stories. And in this episode, it did that extremely well.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 12: Aubrey

Finally, some quality.

I honestly didn't know what to think for most of 'Aubrey'. I often try to come up with theories while watching, only to watch those theories completely shattered by the end of an episode.

In this case, though, I think I was only partly wrong?

The X-Files Friday Feature: Conspiracy

One of the things I'm realising about this show is that it's not, as I originally thought, 'a show about aliens', but instead a show about conspiracies and coverups. Yes, aliens play a large role in that (or so we're led to believe so far) but the thing that really keeps me coming back is the twisted plots within the FBI and the government in general.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 11: Excelsis Dei

I found 'Excelsis Dei' (which is mislabelled on Netflix as 'Excelsius Dei') pretty creepy and unsettling, like most X-Files episodes, but otherwise not very compelling, unlike most X-Files episodes.

It seems we're in a stretch of mediocrity between 'One Breath' and whatever the next great episode is going to be, because 'Firewalker' and 'Red Museum' were only marginally OK, if that.

Either way, that's certainly not all there is to this episode.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 10: Red Museum

In what initially seemed to be a run of the mill case - well, as run of the mill as anything on The X-Files can be, suddenly an assassin shows up who Scully remembers as being the man who shot Deep Throat, and we're made to wonder how everything is connected.

The only problem is this episode feels incomplete, and not in that way of there's more to be revealed later, but that only part of the story will ever be told.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 9: Firewalker

'Ice', 'Ice', baby.

This essentially felt like a rehash of a much better first season episode. People doing scientific exploration in an isolated and harsh environment discover a previously unknown biological entity that infects them and eventually leads to their demise.

That doesn't mean it was a total loss, though.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 8: One Breath

Dear The X-Files,

Please save some good episodes for your later seasons. How can you possibly top this?

The X-Files Friday Feature: Nostalgia

I won't say The X-Files is making me nostalgic for the '90s, but it certainly brings back some memories.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 7: 3

Wow, that title isn't confusing at all. Episode 7: 3!

Three ... vampires, apparently? This was a really strange episode, and felt really out of place, considering what we just saw and is still unresolved from the last two.

I don't even know if I can write much about this episode, because for the most part, I didn't really understand it. But also because I kind of hate that it's where it is.

The X-Files Season 2, Episodes 5/6: Duane Barry/Ascension

OK, this two part sequence really ups the ante, doesn't it? I feel like this is where the series goes from being merely good to great, and even spectacular.

And to think that at least some of this plot line came out of the fact that Gillian Anderson needed to take maternity leave.

Well, regardless of the reason, 'Duane Barry' was already an excellent episode, but then the last 2 minutes happened, and everything changed.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 4: Sleepless

OK, this is getting seriously good. We have in 'Sleepless', for the first time, an episode that deals with government conspiracy but not aliens.

And we finally meet X, the mysterious man on the telephone who has been slipping clues to Mulder and Scully the last couple of episodes.

But really, the main plot of this episode is plenty disturbing, even without the rest of the plot going on at the FBI.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 3: Blood

I believe I have a new favourite episode of this show.

DO IT.

DO IT NOW.

We may or may not have spent the rest of the dayweek saying that out loud to each other after watching this episode.

The X-Files Friday Feature: Skepticism

I read this article on Discovery the other day, and it seemed like the perfect timing as I'm writing about watching The X-Files.

Spookily, it also references a book written by a man named Chris Carter, and while that's an incredibly common name that the creator of The X-Files shares with many people, I found it interesting that he shares it also with someone who has written books attempting to discredit scientific skepticism. (Of course, I also found it ironic that someone is essentially trying to debunk skepticism.)

So obviously, as a rather skeptical person myself, and one who has been known to demand proof of things that are not immediately apparent to me, I found myself intrigued.

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 2: The Host

'The Host' was a really disturbing and kind of gross episode. I will never look at pipes and water treatment the same way again. Or creepy sewer-dwelling monsters, but you know, I don't really have to think about those very often as it is.

I think I would have preferred the culprit in this one to be actual aliens, because the idea of genetically mutated monsters somehow seems a little more plausible, and I sure don't want to see one of those things coming through the pipes, or in a swimming pool, or a sewage tank, or really anywhere at all.

So yeah, gross monsters combined with people swimming in shit. This is not going to be an episode I rewatch very often.

"Hey, X-Files, have you got any non-creepy or disgusting episodes to use as the second episode of the second season?"

"Go fish."

The X-Files Season 2, Episode 1: Little Green Men

So, season one has come to a close. I have no profound conclusions or even predictions for the next season. I don't know how I could possibly predict what will happen. Mulder and Scully will do stuff? There will be aliens? Who knows?

Either way, it begins now! And it begins with aliens (one prediction right!). Maybe?

Actually, it begins with a voiceover.

And more importantly, it begins with kind of a disaster, because the X-Files really have been shut down, Mulder and Scully have been separated, with Mulder working on what sounds like some busywork project they have him on until they can figure out what to do with him, and Scully teaching at Quantico.

Things cannot possibly get any worse for them, right?

The X-Files Season 1, Episode 24: The Erlenmeyer Flask

Holy shit. I don't even know how to write about this episode. SO MUCH HAPPENED in this spectacular season finale. It can only get deeper from here. How deep does the rabbit hole go?

We finally got confirmation of both the existence of extra-terrestrial life and of a giant government cover-up. I didn't think that would happen in the first season.

Oh yeah, and Deep Throat got deep sixed. WHAT.

The X-Files Season 1, Episode 23: Roland

For a show that deals with extraordinary phenomena, this episode almost bordered on the ordinary. As much as I don't believe in psychic abilities in real life, I can much more easily accept the idea of a psychic connection between identical twins than some of the other far-fetched things they've dealt with.

But also, this was a sad story about a family that was split apart because of attitudes about intelligence and its relative value in individuals.

The X-Files Friday Feature: Fashion

I've been trying to think about exactly how to structure this blog, and I've arrived at something I think both works for myself and will do justice to a show that I know an awful lot of people feel very strongly about.

I'm going to try to do this thing where I write about one episode each day Monday through Thursday (I've mostly given up on the idea of grouping episodes and only highlighting certain ones - it makes it too hard to plan - so yes, just individual episodes each day, with the possible exception of two part episodes, which I don't want to split in half).

And then I get to dedicate Fridays to other things about The X-Files that I want to talk about but that doesn't really 'belong to' a single episode. Because there's a lot of that, too, and the more of the show I watch, the more I'll discover that I want to write about.

And in this case, as I approach the end of the first season, I feel like I just have to say something about the clothes. Because come ON.