Forgive me, but this may be more of a fangirl post than observations with a critical eye. But hey, I'm allowed to get excited over something and just enjoy it for what it is. Right? Right? Well, I am!
Anyway, I was to no end thrilled when I heard The X-Files was coming back to TV. See, I was in high school when it first aired, and I fell in love with it almost instantly. I have fond memories of watching episodes. Heck, even my mom watched the show, and it's not really something that would usually interest her.
Now, while I love the series, and I label myself a fangirl, I have to admit I probably haven't seen every episode. College happened. I also haven't seen the second movie (my husband and I kept saying we needed to see it, then we never got around to it - I know, horrible, especially since I bought the soundtrack and the score for the first movie, you'd think I'd have made more of an effort). My memory also sucks at times, and it has been a long time since I watched any episodes (though I own several on VHS - lol). I am actually regretting not binging and re-watching all the episodes before this new season started. Eh, live and learn. Though I'm guessing I may start watching them soon anyhow.
Until I watched the two new episodes, I didn't realize just how much I missed The X-Files. It brought back a lot of memories. Especially since they used the old intro for this new season as well! I thought that was amazingly awesome - it really brought me back.
Oh, but who wants to hear about my silly reminiscing? Probably no one - ha. That's OK, I'll move onto the episodes themselves.
The first episode, "My Struggle," started out with a brief summary from Mulder, which was much appreciated due to the aforementioned sucky memory. Clearly, Mulder and Scully have moved on with their lives. OK, maybe Scully has - Mulder will always be that dog that just won't let go of the damned bone. That's what makes him Mulder. =D Because of this, he's easily dragged back into things by Tad O'Malley. We also get to see Scully's unending skepticism. This is great, especially for fangirls like me. We get to see the characters we fell in love with over two decades ago.
Of course, Scully is less skeptical by the end of the episode, and Mulder's bone morphs a bit. I love the transition, though. We start out the episode with the usual song and dance, that the government has been hiding the existence of aliens. That's The X-Files we remember, the conspiracy Mulder always wanted to crack wide open. But by the end of the episode, things are flipped a bit. Instead, it's theorized that the government is using alien technology to experiment on humans, to change their genetics, and to eventually use this to pretty much take over the world. Humans are the ones behind the abductions, not aliens.
The apparent cover up of trying to out the truth on O'Malley's show (which includes the death of at least one person - spaceship blowing up her car no less), results in re-opening The X-Files. And now we get to my favorite scene of the episode. Yup, the Cigarette Smoking Man is back! Smoking through the hole in his throat even - awesome.
"Founder's Mutation" is the next episode, and it really does continue with the strain of manipulating human DNA with alien DNA. I loved the mirror of Scully and Mulder thinking about what life would have been like if they kept their child along with the sister and brother whose genes had been tampered with to give them powers. Could this be what their child is like? Could he have been tampered with? I really do hope we get to see their son in a future episode!
This episode, though, made me realize one thing with this revival of The X-Files. They are not pulling any punches! From watching a man shove a letter opener into his brain via his ear, a woman graphically cut open her belly to release the baby inside (oh, yes, we see the cutting and the blood and the baby sticking his little hand out), and finally seeing blood pour out of all orifices of the doctor who experimented on his own children. Holy cow! I love it.
I'm looking forward to the next episode, and I may need to start sneaking in some of the old episodes during the week when the toddler has driven me to insanity.
What are your favorite recollections of the old episodes? And what did you like (or not like) about the new episodes?
Holy jeeze, I had that same didn't-realize-I-missed-it-so-much feeling--like, I almost jittered myself out of my skin when I hear mulder go into one of his classic monologues. One of my friends almost cried. It's THAT powerful to have it back.
ReplyDeleteI miss the shadowy darkness of the earliest episodes, and how they'd make things creepier by not showing much, but the brighter (and bluer) view as well as the gore makes me think of Fringe, which I've already headcannoned as an offshoot of the XFiles anyway, so.
But Oh my god, we have four more episodes, and I really want this to go well for them so they'll keep making more, even if they're in BBC-length seasons like this!
Oh, yes, the brightness of some of the scenes. I remember their old basement office being so DARK in the early episodes. Now it's all light, like, where did that window come from? Lol.
DeleteFringe was also definitely in the vein of The X-Files. And a great show! (I still need to finish watching the rest of the final season - yikes!)