By: Robert Murphy
There is always an issue with trying to capture lighting in a bottle seeing as it was already impossible the first time it happened, so when people try to reboot a series that has long since gone off the radar, it can be hard to get the same spark. It doesn't hurt however that series creator Chris Carter returned to work on the tenth season of The X-Files rebooted return to television as well as lead actor David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. The series was earmarked for a six episode run of the cult classic that depicted two FBI agents that were assigned cases involving strange phenomenon or suspected elements of the supernatural. But, by the end of the final episode there are for more questions than answers and viewers are left to question if there is more. Just like the show always has.
The shows revival though is a bit of a tricky one to track as it didn't follow the new plot line that it sets forth in the first episode but rather it set out to try and be another season for the show, mixing an overarching story with some other cases thrown in the middle. This would normally be fine since the odd ball cases that Scully (Anderson) and Mulder (Duchovny) would go on were just as interesting as the overall conspiracy that Mulder has been trying to hunt down his entire life. The first episode as well as the finale capitalize on this conspiracy theory but add in real 20th century paranoia to drive it all home. Guest star Joel McHale plays Tad O'Malley who makes a living off of "revealing" the truth about government's spying on us with micro drones, poising us with chemicals through plane slipstreams and perhaps the most popular being the 9/11 attacks being the start of a global initiative against humanity. What this all did perfectly is bring Mulder's theories up to date and catches viewers up to what has been happening behind the scenes since the show went off the air even though Joel McHale didn't quite feel at home delivering all this news.
It's a great set up to be sure and while many others out there viewed the first episode as a bumpy start, I saw it as a perfect blend of new cult theory meats the old cult theory. What's more is Anderson and Duchovny still proved to have the one screen chemistry that made The X-Files so watchable back in it's hay day, if it weren't for these two at the forefront I'm not sure the show would have ever made it past it's first season. The real issue for the reboot is perhaps what comes after the first episode as the middle chunks to the story are more or less random cases and does not continue this new overarching story. These episodes are not bad in anyway shape or form, in fact the second episode itself is the creepiest and most attune to the shows former format as a boy with strange telekinetic powers searches for something from his past that Mulder and Scully inevitably get wrapped up in.
The third episode is perhaps the most bizarre of the bunch when guest star Rhys Darby comes down with an apparent case of reverse monsterism, transforming from weird lizard creature to average middle aged man overnight. It's plucky to say the least but overall it felt like a wash of an episode, don't get me wrong Darby does a fantastic job as he describes the woes of being a pathetic middle aged man. Lying about his sex life, forced to get a job and watching pornography. Mulder too has his own crisis in this episode about whether or not his years at the bureau have all been a waste as he looks over old case files and finds out things like a "rockman" siting was just a mascot selling tires. But, this silliness doesn't come together well throughout the episode and with a six episode run, the show did not have the episode to waste on something like this.
The fourth episode was perhaps the most gruesome display I have ever seen come from the series as a street art inspired monster called the "garbage man" takes out various people in the community that are threatening homeless people. But, the fifth episode proved to be a favorite of mine when two fresh faced young agents come to Scully and Mulder for advice on a terror cell case they are working. Chris Carter obviously drawing a parallel to young Scully and Mulder here by creating clones of their former selves with Agent Miller (Robbie Amell) and Agent Einstein (Lauren Ambrose). But the episode is far more humorous and enlightening than it is pure ridiculousness. The episode shows just how far Scully and Mulder have come after working with one another, Mulder obviously opening Scully up to the supernatural and making her less of a skeptic while Scully has made Mulder more of a believer in her faith and her judgment as a partner in life/work.
And then just as quickly as it started the final episode was ready to rocket the overall story forward in a record time rushing through just about everything that was laid out in the premiere. The sheer amount of information alone is enough to give viewers whiplash in this last episode as an epidemic breaks out causing panic for Mulder and Scully. The ideas themselves were great, watching along I couldn't help but feel that there is some wonderful elements to the story coming full circle, truths potentially coming to light and our main characters finally coming to blows with the "smoking man." It could have been a magnificent send off but it just doesn't follow through, what's worse is it ends in a cliffhanger with no news as to whether or not there will ever be another season down the road. It feels a little cheap and if the story had maybe followed this overarcing story more then viewers could have had a satisfying ending to what was a surprising series of stories in the supernatural.
The X-Files return to television was something I'm sure many were excited about and it is truly wonderful to see that everyone decided it was worth their time to come back to the show and send it off right. What's more is the charm was all still there as Mulder and Scully feel like they never left one another and had a commanding on screen performance. But, the show itself didn't have the time to pull off what it aimed to achieve as it showed off various ideas for episodes but nothing solid for the overall story. Added on top of that a cliff hanger hanging in the wind and there is just no telling what will come out of this strange effort to revivalist the series.
Good:
- Mulder and Scully are still perfect together
- Premier episode set forth potentially great ground work
- Episodes rang true to the old school X-Files
Bad:
- Episode three was simply bonkers and felt like a waste for a miniseries
- New story set forth fell flat in the finale
- Cliff hanger ending?
Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10
