XFiles Rewatch Season 1

[Btvs fan]

Whedon was the better writer but I think Carter had more respect for the crafting of a TV series he just liked bilking his audience for as much money as possible. Or maybe that was Fox as well. Either way both of them disrespected the fans, ie the very reason they had hit shows to begin with.

btw I think its a bit ironic that Whedon's downfall was ultimately triggered by his behavior during the Justice League reshoots when he started his career as a script doctor.


Regarding The Mayor just being a Big Snake, that wasn't the payoff of the S2 hints, The Mayor being revealed as the master villain building a town for demons to feed on was the payoff for the S2 hints.
His endgame being lame? Well, all the Buffyverse villains had pretty prosaic motivations when it comes right down to it; end the world by intent or incidentally. At least The Mayor had a personality.

With Whedon his personal downfall was that (though his ex wifes revelations about the affairs were the start) but in terms of his actual writing ability, that had already taken a hit long before the revelations about him as a person.

The Whedon quips is a known trope even for those who've not seen Buffy
Age of Ultron was a failure, even more highlited by the Russos Winter Soldier (best Marvel film of all of them) and Civil War (essentially an Avengers film in all but name) Films before and after.
The leak of his Wonder Woman script, which was derided across the board.
The ideas he had for Firefly Season 2 including Inara's Virgina where like WHUUTT which had people thinking yeah maybe its good it was cancelled.
Dollhouse which I found boring and creepy was cancelled , while as for The Nevers, uh I saw the trailers and a clip online and that made me not bother.

I always thought Tim Minear (who worked on Xfiles) was his best writer and basically made Angel not Joss.

As for the Mayor even at the time of Season 3 I remember there were criticisms about how little was expanded upon and that Harry Groener peformance compensated for it. That and Faiths fall which was felt against covered by the Actress and her chemistry with Groener.
Iv actually seen an interview with Harry Groener where he says for Graduation Day that Joss was still writing the script for those 2 episodes while they were shooting and that he'd literally come out his office with new script pages that he'd give to them. That gives the impression of very rushed last minute.

That leaves the comparison with Carter who had problems but they felt like the opposite reasons as Whedons

 

[thetopher]

With Whedon his personal downfall was that (though his ex wifes revelations about the affairs were the start) but in terms of his actual writing ability, that had already taken a hit long before the revelations about him as a person.

I'd say it was both; the personal stuff with his wife and also the 'revelations' regarding his arrogant a-hole behavior 'on-set' OF Justice League that led to his vilification within the industry. (That and Justice League was critically planned and a flop when it finally emerged)
People then looked back/came out regarding behinds the scenes behavior on the set of Buffy and that was it, he was done within the industry. This then, coupled with the me-too era attitude to power dynamics turned his remaining fans against him.
Then came the inevitable 'he was never a real feminist/his creations are problematic' redefinition of his legacy by the very audience he courted/cultivated. And everyone else- they all like seeing yet another male feminist douche get his comeuppance.

The Whedon quips is a known trope even for those who've not seen Buffy

The Avengers is pretty darn quippy and was lauded by fans and critics then and holds up to this day. That was Whedon's peak. And Whedon's dialogue usually supports actual great character moments.
The real problem was the spread of 'Whedonesque dialogue' throughout Marvel in later years, which is actually just subpar snark and a severe aversion to any form of sincerity. That's just Temu-Whedon.
The man, for all his faults, had a good understanding of character and how to quickly show that character through dialogue.

Age of Ultron was a failure, even more highlited by the Russos Winter Soldier (best Marvel film of all of them) and Civil War (essentially an Avengers film in all but name) Films before and after.

Age Of Ultron was a commercial success and sure, its got plenty of flaws and pacing issues...but some of the more vocal criticisms that gained traction at the time were just bizarre, like the Black Widow controversy about her calling herself and monster and getting captured by Ultron.
SJ was pregnant at the time so there had to be a couple of work-arounds.

The leak of his Wonder Woman script, which was derided across the board.

Was a cringe-nothing burger. Serious people don't judge somebody on an uncompleted project.

Dollhouse which I found boring and creepy was cancelled , while as for The Nevers, uh I saw the trailers and a clip online and that made me not bother.

Dollhouse- which I watched all of- was actually pretty good, not Whedon's best but boring at all. And yeah, the concept was 'problematic and sketchy' but that was acknowledged and dealt with in-show.
And sure, it got cancelled but it still got more episodes than Firefly. And it even got to be completed, unlike Firefly.

I agree that the Nevers- which I didn't finish- was awful. Just...empty with nothing new to say.

 

[Btvs fan]

So our Town the penultimate episode is a great idea for an episode. Very Wicker Man esq involving the whole community Walter Chaco is the Lord Summerisle of the episode
Using Canabilism and a Chicken factory (I know somone whose worked in one and while the money is decent the job is gross) are all equally good ideas.
The problem is the episode doesn't have any room to breathe. We never see the Town itself just the factory and things are rushed through and its resolved really quickly. Plus Scullys in danger again which happened a lot this season!

Also the scene of Scully bringing a KFC bucket to a crime mortuary of a bunch of remains of multiple murder victims (one of whom Mulder handled without gloves) is just so ridiculous 🙄

So enjoyable enough but could have been a whole lot more. Wasted potential . Now onto the finale

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Before you attempt to carry on can you please explain why the Wicker Man could be esq to anything that might involve some lack lustre attempt at intelligence, and I apologize to anyone who considered the Wicker Man to come anywhere even closely related to being good.

The prospect of anyone taking a KFC bucket to a show that was compared with Wicker Man shows Gillian Andersons inability to understand the beauty of accurate forethought.

Also, what size bucket was it? Is that why she had/ would have eaten all of its contents.

Post automatically merged: Dec 20, 2025

Post automatically merged: Dec 20, 2025

Post merged with what? Had I done that twice and
did you merge this post as well? That was rhetorical,
I've always wanted to use that word correctly in a post!

Ooh! tee hee

 

[Btvs fan]

Before you attempt to carry on can you please explain why the Wicker Man could be esq to anything that might involve some lack lustre attempt at intelligence, and I apologize to anyone who considered the Wicker Man to come anywhere even closely related to being good.

The prospect of anyone taking a KFC bucket to a show that was compared with Wicker Man shows Gillian Andersons inability to understand the beauty of accurate forethought.

Also, what size bucket was it? Is that why she had/ would have eaten all of its contents.

Post automatically merged: Dec 20, 2025

Post automatically merged: Dec 20, 2025

Post merged with what? Had I done that twice and
did you merge this post as well? That was rhetorical,
I've always wanted to use that word correctly in a post!

Ooh! tee hee

Some of this post is quite insane but to answer the part that is sane, a whole Town being behind the conspiracy is the point which is very Wickerman esq and was clearly an influence with Walter Chaco as the Lord Summerisle type figure.

Also I'm sure Carter/script writer and Director where behind that choice for the scene not the actress.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I am interested to know why you though those few hovels were a town. They might be referred to be a village in the terminology of England. What do you regard the reasoning behind the building of the Wickerman to be?
Also if you deem my post to relate to anything that is logical you are dreaming.

 

[Btvs fan]

OK so Iv seen the Finale Anasazi and it ends on a cliff hanger so I'm guessing that they knew they were getting a third season otherwise 👀

Good episode and very tense with Mulder losing it and the introduction that his Dad may have been involved in the conspiracy then his murder by Kryceck.
The Alien body pile in the train carriage is deliberately framed like a gas chamber with them piled like a triangle and shocking for that.
Plus the ending of dropping in the carriage is or was great way to keep an audience hooked for Season 3.

Couple of things though
1 The hacker whose anti Government and wants the truth exposed, instead of giving the file to a newspaper to publish instead gives it to Mulder whose, let's not forget A GOVERNMENT AGENT , for a conspiracy nut, he's very trusting 😄

2 Scully shoots Mulder so he doesn't kill Kryceck and go down for the murder of his and his fathers murders ...but... OK so why didn't she take Kryceck prisoner. He's a murder suspect plus there's all the stuff regards her own abduction too but she just let's him go, I guess like Danerys, Scully forgot 🤷‍♂️

That aside I really liked it 9/10

So Season 2 is done. The writing is definitely better than Season 1 though it does have a couple of stinkers like Firewalker (its actually comptently done but its a rip off Ice), 7.3, Excelsis Dei (yeah how they handle a rape is bad) and Fearful Symmetry
But multiple stand outs and the show starts doing more a mix of Horror/Black humour style that Joss Whedoon would use for Buffy. Host/Die Hand Die Verseletz and Humbug to name 3

My favourite and what I think are the seasons best episodes in no order
Irresistible (not really an Xfiles episode but still fantastic)
Little Green Men
The Host
Blood
Duane Berry/Ascension 2 parter
Colony and End Game 2 parter

Onwards to Season 3

Post automatically merged: Dec 21, 2025

I am interested to know why you though those few hovels were a town. They might be referred to be a village in the terminology of England. What do you regard the reasoning behind the building of the Wickerman to be?
Also if you deem my post to relate to anything that is logical you are dreaming.

Glad your enjoying the reviews though 🙂

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Re: Anasazi; That episode aired in May, and it's sequel, The Blessing Way, would not broadcast until November, after Baseball season ended. So, you have to wait five months to see how Mulder gets out of that pickle.

 

[NotASlayer]

Re: Anasazi; That episode aired in May, and it's sequel, The Blessing Way, would not broadcast until November, after Baseball season ended. So, you have to wait five months to see how Mulder gets out of that pickle.

Reminiscent of TNG's "Mr Worf, fire!"? (Something that was probably a much bigger deal at the time!)

 

[Btvs fan]

Re: Anasazi; That episode aired in May, and it's sequel, The Blessing Way, would not broadcast until November, after Baseball season ended. So, you have to wait five months to see how Mulder gets out of that pickle.

So Iv Seen The Blessing Way and The Paperclip
Blessing Way is better than the PaperClip. Though both are good.
Like why was that Alien ship at the Mine at that very time and how was Scully still sceptical given a load of Aliens literally scurried past her ! Hell what were they doing there anyway just hanging out !
That and they're back at the Xfiles like nothing happened was a bit abrupt.
And I still don't understand why no one bothered to take that disk to Newspaper to print !

 

[Btvs fan]

So I saw DPO that features Jack Black. Its OK, the actor who plays the lightening kid is really creepy and the opening scene he murders that guy while James is playing is creepy but otherwise meh. I mean its not bad but its not amazing either

 

[Ethan Reigns]

The whole series seems to be like Wile E. Coyote where he tries to get the roadrunner for years, except there is a final roadrunner scene where Wile E. eventually does get the roadrunner, cooks him and eats him and then goes into a deep depression because the purpose he has had in his life is gone and Wile E. eventually becomes an evangelist.

How did they think they were going to end the series? Was it always going to be close calls but no proof or was there going to be some public reveal? They could have gone a number of ways:

1. Have the aliens land somewhere where no one could doubt it like the middle of L.A.
2. Have Mulder's abducted sister show up
3. Have the aliens escape Area 51

or any of a number of possible outcomes but to leave it hanging was not wise. If they do a public reveal of aliens, they have to carry on with the aliens having some effect on the world and on the governmental system that tried to deny them.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Re: Ending; Yeah, there's no real way to stop an alien invasion of that magnitude. Judgement Day cannot be stopped. At least with Samantha, Mulder could get her back, then go into hiding. That's an ending. I didn't see the revival, but my understanding is that they retconned the Invasion into a Cold war for captured alien technology. It has its problems, like wasn't the Klan infiltrated by Aliens? But it makes a lot more sense.

Re: TNG; I like part 2. Poetically, The Borg being defeated in every possible way by two women in the caring trades, an Android and Miles O'Brien is wonderful.

 

[Btvs fan]

Re: Ending; Yeah, there's no real way to stop an alien invasion of that magnitude. Judgement Day cannot be stopped. At least with Samantha, Mulder could get her back, then go into hiding. That's an ending. I didn't see the revival, but my understanding is that they retconned the Invasion into a Cold war for captured alien technology. It has its problems, like wasn't the Klan infiltrated by Aliens? But it makes a lot more sense.

Re: TNG; I like part 2. Poetically, The Borg being defeated in every possible way by two women in the caring trades, an Android and Miles O'Brien is wonderful.

So Clyde Bruckman Final Repose is a 10/10 episode for me. Peter Boyle is great in the role and the fact the character winds up Mulder is a big win 😄
Darin Morgan Again combines great horror and humour and sadness in one go. The whole thing with the Dog which Scully adopts is a case in point.

The List was a good idea and a decent episode but Scully and Mulder feel to removed from the events that you could literally take them out of the story and it wouldn't effect it in anyway 7/10 Still enjoyable though

2Shy On the one hand it's dated like IRobot You Jane about the dangers of Internet Dating. In fact on this rewatch it's amazing how many ideas and episodes I noticed Joss ripped off to use for Buffy episodes !

On the other hand the idea of a Fat Sucking rather than blood Sucking Vampire is a great idea. It's certainly less erotic. There's some genuinely horrific scenes too. The scene where he's talking to the blind girl with her dead mother just to the side, which she is aware of but trying not to show is incredibly tense. The other is the scene at the end of him given a huge list of names of murdered women and him casually saying theyre all mine is like wow. At the same time hes starving to death. That said the scene of Scully just leaving her gun on the floor so the victim can pick it up is terrible writing (Scully forgot ? ) and I dock it points for that
In all 7/10 Again enjoyable but a little predictable in the story.

 

[NotASlayer]

On the other hand the idea of a Fat Sucking rather than blood Sucking Vampire is a great idea. It's certainly less erotic.

I wonder if they got the idea from the pishtaco like Supernatural did? Admittedly, in Supernatural's case they explicitly called it a pishtaco.

 

[Kendar]

So I saw DPO that features Jack Black. Its OK, the actor who plays the lightening kid is really creepy and the opening scene he murders that guy while James is playing is creepy but otherwise meh. I mean its not bad but its not amazing either

Lightning boy is Giovanni Ribisi. While probably not as well known as Jack, he has much more range. He's been in all three Avatar movies so far, but might be best recognizable as Phoebe's brother in Friends.

So Clyde Bruckman Final Repose is a 10/10 episode for me. Peter Boyle is great in the role and the fact the character winds up Mulder is a big win 😄
Darin Morgan Again combines great horror and humour and sadness in one go. The whole thing with the Dog which Scully adopts is a case in point.

Clyde Bruckman: "You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than autoerotic asphyxiation."
Fox Mulder: "Why are you telling me that?"
Clyde Bruckman: "Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business."
(This is the meme I use whenever a friend does something embarrassing).

This is arguably THE best X-Files episode (certainly to me). Both TV Guide and Rolling Stone have it in the number one spot.

OK so Iv seen the Finale Anasazi and it ends on a cliff hanger so I'm guessing that they knew they were getting a third season otherwise 👀

Not only did they know they were getting a 3rd season, but because of the way things worked then they knew they were getting a fourth unless something drastic happened.

In the old days (yes, the 90s) the ideal goal for a show was to have a long enough run that you could get picked up in reruns for syndication. And generally the mark for syndication was 88 episodes, which gave the channel running it in syndication about a 18 week cycle at 5x/week not including holidays. So back then nearly every full length (22+ episodes a season) that made it to season 3 made it to season 4 as well, unless something horrible happened. This still continued for some shows into the 2010s. TNT used to block stream (showing 2-3 episodes in a row each day) both Castle and Supernatural.

Needless to say, these days streaming has drastically changed the mode, with traditional syndication not being much of a thing anymore.

 

[Btvs fan]

So I saw the 2 Parter, Nisei and 731
Very good and very tense and the idea it's Lepers being experimented and Scully discovering more about her own abduction is great and the horrific thought she might be dying if cancer because of it.
Some great location shooting on both the Docks in Pt1 and the Train in Pt2 .

It's also based on the real life Japanese experiments on the Chinese during WW2. In a way its more horrific because this stuff is real it actually happened rather than a mystery box
However there is one slight niggle. Scully tells Mulder there's no such thing as Alien abduction. The problem here is an Alien Bounty Hunter literally abducted her and changed form the last season ! and Mulder literally saw an Alien space craft a few episodes ago (why doesn't he mention that ?)

That's a slight niggle though all in I'm giving both parts a 10/9 respectively as they were great TV and had me hooked.

I don't give the second part a 10 because after the murder of the Lepers why didn't they killers fill in the grave pits because leaving a giant pile of corpses (as well as purification) leaves them open to discovery! WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENED with Scully !!!
I guess they went full Game of Thrones again and forgot 🤷‍♂️

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Yeah, on occasion, the X-Files will ask you to forget all the proof of alien involvement and just believe that the unit has encountered no creditable proof of aliens, and it's all about medical testing on US citizens or something.

 

[Btvs fan]

So I'm on the Cockroach episode of Season 3 but my rewatch has slowed right down. I dunno if I'll make it to the end of S3 much less do 2 more seasons and a movie. Dunno I'll see how I go but I am starting to struggle 🤔

To many episodes, 24 to 25 a season is definitely a drain. The Carter formula is starting to get a bit to predictable by its 3rd year already and I honestly don't know how anyone could last 11 years of this !
Plus the fact they basically gave Scully a character reset is another. Also I find Mulder dislikable and David Duchovny really bland. Looking back it really blows my mind they literally moved the show foe this guy ! Like why, he's just so 1 note, Gillian Anderson is clearly doing all the leg work

 

[Btvs fan]

Yeah, on occasion, the X-Files will ask you to forget all the proof of alien involvement and just believe that the unit has encountered no creditable proof of aliens, and it's all about medical testing on US citizens or something.

So I'm on Syzygy and it's a pure Chris Carter mess of an episode.
I think its meant to be a dark comedy but Carter can't write for 💩 and instead its less funny and more the characters acting nasty for well reasons (literally the planets aligned !)

It's more noticeable coming right after Darin Morgans dark comedy/horror cockroach episode (poor placement) which was a difference in night and day not just in script quality, The CockRoach breaking the 4th wall is hilarious, but also superior direction. This feels like they're in don't give a hoot just shoot shoot shoot mode too.

As an idea (that needed lots of rewrites) and a better script writer than Carter it probably would've worked on Buffy by Joss Whedon for example but by CC no chance .
I can't help but wonder if Carter was jealous of Darin Morgan and was trying to cooy him ?