The X-Files: The Real Struggle Was Having to Watch the Premiere
Season 11, Episode 1
Hello, TV fanatics. We all make sacrifices for the sake of fandom and know the defensive feeling when someone trashes our favorite shows. Only we’re allowed to do that, right? So on that note, despite what I recently said about reboots and especially the X-Files reboot, I am going to be blogging about season 11 of The X-Files, which contains what I think we all (especially Gillian Anderson) hope are the last 10 episodes of the show. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a third movie, if done right and not written at all by Chris Carter.
First, a refresher. Especially if you’re like me and didn’t enjoy season 10 enough to fully rewatch it.
Previously, on “The X-Files”…
When last we left our spooky, alien-loving agent and his skeptical medical doctor partner, the world was about to end. Literally. Season 10 was bookended by the “My Struggle” episodes, the first of which introduced the season’s main conspiracy. It’s 2015, and a right-wing online webcaster named Tad O’Malley reaches out to Mulder through Scully because he has evidence that alien invasions have been set up as smoke screens for the government to do bad things. Mulder and Scully’s estrangement from the end of the last film, I Want to Believe, seems to have stuck, but they’re still friends. Tad takes our favorite FBI agents (yep, they get reinstated and the X-Files get reopened at the end of the premiere) to meet a woman who has similar abduction memories to Scully’s and Scully examines her.
After talking to Tad, Mulder decides that there is a global conspiracy of government officials who plan to use extraterrestrial technologies to attack the American people, destroy democracy, and take over the world. Scully finds alien DNA in her blood and the blood of Sevta, the woman they met earlier, and tells Mulder about it. Mulder tells Scully that Sveta is the key…and she gets kidnapped. Tad’s site also gets shut down and he goes missing. We also find out that despite a major explosions and basically eating cigarettes, the Cancer Man aka CGB Spender aka The Cigarette Smoking Man aka Mulder’s biological father, is somehow still alive. The mind boggles.
And then, in traditional Chris Carter inconsistency, we barely revisit this conspiracy until the finale of season 10, “My Struggle II.” Tad’s show is back online, and shortly after Mulder watches a clip, he goes missing. Tad shows up at Mulder’s house looking for him, can see there’s been a fight, and calls Scully. A virus is sweeping the nation and while knock-off Mulder, Agent Miller, tracks Mulder to South Carolina via his phone, Scully meets up with Monica Reyes, who emerges from the shadows (well, calls Scully on the phone), claiming to have a cure for the alien virus.
In a horrible assassination of character, Chris Carter decided to make Monica leave the FBI and become an employee of the Cigarette Smoking Man to help with the new colonization. She’s apparently a double agent, but it’s still completely out of character for her. Anyway, Scully has DNA that can withstand the virus, so she and her cheap knock-off version, Agent Einstein, use her DNA to make a vaccine (not at all sure if this is how science works). A ragged, super sick Mulder confronts the Cigarette Man, but Miller drags him back to DC so Scully can save him. This shitstorm mess of an episode (and the finale of the underwhelming “event” that was season 10) ends with Scully, Mulder, and the knock-offs on a bridge, where Scully tells Mulder that they need DNA from their son, William, to save him. Before you can say “UFO party,” a spacecraft appears over the bridge, sends down a beam of light and Scully stares straight into it. End of episode and “event series.”
In between, Scully finds comfort in Mulder when her mother passes away, a wacky adventure ensues when Mulder brings up a case of a “were-monster,” both Mulder and Scully reflect on their son William and decide they want to look for him, Mulder does shrooms, there’s a racist plot line about a Muslim terrorist, and we get introduced to cheap, dollar store versions of Mulder and Scully, Agents Einstein and Miller. Almost no attempt was made to establish these characters as fully fleshed out people — they are literally just Mulder and Scully, but less interesting.
And now for season 11, episode 1, “My Struggle III.”
Warning: There are in fact spoilers ahead.
The Wig Files
Here I will check in on Gillian Anderson’s Scully wig and see how it’s doing. Her season 10 wig was lackluster, but based on promos and behind the scenes photos, the season 11 wigs seem to be much better.
The season 10 wig had a severe middle part and looked like it was stretching Gillian’s skin (which it probably was since that’s how wigs work, I guess?) and kinda made her face look like a mask. Guess since 2015 they had time to find better wigs because this season is definitely an upgrade. She didn’t have many scenes, but the Scully wig looks more natural and is a nicer color than last season.
Shipper Moment
A good 50% of The X-Files is wondering when Mulder and Scully will finally kiss and make-up. The show’s creator, Chris Carter, is notorious for insisting that despite having a child together and sharing a few on-screen kisses, Mulder and Scully are platonic. Obviously he’s wrong. This section will track the progress made on the MSR (Mulder Scully Relationship) front.
First of all, it’s messed up that they didn’t even hug after everything that happened to Scully. But Mulder slitting a man’s throat because he was trying to hurt her? That’s love, baby.
Fox Mulder spent the entire episode fighting for Scully. He refused to leave her bedside, which hurt because it reminded me of all the times throughout the series’ history he’s sat beside a hospital bed Dana Scully was lying in. And him thinking that maybe it’s his fault that the person he cares about most is hurting? I need someone to hold me after that. That’s downright heart-shattering.
Also, Scully telling Mulder that he needs their son and she needs him? That’s the closest thing to “I love you” X-Files fans can get, and for now, I’ll take it.
Best Line or Exchange of the Episode
Depending on who wrote it, an episode of The X-Files can contain quite a few gems. The 10 seasons and 2 movies we’ve had before this point have given us iconic one-liners like “Mushrooms taste great on burgers, Mulder, but they don’t raise the dead,” and “Please explain to be the scientific nature of a whammy.” What does season 11 have in store?
Because Mulder and Scully barely interacted and there were so many awful internal monologues (the worst idea ever), there wasn’t much material for this section. But I will say that the mysterious Syndicate woman saying, “Aliens don’t want in on a warming planet with dwindling resources,” was pretty hilarious. Also, true.
Monster Mash
How does this week’s monster square up against the rest of X-Files canon? Mulder and Scully have seen some wild creatures over the years, from the Flukeman to clones to evil dolls. Season 10 didn’t have any strong monsters, so hopefully season 11 will rectify that.
This week didn’t have any cool monsters, sadly. The only villain here is Chris Carter and his ego. But according to synopses for upcoming episodes, we’re about to get some monsters.
The Bat-Crap Crazy Corner
“Mulder, you’re bat-crap crazy.” This line from season 10 when Mulder tries to justify a were-lizard sort of creature to Scully. This section will track the craziest thing Mulder reveals his belief in this week — and the dude believes in almost anything, no matter how many times Scully rolls her eyes.
Mulder was very logical in this episode, a color we rarely see on him. Too bad it was because the love of his life was being tortured. I can’t wait to see the man who believes in Sasquatch back on our screens.
William Dollar Baby
To those unfamiliar, William is the son Scully conceived despite believing she was barren after aliens conducted tests on her and took out her ova (I know, it sounds crazy). Mulder is his father and you can’t make me believe otherwise. Anyway, after Scully gives birth to him, he appears to exhibit telekinetic powers and she worries for his safety, which ultimates results in her giving him up for adoption in season 9 to protect him from her and Mulder’s enemies. In season 10, William came back into focus and Mulder and Scully decided they have to look for him after years of feeling a hole in their hearts and wondering if he holds the key to saving humanity. In each episode, I will keep track of how many times is he alluded to and if we learn anything of value about him. Rumor (and casting calls) has it he will make an appearance, so it’s gonna be a wild ride.
He was mentioned quite a few times and finally, Jeffrey Spender appeared and gave Scully a last name: Van De Kamp. Viewers already knew that from season, but now Scully knows it too. Although according to her, they need to wait for William to find them. We see some blurry shots of a teenage boy with dark hair in Scully’s visions, so we can expect to see him sooner rather than later.
Basement Analysis
I’m just gonna rant and overanalyze like Mulder does down in the basement.
It was widely known that this episode, written by Chris Carter, is the worst of the first five episodes of season 11. All the critics who have seen the first five episodes promise that starting next week, we will see episodes that outperform season 10, make up for all it lacked and remind us all of the original series run. Just like the other two “My Struggle” episodes (my personal struggle is tolerating Chris Carter’s bullshit), this episode was a mess of bad mythology and bad choices. And way, way too much of the Cigarette Smoking Man.
William’s Dad Is… What?!
After spending a whole episode insinuating that William is CSM’s weakness and that he wants to protect William and Scully, the truth was revealed… and it was awful. “Impregnated by science,” my ass. Re-writing history to say that the CSM medically raped Dana Scully and is the father (or “creator,” whatever) of her child? That’s messed up beyond belief. It’s also disgusting that Monica would say she thinks the CSM is in love with Scully. That line almost caused me to barf.
Some fans think that the CSM lied to Skinner and said William was his son to convince Skinner to help him but I’m not sure. Either way, it’s gross to treat Dana Scully this way. She deserves so much better.
Et tu, Monica?
Monica Reyes being on the CSM’s side is character assassination and I’m furious.
It Was Only Just a Dream…Or Vision. Or Something?
So the events of “My Struggle II” didn’t happen at all, they’re an indication of what could happen, telepathically communicated from William to his mom. And based on the reaction Agents Boring (Miller and Einstein) had to finding Scully after her car accident, maybe “Babylon” didn’t happen either. Oooh, maybe they’re not actually FBI agents and we don’t have to see them again. Either way, the one thing Chris Carter did right was basically delete “MS II” from the show.
Now that Scully knows she and William are linked, will she consider methods outside the realm of science to learn more about this connection? And will William’s stem cells actually help Mulder? Who knows. Honestly, any William scene feels a little tainted now that CSM is claiming fatherhood. I will firmly stay in the camp that Mulder is his father til the day I die.
Eye Roll Call
- CSM staging the moon landing. Why does Chris Carter have such a hard-on for this character?
- The Trump/Bannon photo in the intro and the use of the term “fake news”
- Again, the damn internal monologues. It’s almost like without Scully, Mulder has no one to talk to. I wonder why.
- The Syndicate woman telling Mulder that his father (CSM) won’t be expecting Mulder to kill him. Girl, what? Mulder’s been trying to kill this dude for years. He wouldn’t hesitate and CSM knows that too.
- Walter Skinner being a dumb pushover.
In a nutshell, this episode was as bad as I expected but made me even angrier than anticipated. I’m ready to pretend like none of this ever happened and that next week, which critics promise to be better, is the premiere. Anyone with me?
