(Season 3, Episodes 13-16)

The energy and excitement in the middle of season three is definitely there. We’re kind of treading water as far as the bigger story goes, but I think The X-Files has found its groove as a monster-of-the-week show. Right now, those episodes are almost more enjoyable than the “MythArc” installments.

I do enjoy getting deeper into the mystery, but that material is so dense and heavy that it’s almost a relief when it’s just some random demon possession, or planetary alignment wackiness. Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 3, Episodes 1-4)

Parts two and three of the death of Fox Mulder, tons of revelations about the underlying conspiracy substructure and appearances by three familiar faces in guest roles. What a fun way to start the third season.

3.1 – “The Blessing Way (Part 2 of 3)” [MythArc] – SEASON PREMIERE!
(Original Air Date: September 22, 1995) It looks like this was their first look at what a feature length X-Files film could be like. And it worked, so long as they were sticking with the major conspiracy storylines; something I hear the latest movie didn’t do.

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(Season 2, Episodes 1-4)

What a great start to the second season. In the first four episodes we’ve had an alien encounter, a true monster, psychological manipulation and now mental powers, military experimentation and ultimately a government cover up. Sounds like every facet of The X-Files was just covered.

And we got to see one of the most famous monsters ever on the series. This run also featured the first appearance of Alex Krycek as well as a greater involvement for both Assistant Director Skinner and Cancer (Cigarette-Smoking) Man. The X-files has been closed and Mulder and Scully are split. What now? Read the rest of this entry »

(Season 1, Episodes 21-24)

Another fun guest appearance in these last four installments of Season One. And a welcome return. Doug Hutchison was truly one of the creepiest monsters of the week as Eugene Tooms (I’m still checking my vents every night before I go to bed), so it was great seeing his creepy performance again.

I was even more surprised, though, to see Zeljko Ivanek as a mentally challenged twin in “Roland.” He gave a stellar performance, so convincing that if I hadn’t already seen him elsewhere I might have thought they got a truly autistic man to play the role. It’s nice to know that he was just as good at giving the creepiest stares back then as he is now.

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(Season 1, Episodes 1-4)

The X-Files is one of those shows that managed to transcend its genre to become a bona fide hit. It was one of Fox’s biggest sensations early on and became a supernatural phenomenon the likes of which hadn’t been matched, except perhaps for Buffy several years later. And somehow I missed it. And similar to my problem with jumping onto Buffy the Vampire Slayer after it had already started, this one premiered my first year in college and I generally had other things going on on Friday nights, so I missed it’s debut.

Then when I started hearing all these great things about it, I balked because I’d already missed too much of the “mytharc.” About one third of The X-Files episodes tied into this arc. It was the major driving thrust of Mulder’s obsession and the focus of the show. The rest of the episodes would be considered filler, though they also had some elements that were important from time to time. Still, the mytharc concept was so important that they released The X-Files Mythology, a 4-volume set of DVDs with just the “mytharc” episodes. But I’m not going to cop out on this one and go that route. It’s all or nothing, baby!

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