The X-Files: truth is out there, but do we still care?
Pick of the day: The X-Files, 8.30pm, Showcase.
Pick of the day: The X-Files, 8.30pm, Showcase.
After the patchy 10th season of The X-Files, which made its debut last year and was shown in its entirety on Showcase on Monday, it’s hard to remember what was so compelling about the original series that aired from 1993 to 2002.
Was it the “Will they? Might they?” sexual tension between agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson)? Or the writing talents of Vince Gilligan, long since lost to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul?
Or was the notion of aliens, UFOs and government conspiracy a little more novel in the 1990s?
The conceit of the rebooted series was that the alien abduction phenomenon had been a “false flag operation” by powerful American interests wishing to destroy most human life on the planet and reign with the use of advanced alien technology.
The first and last episodes, titled My Struggle and My Struggle II, were by far the strongest, with William B. Davis reprising his role as the Cigarette Smoking Man. The intervening four episodes featured the old “monster of the week” procedural, which did not advance the narrative and, frankly, felt like filler from another era. (In one astonishing scene, Duchovny fluffs his lines and Anderson speaks over him; that this wasn’t caught and edited out is odd to say the least.)
It also must be said that the show’s suggestion that nefarious interests were manipulating the population with secret ingredients in vaccinations was troubling, given how many people already profess suspicion of modern medicine.
Upping the ante for season 11, premiering tonight, is the fact Anderson has stated emphatically that this is her last turn as Agent Scully. In response, creator Chris Carter says: “The idea of doing the show without her isn’t something I’ve ever had to consider.”
To recast Mulder’s famous “I want to believe” poster, I want to like this new season.
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