OT: The X-Files revival

[Valaquen]

I'm also a little bewildered by all of the time spent with M&S being maudlin about William, their son, who most casual viewers probably don't even really remember or care about, and whom even the writers shuttled off the show so that they wouldn't have to worry about continuing to write Mulder and Scully's child into the movie franchise that was meant to follow the series. So why so much emphasis is being put on him now is a mystery to me. Either they should just go and look for him (they're FBI agents; surely they can find him!), or they should move on. Scully acts as if she has made a terrible mistake and was selfish to give him up, when, in actuality, she did it to SAVE William and to keep him safe.

I honestly like the focus on William. The original run played the relationship between Mulder, Scully and William so coyly it was really frustrating. It was no longer 'Will they or won't they?' but 'Did they?' It's nice to see the characters acknowledge that they even had a relationship, a potential family life, etc. And Scully's mixed emotions concerning William are apt: something similar happened in my family and I've see this from time to time, right decision or not, it weighs heavily on the mind and soul (especially as you get older.)

[Robot Butler]

My jumbled, possibly contradictory thoughts on the new show.

I'm not an X-Files fan from way back, but I can say the new series seems to be, for better or worse, a fairly accurate microcosmic representation of the series I've watched five seasons of on Netflix. It's not reinventing itself, which I suppose is fine since it's a series that worked best when using its formula to its advantage. It's a nostalgia revival that knows what its fans want.

I prefer serialized story telling in most cases, but for some reason X-Files works best when they just stick to the formula and chase a creature of the week. Smoking Man is fun and all, but I'm just not into the X-Files as a mythology. So I'm not really expecting much from the finale, which appears to be bookending the first episode, which I found to be the weakest of the five so far.

It's okay..... but feels a little 20 years ago sometimes.... which I guess was what they were going for in the first place. I'm hoping the new Twin Peaks will bring a little more New to the table than the X-Files revival.

[sneakydave]

Dear God.

The season finale was possibly even worse than the season 9 finale.

One thing I have learned from this season (which I had forgotten I already knew) is that Chris Carter is a terrible, terrible writer and an even worse director.

So disappointed with that.

[Shloogorgh]

This just goes to show that the whole outing was half baked.

If they were going to introduce so much mythology (and enact the 2012 "colonization"), they should have used the majority of the mini-season to tell that story (and take the writing out of Chris Carter's hands). 5 episode myth arc plus 1 monster of the week (were-human) to break things up would have been fine. And then they could take it further without ending on such a big cliff hanger.

Please Lynch and Frost, give us a complete package, leave some lose ends but don't end on a dramatic game-changing pivotal moment (we already had that for 25 years).

I wish I could be excited for the idea of more x-files. Someone convince Chris Carter to hand over the reigns

[sneakydave]

The scary thing is Chris Carter has had over a decade to try and make sense of his mythology.

Instead he chose to completely ditch it and delivered a giant slap in the face to folks like me who grew up rewatching all of the old classics like Tunguska over and over again.

Parts of the new season were good. They were the parts not written by Chris Carter.

[eyeboogers]

Exactly. It is strange how i consider the X-Files revival a colossal failure when I actually kind of liked half of it.
Episode 3 was great and episodes 2 and 4 had potential. 4 basically suffered from what could have been 3 good episodes being shoehorned into one messy one.
Episode 5 was the nadir of the show and the "My Struggle" bookends were disasters, especially part 1.

[sneakydave]

I'm the staunchest defender of the show. I even like most of season 8. I'm struggling with this season though. It was absolutely all over the place and the shifting of the running order just led to inconsistencies, especially in Mulder's attitude to William.

I agree though. The episodes that weren't the bookends of the season were actually worthwhile and enjoyable enough. They had their faults but I more or less enjoyed them without them ever coming close to the classics of old. However, episodes 1 and 6 were an absolute travesty. Ruined by the shortened run-time no doubt as they felt like they really could each have been two parters.

When it is inevitably renewed, I'd hope for at least ten episodes and for Chris Carter to get some help writing the mythology stuff. I refuse to believe he can watch that back and think 'yup, I did a good job'.

[eyeboogers]

When it is inevitably renewed, I'd hope for at least ten episodes and for Chris Carter to get some help writing the mythology stuff. I refuse to believe he can watch that back and think 'yup, I did a good job'.

The thing is, I don't think there are any better season-plotters in the business than Morgan & Wong, I have a feeling that, in spite of Morgan being named co-executive producer, there probably wasn't much collaboration. More like you do your episode and I'll do mine.

The feud between Carter and Morgan & Wong was bitter and lasted almost two decades. It is also interesting that this X-Files finale, almost sets up the same global pandemic scenario that Morgan & Wong has arrived at in the "Millennium" season 2 finale, before they were fired as showrunners. In their hands this type of scenario was one of the greatest hours of Television ever, in Carter's the result is an embarrassment.

[sneakydave]

Agreed 100%.

I even said to my better half that this just felt like the season 2 finale of Millennium.

We can only hope lessons are learned from this any any future episodes are more thought out and allowed room to breathe.

[TheMx]

I'm just glad that Lynch and Frost are both on board for TP S3.
Whatever they're cooking up, it won't be a mess like the X-Files revival. With only one of them at the helm, I wouldn't be so sure.

[TheArm]

My mind was truly blown by what a fiasco that finale was, which is something after how dreadful last week's episode was. I don't want to shit all over Chris Carter, who created this wonderful show and its world, created these extraordinary characters, had the vision to cast David Duchovny & Gillian Anderson and the rest, and did write and even direct some really magical hours of TV, from "Duane Barry " to "Irresistible" to "The Post-Modern Prometheus" to "Triangle" to "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas." I know he gets crap for not being the best writer on his own show, but he really did write/direct some incredible episodes.

However, how Fox could have greenlit these most recent scripts to production is simply beyond me. How the actors even agreed to say those lines is also beyond me, other than the $$$$ I'm sure they got to say them. The ratings have been pretty fantastic, so I'm sure the desire is there to do more, and I'm sure Carter will be back at the helm. But sometimes, if you love something, you need to set it free; and if Fox knew what was good for the future of this franchise, which I'm sure is very important and valuable to them, then they should relegate Chris Carter to a "consultant" role and bring in fresh blood to run the series. Because Carter's contributions in particular were just atrocious on almost every level, and another season of this level of creative incompetence will inevitably erode whatever good will is left for the series and its characters.

(And frankly, only Darin Morgan's episode was actually any good. Even James Wong's and Glen Morgan's were pretty mediocre and messy, IMHO at least.)

I hope either the show continues for an eleventh season with a new showrunner at the helm, or that they let it go out on a "high note" (at least in terms of the ratings, not creatively), because I definitely do not want another season of this.

It's funny, the hit rate for these revivals is pretty poor thus far (Arrested Development S4, X-Files S10, Heroes Reborn, and Fuller House is supposed to be pretty terrible), but I STILL have faith in Lynch & Frost to do something cool, fresh, edgy and new and to not just lean on pure nostalgia and act as if the past 20 years of TV never happened. I want to believe!

[eyeboogers]

I agree with TheArm that both Morgan and Wong's episodes were noble failures. Unlike Carter's their episodes did have potential and parts of them were very well executed. Basically the problem is that nobody gets along anymore in the X-Files team. Morgan & Wong dislike Carter and their own collaboration also ended years ago, possibly not in a good manner. If Fox can get these three into group therapy so that we'll actually have them working together next time, then the sky's the limit.

[Saela]

What happened between Morgan, Wong and Carter? I was a little too young when it came out, so I just recently fell in love with the shows first 7 seasons, and yeah, the "My Struggle" episodes were disasters.

[TheArm]

What happened between Morgan, Wong and Carter? I was a little too young when it came out, so I just recently fell in love with the shows first 7 seasons, and yeah, the "My Struggle" episodes were disasters.

Yeah, I didn't know that they didn't get along, either. I would have thought they DID get along to all come back for this venture, but I am sure $$$ speaks more than anything. I know Morgan & Wong were angry with Chris Carter for switching "Never Again" with "Leonard Betts" in season 4 ("Never Again" was originally intended to air as the post-Super Bowl episode, and then "Leonard Betts" was meant to air the following week, and Carter switched them at the 11th hour). Hence why I am guessing that "Never Again" was their final script for the original XF.

But did something else happen later on Millennium? I know Morgan & Wong ran Season 2 of that show, but then Carter took over for S3, but I have no idea why. (I didn't really watch it beyond the first season, so I can't really comment on it.)

[eyeboogers]

Yep, things got strained on "The X-Files", which is understandable since Morgan & Wong were responsible for all of the fan favorite episodes, but held little power behind the scenes.

They were asked to take over "Millennium" for season 2, due to Carter's increased workload with the first X-Files films and they delivered one of the strangest, most daring and all around essential seasons of Television to date. Carter was however not happy with their approach and a power struggle occurred that eventually resulted in the two leaving the show(signs point to them being fired).

Because Carter was seen as the rainmaker by the network, they in the end supposedly threated Morgan & Wong horribly as showrunners. Again there was a superbowl incident where "Millennium" was not promoted at all during the telecast. At the end of the cliffhanger season finale the image intentionally started cutting into white noise. One second of dead air for each time the network or Carter had done something to piss them off.

Even years later, when "Millennium" was finally released on DVD, the duo still had too bitter feelings to participate on the bonus materials. Carter talked a little bit about the tensions in the making of documentary and even in his side of the story it doesn't seem like he handled things very well. I think every "Twin Peaks" fan would adore Millennium season 2 and strongly recommend it.