I hope you like The X-Files. Look forward to hearing from fans of the show.
The past couple of months have been heart-wrenching for my family. It will continue to be so. We are struggling under the weight of the loss. I have been in Rhode Island, helping out as best I can. I can’t pop back and forth because of Covid. So I went up there and just stayed. Meaning I’m paying rent on an apartment I haven’t lived in for three months. Plus, my apartment feels so empty without Hope. Everything was chaotic and tragic and painful. I couldn’t take in anything new. Hence …. what you see below.
The Croods 2 (2020; d. Joel Crawford)
Watched this with the kids maybe … 3 times in 3 days? We curled up in the king-size bed, propped my laptop on a pillow, and reveled in it. They had showed me the first one, so I was caught up to speed. We couldn’t go see the sequel in the theatre because … Covid … but Auntie She She is a film critic and she’s got a LINK.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 8, “One Breath” (1994; d. R.W. Goodwin)
Scully returns. In a coma. With something showing up in her DNA, as discovered by the Lone Gunman. Branch DNA? Like a calling card/microchip/tracking something-or-other.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 9, “Firewalker” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Bradley Whitford! The plot doesn’t matter. What matters is this.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 10, “Red Museum” (1994; d. Win Phelps)
What seems at first to be a routine MOTW is suddenly looped into the larger arc. The vegetarian cult is a red herring (pun). That scary crewcut guy who killed Deep Throat is clocked by Scully. So … the kids were not being injected with growth hormones, but … alien DNA, perhaps? This is before they figured out the best haircut/style for Gillian Anderson. Witness:
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 11, “Excelsius Dei” (1994; d. Stephen Surjik)
I live in fear of being put in a nightmare “nursing home” like that joint. I like the running joke of Mulder watching porn at work. Imagine how this would “fly” today. It wouldn’t. Scully, though, takes it in stride.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 12, “Aubrey” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
I LOVE Terry O’Quinn. Got turned onto him from Millennium. I find him deeply attractive. Sexy even. He’s not my type at all. It doesn’t matter.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 13, “Irresistible” (1995; d. David Nutter)
Scully has a reaction to the case they’re working. She keeps seeing herself dead. She’s starting to have mini-flashbacks to her abduction. It’s wild … they’re working a long slow-burn arc here, and I love long slow-burn arcs when they’re done right. Elvis reference alert from Mulder: “…they manage to spot Elvis in 3 cities across America every day …”
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 14, “Die Hand Die Verletz” (1995; d. Kim Manners)
This one has a whimsical air to it – as far as I can tell, the first almost semi-humorous episode. The episode assumes that the whole Satanic Panic Ritual hysteria is based on fact, so Mulder and Scully are investigating a town where the grown-ups are all bat-shit crazy Satanists, including a biology teacher who passes out dead baby pigs to her students to dissect. And I clocked an identical visual reference here: the over-head shot of umbrellas – underneath which the leaders of the town discuss an upcoming human sacrifice – is the exact same shot used in “Scarecrow” in Supernatural, where the leaders of the town discuss a sacrifice.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 15, “Fresh Bones” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
Voodoo in the detainee camp. Scully has been in distress, one way or another, for this whole season. Now she gets pricked with the thorn and before you know it fingers are emerging from the palm of her own hand. I’m so retro, I love it when she’s in distress, and when Mulder gets worried about her. Sue me. This shit is primal and I don’t interrogate it. Life’s too short.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 16, “Colony” (1995; d. Nick Marck)
“Story by David Duchovny,” just FYI. Tom Butler as the CIA agent who knows about the cloned doctors who also isn’t who he says he is… Butler was on 2 separate Supernatural eps, both as creepy patriarchs, one of whom was also a werewolf. Mulder’s family drama comes back into the story. Peter Donat as the dad. Mark Snow’s music is always good, but here it’s at another level. It really helps hold the episode together. SCARY final cliffhanger moment.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 17, “End Games” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
Submarine sticking up through the ice! Incredible set. Alien DNA. retrovirus, Mulder’s sister, there’s a lot happening here.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 18, “Fearful Symmetry” (1995; d. James Whitmore Jr.)
This one makes me cry. I hate zoos with the passion of a thousand burning suns.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 19, “Dod Kalm” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
Always excellent to see John Savage, even when he does try to hoard the last drops of usable water on the ghost ship, during the process of rapid-onset old age, with some rather … interesting old-age makeup.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 20, “Humbug” (1995; d. Kim Manners)
This is really the first openly-silly episode. Directed by Kim Manners! With Michael Anderson (“The Man from Another Place” of Twin Peaks fame – and he’s in Mulholland Drive too) as a motel clerk irritated – and rightly so – when asked if he had ever worked in a circus. Lady from Shanghai final stand-off. Plus: Scully eating that cockroach. Calmly. Who saw that one coming? Darin Morgan’s episodes are so special and wacky.
Black Bear (2020; d. Lawrence Michael Levine)
This is really good. Aubrey Plaza, whom I always love, goes to another level here. I’m psyched about it. I reviewed for Ebert.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 21, “Calusari” (1995; d. Michael Vejar)
It’s kinda dumb. A lot of explanatory monologues.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 22, “Emasculata” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
I can’t deal with the bugs or the wounds or the pestules or any of it. But it is good to see Charles Martin Smith, whom I’ve loved since American Graffiti. A lot of “plague” storylines in X-Files. I guess you could say, in general, the series a plague story. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it now.
Assassins (2020; d. Ryan White)
I reviewed for Ebert.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 23, “Soft Light” (1995; d. James A. Contner)
Tony Shalhoub! The man with the deadly dark-matter shadow. Great ending. Steven Williams (aka Rufus from Supernatural) has a great arc here.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 24, “Our Town” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
This episode is disgusting. The poor chickens, basically eating themselves. Another animal-rights-subtext episode. Poor Scully, literally about to be eaten by cannibals. It probably could be less … silly? It feels B-movie-ish, although probably B-movies are one of the main influences of X-Files.
The X-Files, Season 2, episode 25, “Anasazi” (1995; d. R.W. Goodwin)
Holy shit, Mulder’s dad and the Smoking Man in cahoots? Scully’s name in the Top Secret file written in Navaho code. Also:
You’re trying to tell me this sex-bomb never goes on dates?
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 1, “The Blessing Way” (1995; d. R.W. Goodwin)
Scully – in an excellent little sequence – finally discovers the computer chip embedded in her neck. It’s so sinister, so invasive, so mysterious. Your body has been violated and you don’t even remember it. Also: Hair-style still not there yet to its full-glory.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 2, “Paper Clip” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
“Lots of files.” “Lots and lots of files.” I love how this show is so high-tech, so futuristic, and yet … the key to it all is this underground library of metal card catalogs, filled with folders, and paper, totally analog. If I have this right, this is the first time where Mulder openly expresses his belief that Scully was abducted. And of COURSE Scully doesn’t see the GIGANTIC SPACESHIP.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 3, “D.P.O.” (1995; d. Kim Manners)
JACK BLACK. And Giovanni Ribisi too. But mostly: JACK BLACK.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 4, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” (1995; d. David Nutter)
GREAT episode. One of my favorites. Peter Boyle + Elvis reference (which I am tracking): tabloid says that it was Buddy Holly and NOT Elvis faked his own death.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 5, “The List” (1995; d. Chris Carter)
J.T. Walsh as the prison warden! We share an alma mater, although he graduated long before I did. Such a wonderful actor. Such a great loss. Scully’s hair still an issue.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 6, “2Shy” (1995; d. David Nutter)
An episode with a cautionary moral in re: online dating. There’s an interesting element to this: the murderer only kills women, and seems to target them via their weaknesses. They’re overweight. The sheriff, played by James Handy, displays an insidious almost old-school kind of sexism when dealing with Scully. He expresses surprise when she shows up to do the autopsy. He doesn’t like taking orders from her. He’s not overt about this, but it’s an interesting commentary on how anti-woman feeling isn’t just the realm of the psycho … it’s systemic. Fat-sucking vampires … hmmm, that sounds familiar:
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 7, “The Walk” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
A commentary on the horrible treatment of veterans. Basically an extended metaphor for PTSD.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 8, “Oubliette” (1995; d. Kim Manners)
A sneakily emotional episode. Mulder’s “empath” side, seemingly over-identificating with the suspect, whom he believes was a victim. This is all connected to his sister’s abduction. It’s interesting how this series can “take” a lot of tonal shifts. It’s amazing that something this grim and mournful can also be whimsical, silly even. The concept is very elastic.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 9, “Nisei” (1995; d. David Nutter)
Hard to believe this episode is only an hour long. What magic did they work? It feels like a full-length feature. It ends with Mulder leaping onto a moving train. Scully is welcomed into a UFO-abductee group and runs a private investigation on the chip on her neck. They managed to get so much done here and maintain that thrillingly paranoid and sinister energy. This is really part one of two parts. I also love this guy and am sad what happened to him. His crush on Scully is a nice touch. Adds texture.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 10, “731” (1995; d. Rob Bowman)
Scully basically wanders into a leper colony at an old facility in West Virginia. There are Death squads. Mass graves. Mr. X (i.e. Rufus) keeps showing up. Why on earth did he need Scully to call Mulder and tell him not to get on the train? Does he somehow not have Mulder’s number? I am starting to get excited that Scully is actually investigating – sort of – what happened to her. At this point, she thinks she was abducted by a Japanese Mengele, who did experiments on human beings. Mulder continues to think it has to do with creating alien-human hybrids. And then there is Steven Williams’ rescue of Mulder. How the hell did he get out there into the middle of nowhere? IT DOESN’T MATTER.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 11, “Revelations” (1995; d. David Nutter)
Except for the cross necklace, we’ve seen no evidence of Scully’s faith, until now. She has been positioned throughout as the rational, the skeptic, she needs proof. Now suddenly she talks about the catechism and how she thinks it’s possibly a saint on her autopsy table and she tells Mulder it takes “faith” to believe. It ends with her in the confession booth. At one point she stares directly into the camera. It’s electrifying.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 12, “War of the Coprophages” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Pure entertainment. Bambi the hot entomologist.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 13, “Syzygy” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Baby-faced Ryan Reynolds!
What’s Up, Doc? (1972; d. Peter Bogdanovich)
I took my niece Lucy to the doctor (I’ve been in Rhode Island for months, just FYI) and on our way home I said to her, “Want to watch What’s Up, Doc? when we get home?” She started squealing. She loves that movie. The kids all love that movie. And … AND … they keep track of the bags! They never lose sight of where each bag is. Me: “Wait … are the jewels in that bag?” Williams: “No. The documents.” Lucy does a very funny imitation of Howard Bannister’s blank stare. Love these kiddos. So Lucy and I curled up on the couch and had a blast.
Mank (2020; d. David Fincher)
I have some issues with this. It plays hard and fast with the facts. And now the confusion about who wrote the damn thing will now move into new generations. And Oldman is good but I have to say … I missed the Jewish-ness. I hope this is okay to say. All the other writers around him were clearly Jewish, with that dry Jewish sense of humor … Oldman, who was also way WAY older than the real Mankiewicz, stood out. You can’t manufacture something that is endemic and familiar to you … like a Jewish sense of humor, which is its own thing. Those Jewish writers MADE Hollywood (and helped MAKE rock ‘n roll, too). Amanda Seyfried is wonderful as Marion Davies. It’s hard for contemporary actresses to get into the mode of tough-talking comedic woman, it’s a throw-back, and these women have zero self-pity. Modern actors are very big on self-pity. So I thought she did a wonderful job. I have mixed feelings. It’s gorgeously filmed (not surprising, it’s Fincher).
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 14, “Grotesque” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Not crazy about this one.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 15, “Piper Maru” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Good one! Buried plane. Scully’s sister’s murder not being solved. Mulder in Hong Kong. Krycek in Hong Kong. Skinner is shot for seemingly no reason.
Wander Darkly (2020; d. Tara Miele)
I really really liked this. I went into it cold, and it really got to me. Very effective. I reviewed for Ebert.
Lovers Rock (2020; d. Steve McQueen)
In my Top 10 of the year. I can’t explain the effect on me, how much the joy was translated, and the pain and loneliness, but also the collective experience of a party. Amazing. I wrote about it (a little bit) here.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 16, “Apocrypha” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Young Mr. Mulder and Young Smoking Man, lying to the radiation-sick sailor. I forgot about that reveal! Like father, like son. Plus: ice-skating Lone Gunmen.
The Croods 2 (2020; d. Joel Crawford)
Another viewing. The kids love it so much. They love “Bog Water”. So do I.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 17, “Pusher” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Intense emotionally. With this …
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 18, “Teso Dos Bichos” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
It is impossible to take this seriously. Kim Manners was open about his disdain for both “Teso Dos Bichos” AND “Bugs.” Like … wtf, I cannot save these episodes, let’s just get through it.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 19, “Hell Money” (1996; d. Tucker Gates)
Great guest stars: BD Wong, Lucy Liu, James Hong.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 20, “Jose Chung from Outer Space” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
A perfect hour of television. I blankety-blank-bleepin love it.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 21, “Avatar” (1996; d. Jim Charleston)
I’ve been waiting for 3 years to see some naked skin on this show. Well, they gave it to me. In a hot sex scene involving … Skinner! Thanks a lot. But anyway, he’s so good. He’s so good at suggesting ambivalence, weakness, fear of weakness … and what he does to cover all that up.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 22, “Quagmire” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Poor Queequeg. The scene between Mulder and Scully on the rocks is one of my favorites in the whole series. Her FACE when he quotes Moby Dick at her, and she makes that face. Love this episode. Great MOTW. Plus all those beautiful Kim Manners shadows and the way he films their gorgeous faces during their time on the rocks.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 23, “Wetwired” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Another excellent MOTW, but with myth-arc connections. A SUPER paranoid episode. Gillian Anderson does some beautiful work here. If I’m not mistaken this is the first time Scully actually says out loud, “I was abducted.” You feel her panic, her sense of betrayal and hurt.
The X-Files, Season 3, episode 24, “Talitha Cuma” (1996; d. R.W. Goodwin)
The first time I saw this episode it terrified me. When I saw the Smoking Man with Mulder’s mother … and the way he talked to her … and the implications of the possibility that the two of them were somehow involved in the past … it was so shattering. Then there’s the whole PALM/LAMP thing and that incredibly creepy alien-killing thingamabob.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 1, “Herrenvolk” (1996; d. R.W. Goodwin)
I find this to be a gripping hour of television.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 2, “Home” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
There’s a “Benders” vibe to this one (Supernatural reference). Plus a lot of talk about Scully being a mother, and genetic stuff with babies, and Mulder settling down in Mayberry … and it’s all just foreshadowing. Season 4 is a big one. The Cancer Season. And of course I love it for this moment alone:
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 3, “Teliko” (1996; d. Jim Charleston)
Why God why.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 4, “Unruhe” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Pruitt Taylor Vince! I love him! And he can perceive something is wrong with Scully. And her reaction suggests that she already knows, somewhere, too. He can feel the cancer.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 5, “The Field Where I Died” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
A controversial episode. How DARE Mulder have a Civil-War-era soulmate? His soulmate is SCULLY. You can only have ONE soulmate. I don’t believe in soulmates, so I don’t worry about those things. What I DO worry about is that neither of them have had sex for years, or maybe once for both of them, because they can’t stop staring at one another and touching each other surreptitiously. Like, go out and get some while you wait for each other to come around. Also, Duchovny has this long long monologue where he is under hypnosis, and he has to cry, and the camera is right in his grill. Crying isn’t really Duchovny’s wheelhouse, and it kind of shows here … but I still find it effective. Maybe I appreciate his attempt to stretch himself as an actor.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 6, “Sanguinarium” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Evil plastic surgeons with Pentagrams on the floor. Another Twin Peaks regular, the delightfully sinister Richard Beymer. I love the ongoing “motif” of Mulder getting insecure about his looks, due to all this plastic surgery talk.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 7, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man” (1996; d. James Wong)
Not sure I approve of this episode. Inserting a fictional man into real-life events…not crazy about it although I get what they’re going for. But I also don’t approve of turning him into a self-pitying failed writer, trying to inspire audience sympathy. When did we start to need all our villains to be hurt little boys inside? Enough of this bullshit. This is what happens when men write all the scripts: I was a nerd when I was a child and no one liked me and all the football players got dates and I never did, and now I’m an adult and I STILL don’t have a girlfriend. Maybe you don’t have a girlfriend because your personality sucks. You ever thought of that? Self-pity is not an attractive quality. Cue The Joker, at this point one of the most self-pitying movies ever made. My heart is too tough for any of this to work on me. Supernatural‘s “The Man Who Would Be King” owes a lot to this episode. Talk about a self-pitying character.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 8, “Tunguska” (1996; d. Kim Manners)
Interesting, the vision here of the recently-broken-up USSR and the chaos that caused in the intelligence community – which is accurate. Mulder gets thrown into a Russian prison. Krycek is an asshole. Surprise surprise.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 9, “Terma” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Expensive episode. Helicopter shot. Gigantic explosion. Thrilling moment when Mulder bursts into the Senate hearing, bloody cut on his forehead (he came all the way from Russia … he couldn’t put a Band-Aid on during his 10-hour flight?) … and the LOOK on Scully’s face when she whips around and sees him … They hug and he says, “My arms around you.” And they whisper in one another’s ears – and it’s all about the conspiracy, etc., but their body language is intimate as hell. That’s where this show really works.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 10, “Paper Hearts” (1996; d. Rob Bowman)
Duchovny is so so good here, and Anderson is wonderful, reacting to him, adjusting her responses, how gentle she is with him as he realizes how personal this is. Very strong episode, one of my faves. Plus: TOM NOONAN.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 11, “El Mundo Gira” (1997; d. Tucker Gates)
“Frankly, I find this story confusing.” Me too, Skinner.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 12, “Leonard Betts” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
And this …. is where everything changes.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 13, “Never Again” (1997; d. Rob Bowman)
Scully has sex. Good for her! Again, as far as I understand, this was a controversial episode. What is she doing getting a tattoo, getting drunk, and sleeping with a guy she met 5 minutes ago? I don’t know. The woman appears to not have had sex for four years, maybe longer. Don’t slut-shame this woman. She’s having fun. YES, he has a talking tattoo – with Jodie Foster’s voice – so … clearly she regretted her choice. But … that’s the deal with hookups. It’s a risk. Now: MAJOR Elvis alert: Mulder goes to Graceland on a “spiritual journey”. In the X-Files version of Graceland (which looks pretty damn accurate) – you’re allowed to walk through the Jungle Room. Jealous!
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 14, “Memento Mori” (1997; d. Rob Bowman)
It’s so moving. Anderson outdoes herself. So does Duchovny.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 15, “Kaddish” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Back to work for Scully after the emotional heart-wrench of “Memento Mori.”
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 16, “Unrequited” (1997; d. Michael Lange)
A kind of spinning-wheels MOTW. I still haven’t recovered from “Memento Mori.”
40-Year-Old Version (2020; d. Radha Blank)
Also written by Blank. Also starring Blank. And she’s superb on all fronts. This is in my Top 10 of the year. We at the NYFCC awarded her Best First Film. (You can’t believe it’s a first film.) Please see this wonderful film! On Netflix!
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 17, “Tempus Fugit” (1997; d. Rob Bowman)
It’s weird. “Memento Mori” is so intense. We haven’t heard one word about cancer since. Or her fertility. I know we won’t, especially about the fertility, not for years on end.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 18, “Max” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Really good “arc” episode, part 2 of “Tempus Fugit” about the downed plane.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 19, “Synchrony” (1997; d. Jim Charleston)
Final shot of Scully is fascinating. The look on her face is not what you expect: it’s very open-ended. I like how Mulder keeps reciting her thesis back to her. I love that he took it upon himself to read it.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 20, “Small Potatoes” (1997; d. Cliff Bole)
Very funny and charming episode. Mulder and Scully almost kiss … only he isn’t Mulder. TOTALLY CREEPY but also so illuminating because you see Scully tipsy and also how … if Mulder DID make a move, she might consent (if he were actually Mulder, that is) … and there she is telling him what appears to be her near-miss losing-her-virginity story from high school … Duchovny does really funny work here.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 21, “Zero Sum” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Skinner takes center stage. And there are bees. Those damn BEES … that keep Mulder and Scully from kissing in the first movie.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 22, “Elegy” (1997; d. Jim Charleston)
A Scully-focused episode. She’s seeing the death-omen. She’s seeing a therapist (provided by the FBI). I love it when they dig into emotions, and the repercussions of doing this kind of work. It’s especially fascinating since Scully is so buttoned-up emotionally, so in control. Mulder is the expressive “feminine” one. She’s the stern proud male. It gives great fluidity. This is like Howard Hawks territory. It’s why it works so damn well.
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 23, “Demons” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Mulder goes into a fugue state and seems to have murdered two people. Flashbacks to childhood – with the Smoking Man visible through a doorway. So sinister. Mulder to his mom: “Who is my father?”
The X-Files, Season 4, episode 24, “Gethsemane” (1997; d. R.W. Goodwin)
Killer opening: Scully giving her report in that creepy FBI star chamber, saying Mulder’s work is “illegitimate.” CLIFFHANGER.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 1, “Redux” (1997; d. R.W. Goodwin)
Turns out Scully and Mulder were in cahoots. And she lied for him. And it’s thrilling. As is this.
Christmas Chronicles (2018; d. Clay Kaytis)
Lucy was so excited to show me this it brought me to tears. Her excitement shimmered. Something really “grabbed” her about this movie. Her excitement reminded me of younger me. We watched it together. She informed me as every scene started what was going on. I am in tears typing this. I think this movie grabbed her – and the other two kids – because it’s basically about where they’re at. It’s reflecting what’s happening. They probably have no consciousness of this yet. I’ll tell them about it when they’re old enough. And, by the way: Lucy was not wrong. This movie is wonderful! Kurt Russell as Santa, who ends up getting thrown in jail, and ends up singing “Santa Claus is Back in Town” – one of Elvis’ raunchiest tracks. Steven van Zandt is one of the prisoners. All his other cellmates are well-known musicians, who suddenly coalesce into a band. It’s so joyful. Lucy couldn’t TAKE it how funny she thought it was. I felt so tenderly towards her as we watched it together.
Connections to consider:
1. When he was a child actor, Kurt Russell was in an Elvis movie and he got to kick Elvis’ shin.
2. Then he PLAYED Elvis – beautifully – in the 1979 movie directed by John Carpenter.
3. The scene takes place in a “jailhouse” where Santa does indeed “rock.”
I highly recommend this!
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 2, “Redux II” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Scully has fainted in the scary FBI Star Chamber. She ends up in the hospital. Mulder does this when he sees her in bed, hooked up to tubes:
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 3, “Unusual Suspects” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
A really good episode about how the Lone Gunmen became the Lone Gunmen and how Mulder became … enlightened.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 4, “Detour” (1997; d. Brett Dowler)
A so-so episode, with a fairly uninteresting monster, but it does feature Gillian Anderson singing “Joy to the World” in a kind of flat-affect off-tune voice. Also: dammit Mulder, she shows up at your motel room with a bottle of mini-booze … and you LEAVE? Sigh. These two.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 5, “The Post-Modern Prometheus” (1997; d. Chris Carter)
What a wonderful episode. Big-time Elvis alert with that final song!! And Duchovny doing an Elvis thing when he holds out his hand to her to dance.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 6, “A Christmas Carol” (1997; d. Peter Markle)
I relate to Scully in this episode. Painful memories of a very dark time. Scully confesses to her mother that she is infertile. Scully, you need support getting through this!
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 7, “Emily” (1997; d. Kim Manners)
Another emotional episode for Scully, whose thoughts turn to adoption. But also turn back the clock to her murdered sister. I like these moments of continuity, looping the character back into what has happened to her. These aren’t stand-alone episodes. They rest on an accumulation of detail.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 8, “Kitsunegari” (1998; d. Daniel Sackheim)
Diana Scarwig! This is very creepy, and reminds me of all the Supernatural episodes where one of the brothers is possessed by someone else, but looks like himself, and so you never know who you are dealing with. Here it’s almost worse, because in this situation Mulder and Scully can’t be convinced that what they are seeing is real. You might shoot Diana Scarwig only to find she is actually Mulder.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 9, “Schizogeny” (1998; d. Ralph Hemecker)
Look. IT’S ASH FROM SUPERNATURAL! And AVA too! It looks like that teaser was filmed in the same orchard as Scarecrow.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 10, “Chinga” (1998; d. Kim Manners)
Co-written by Stephen King. Maine setting. Scully pumping gas in a T-shirt with “Maine” on it just in case we didn’t get it. “Scully?” “Yeah?” “Marry me.” Listen, I’m in this solely for the ship. The case itself is kind of “meh” and it feels like it’s been done before. The most entertaining part about this episode is Mulder and Scully being separated, Scully wanting to be on vacation, Mulder bored out of his mind without her back at the office. Also, Scully refusing to answer the phone while she’s in the bathtub.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 11, “Kill Switch” (1998; d. Rob Bowman)
Lots of paranoia about new technology and the Internet and people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Turns out we were right to be paranoid. Those fucking companies sold us out. And have ruined the world. I LOVE the legendary outlaw hacker.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 12, “Bad Blood” (1998; d. Cliff Bole)
I LOVE this episode. It reminds me of Supernatural‘s “Tall Tales”, where we get to see Sam and Dean as they see each other. The same scenes happening from both POVs, and it’s soooo funny.
So now we get to see Scully and Mulder’s version of each others, and we get to see the actors PLAYING those versions. Also, Luke Wilson as the sheriff – how Scully sees him (her heart flutters) and how Mulder sees him …
Dying. I love it when the show indulges the silly.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 13, “Patient X” (1998; d. Kim Manners)
Veronica Cartwright!
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 14, “The Red and the Black” (1998; d. Chris Carter)
Scully in the hospital. Mulder being tender. I love tender Mulder. Then, under hypnosis, Scully remembers what happened on the bridge. STUNNING sequence.
The X-Files, Season 5, episode 15, “Travelers” (1998; d. William A. Graham)
It’s Fredric Lehne, the Yellow-Eyed Demon! An entire flashback episode, showing the Communist blacklist in operation. Roy Cohn, Trump’s BFF (says all I need to know), is particularly creepy here. There’s one shot in particular I can’t deal with. When they cut the guy open and … the thing comes out. No thank you.
This insane list represents me lying on the couch, my feet up, after popping a couple of Melatonins. Anything to quiet my mind. I am grateful for binge-watching. I have to decide what to do next. Derry Girls? Sherlock? Walking Dead?
Oh God, I have GOT to rewatch THE X-FILES. So many of these episodes I remember so well, despite only having seen them ONCE, when they originally aired. Such a great show when it was at its heights (and though I do concede the last two seasons went downhill quite quickly, I think TXF remained at its heights a lot longer than most other fans do). A couple things:
On “Musings of a CSM”: I always interpreted this not as what the CSM’s life ACTUALLY was, but the LGM’s interpretation/assumption/version of it. The episode seems to me a riff on how conspiracy types always tie EVERYTHING together: you can’t have ONE event be a conspiracy, ALL of it — Princess Diana relates to MK Ultra relates to the faking of the Moon Landing to JFK — must be ONE BIG CONNECTED THING, so of course you had one guy shooting JFK and then, 27 years later, ensuring that the Bills don’t win a Super Bowl.
“Anasazi” and the next two episodes make a FANTASTIC movie, watched back-to-back-to-back.
“Gethsamane” aired the day after I got married! The Wife and I watched it on Night One of our honeymoon in a hotel near Oneonta, NY, on our way to Boston. It was preceded that night by the TXF crossover THE SIMPSONS did (which is a brilliant episode in itself, if you haven’t seen it).
“Post Modern Prometheus”: Oh God, Mulder’s invitation to Scully to dance! I swoon at that.
One of my favorite production stories is about the stiletto-thing that you use to kill the aliens: They were looking for a sound effect for it to make when you pop out the point, which someone described as “It needs to sound like ‘whiiiisht’,” and after an extensive search they ended up going with…that guy going ‘whiiiisht’.
Oh, and a funny thing as I scrolled too quickly through the post: I suddenly said, “Aubrey Plaza was NOT in an X-FILES episode!” I missed that you were talking about something else….
Kelly – I love to hear all your thoughts! I love how clearly you remember these episodes – even though you haven’t seen them in years!!
// I think TXF remained at its heights a lot longer than most other fans do //
so what’s the scuttlebutt? I am now in Season 6 and it is still going super strong as far as I’m concerned.
I initially watched all the episodes with my friend Keith – the biggest X-Files fan I know – leading up to the new episodes in – 2017 or whenever that was. I decided I wanted to participate in the zeitgeist of those new episodes, but I hadn’t watched the damn SHOW yet. So it’s relatively recent – but we watched so many episodes so close together, many of them didn’t “stick” in my head. The perils of binge-watching. The re-watch is so fun because I’m recalling ALL of it.
Now onto your specific comments.
// but the LGM’s interpretation/assumption/version of it //
Hmmm. Interesting. I can see that. I still find the villain-as-sad-failed-artist thing annoying. Eddie Izzard makes fun of Hitler being a failed painter: “I can’t get the trees right. I must KILL EVERYONE IN THE WORLD.”
// “Anasazi” and the next two episodes make a FANTASTIC movie, watched back-to-back-to-back. //
Absolutely! When they do two-parters like that – I think the other one is Nisei and 731 (I’m bad with titles – they often knock it out of the park. The propulsion of the plot is OVERWHELMING.
// The Wife and I watched it on Night One of our honeymoon in a hotel near Oneonta, NY, on our way to Boston. //
That is such a charming story and it says so much!
// Oh God, Mulder’s invitation to Scully to dance! I swoon at that. //
How he puts his head down, doesn’t look at her? It’s ICONIC.
// and after an extensive search they ended up going with…that guy going ‘whiiiisht’. //
LOL!! No way!
// “Aubrey Plaza was NOT in an X-FILES episode!” //
hahahaha yeah I just snuck that one in there.
Would love to hear more of your thoughts! I am in total isolation right now watching all of these. Probably avoiding my problems as well as the world but fuck it. That’s what art is there for.
So sorry to hear things have been tough for your family.
And thank you for this. I love reading your X-Files commentaries.
But I am mostly popping by to say that I would KILL to hear your thoughts on Sherlock.
Thank you so much. We are reeling from the loss. Tragic. and not being able to have wakes and/or funerals is just … I have truly realized the service those rituals provide now. It starts the healing process. :(
I am intrigued by Sherlock! I am afraid of the fandom! lol But if you’re part of the fandom, then I am no longer afraid.
Maybe I’ll tackle that one next.
That must be terrible. My best wishes to you and yours. Hopefully soon things will start to get at least a little better.
The Sherlock fandom is quite terrifying haha but my experience in it was quite positive! There are certainly pockets of crazy but also a lot of lovely people- just like the SPN fandom, really. The ones who shout the loudest, etc. But some of the best content creators I’ve ever encountered have been from the Sherlock world. Don’t let it scare you off! I spent a year madly obsessed with that show and I still love it a great deal. It’s got issues but there’s some gorgeous ambiguous MASTERPIECES of episodes in there.
Okay! It sounds really good – and I like those actors – and from what I understand the characters are really rich and textured – which is what really holds my interest!
Maybe I’ll start that one next. All caps Masterpieces? Yes, please!
Oooh, you need to watch Derry Girls! I’d love to know what you think of it!
Myrtle – everyone keeps telling me that and I already have a feeling I will like it!
Condolences for your family’s loss, that’s awful to hear. What a time.
Aside from the sad news – I loved reading this. I have seen maybe ten episodes of TXF in my life (including the Simpsons episode) but it was so dominant in the 90s that I feel like I’ve seen more. These capsule summaries and thoughts are so interesting! Makes me want to start it up, if I had the time. Considering the delightfully recurring Hey It’s That Supernatural Guy motif:
1: it is my solemn duty to point out that Callum Keith Rennie of Roy-in-Wendigo fame is in Fresh Bones (as well as another s1? episode and the second movie which I have seen because of him haha. That’s the magic of Canada)
2: If you’re up for a legal procedural, I must therefore recommend The Good Wife for your binging pleasure which is an endless unceasing avalanche of Hey It’s That Guys, and is lively and glossy and witty to boot. More recently, I also really enjoyed Succession after I was able to click in to how insane it was. I’m looking forward to s3.
I don’t even know what to say about the start of the new year but — thinking of you all.
Jessie – Thank you for the kind wishes.
// it was so dominant in the 90s that I feel like I’ve seen more. //
I know! I feel the same way. I basically knew the whole plot. and – separately from the series – I’m a big fan of both Anderson’s and Duchovny’s work – but I got to know them totally outside the gigantic PHENOM that is X-files – which speaks really well to their individual talents, I think!
also – “Clap Your Hands if You Believe” is much funnier to me now that I know the reference points!
The show can be frustrating – particularly if you “ship’ the two of them. It’s like, how much of a slow burn can there be. And major things take place “offscreen” – but it doesn’t feel like this is deliberate – it feels like 3 years later they say “Hey remember that one epiosde 3 years ago? Well this huge thing happened during it that we didn’t show you.” It’s kind of … unfair. It feels a little bit haphazard. Also, there’s some “retconning” going on – I know that Chris Carter really had no intention of tying things up in a neat bow – and I do appreciate that. The fanbase is divided on what they need for the show. It reminds me of The Sopranos fanbase. Some were in it for the violence and the Mobsters – others were in it for the character study/therapy of Tony Soprano. So … you can’t please everyone!
// Callum Keith Rennie of Roy-in-Wendigo fame is in Fresh Bones //
No way! He is so handsome!
// If you’re up for a legal procedural, I must therefore recommend The Good Wife for your binging pleasure which is an endless unceasing avalanche of Hey It’s That Guys, and is lively and glossy and witty to boot. //
I have heard very good things. But – I don’t even know the premise. Weird how that works. I love going into something cold – having avoided any chatter about it. Same with Succession.
// I don’t even know what to say about the start of the new year //
Well, the National Guard is camping out all around State Capitols and thank God they’re there but i’m furious they need to be there. Anxious times.
Long time reader, first time commenter. I love your work and found you via your post (as I was re-watching the series) on JA and shtick many many years ago…and down the rabbit hole I went. I adore your observations and your honesty and how beautifully you articulate both.
I’m so sorry it’s been such a tough year for you and that you lost your beloved Hope. Your comments on bingeing as a coping mechanism really resonates with me. I’ve also had some unbelievably tough years and at the moment life is even more of a struggle. Late last year I also lost my furry little soulmate…my feline best friend and constant companion of 20 years, Wesley. I will be heartbroken forever.
Supernatural has featured heavily when I need to try and de-stress and focus on something else. Focusing on something new is impossible at times but returning to an old friend and something my brain recognizes is both helpful and comforting. I has been watching Supernatural since it aired but it was wonderful to revisit again whilst reading your corresponding recaps. It added such depth to the experience.
So after reading your December viewing diary, I returned to the Xfiles. Such fond memories and it holds up so well… it’s familiar enough that I can actually take it in and enjoy it…and forget for just a little bit. I’m loving your insights and observations.
It’s so easy to recognize it’s influence on Supernatural…and apparently even it’s location choices (The hospital staircase, where Scully and Mulder are standing towards the end of season 2 episode 21, is the same staircase from the Supernatural episode “In My Time of Dying” (season 2, episode 1).
It’s just so beautiful so much of the time. So dark so often that you can barely see…wonderful. So much atmosphere, so much tension when you can’t see properly.
The listening (if that’s the right terminology) of both DD and GA. Intense eye contact that seems to really look and see…especially with each other. The are both superb. They do well to shoot them together too…given the huge height difference.
I’m currently finishing up the second season and this season feels like it’s where it’s hitting it’s stride…finding a balance between long arcs and stand alone episodes.
SW is excellent as Mr X (RIP Rufus…you were a gem) and MP is also fabulously gruff as Skinner. Apparently their elevator fight in season 2 was completely improvised and during the filming of it SW actually broke a knuckle on his right hand when he accidentally punched MP. When the director, was dissatisfied with the first take of Skinner slamming X against the wall, MP did it again with such force that the (fake) wall broke.
My favourite episodes coincide with your own I think. ‘End Game’ with the amazing submarine set, with Mulder in peril, with Scully concerned and trying to save him…along with this smile from Scully when he wakes after nearly losing him.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rEao9orH12w/U3VnMFaEnBI/AAAAAAAAA5s/7CKpRaoET80/s1600/Xfiles_ScullySmile_EndGame.jpg
‘Humbug’ so delightfully weird with this gem towards the end (with “You see, I’ve seen the future, and the future looks just like him!”[points to Mulder] “Imagine, going through your whole life looking like that.
https://90sflashback.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/the-x-files-2-20-humbug-born-this-way/#jp-carousel-4136
The final episode of season 2 was excellent. It had the awkward embrace between Mulder and his Dad (they’d already established earlier in the season that he would rather shake hands with his son) and Mulder is slowly losing it. Gradually. Painfully. For some reason I love it when actors play pain (physical and emotional), illness and injury well. It’s so authentic and plausible…DD does this so well. It makes you care for Mulder even more, worry for him and of course GA is so damn good at being concerned and caring for him. Poor boy should have the signs of quite a severe acquired brain injury…even by the end of the second season.
When he is being poisoned and then gets shot…you feel his headache, his body aches and pains and the nausea. I remember you writing in your Supernatural recaps how actors have to clock this so closely, particularly given that the scenes aren’t shot in the order you see them. DD does this so well. Then there’s Scully concerned for him and looking after him…it’s just so tender and authentic. The scene when he goes to her home after his father has been murdered – he practically falls into her arms coming through her front door, tries to sit down (he looks truly terrible), she gets him up and supports him to the bedroom (whilst undressing him and noting and assessing his condition at the same time). Her hand gently behind his head to help him lay down (he honestly looks like he’s going to barf and/or pass out), back of her hand tenderly brushing his face both as a concerned friend and as a doctor (good balance). Same again after he’s been shot. Fabulous stuff. You care more deeply for him through her concern for him I think. You never forget that he’s ill and injured for the entire episode. He also plays unconscious so well that I fear for his head and neck (and the rest of his body) and find myself hoping the actor moving him is paying attention. Excellent work.
Anyway that’s enough of my own musings. Thank you so much for the continued outlet of your posts that gives some solace and respite during difficult times. I truly appreciate them.
Tash05 – so sorry it took me this long to get to your comment. Crazy couple of weeks what with moving to another state and all.
Thank you so much for “de-lurking” with such a nice and thoughtful comment!
I am so sorry about the loss of Wesley. :( They leave such a hole when they go. I still expect Hope to walk through the door. :(
// It’s so easy to recognize it’s influence on Supernatural…and apparently even it’s location choices (The hospital staircase, where Scully and Mulder are standing towards the end of season 2 episode 21, is the same staircase from the Supernatural episode “In My Time of Dying” (season 2, episode 1). //
YES. I clocked that instantly!! I’m not sure if this is true – maybe you’ll know – but the giant abandoned ship in “Ghouli” (Season 11) – where the teenage girls kill each other – looks exactly like the ship featured heavily in the Wayward Sisters “pilot” – where the angels do that pounding-of-staffs-on-floor malarkey. anyway it looked just the same to me!
Agree wholeheartedly about X-Files’ influence on Supernatural – and how crucial Kim Manners was in helping to create the heavy dark gorgeous moods of both series (in the early seasons for SPN – in the whole thing for X-Files).
// The listening (if that’s the right terminology) of both DD and GA. Intense eye contact that seems to really look and see…especially with each other. The are both superb. They do well to shoot them together too…given the huge height difference. //
God, yes. Their scenes together! How they listen! I’m just stunned by it, their chemistry is off the charts – and it’s all so QUIET and subtle. It draws you in.
// Apparently their elevator fight in season 2 was completely improvised and during the filming of it SW actually broke a knuckle on his right hand when he accidentally punched MP. //
I need to get the box sets with director commentary – I want to know all these stories!
Oh man – Scully’s smile at the end of End Game! She smiles so rarely – when she does it ignites the whole screen. Breathtaking! This is a love story. The most slow-burning longest love story in perhaps all of human history.
// DD does this so well. It makes you care for Mulder even more, worry for him and of course GA is so damn good at being concerned and caring for him. //
Yes! I love how they care for each other. There’s a scene at the end of “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” (had to copy and paste that one) – where the robotic bullet machine or whatever opens fire – Scully and Mulder are on the floor and he automatically throws his arm over her, to shield her. It’s automatic. Maybe that would be seen as “retro” – like Scully can take care of herself! – well, yeah, sure, that’s not in doubt – but his gesture is one of caring for his partner – this automatic protective thing which DD does so well, without ever being condescending.
On occasion, Mulder expresses his deep guilt at getting Scully involved in the X Files – thereby forcing her to go through all these gigantic irrevocable losses – he only says it a couple of times over all the years, but it carries intense weight. He takes responsibility for it – and it kills him! Therefore, he’d take a bullet for her. Without questioning.
// and noting and assessing his condition at the same time // — GA is so good at “seeming like” a doctor. I never ever doubt that she knows what she’s doing in those scenes where Scully’s doctor self comes out.
// You care more deeply for him through her concern for him I think. //
God, YES. It’s such an onscreen partnership – it’s just amazing how well they work together.
// Thank you so much for the continued outlet of your posts that gives some solace and respite during difficult times. //
I’m so glad this place provides just a little bit of solace. Writing here gives ME solace so I’m glad others feel the same way.
Thanks again for commenting!