AKA: No, Not The Three Words You're Thinking Of
As the 8th season hit and Mulder disappeared into space, the series' story arc episodes shifted from being about the Conspiracy to being about finding Mulder, or just learning about (read: backfilling) what happened to him before he was abducted. But with Duchovny back in the series (sorta) and Mulder back in the game (again, sorta) they're left with a new question to ask: What the hell do we do with this team now?
AKA: King Kong Vs. The Lone Gunmen
There are handful of comedy maxims that, despite being critically regarded as "Lowbrow" remain broadly true across all mediums. Among them is the fact that, monkeys are always funny. Plenty of movies, tv shows and comics have hung an inordinate amount of faith on the idea that a monkey's very existence can make any scene inherently comedic. And they're right, for a very limited amount of time, but after that, you have to have something to back up the monkey or people are gonna start feeling ripped off.
AKA: Okay But I Have Seen Dead Alive...It's Called Braindead In The US
The possibility of Mulder's death, in the middle of Season 8, is one of those things that prompts a knowing roll of the eyes from the fans. Maybe this was a little less obvious in 2001, but there was absolutely no way they were going to kill off the central character (and yes, despite his absence, he is still very central to the series in Season 8) and certainly not in the middle of the season. No, the question was never "Will Mulder live?" It was "How will Mulder live and will that be satisfying?"
