Case 08, File 20: Essence

 AKA: He's Not Exactly Captain America Here

Since the death of the Conspiracy, The X-Files' overarching plot has lacked a certain sense of urgency. It's not that the series actual stakes have gone anywhere, the invasion is still theoretically impending. But without the human players working in and around that, those stakes have never seemed more nebulous, and I think the series knows it. They needed a new hook to build their Myth Arc episodes around, and with only a little bit of digging, they found one.

Case 8.5, File 11: The Lying Game

 AKA: Oh Boy That Title Does Not Inspire Confidence

One of the core appeals to making a spinoff as opposed to an original show is that existing in the same universe as the show allows you to drag in characters and elements from the show you're spinning off from without having to introduce or establish them, making for fairly efficient storytelling, as well as cross-show appeal and easy marketing. It sure would suck then, if you went to all that effort and then the reviewer of this episode got completely distracted when talking about the episode by a personal tangent.

Case 08, File 19: Alone

AKA: Till Now, I Always Got By On My Own

While The X-Files has some meta jokes and commentary, it is not, as a rule, a very meta show. It has a handful of episodes that have meta elements, but outside of Hollywood A.D. it's not really something they do very often, they're not Community. But, well, as I've noted, Duchovny is only back for a few episodes and is preparing to wander back away, with no guarantee he'll do any more appearances outside of myth arc episodes. This was, as far as anyone knew, the last Monster of the Week with Mulder in it (and indeed it was, until the revival). So perhaps understandably, the series wanted to take a moment to have a bit of a victory lap.

Case 8.5, File 10: Tango De Los Pistoleros

 AKA: Did They Coordinate Having Two Spanish Titled Episodes At The Same Time?

The Lone Gunmen are idiots. They may be brilliant hackers and decent reporters, but they are also massive dumbasses. And I don't consider those two ideas to be contradictory; If I can believe that Mulder is a soulful genius at the same time I believe he's a complete moron who would die if Scully left him alone for 20 minutes, I can believe the Lone Gunmen are dumbasses at the same time as they're genius computer experts. Yves, on the other hand, is not a dumbass, she actually knows what she's doing, so one of the most solid character dynamics they've seized upon is letting the Lone Gunmen fuck up her plans. By being dumbasses.

Case 08, File 18: Vienen

AKA: Maybe Don't Name An Episode "Coming"

The series has been so busy bringing Mulder back into the show, and so giddy that he's back that they've by and large forgotten that he's not going to be around for that long. Duchovny was only signed on to be in a handful of episodes in Season 8 and while Season 9 was basically assumed at this point, it wasn't certain if Duchovny was going to be willing to pop in for that season. So with limited time with him in the show left, they needed to do something they hadn't actually managed to do yet; Pass the torch.

Case 8.5, File 09: Diagnosis: Jimmy

AKA: Prognosis Negative!

The core strength of the Lone Gunmen (the characters, not the show) is the same thing that I think makes it hard to base an entire show around them; Their group dynamic. While they can be quite an entertaining trio, bouncing off each other and bickering, the additions of two new characters will, definitionally, alter that dynamic. I would say the dynamic has been altered for the better, but I can imagine the writers, who were probably fans of the characters on The X-Files, might want to see the original dynamic play out a little bit.

Case 08, File 17: Empedocles

AKA: Empedocles Sucks, In This House We Love Diogenes

I've made it clear in the past that I think the Monster-of-the-Week episodes are the core appeal of the series, but I don't always think the series agrees with me. Season 8 has more Myth Arc episodes than any season since 4, and even a lot of the Monster-of-the-Week episodes have the Myth Arc woven into them. I think having that many Myth Arc episodes is a function of having a lot of ground to cover. Season 4 had the complex cancer storyline for Scully, while Season 8 is tasked with introducing two new agents and having to hit the ground running with their characterization and backstory.