Case 08, File 06: Redrum

AKA: No It's Not Related To The Shining

As much as I mock the Revenge From Beyond the Grave plot setup, it's mostly a punching bag because many of the episodes that use it are pretty bad, not cause the series usually has a wide variety of complex plot setups. While The X-Files can have extremely creative monsters and ideas, it usually has pretty straightforward plots, and that's not a complaint. When you have 43 minutes to tell a complete story, you kind of have to fall back on easy to understand plot beats so you don't have to worry about confusing your audience. What that does mean is that the plots that are uniquely put together stand out.

Case 08, File 05: Invocation

AKA: Isn't This The Plot Of The Lovely Bones? I Never Read It

Writing a character on a TV show, especially a main character introduced late in the series run, is a little like writing backwards. Elements are added onto their personality and backstory as the story needs and become integral parts of the character or are discarded, depending on the later story needs or how fans respond to them. But there are elements of a backstory that can't be left to the random happenstance of random story beats, in which case you might want to develop a whole episode to introduce them.

Case 08, File 04: Roadrunners

AKA: I Gotta Make This One "Meep Meep," Don't I?

One aspect of The X-Files that gets lost on rewatches is that it was, for the most part, playing horror tropes straight at a time when horror was increasingly leaning on ironic mockery and parody (Scream hit right in the middle of The X-Files' 3rd season). But as the series wore on and the characters lived through more and more horror stories, it became inevitable that they would start to figure out when they're in another one. Or at least get a sixth sense for when they're getting manipulated.