Case 08, File 09: Salvage

AKA: As He Lost His Mind, Can He See Or Is He Blind?

The question of what makes a great, or even good, Monster of the Week episode is one that's been plaguing me these last few reviews. Obviously there are elements that need to be present; a decent monster, solid characters, an engaging script, good Mulder and Scully banter, but the absence of one of those elements doesn't make an episode bad. I think all of the good elements are less of a binary and more of a gradient; Lack of any one won't make an episode bad, but it will mean the other elements will have to work harder to make up for it.

Case 08, File 08: Surekill

AKA: Did Rob Liefeld Name This Episode?

The X-Files needs to strike a weird balance in how it spreads its time, at least in a normal Monster of the Week episode. We have to spend enough time with the monster to know what it's doing and why, enough time with Mulder and Scully to keep the plot moving and maybe get some banter, and if there's time we might want to have a plot running with the episode specific characters. With Mulder out of the picture at this point, banter has taken a back seat and as such there might be more time to develop episode specific characters, depending on how they want to execute an episode.

Case 08, File 07: Via Negativa

AKA: One, Two, Tipet's Coming For You 

The X-Files is not a show that repeats elements, beyond broad plot outlines, very often. Between a wide variety of weird monsters, odd writing and increasingly convoluted continuity to keep track of, it generally has enough variety in its story and setups that it doesn't need to dip into the same wells more than once. We are at this point however, 8 seasons and well over 150 episodes deep, it is inevitable that some episodes start looking like specific older ones, at least if you squint.