Case 05, File 21: Fight The Future

AKA: The Big Damn Movie

Approaching a movie to review is a slightly different act than approaching an episode of a TV show. I mean, a movie is longer (rimshot). But more seriously, while a TV show can have reasonable expectations that its audience will at least be familiar with a lot of the basics going into each new episode, a movie generally has to stand on its own merits, regardless of how jaw droppingly huge the show it's based on was at the time.

Case 05, File 20: The End

AKA: Not Actually The End We've Got Like Six Seasons Left

I dunno if I can really explain to readers right now, especially those who weren't there, how huge The X-Files was during its initial run. It seems to regarded as something of a niche property now, but it was big in a way TV shows really can't be anymore. The biggest show right now is The Big Bang Theory, which typically pulls in between 8 and 10 million viewers during it's current season. The X-Files season 5 regularly pulled in over 20 million. With so many viewers and the show barreling towards a movie, it comes down to the show to put up a barn burner of a finale leading into the feature. Or maybe...an Office Burner. Oh god that was awful.

Case 05, File 19: Folie a Deux

AKA: Machines Made Of Meat

Mulder is fucking weirdo. I love the man dearly, I hope that is beyond question at this point, but there is no getting around the fact that by any standard of human behavior, Mulder is a weird fuckin' dude. Depending on the episode this can either be a light hearted joke or a searing insight into his character, depending on how the episode wants to frame other people's reactions, but it is odd to see the series occasionally try to frame an entire episode around people thinking he's crazy.

Case 05, File 18: The Pine Bluff Variant

AKA: I Don't Remember Point Break Well Enough To Make A Reference To It

One of the central tensions of The X-Files is that it is deeply, consistently distrustful of the government, almost to the point of paranoia (and I am not one to trust the government, trust me on that). But it's also about government employees who are doing government work. And not like Parks and Rec, they work for the FBI, their job is often to track down people who are against the government. It's a weird energy for the series and one which only a few episodes manage to address head on.

Case 05, File 17: All Souls

AKA: In The Arms Of An Angel

There was this kind of a trend in fantasy circles in the 90s of instead of drawing on stuff like Norse and Greek mythology for their stuff, they would instead draw on Catholic apocrypha and Antediluvian (it's a word, look it up) myth. This was partially for access to some really odd shit (Antediluvian myth is really weird guys) but also to grant it a slight edge. After all these aren't just weird monsters, these are weird monsters that are based on stuff that is kind of technically related to stuff that people actually believe. Some of this stuff was good, a lot of it was bad but all of it was really really weird.

Case 05, File 16: Mind's Eye

AKA: Justice Is Blind But Also Has Psychic Powers

What makes an X-Files episode good is a nebulous thing, and honestly, even I can't pin down exactly what connects the episodes I like. Sure there's some common elements (good script, solid concept, entertaining banter, all the usual suspects) but what exactly tips an episode from "Good enough to watch" (which is basically the entire series, outside some outliers) to truly great is something I have trouble nailing down.

Case 05, File 15: Travelers

AKA: Turns Out Roy Cohn Is The Real Monster

I always got the sense The X-Files regretted killing off Mulder's dad as early in their run as they did. Mulder's dad is a conceptually fascinating character, with his conflicted loyalties to his family and to the Conspiracy, the fact that he gave up Samantha to be abducted, his friendship with the Cigarette Smoking Man, all of that stuff could make for a fascinating character, but they killed him off in more or less the same breath in which he arrived in the series. So it's understandable they'd want to jump back to show him in flashbacks.