Review of The X-Files S10, E1 by Dan Bullock.
To say it has been a while since we last saw Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) is an underestimation and while other parts of the world have already begun the 6-part series, tonight saw Channel 5 take up the cult classic pair and aired it to the UK for the first time. The X-Files team have decided to kick off this new season as a stand-alone, if the opening introduction montage is anything to go by, and this first episode is somewhat a mixed bag with its objectives but the end result is a lot of love entwined with a whole new story and refreshed plans for the narrative we’re going to see.
Creator and showrunner Chris Carter writes/directs our return to the conspiracy-detective-basement world and although it occasionally feels like they want everything into this opener, he’s obviously been wound up in his own thoughts as we’re offered up Aaron Sorkin-style monologues packed full of information and possibility but, personally, I loved that element. Like anything from the past, the memory of how something was and how it relates to ‘now’ is an important question. When The X-Files first arrived, conspiracy theories and the lack of the internet (in an accessibility sense) were very different. Today scepticism is easier to spread, like an illness, but this series essentially invented a lot of what followed in the world of detectives and the supernatural. Obviously there were the likes of the Twilight Zone but Chris Carter‘s exploration into other worlds really took it all to another place.
So putting all that forethought aside, does this first episode pander to homage or does it push it forwards? The answer is a little bit of both. While fan-folks will surely inwardly squeal for joy at the sight of Mulder and Scully (and Mitch Pileggi‘s Skinner) together on-screen again, it’s difficult to me not to be biased. I loved the original work and although, like many, lost a slight attachment once Mulder was away for a while, this is a welcome return to our small screen icons. It seems that after the FBI shut down the X-Files, Mulder has been out on his own trying to find out the truth, the one he’s always been seeking. Scully, meanwhile, has been carving her own career out as a Doctor and moving on with her life but it’s clearly noted that they’ve continued to be friends throughout and – obviously- they’ve got a daughter together as well. While both are older and more weathered, not in a bad way, we do wonder if they’re both more doubtful in their previous beliefs.
‘My Struggle’ brings up all the old theories and Alien spacecraft stories but brings it to now with talk-show host Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale) who’s obsessed by Alien stories and wants to get the truth out to the nation, and to the world. While older fans have a feel that we may have seen all of this before, it would be easy to forgive them after 14 years in the small screen wilderness and maybe we do but perhaps we’re also hoping for this to move onto the next stage. You know when you see an old friend and you talk about the past but in the back of your mind you’re thinking, but what about now? What are we doing now? That’s the bit I think most of us wants to get to. It’s a safe return to old ground, and our leads are as perfect as ever, but I’m hoping we’ll jump up to another level as we move through this short series. At least this won’t anything as bad the Red Dwarf return, which is still painful and clearly very different, but I want to believe in Carter and his team and I’m definitely on board with The X-Files and wherever it wants to take me.
The X-Files is showing now on Channel 5. For more information visit their site by clicking here.
Review of The X-Files S10, E1 by Dan Bullock. February 2016.
