Bastet

Per the early overnight ratings, XF won the time slot last night, with over 9.6 million viewers.

Neither is calendar, yet the writers opted to put that in a spelling category. At least pneumonia might trip someone up, especially under game conditions, on whether the E or U comes first. I'm not sure what's potentially difficult about calendar, even for a lowest-value clue. (I can't remember the other words in that category.)

We don't know if Scully was ever pregnant before William; she dreams a bunch of stuff while in a coma after being returned, and one of those shows her with them attaching something to a distending belly, but we don't know if any of that stuff is real (and it seemed more to be about having fun with GA's pregnancy than implying a Scully pregnancy; I think it was a general "I was turned into a lab rat" fear we were seeing from Scully's mind). Mulder later learns her ova were harvested during her abduction (and takes his sweet time telling her that, but that's another story), and we learn Emily is genetically hers, but was incubated in someone else. So there was never - thus far - a revelation that she was impregnated during her abduction, just that her ova were stolen and later used. Normally I would joke about you watching it with me, but I wound up grudgingly accepting it and thus keeping my grumbling to a minimum.

Jesus, I cannot understand either one of them half the time – low talking and mumbling do not mesh with my ears, and they took turns sounding like they didn’t have enough air to speak clearly. To that end, did Scully say “lifestyle preferences”? Although I’d prefer to forget William exists, Mulder and Scully obviously can’t. I’d rather not devote so much of an episode’s time to him, but the “what if” fantasies-turned-nightmares were well done (loved Mulder doing JFK’s moon speech). Now I just hope we’re done. I hope he’s healthy and safe with his parents, so that the biggest of their many sacrifices was worth it. I love seeing Scully back in the autopsy bay (and out in the field, but I have a particular affection for her doing autopsies … although seeing her flash her badge and introduce herself as Special Agent made me grin like a total idiot). I also love Skinner covering for them again. “Welcome back, you two.” It’s SO great to see them investigating together, rather than Mulder haring off on his own. He’s even getting better at actually answering her questions. And nice to see Scully not automatically rejecting every theory, just looking for evidence. Why couldn’t they have been written like this earlier in the series? “Dr. Scully, I was told that you were the rational one.” Ha! Was Mulder talking in warp speed in last night’s opening VO, too, and I just didn’t notice it, or was it sped up tonight? The actor playing the doctor’s wife did a fantastic job telling M&S what happened, but it took me a minute to get over being pissed at the character for throwing something at a cat. Nice job all around by the guest cast – good guys, bad guys, everyone felt real. I liked this far better than last night’s (which was to be expected, as I tend to be “meh” on the mytharc, especially when CC writes it). It had a nice old-school XF feel to it, with a case that’s interesting on its own and allows for character exploration because of their personal connection to the issues raised. Next week’s episode is utterly fantastic. One bit of humor doesn’t work for me, and maybe I’ll find something to nitpick on second viewing, but it makes this revival worthwhile no matter what happens in the other remaining episodes. Anyone who was iffy on this one, please stick around for the next. Seriously, it’s a pure delight.

Same here. The FJ clue was one I answered correctly based on the good luck that my knowledge of the subject matter is limited but includes the right answer -- I was never much of a comics reader, so Blondie and Dagwood were the first couple I thought of when thinking about strips dating back that far ... and remained the only couple I thought of.

I was going to say, "Not to mention how quickly she got the results of entire genome sequencing," but apparently a new technique came out several months ago that can do it in 26 hours.

I'm nearly two hours away from its airing here, but I'm spoiling myself so I can see just how annoyed I'm going to be by the William crap. Carry on ...

I don't think they were identical; always in the same place on her neck, but the first time there was just a bit of blood (which led to me craning my own neck trying to get a good look and figure out what was going on) and the next there was more.

Yeah, the NFL is pretty much the ultimate lead-in. Over 34 million people still watching the game at 9:00 EST, but there had been over 42 million watching it at 8:00 EST. If it hadn’t been such a one-sided game (the Cardinals were done for early on), more people would have still been watching the game by the time it ended (instead of only 20 million viewers by 10:00 EST, which was the end of the game and the post-game show), possibly leading to more viewers for XF.

Yeah, when it wasn't just "car people" who could look at a car and immediately say, "That's a '57 Chevy" and look at the next car over and say, "That's a '58." Now two cars could be five model years apart and I'd have no idea which was which.

Scully's post-series medical career has never made any sense, and I'm not sure CC himself could tell you what kind of doctor he envisions her to be -- IWTB and this seem to have her as some sort of general physician who also does - or assists on - specialty surgeries.

I have no idea, because I don't know what happens in episodes two, four, five, or six, which is why I was asking how he's written in them. Oh, so this was just the usual change from production order to air order? Yeah, no issue then. I thought they had already been slated to air in a certain order (after they'd all been shot), and then that was changed.

I suspect (read: fear) we're going to see more of young Samantha (and since obviously the actors who played young Samantha at various times in the first run of the show are far too old to do so now, they had to cast a new child). If her only appearance was going to be in Mulder's expository photo montage (his new version of a slide slow?), I'd think they'd have just showed a still of one of the previous actors, rather than bothering to pose a new one. I think they're just aiming for a condensed version of a regular season, thus the mix of both types of episodes.

Tonight's is the one that used to be fifth or something like that, right? That is odd to me from a trajectory standpoint. In episode one, he sparks out of his depressive state a bit ... by jumping to believe in some crazy, convoluted conspiracy theory. Episode three is all about him admitting so many of the stories he took as proof of paranormal activity were fraternity hoaxes and such, wondering if it's really about time for him to grow out of this stuff, then getting his "I want to believe" (the sentiment, not the film) groove back by learning sometimes the outlandish theory really is true. So how was Crisis of Faith Mulder written in what originally aired in between those two, that we'll now not see until later? How was he written five episodes into this transitional period of his life, that's now being stuck back in the beginning? It seems like if anyone other than Darin Morgan bothered with modern-day characterization the reordering of episodes will make the revival feel disjointed in its presentation of Mulder. The fact that they shuffled several episodes around makes me think that, in fact, no one else did pay much attention to modern-day characterization, and just wrote old-school MOTW episodes that could take place just about any time. (Although, if so, I wouldn't get too fired up about, as I love old-school MOTW episodes that can take place at just about any time, regardless of what's going on with the Bureau, with their relationship, etc.)

Is tonight's episode the one in which Mrs. Scully dies?

Heh, I didn't say it was logical for her to stand around with a patient's blood on her after surgery, just that it seemed to be their "she's a surgeon, yo" indicator since she had blood on her neck every time she was doing something right after coming out of surgery.

I don't think it was a continuity error, since every time we saw the blood it was when she'd just come out of surgery; I think it was their deliberate shorthand for "she's now a doctor who does bloody surgeries all day." As for it not being on her scrubs, they would have been protected by her surgical gown, and she's already removed the gloves and gown by the time we see her. The first time I watched it, I thought they had screwed up -- those scenes would have all been filmed at once, and one scene in which she had blood on her neck I thought was set pre-op, meaning they'd screwed up, but last night I realized it was actually set post-op.

Boy howdy. The studio knew what it was doing, giving us the third episode right after the first episode at Friday night's screening in L.A. -- quite the palate cleanser. Definitely stick around!

Aww, La Guardia. Yes, Phyllis Schlafly and her ilk.

Same here. So many times throughout the series, I feel like CC is trying to get me to root for Mulder, and I'm just sitting here side-eyeing with my gal Scully. That has never been in fuller effect than with last night's grand conspiracy theory.

I doubt it, since "after the game" programming often starts late, and especially since the next episode airs tomorrow rather than next week, but that would be nice -- it sounds like a good number of people relied on their DVRs rather than going by the end of the game + 30 minutes for after-show to get the start time.

It's not 11 pm Monday, it's 8 pm Monday - that's the regular time slot going forward.

Since this was my second viewing, I’ve been keeping notes as I went along. I feel about this now pretty much the same as I did after my first viewing – it’s okay. Which is what I expected, so I’m not disappointed. But it should have been a lot better, since it’s the franchise’s reintroduction to the world following a disappointing movie. They needed to come back with a bang, and this is just too exposition-y to pack that punch. Very Redux-esque. I like that we’ve dispensed with the warring alien factions type of “nonsense” storyline and gone back to government conspiracy; actions by men, using alien technology. And I love that the X-Files are reopened because both Mulder and Scully want them to be, not because Mulder is dragging the reluctant skeptic back into the fold. I just still don’t much care; get me to the MOTW episodes. I can’t get as worked up as CC wants me to about Mulder declaring this time he’s come upon The Truth and the key to everything, with everything they’d been led to believe before being a lie, because we have heard this before. I’m about as tired of hearing it as Scully is. And I really can’t get excited about the return of CSM when they admitted to it before filming even started. (And the fact he was, you know, very dead in the finale.) Why do that and then try to hide it by holding back Davis’ name until the end credits? Visually, it’s good stuff (well, minus the stock footage). While obviously the theatre’s screen was significantly larger than mine, we were off to the side because we were about 360 of 400 let in. So in some ways I just got a good look tonight; excellent production values. It’s something to build on, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to the continuation in episode six, since CC is on his cliffhanger kick (great when you know you’re coming back next season, not so much after all these years when this may be it). The weaving in of real-life events and revelations is a mixed bag, although that may come down to personal politics; some things cited made me think, “Yep, exactly.” And some made me think, “Really, Chris, you’re lumping that in?” So what he’s building up to, I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy. It seems rather far afield into truther-type paranoia. The MOTW episodes in between, though? Oh, yeah – Agents Mulder and Scully are back, baby! So, okay, the separation. It makes all the sense in the world to me … if I write a bunch of post-IWTB backstory in my brain. What’s presented on screen is rather thin. And kind of makes Scully look like an asshole. Since she's who I'm here for, I'm wary. (But the vibe is right; they obviously love each other eternally.) I still think CC is chicken shit for doing it in a way that doesn’t put much thought into it beyond his desire to hit a reset button, but I’m not worked up about it. It wasn’t until the end of IWTB that I thought the relationship was a good thing for Scully, so if they need some work to get back to it being healthy to be together in that way, fine. (I’d still prefer a darker Nick and Nora, but I’m trying to go with the flow.) Minor notes: - Jesus, Scully, I’m sure the nurse has a name; use it. - Finder Spyder? And Mind-Whatever? IWTB was pretty much sponsored by Google for all the mentions, and now we have this? - Gillian Anderson is beautiful, and it is so nice to see a face that moves and wrinkles. But I’m glad they color corrected the Scully wig going forward, because that barely qualifies as strawberry blonde, never mind red. - Shave, Mulder. I know some people like that look (and I know what it’s meant to speak to), but I hate stubble. -Wash your car, Scully. So, yeah. This wasn't great (okay, the script was rather a mess), but Mulder and Scully are back at the FBI where they belong. Giddy up.

I saw this episode (and the third) at a screening Friday night, but it's still exciting to see them back on my TV.

Both parties receiving the same offer and the male actor's agent negotiating up to a higher fee than the female actor's agent does speaks to the negotiating prowess of the two agents (of course, we also can't discount the role sexism may play in the studio being more open to an increase for the man), but agents aren't the cause of the studio's opening offer being 50% less for the woman.