X-Files Episode Elimination Game

[queequeg]

I wanna marry X-Cops.  "I don't think it's live television, Scully, she just said *bleep*."

 

I was just about to quote that!  :)   And Scully's feigned smile at the camera and "Because the FBI has nothing to hide."

[smrou]

I didn't like X-Cops as much the first time around as I do now (or...whenever I last watched it).  It's not a great episode, but I like that it's very different from all the others and I think it's a neat concept that was pulled off well.

[AntiBeeSpray]

S6:

 

Tithonus
Monday

 

S7:

 

Requiem (Mulder got abducted... BOO!!!)

X-Cops (Scully got on my nerves a bit in this one, was a wee bit of a bitch :P... still like the episode for what it's worth though)

[mauve]

Season 6:

Field Trip

Monday

Season 7:

Millennium
The Goldberg Variation

[joelene]

Simple and to the point. Tithonus is out with 5, Dreamland II with 4. Monday was behind with 3.

Millennium got 7 and Requiem 4. X-Cops behind with 3. Je Souhaite has received zero votes thus far!! Will it win?

Season 6:

How The Ghosts Stole Christmas

Monday

Field Trip

Season 7:

The Goldberg Variation

X-Cops

Je Souhaite

Final Round!! Vote for your favourite!

My votes

Season 6:

Pretty easy! Field Trip.

Monday isn't that far behind, but HTGSC is. It would probably rank 8-9 for me.

Season 7:

SO HARD. I love both X-Cops and Je Souhaite. It's the only episodes of the season I feel strongly about. But Goldberg is a solid 3rd placer, I think.

X-Cops.

Edited September 20, 2014 by joelene

[queequeg]

Season 6:

How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (Field Trip was a very close 2nd for me)

 

Season 7: 

X-Cops 

[janestclair]

It's hard picking between Monday and Field Trip.  But I think I'm going to go with Field Trip.  

 

Season 7 is easier.  Je Souihaite.  No contest.  There are so many things I love about that one.  Scully's glee about the invisible body, for one.  Or needing to be specific with your wishes, or everyone will disappear when you wish for world peace.  Plus, I loved the genie.   

[Bastet]

Season 6:

 

The top three are my personal top three, so that's nice, but they're a three-way tie for first in my book.  How can I choose?!  I might as well draw titles out of a hat.  Let me go with ...

 

Field Trip

 

Season 7:

 

The Goldberg Variation

 

Je Souhaite is my second place, but X-Cops would be down at the bottom of the list.  I don't know what my third episode would be; I really only like those two from this season.  Probably Requiem.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Bastet

[smrou]

The top three are my personal top three, so that's nice, but they're a three-way tie for first in my book.  How can I choose?!  I might as well draw titles out of a hat.

Seriously, I have no idea which of those to pick.  

 

I'm going to go with Monday.  Just because.

 

And for season 7 I vote for Je Souhaite.  It's nearly a toss-up with The Goldberg Variation, but the invisible autopsy puts it in first place.

[Taryn74]

Monday, because it is awesome in every way.

 

Je Souhaite, because it's the last time they are (relatively) happy and carefree.  *tear*

[AntiBeeSpray]

S6: Don't really like any of the episodes left (sorry :(). All my favorites got voted off :(. I'll go with Monday.

 

S7: Je Souhaite! Love the Genie/Djinni :). And M&S were cute in it.

[joelene]

Eep! It's a tie and the only one left of our regular voters is mauve and it looks like s/he's gonna vote for HTGSC. Which would'nt resolve anything. So I declare HTGSC 3rd place and so mauve please vote for Field Trip or Monday (I see that queequeg would've voted for Field Trip) from season 6!

[queequeg]

[joelene]

We're sharing the wealth and have another tied winner for season 6! Field Trip and Monday both received 3 votes! How The Ghosts Stole Christmas got 1 vote (and would've gotten 2 is mauve's past voting is any indication). Congrats!

Je Souhaite won season 7 with 4 votes! Woo! X-Cops placed 2nd with 2 votes and The Goldberg Variation 3rd with 1.

Results!

Season 6:

22. Alpha

20. The Beginning (tied)

20. Trevor (tied)

18. S.R. 819 (tied)

18. Agua Mala (tied)

17. Two Fathers

15. Terms of Endearment (tied)

15. One Son

14. Milagro

13. Biogenesis

12. Three of a Kind

11. The Unnatural

09. Drive (tied)

09. The Rain King (tied)

08. Dreamland

06. Triangle (tied)

06. Arcadia (tied)

05. Tithonus

04. Dreamland II

03. How The Ghosts Stole Christmas

01. Monday (tied winner!!)

01. Field Trip (tied winner!!)

Season 7:

22. First Person Shooter

20. Brand X (tied)

20. Fight Club (tied)

19. Signs & Wonders

18. Chimera

17. Hungry

14. Orison (tied)

14. The Amazing Maleeni (tied)

14. Closure (tied)

13. The Sixth Extinction

12. Sein Und Zeit

11. The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati

10. En Ami

09. Theef

08. Rush

07. all things

06. Hollywood A.D.

05. Millennium

04. Requiem

03. The Goldberg Variation

02. X-Cops

01. Je Souhaite

We're moving on to the final seasons. Who cares enough to vote? What will be voted on? We shall see.

Season 8:

Within

Without

Patience

Roadrunners

Invocation

Redrum

Via Negativa

Surekill

Salvage

Badlaa

The Gift

Medusa

Per Manus

This Is Not Happening

Deadalive

Three Words

Empedocles

Vienen

Alone

Essence

Existence

Season 9:

Nothing Important Happened Today

Nothing Important Happened Today II

Dæmonicus

4-D

Lord of the Flies

Trust No1

John Doe

Hellbound

Provenance

Providence

Audrey Pauley

Underneath

Improbable

Scary Monsters

Jump the Shark

William

Release

Sunshine Days

The Truth

I hope everyone who's voting are okay with a faster pace. I kind of want to get it over with and get to the all stars. Let's do this in five days with massive voting chunks. I'll use the weighting system to determine clear placements for each round. I haven't before when it comes to the full season rank but because we're gonna vote for so many at a time it will be clearer in the end so we don't get so many ties. Not sure it will matter but it might.

Vote for five episodes from each season in the order you most want them gone.

[janestclair]

You know, season 8 is not all that terrible. Or at least not as terrible as I remember it being.  I rewatched it relatively recently and did not hate it as much as I thought I would. Well, except for Surekill, Salvage and Badlaa, which will forever be referred to as the trifecta of crap.  That being said, I don't have clear memories of which episode is which, so I have to refresh my memory before I vote.

[queequeg]

Season 8:

Salvage

Badlaa

Via Negativa

Surekill

Patience

 

Season 9:

Jump the Shark

Daemonicus

Underneath

William

Trust No 1

 

Looking back at these two season, I can definitively say that Season 9 was WAY better than Season 8, for me at least.

[queequeg]

You know, season 8 is not all that terrible. Or at least not as terrible as I remember it being.  I rewatched it relatively recently and did not hate it as much as I thought I would. Well, except for Surekill, Salvage and Badlaa, which will forever be referred to as the trifecta of crap.  That being said, I don't have clear memories of which episode is which, so I have to refresh my memory before I vote.

 

That's interesting because I found myself getting so annoyed just looking at the list of eps in Season 8 for this vote.  I think it's probably because the whole abduction arc just pissed me off to no end, and I can't stand seeing sad Scully being sad looking for Mulder; it just sucks too much.  I think I would have dealt much better with Duchovny leaving if Anderson had also left, and we just had new agents, new stories.  Season 9 doesn't bother me as much because he's just gone.  I accepted it, with some bitterness, and moved on.  The show went back to focusing more on the X-Files and less on where my miracle/alien baby maybe daddy. That's probably why I hate William and Trust No 1 so much.  William because it's just ridiculous that random farmers could better protect him and he wouldn't be found there, and Trust No 1 because sad Scully is being sad about Mulder again, and I just can't with that nonsense.

[janestclair]

Surekill 

Salvage (Not even a Terminator reference could save this one from the scrap heap)

Badlaa (butt genie.  Enough said.)

Patience

The Gift

 

And see, I feel like Mulder's whole abduction gave the crazy, convoluted mytharc a direction again - find Mulder.  Although the whole super solder/alien replicant thing was stupid.  The only thing I really hated was the stupid Scully theme music they would play every time Scully was sad about Mulder.  I didn't much care for Reyes, but I did like Doggett and Scully together. 

 

William (watched exactly once. I just can't with that crap.)

Jump the Shark (terrible ending for the Gunmen. Bah)

Improbable (I don't even get this episode. What the actual crap was that?)

Lord of the Flies (just dumb.)

John Doe (Bored me to sleep.)

Edited September 21, 2014 by janestclair

[AntiBeeSpray]

@ janestclair: I kind of viewed Improbable as an episode where people made their own choices, for good or ill. And no matter how people try to change things, some people will continue to do what they do.

 

S8:

 

Badlaa (butt genie... eww >_<)

Within
Without

Three Words

Via Negativa

 

S9:

 

Jump the Shark (don't like this one, since it feels as if they did it since the show (TLG one) didn't work)

Sunshine Days (timing was bad on this one imo, why would anyone be happy so fast after losing their son)

William (hate this one, considering Mulder wasn't there)

Lord of the Flies

Dæmonicus

[joelene]

I enjoy Doggett and think season 8 is fine. The dynamic between him and Scully works, I think, but some of the stories are just blah. The mytharc I just plain don't understand anymore. But I remember most of the season. Reyes, well, she's there. She's fine. Sometimes I enjoy her, sometimes I don't care.

The same isn't true of season 9. There are a few I watched not too long ago (and a couple I enjoy) by many I don't think I've watched since they aired. Not sure how I should vote, but oh well.

Season 8:

Surekill (so dull)

Salvage (so dull)

Three Words (drawing a blank)

Within (don't remember)

Without (don't remember)

Season 9:

Lord of the Flies (terrible)

Nothing Important

Nothing Important II

John Doe

Jump the Shark

Don't remember the last four, except for Jump the Shark being not a good.

[janestclair]

@ janestclair: I kind of viewed Improbable as an episode where people made their own choices, for good or ill. And no matter how people try to change things, some people will continue to do what they do.

 

S8:

 

Badlaa (butt genie... eww >_<)

Within

Without

Three Words

Via Negativa

 

S9:

 

Jump the Shark (don't like this one, since it feels as if they did it since the show (TLG one) didn't work)

Sunshine Days (timing was bad on this one imo, why would anyone be happy so fast after losing their son)

William (hate this one, considering Mulder wasn't there)

Via Negativa

Surekill

 

That makes sense about Improbable. I just couldn't with that episode. It's interesting that I've seen Via Negativa on 2 lists so far - that's one episode I remember actively liking. 

 

It's also interesting that you mention timing on Sunshine Days.  I have a problem with the timing of that one too, but a different reason.  It's the last X-File ever before the finale, and THAT's what we get?  Ugh. No.  I almost put it in my bottom 5 for that reason, but then I remembered John Doe.

[joelene]

antibee, you got Via Negativa on both lists! And Surekill is season 8.

[Bastet]

I've never seen any of the season 8 or 9 episodes in their entirety (except maybe the series finale), so I'll sit this one out and wait for the all-stars round.

 

X-Cops as number two is my head-scratcher for this round, but maybe I was just in an extraordinarily bad mood when I watched it.  Although I remember the two colleagues I always had water cooler XF discussions with thinking it was stupid, too.

 

At any rate, playing this game made it crystal clear why season seven was the year I just threw in the towel completely rather than hanging on to a show I once loved.

[AntiBeeSpray]

antibee, you got Via Negativa on both lists! And Surekill is season 8.

Sorry about that! Got them mixed up XD. Went and edited the post.

That makes sense about Improbable. I just couldn't with that episode. It's interesting that I've seen Via Negativa on 2 lists so far - that's one episode I remember actively liking. 

 

It's also interesting that you mention timing on Sunshine Days.  I have a problem with the timing of that one too, but a different reason.  It's the last X-File ever before the finale, and THAT's what we get?  Ugh. No.  I almost put it in my bottom 5 for that reason, but then I remembered John Doe.

I kind of felt the same there too. It felt like an episode that would have been ok earlier on in that season or even in season 8.

[smrou]

I just don't even know where to begin with season 8 and never watched season 9, so at least for now I'm sitting them out.  If season 8 gets to a point where the only episodes left are ones I actually remember and have an opinion about then I will join in again.  

[Taryn74]

I'm looking over the list of Jessica's recaps to refresh my memory on some of these, LOL.

 

Badlaa - Good. Lord.

Salvage - not memorable.

Surekill - see above.

Patience - ^^^

The Gift - because, WTF?

 

Lord of the Flies - because, really?

Scary Monsters - creepy, but not well done.

Sunshine Days - because, yeah.  Terrible timing.

Underneath - meh.

Jump the Shark - eff you, Chris Carter.  EFF. YOU.

[joelene]

Well I for one is bummed (ha ha) about Badlaa. It's so bad it's good and one of the more rewatchable episodes of the season, IMO.

I like Sunshine Days too. You may be right about the timing, but so many years away from the finale the timing of a season 9 episode isn't something that bothers me in the slightest.

[SnideAsides]

Existence

Essence

DeadAlive

Three Words

Empedocles (Christ there were a lot of dreary mytharc episodes in the back half)

 

Jump the Shark

Lord of the Flies (How is it that an episode with Jane Lynch and Aaron Paul was so terrible?)

Provenance

Providence

TrustNo1

[queequeg]

Existence

Essence

DeadAlive

Three Words

Empedocles (Christ there were a lot of dreary mytharc episodes in the back half)

 

You trying to get rid of all the Mulder eps from Season 8?  lol

[joelene]

Salvage and Badlaa got 4 votes and equally many points. Surekill also got 4 votes but was a tiny bit less hated. Next out with 3 votes, in order of dislike, were Three Words and Patience. Aw, I kinda like Patience.

Jump the Shark got 6 votes and Lord of the Flies 5. William is out with 3 votes and of the five episodes that got 2 votes Sunshine Days was less liked followed by Daemonicis and Underneath who scored equal points. That's six episodes but what you gonna do. We'll boot them. The other 2 votes were John Doe and Trust No 1.

Season 8:

Within

Without

Roadrunners

Invocation

Redrum

Via Negativa

The Gift

Medusa

Per Manum

This Is Not Happening

Deadalive

Empedocles

Vienen

Alone

Essence

Existence

Season 9:

Nothing Important Happened Today

Nothing Important Happened Today II

4-D

Trust No1

John Doe

Hellbound

Provenance

Providence

Audrey Pauley

Improbable

Scary Monsters

Release

The Truth

Vote for five season 8 episodes and four season 9 episodes in the order you most want them gone.

Edited September 22, 2014 by joelene

[queequeg]

Season 8:

Via Negativa

Roadrunners

Invocation

Redrum

The Gift

 

Season 9:

Trust No 1

Hellbound

Provenance

Providence

 

It's probably a very bad sign for these seasons that I've had to look up episode summaries for most of these, since I don't remember them from just looking at the name.

Edited September 22, 2014 by queequeg

[AntiBeeSpray]

S8:

 

Within
Without

Existence (love this episode... but aaaaaah! the dang whale singing... I kind of feel sorry for poor Reyes here)

This Is Not Happening

The Gift

 

S9:

 

Nothing Important Happened Today
Nothing Important Happened Today II
4-D

Audrey Pauley

[joelene]

Season 8:

Within

Without

The Gift

Medusa

Empedocles

I'm sitting this season 9 round out. I feel I'm too much in the dark for so many of these.

Edited September 22, 2014 by joelene

[Taryn74]

Dang, I hate that William (the ep, but also the kid LOL) is out so soon!  That's one of the few eps I really, really like from S9.

 

The Gift

The Invocation

Medusa

Empedocles

Roadrunners

 

Scary Monsters

Hellbound

John Doe

4-D

 

(Voting for which ones I remember least on some of these, though I think 4-D was actually a decent, creepy ep.)

[queequeg]

Taryn, I'm just too emotionally compromised by the whole William thing, I had to vote for it, sorry.  :)

I really hope they get a 3rd movie and get to give some resolution to that William mess.  It's all just too freakin' sad.... and Scully's sad song... ugh. 

 

[janestclair]

The Gift

This is Not Happening

Within

Without

Empedocles

 

Improbable

John Doe

Audrey Pauley

Trust No 1 - (dearest Dana... I'm putting it down for that alone, because no.)

[AntiBeeSpray]

The Gift

This is Not Happening

Within

Without

Empedocles

 

Improbable

John Doe

Audrey Pauley

Trust No 1 - (dearest Dana... I'm putting it down for that alone, because no.)

 

*ugh* I forgot about that one. If it's still around next round, I'll be voting for it.

[joelene]

'Kay, season 8: The Gift was the biggest loser with 5 votes. Within, Without and Empedocles were out with 3, and in a battle between four episodes receiving 2 votes Invocation was the most disliked. The ones who made it were Roadrunners, Medusa and This Is Not Happening.

 

Season 9: Opinions are all over the place! Almost no episode is not disliked, so there were five episodes that received 2 votes and six that got 1 vote. Of the 2 votes Hellbound was the first to go followed by Trust No 1 and John Doe with the same score. The last two, 4-D and Audrey Pauley, were also a tie, but since we got rid of six episodes last round we'll save them both and get rid of just three.

 

Season 8:
Roadrunners
Redrum
Via Negativa
Medusa
Per Manum
This Is Not Happening
Deadalive
Vienen
Alone
Essence
Existence

 

Season 9:
Nothing Important Happened Today
Nothing Important Happened Today II
4-D
Provenance
Providence
Audrey Pauley
Improbable
Scary Monsters
Release
The Truth

 

Vote for four episodes from each season in the order you most want them gone.

Edited September 23, 2014 by joelene

[AntiBeeSpray]

S8:

 

Existence

Medusa

Roadrunners
Redrum

 

S9:

 

Nothing Important Happened Today
Nothing Important Happened Today II
4-D
Audrey Pauley

[Taryn74]

Roadrunners

Medusa

Redrum (I liked this one though)

Via Negativa (although RP acted the sh*t out of this episode)

 

Scary Monsters

4-D

Audrey Pauley (I kinda enjoy this one though)

Provenance

[queequeg]

Season 8:

Via Negativa

Roadrunners

Redrum

This Is Not Happening

 

Season 9:

Provenance

Providence

Improbable

Nothing Important Happened Today

 

ETA:  I've been so eh about voting for these seasons I just noticed that John Doe is gone.  Nooooo....   lol

Edited September 23, 2014 by queequeg

[joelene]

Surprised about all the Roadrunner votes, I thought that one was pretty universally liked. Top 3 for me!

I've been on a season 9 mini-binge to try and do some votes justice. Too bad I didn't realise Underneath was already gone before I watched it. Reyes theory (which proved correct, natch) she pulled out of her ass was hilarious. "I know! His catholic guilt is the killer." I LOL:ed, rolled my eyes and scoffed all at the same time. That happens a lot with her, doesn't it? The pulling theories out of thin air, I mean.

Season 8:

Medusa

Deadalive

Via Negativa

Per Manum

Season 9:

Audrey Pauley (I do like the Audrey/Lucy Householder actress, even though she suffers from Patricia Arquette syndrome where I need them to clear their throats and speak properly)

Nothing Important

Nothing Important II

Provenance

Edited September 23, 2014 by joelene

[janestclair]

Per Manum

This Is Not Happening

Roadrunners - Scully was stupid in this.  Way to give a strange guy your gun, trained FBI agent.  I'd blame the slug, but that was before they did it. But it does have a line I use whenever someone asks me if I remember something random that I clearly do not recall - "I don't have much of a memory for mucus."  So there's that.

Medusa - even though I kinda like this one. 

 

Improbable - shaping up to be this season's Chinga for me. 

Audrey Pauley

NIHT I

NIHT 2

[joelene]

Season 8: Roadrunners and Medusa scored even with 4 votes and points. Via Negativa and Redrum got 3 votes but Redrum was a little bit more liked. Per Manum and This Is Not Happening got 2 votes.

 

Season 9: Nothing Important Happened Today and Audrey Pauley had 4 votes and equal points and Nothing Important Happened Today II and Provenance had 3 votes, also with equal points. 4-D and Improbable got 2 votes.

 

Season 8:
Per Manum
This Is Not Happening
Deadalive
Vienen
Alone
Essence
Existence

 

Season 9:
4-D
Providence
Improbable
Scary Monsters
Release
The Truth

 

Vote for four season 8 episodes and three season 9 episodes.

[queequeg]

Season 8:

This Is Not Happening

Vienen

Alone (oh how I love the end scene of this ep... Mulder and Scully bickering like an old married couple about the UFO or not-UFO)

Existence (I really, really, really hate to list this... for the last scene alone, but there is just so much I don't like about this episode outside of that final scene.  Skinner killing Krycek, Reyes and her second-hand awkwardness whale songs, the creepy birth scene, ergh)

 

Essence got saved from being listed only by it's cheesy intro voice-over, which I absolutely adore.  That and I don't mind the rest of the ep, and it's the last ep before Krycek gets killed.  RIP Ratboy

Per Manum, because I live for those flashback scenes between Mulder and Scully.

And Deadalive b/c I just actually really enjoy that ep

 

Season 9:

Providence

Improbable

4-D (this is tough b/c overall I really like this ep, I just like Scary Monsters and Release more)

 

The Truth is a weird one for me.  I can't say I love it, and I don't know that I think it's all that good, but it's just such a relief to have Mulder back at the end of Season 9 that I don't have the heart to vote for it.   That and it's THE final ep... ever... 

[Taryn74]

Vienen (although I kinda enjoy Mulder and Doggett working together, visually if nothing else ;) )

TinH (I like it, but I like DeadAlive better)

Alone (I *heart* Agent Harrison, hate to vote it out)

Essence (Krycek, noooooo!)

 

Scary Monsters

4-D

Provenance

 

 

S8 is getting harder for me than S9 at this point.

[AntiBeeSpray]

S8:

 

Existence

This Is Not Happening

Essence

Per Manum

 

S9:

 

4-D

Scary Monsters

Providence

[joelene]

Season 8:

Vienen

Per Manum

Essence

Deadalive

I can't vote for TINH because that last scene, and Gillian in it, is just so good. Chills.

Season 9:

Providence

Release

Scary Monsters

I don't remember how I felt about The Truth but it just feels wrong voting for it before other season 9 episodes!

Edited September 24, 2014 by joelene

[queequeg]

I can't vote for TINH because that last scene, and Gillian in it, is just so good. Chills.

Hah, this is why I voted for it.  :)  Not that Gillian's acting wasn't incredible, because it was, but she was just so devastated and I was so devastated for Scully.  For some reason I really just can't mentally deal with the trauma that was Seasons 8 and 9.  I don't know if it's because I did a straight watch through recently all the way from The Pilot to IWTB so it's too fresh, but I just remember 8 and 9 being painful, like the cancer arc, but with no happy resolution at the end.  At least with the cancer arc, you get Detour when it's all said and done.  Detour was such a breath of fresh air; no more doom and gloom and they were happy and together again.  There was hope!  Goodness knows IWTB wasn't happy or a resolution to much of anything other than they're no longer going to press charges on Mulder. Oh, and Chris Carter finally decided that it was time to show the world that Mulder and Scully are in fact together since he apparently forgot about William... the dearest Dana mess... and the kisses from Existence and The Truth, and he thought we were maybe all still confused as to the will they/won't they.  lol.

 

And I guess that probably speaks to just how good Gillian is that she left me that shell-shocked from seasons 8 and 9 that I don't really want to rewatch those episodes at this point and time.  :)

[janestclair]

Per Manum

This is Not Happening

Dead Alive

Essence

 

Improbable

Providence

Scary Monsters