S10.E06: My Struggle II

[Guest]

I wonder if this would have been better if the episodes had aired in the original order whatever that was.  This one just jumped straight into mytharc and it gave me whiplash how fast they went to the aliens are infecting the world and only the chosen will live.  Where the hell did that come from?  And the news person narrating the whole thing is almost never done well on any show.  And I didn't really get why younger Mulder and Scully were suddenly a big part of the mytharc episode after just being part of the mushroom episode.  It felt a bit like a backdoor pilot.  Mulder and Scully are abducted and Mulder and Scully Jr investigate.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I think it's on hiatus until they can clear schedules. Fox was billing this as a "season finale," not a series finale, plus they've said they would like to do more. By all accounts, the issue is just finding time, especially since GA is filming The Fall plus doing a play, etc. I really hope they could 10 or 12 episodes, not just 6, but that may be too much given the scheduling conflicts.

[benteen]

The fight scene was pretty awesome.

 

I too was distracted by Gillian Anderson's voice, particularly in the beginning of the episode.

[lumberjackdexter]

Jenny McCarthy said we can't have Scully's vaccine.

 

Not for the reason you think.

 

 

 

I think she said, "Similar to the HPV vaccine, it doesn't work on those that are already infected."

[Voice of Joy]

Well according to one of the scientists who helped write this episode

No real scientist helped write this episode. They would have been banging their heads on desks.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I wonder if this would have been better if the episodes had aired in the original order whatever that was.  This one just jumped straight into mytharc and it gave me whiplash how fast they went to the aliens are infecting the world and only the chosen will live.  Where the hell did that come from?  And the news person narrating the whole thing is almost never done well on any show.  And I didn't really get why younger Mulder and Scully were suddenly a big part of the mytharc episode after just being part of the mushroom episode.  It felt a bit like a backdoor pilot.  Mulder and Scully are abducted and Mulder and Scully Jr investigate.

 

No. It wouldn't have been any better imo. The lack of chemistry/connection in Founder's would have been very distracting after what happened in Babylon at the end of it. It feels better in the order they went with.

[Prevailing Wind]

Before I go, on the theme of everybody love Scully, I was dying when the extras were looting stores and the police were helpless, yet a redhead with a badge comes and tells them to stop and they did. So even random strangers love Scully! Too funny.

I thought that was pretty hilarious.  The rest of the episode?  Sucked like CSM's blowhole.

 

At the risk of too much information, my father had a trache for a short time (it's not always a permanent thing) and he said he couldn't defecate unless he kept his finger over the tube to "hold his breath."  He could speak, but not very well.

[Frozendiva]

For all its flaws, I enjoyed the episode.

 

I liked the tagline - This is the End. Of course it isn't. CC is very good at the tease.

 

Part of me expected that the ship would have taken out Scully, Mulder, and Miller. Given her FBI status, why didn't Scully use a helicopter?

 

In a moment of forgotten fondness, I had hoped we would see Diana Fowley again. No one really dies on the X Files. I couldn't see Agent Reyes being CSM's servant of sorts.

 

Too quick for Scully to whip out a cure. It would probably take several hours or even days. Also too bad that the bees were not mentioned as part of colonisation or the carriers of that which made everyone sick. Colds and flus are part of the virus family and have little to do with bacteria.

 

Einstein and Miller weren't hugely annoying. I did find it odd that most of the news coverage was from Tad O'Malley and his Internet news/videocast. Where did he get the bandwidth? Where were the main networks?

 

May there be a season 11 with a few answers and of course, many more questions.

[GreenScreenFX]

It seems like episode 1 of this season should have started with the beginning of this episode (open scene before the credits) and then episode 6 should have ended with the ending of this episode ( on the bridge with space ship). Episodes 2-5 could have be spent developing all the parts contained within this episode. As it is, this 1 episode felt like an entire 22 episode story arc. Everything was so rushed and unbelievable... For what appears to be a day or so.

[cassandle]

I was hoping they wouldn't go cliffhanger. Even as we approached the 8:00 mark (CST), a part of me was just pleasantly surprised that it was going to be a two-hour finale. It wasn't, and my heart broke.

 

This was me too.  I thought it was odd that I didn't remember that it was supposed to be a two-hour episode and then 5 seconds later the credits rolled.  I should have known better.  It's this sort of frustration that makes me really appreciate the show creators who write each season as if it'll be the last--with no cliffhangers.

 

I was also pretty annoyed that Mulder and Scully were separated for the entire show.  Mulder confronting CSM only slightly made up for that.

[HalcyonDays]

It seems like episode 1 of this season should have started with the beginning of this episode (open scene before the credits) and then episode 6 should have ended with the ending of this episode ( on the bridge with space ship). Episodes 2-5 could have be spent developing all the parts contained within this episode. As it is, this 1 episode felt like an entire 22 episode story arc. Everything was so rushed and unbelievable... For what appears to be a day or so.

 

I agree actually. It was rushed. CC could have nixed Mulder!on!Schrooms, and started showing people getting sick. Einstein's skepticism could still have been there, just about the alien/government conspiracy. Then it would be a two-parter, like the episodes of old, and continues into number 6, and goes from there.

 

It was rushed, I agree. They could have put little hints and teases in the entire 6-episode arc that leads to this, then the cliffhanger for season 11.

 

Anyone know the original air order? Two was swapped for Four, right?

[turnitwayup]

Samantha Mulder is definitely dead - she died a few years after her abduction and then went to atheist heaven. We saw that in season 7.

 

With some added Moby music. I srsly only remember Mulder wandering around in a forest with My Weakness playing.

 

Didn't seemed like CC was presumptuous that he would get a s11 with writing another season finale cliff hanger? Wished Mulder and Scully weren't apart so much since they were apart in that last ep. I really think they needed to do at least a 10 ep season when doing a mixture of mythology and COTW. I hope DD and GA will be able to have more time when their schedules clear up maybe this summer. It just seemed like it's too rushed with too many ideas to fit in. Miller and Einstein was less annoying but if there was more eps it would've been more gradual introducing them and the mythology. It's still would be good mid season mini series with 2 hr season premier and finale.

 

At least with Reyes' flashback they gave a some reason that CSM somehow survived but I didn't see it coming that Reyes would do anything to save herself. I barely remember s8 and didn't see most of s9 so I wouldn't remember much of her personality.

 

Did like Mulder fight sequence with the random guy at his house.

 

No. It wouldn't have been any better imo. The lack of chemistry/connection in Founder's would have been very distracting after what happened in Babylon at the end of it. It feels better in the order they went with.

 

Yeah. Only other place I can think it would made sense was after the were monster ep with office props continuity. It was kinda sparse in were monster and founder's had more stuff in the office.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I agree actually. It was rushed. CC could have nixed Mulder!on!Schrooms, and started showing people getting sick. Einstein's skepticism could still have been there, just about the alien/government conspiracy. Then it would be a two-parter, like the episodes of old, and continues into number 6, and goes from there.

 

It was rushed, I agree. They could have put little hints and teases in the entire 6-episode arc that leads to this, then the cliffhanger for season 11.

 

Anyone know the original air order? Two was swapped for Four, right?

 

Yep.

 

It was:

 

My Struggle

Home Again

Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster

Babylon

Founder's Mutation

My Struggle II

[Frozendiva]

The corporate climate at Fox has changed. CC's burned bridges have now been rebuilt. A reboot after all this time is a crapshoot. The show could have failed miserably. Fox doesn't have a lot of hits right now. A few X Files eps now and then are just what the doctor ordered. An old show that can still pull in an audience.

[Sparkling Beth]

I'm assuming that CC knows there will be another season, 'cause if he doesn't and he still wrote this as a cliffhanger--DAMN HIM ALL TO HELL.

[Sandman]

So William is totally the one flying the UFO, amirite?

 

Totally!

 

In other news: AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That would have been interesting, in a total suspension of disbelief kind of way, if Mulder and Scully had been together AT ALL and if it hadn't crammed a season's worth of developments into one unbelievable hour.

 

This is how I feel. And to top it off, a cliffhanger? A CLIFFHANGER? ARE YOU FUCKING HIGH, Carter, you hack stoner ingrate?

 

Thanks. I watched this show from Day One but remember almost nothing of it. In one ear and out the other, unfortunately. 

 

CC has the very same problem.

 

I don't know if they were banging their heads on desks, but there were certainly two people co-credited with CC on the story, and "Dr." was notably attached to both names. Maybe they're his therapists? I don't know.

 

And why does Agent Whalesongs never come to the damn point? I love Annabeth Gish -- but why does Monica Reyes have to be so annoyingly vague?

Edited February 23, 2016 by Sandman

[madam magpie]

I don't know...I feel like most of the logistical flaws can be explained away with, "Well, Scully could do it." I mean...it's Scully. She's basically a science-ing superhero!

 

I thought this was absolutely fantastic. Loved every moment of it.

 

From what I can read between the lines, it seems an eleventh season (or second miniseries?) is probable. I also feel like they wouldn't have ended this on such a cliffhanger if they weren't reasonably certain they'd do another one. They didn't do that before. The regular series and the last movie left open some plot points, but they basically wrapped up. A cliffhanger with no next season planned (or movie, I guess) would be a pretty crappy thing to do to a fanbase as dedicated as the one for The X-Files is. Can you imagine next year's panel at Comic Con? No one would want to do it because the audience would be so mad.

Edited February 23, 2016 by madam magpie

[madam magpie]

Yep.

 

It was:

 

My Struggle

Home Again

Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster

Babylon

Founder's Mutation

My Struggle II

 

I don't know about this. Why did they change the order?

[GreenScreenFX]

I read on another website the the intended episode order was

1

5

3

2

4

6

Could be wrong.

On a limited episode series such as this one, I am quite sure scenes are often filmed in chunks and out of order to accommodate schedules. (Guest stars Pileggi and McHale) probably filmed their scenes in 1 chunk. This might explain Gillian's voice issues every other episode. I believe the "intended" order for air is stated above.

[MissL]

Totally!

 

This is how I feel. And to top it off, a cliffhanger? A CLIFFHANGER? ARE YOU FUCKING HIGH, Carter, you hack stoner ingrate

 

And why does Agent Whalesongs never come to the damn point? I love Annabeth Gish -- but why does Monica Reyes have to be so annoyingly vague?

yes! Yes! Ive been calling CC worse things tonight but hack stoner ingrate is perfect.

Yes on Reyes too! And seriously that crap on the phone.... Why not just say "Scully it's Monica." They met in broad daylight it's not like she was trying to hide she talked to her.

[SpaceBloom]

No real scientist helped write this episode. They would have been banging their heads on desks.

 

I know that it's sci-fi, that there were a limited number of episodes, they only had 43 minutes etc. etc. -- but I still find it hard to ignore all of the egregious jumps in logic in this plot.

 

I watched this show as a kid, and I credit it for fostering an interest in science in me at a formative age. Now I watch this as an adult who works in research, and I'm cringing every time 'alien DNA' is mentioned. What does that even mean? So now we know how to identify alien SNPs? If Scully had just said that she had sequenced the sample she had used for the southern blot back in season 5 (Redux, I believe) and identified a novel, unique locus that hasn't been found in any known individual human genome, then I would have been satisfied. Otherwise to me it just sounds like throwing out techniques (genome sequencing, CRISPR-Cas9) to be relevant.

 

This sort of thing feels like something that would have been better explained in the original run. The southern blot was equally implausible within that timeframe (no, not even a white hot probe would produce results that fast), but the concept was solid. It made sense. This? It just felt sloppy considering the obvious thought that went into science techniques previously. I do really appreciate the effort, but it's clear that there's a crunch for time and the 'science' in the plot really takes a hit for it.

 

But Scully getting upset about the failed PCR tickled me greatly. 'There's nothing there!'

 

Because sometimes that is just my life.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I read on another website the the intended episode order was

1

5

3

2

4

6

Could be wrong.

On a limited episode series such as this one, I am quite sure scenes are often filmed in chunks and out of order to accommodate schedules. (Guest stars Pileggi and McHale) probably filmed their scenes in 1 chunk. This might explain Gillian's voice issues every other episode. I believe the "intended" order for air is stated above.

 

Nope. They filmed it in the order I mentioned above, and they (meaning CC and co)  found out that it worked better the way you mentioned. It was supposed to air as filmed.

I don't know about this. Why did they change the order?

 

They did that since it worked better with the arc.

[Italian Ice]

So for S11, I can see this episode being concluded with William finding his parents (cuz he's totally the one flying the UFO), being reunited with his Mama, and curing his Dad and his Dad's friend, and helping save the world in the Season opener, and then when all the dust settles, poor William being an orphan, because his adoptive parents are probably already dead, Mulder and Scully reconciling, taking William in,  and we finally, FINALLY get domesticated Sculder with William and Dagoo, as a cute little ohana, being all badass and part alien, and schtuff.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Italian Ice

[minamurray78]

?????

[HalcyonDays]

Yep.

 

It was:

 

My Struggle

Home Again

Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster

Babylon

Founder's Mutation

My Struggle II

 

That order might have been, a bit better but it was still okay. Honestly, I think it should have been like this:

 

• My Struggle
• Founder's Mutation (with hints of CSM and this alien DNA illness link hinted at and Einstein and Miller intro'ed HERE)
• Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster(levity and a classic Darin Morgan X-Files.)
• Home Again (a classic creepy standaline, but also with the seriousness of M&S wanting to find William.)
• Babylon My Struggle II - Part I
• My Struggle II - Part II

 

Yeah, sorry, not creative titles but it would have been much better over two episodes, building up to people getting sick, and E &M getting on board, etc etc, leading to the cliffhanger for season 11).

[AntiBeeSpray]

Agree to disagree on that. Considering Babylon's ending. It would have thrown me off, tone wise.

 

But I do agree with you about splitting My Struggle II in half instead of having Babylon there.

[Italian Ice]

The whole Monica thing annoyed me too. She called Scully basically just to tell her that she made a deal with the devil to save her own ass, and the rest of the world be damned? Pretty much everything we saw of Monica was shown in the teasers

[HalcyonDays]

Agree to disagree on that. Considering Babylon's ending. It would have thrown me off, tone wise.

 

But I do agree with you about splitting My Struggle II in half instead of having Babylon there.

 

Basically, I would have eliminated Babylon completely and stretched out My Struggle II into two episodes. That's what I meant. That sweet ending in Babylon, they could have tacked it onto another episode. Otherwise, no Babylon.

 

X-Files Creator Chris Carter on That Cliffhanger Ending, a Lingering Mulder Mystery and the Latest on Season 11

.

[AntiBeeSpray]

The whole Monica thing annoyed me too. She called Scully basically just to tell her that she made a deal with the devil to save her own ass, and the rest of the world be damned? Pretty much everything we saw of Monica was shown in the teasers

 

Yep and it more than countered what she was like in the series.

 

Wondered if CC was on something while writing Babylon and did the same thing while writing this ep. At least in parts.

 

A couple of new articles (spoilers within):

 

CC interview 1

Source: tvline.com

 

CC interview 2

Source: hollywoodreporter.com

 

Looks like it'll be a long wait too.

 

A quote from the Hollywood Reporter interview...

 

Are we going to see more of The X-Files on Fox?

 

They're going to ask for more. The ratings were very good. They were happy with the show. I talked to Dana Walden today. She said they'd very much like more, but nothing's being negotiated yet.

 

Did you talk about timing at all?

 

It was casual. She said, "No pressure. We'd love to do this. We liked the way it worked out." So there's an appetite for more in the future, it's just a matter of figuring out how to get it done. The last negotiations took about five months, so it could be a while before we figure out how to do this.

Basically, I would have eliminated Babylon completely and stretched out My Struggle II into two episodes. That's what I meant. That sweet ending in Babylon, they could have tacked it onto another episode. Otherwise, no Babylon.

 

X-Files Creator Chris Carter on That Cliffhanger Ending, a Lingering Mulder Mystery and the Latest on Season 11

 

.

 

We both posted that at about the same time lol.

[Sandman]

The regular series and the last movie left open some plot points, but they basically wrapped up. A cliffhanger with no next season planned (or movie, I guess) would be a pretty crappy thing to do to a fanbase as dedicated as the one for The X-Files is. Can you imagine next year's panel at Comic Con? No one would want to do it because the audience would be so mad.

 

Except that this "event" series undid some plot-points, and their resolutions, and leaves me feeling like whatever conclusions might be reached could be invalidated just as easily in favour of a back-half to the eleventh season, or a twelfth season, or whatever damn whim CC comes up with next.

 

If I were he, I wouldn't be so bold about showing up at any ComicCon panels, even if a further season does get off the ground. As things stand, I think he'd be in for a talking-to, at the least.

 

But I do agree with you on the idea of Scully's being able to accomplish whatever super-heroic course she sets out on. Especially if her Hybrid Messiah Mutant Baby is old enough get his spacecraft pilot's learner's permit.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Sandman

[Bobbin]

Benevolent aliens saving us humans from natural catastrophe reminds me of the Outer Limits "Music of the Spheres." I'm surprised that Scully running through a crowd of sick and dying people waving the antidote over her head wasn't attacked and the antidote destroyed in the melee. If Mulder is at death's door, I wonder how he'll survive a hiatus and then a season looking for his son.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Another CC interview

 

Source: nytimes.com

[Bastet]

Are you fucking kidding me?  Despite all my apprehension, and despite all I'd heard, I was with this episode for 59 minutes (not unequivocally - because, hello, science - but going along with a TV show).  And then?  Piss on this show.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Bastet

[madam magpie]

Except that this "event" series undid some plot-points, and their resolutions, and leaves me feeling like whatever conclusions might be reached could be invalidated just as easily in favour a longer eleventh season, or a twelfth season, or whatever damn whim CC comes up with next.

 

If I were he, I wouldn't be so bold about showing up at panel, even if a further season gets off the ground. As things stand, I think he'd be in for a talking-to, at the least.

 

Naw, this show is pretty beloved. Most people just want to get the chance to live with these characters again. As long as the principle players are on board and the principle themes remain, I think most of the audience will be thrilled. I think the they'd revolt only if Carter dropped it now and didn't create any new episodes. Maybe it'll take awhile to put out a new season/movie/miniseries due to scheduling issues and such, but as long as they continue to tease and promise, as long as Carter, David, and Gillian remain in our sight line, I think the interest and loyalty will remain. Disgruntled fans on message boards aren't the majority of the audience, I don't believe. If they were, this show would have been done ages ago.

Edited February 23, 2016 by madam magpie

[catrox14]

Um.  WTF?

[futurechemist]

Were we meant to understand any of that?  The science in the episode was unintelligible, even for this show.  Alien DNA gave Scully extra nucleotides which stopped her immune system from being deactivated by aluminum and microwaves.  And if Scully's DNA is amplified that would provide a vaccine to the virus that shut down the entire immune system leaving them susceptible to every microorganism around.  I feel my high school biology grade being retroactively lowered.

 

Also, I was frustrating by how isolated the main characters were.  That's 1 reason I hated the Heroes reboot, they kept the old characters apart from each other in too many episodes.  So after all the trouble Scully went to to find Mulder in episode 1, it was frustrating for them to be completely separated in this episode.

[baileythedog]

Jenny McCarthy said we can't have Scully's vaccine.

 

 

 

I'm sorry, but I just laughed out loud for about 10 straight minutes after this...

 

I'm a west coaster, so rambling thoughts here, but two totally disparate things jumped out at me:

 

1. That look of disdain on Monica's face as she has to insert the cigarette in/out of CSM's trachea.  How annoyed is she when he asks her to jerk him off because you know that's number two on his list of things that Monica has to do for him in exchange for saving her life.

 

2. Scully....I love her, but seriously, the moment Mulder is ill she thinks about using William to harvest his stem cells?  Really the height of hypocrisy when it comes to adopting out your kid. If Mulder had kidney failure, would she be looking to William to provide as a long distance donor farm?  

 

More thoughts on this crazy episode later. 

 

My heart was racing the entire time, so it had my attention.  But screw Chris Carter and his total unwillingness to actual write Mulder and Scully together in the same scene.  That was the primary reason that "Founder's Mutation" worked so well.  We hadn't actually seen them working together since S7 and it was a breath of fresh air. 

[catrox14]

 

Also, I was frustrating by how isolated the main characters were.  That's 1 reason I hated the Heroes reboot, they kept the old characters apart from each other in too many episodes.  So after all the trouble Scully went to to find Mulder in episode 1, it was frustrating for them to be completely separated in this episode.

 

I literally yelled at the TV at the midway point "Why the fuck are Mulder and Scully apart on the last episode of the revival!?" Boo!

[AntiBeeSpray]

Word you guys. That's why Were-Monster and Home Again worked for me. They were together (for the most part) as a team.

[green]

Well I enjoyed the were-monster one.  Great writing, commentary on the human condition, wonderful wit etc.  By contrast this episode was a complete mess.

 

So the show runner invented almost exact clones of the originals in the two younger agents complete with both women having red hair which seemed totally stupid.  Yeah they were in the last episode too but just posting for this episode.  This is in case either of the original actors can't be signed or are too expensive to bring back they have the minor league team in place? 

 

As for making instant saline solutions cure-alls from DNA in hours ... come on.  All "science" on these shows is silly but this takes the cake. 

 

This episode was terribly written gobbledygook and seemed totally out of place.  Made no sense they had spent some nice time meeting a were-lizard-human and such then suddenly back to the first two episode mess.  What happened to that crisis in between times.  Just jagged and silly way to put together episodes.

 

Oh well I will always have the were-lizard-human to remember from this mini-series-whatever this was.

Edited February 24, 2016 by green

[SparklesBitch]

The whole Monica thing annoyed me too. She called Scully basically just to tell her that she made a deal with the devil to save her own ass, and the rest of the world be damned? Pretty much everything we saw of Monica was shown in the teasers

 

I thought the whole meeting was to hammer the point home for the audience that, just in case you weren't sure, yes, Scully is safe because of her alien DNA. That and to plant the seed of the idea that she could try to make a vaccine using her own DNA. I mean, granted, we should have already guessed that by that point, but subtlety hasn't always been CC's strong suit.

[GreenScreenFX]

Every time someone called Einstien by her name, I thought for a split second they were being snarky. Then I realized Chris Carter thought this was a clever name. Ugg.

[Sandman]

Naw, this show is pretty beloved. Most people just want to get the chance to live with these characters again.

Not that I'm trying to overstate the importance of those of the fans who are on message boards, or their numbers, or their precise degree of gruntlement, but I think Carter has always created a certain amount of frustration among fans of the show. Yes, the show is beloved, and certainly the central characters are; I am as eager as any viewer to spend more time with Mulder and Scully. But Carter's writing can be sloppy and self-indulgent, and this return has shown that off, in my view, as much as it has the strength of the relationship between Mulder and Scully.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Sandman

[madam magpie]

Not that I'm trying to overstate the importance of those of the fans who are on message boards, or their numbers, or their precise degree of gruntlement, but I think Carter has always created a certain amount of frustration among fans of the show. Yes, the show is beloved, and certainly the central characters are; I am as eager can as any viewer to spend more time with Mulder and Scully. But Carter's writing can be sloppy and self-indulgent, and this return has shown that off, in my view, as much as it has the strength of the relationship between Mulder and Scully.

 

I really just don't think so. I personally know lots of people who disagree with that completely. I disagree with it completely. Of this group, only I am on message boards. But they all (me, rarely) go to Comic Con every year. There are always random angry people and there are plenty of people on the Internet who like to bash Carter and the show (while simultaneously proclaiming their love for it...I don't get that), for sure. But for the most part, the people at Comic Con are there because they truly love it all, not to attack the actors or creators on the panels. If Chris Carter announced that "nope, he was done, X-Files was done, no more episodes, suckers," I think lots of regular people might join the message-board disgruntled faction. But as is, we've been waiting since 2008 for something new from this series. I just don't think a cliffhanger is going to put everyone over the edge. But I suppose I could be underestimating the sanity of the general public. Donald Trump's a presidential front runner after all... I guess we'll have to see what happens this summer.

 

I need Mulder and Scully on the same team, but I don't need them blissful. Plus, I thought the give-and-take between Einstein and Scully in this episode was great and didn't miss that Scully and Mulder weren't together, though I liked that they were connected to each other via their individual plots. The only episode of this six that didn't work for me was last week's. I still don't get it, but I also don't think it was the worst thing I've ever seen on TV.

Edited February 23, 2016 by madam magpie

[snarktini]

ETA; I wish we could do a poll, to show who hated episode 5 and liked this one and who liked episode 5 but hated this one. Interesting the division between opinion. I recognize some of you liking last weeks, but not this one, whereas I and a few others, disliked last week, but this week was decent.

I didn't really hate or love either one ... either one is an interesting tv show, but they aren't the SAME show. I have whiplash. Overall, I tended to prefer the more campy COTW episodes back in the day so I had the most fun with the standalones in this season. That doesn't mean I think they were better, nor what I would have spent a limited 6 episodes on. 

 

It seems like episode 1 of this season should have started with the beginning of this episode (open scene before the credits) and then episode 6 should have ended with the ending of this episode ( on the bridge with space ship). Episodes 2-5 could have be spent developing all the parts contained within this episode. As it is, this 1 episode felt like an entire 22 episode story arc. Everything was so rushed and unbelievable... For what appears to be a day or so.

 

I could not believe this was all crammed into one episode! The fall of the civilized world, multi-state driving trips, and vaccine development, all in 24 hours. It seems like episodes 1 and 6 are the story they came back to tell, and it would have been plenty for 6 hours. So why didn't they do that? Like I said, I like the sillier stuff, but now looking back I feel like the middle eps were killing time to get to the real story.

[Bastet]

I will say this, Mulder's fight with CSM's henchman wasn't half-bad. Mulder's picked up a few skills.

 

And apparently the choreographer from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

[GreenScreenFX]

This was my favorite episode of the 10th season.... I can pick it apart (and I will)later, but

1 My Struggle - Mulder rambling soliloquy --- so boring

2 founders mutation- already forgot what that was about

3 Were- monster- funny, but shatters 4 th wall

4 home again-monster and mom... Don't do both

5 Babylon--- should be obvious

6 tried way to hard to fit everything in.

Edited February 23, 2016 by GreenScreenFX

[GaT]

I watch The X Files to see Mulder & Scully work together. Not Scully & Einstein, not Mulder & Miller, Mulder & Scully. They wasted half the episodes on WIlliam, & now in the finale the 2 leads aren't even together most of the episode. This is not what I want to watch.

 

Does Lauren Ambrose automatically get any role that calls for a redhead?

[Voice of Joy]

I don't know if they were banging their heads on desks, but there were certainly two people co-credited with CC on the story, and "Dr." was notably attached to both names. Maybe they're his therapists? I don't know.

Maybe it was Doctor of Physical Education or something. Any MD would not have someone with an open trach speaking clearly, not to mention the atrocities committed by this show regarding what can be done with DNA, or the way vaccines work. Likewise any doctor of the physical sciences or astronomy would have been spinning in their beakers.

I like your therapists theory, but it doesn't really recommend their services, does it?

[anonyposter]

Did we really need YET ANOTHER recap of Scully's background at the beginning of this episode?  Ridiculous.

 

The final sequence with Scully running around, then driving around, then walking over to Mulder in the car was WAY too drawn out.  Then she just looked at him and realized he was so bad off he needed stem cells?  Where did that come from?

 

I agree with the others who said this episode seemed to happen way too fast.  Episode 1 told us the previous 9 seasons was a lie and introduced a new storyline.  Episode 2, while related to the storyline, didn't seem necessary at all now that I've seen Episode 6.  Then Episodes 3, 4, and 5 were standalone episodes completely unrelated to the storyline.  Then in Episode 6 it's suddenly the endgame?  So in just 2 or 3 episodes they both introduced a new storyline and brought it to its climax.  There really should have been at least several episodes in between, and I know they were constrained with only a 6 episode miniseries, but since they seem confident about another season, they could have saved this episode for later.

 

Also, hasn't FOX learned by now that you CANNOT have the X-Files without Mulder and Scully, even if you find some younger actors who look somewhat similar to them.