Season 8: Ginormous pregnancy and WHINY Scully...

[AntiBeeSpray]

What did you like/dislike about this season?

[Taryn74]

I really need to finish my mytharc rewatch.  I'm up to Essence/Existence now, and I enjoy those eps just fine (by S8 standards, anyway) and the final scene is of course worth the price of admission, but I just can't get myself kicked in the butt enough to get going again.

[MyrtleGroggins]

I haven't watched this season in a while, but man, "Badlaa" gives me the heebies just thinking about it now!  The general premise is total bugsqueak insanity, of course, but just the concept of Deep Roy crawling inside corpses and using mystical legless beggar powers to briefly reanimate them?  ::shudder::

The rest of the season was pretty solid for me, but that one - oof.  I still get a bit shifty-eyed when I hear a set of squeaky wheels and don't immediately recognize the source.

The other ep of the season that also creeped me out more than others was Roadrunner ... scary cult (check), Ceti Eel variant (check), middle of flippin' nowhere (check) - okay, time to hide under the quilt!

[Taryn74]

OK I finally watched Essence/Existence yesterday, in my mytharc-focused series rewatch.

I still say all those aliens/replicants/whatevers standing around, watching and waiting while Scully gives birth, is one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen.  She is just so absolutely helpless to do anything, and poor Monica is scared out of her mind but is trying as hard as she can to keep it together for Scully's sake.  I'm sure they both thought they were dead as soon as the baby was born.  Gah, what a powerful scene.

I don't know how you could watch this show and not feel awful for Doggett, you know?  Here's this straight-laced, NYC cop who truly wants to do his job and do the right thing, and he gets thrown into the middle of this absolute mess, full of situations he doesn't even really believe in, and he's expected to perform well (yet not so well that he actually uncovers the truth or anything so inconvenient as that) while being kept on a very tight leash most of the time.  It's to his immense credit, IMO, that he doesn't tell them all to eff off and go back to NYC where he at least feels like he knows what he's doing.

Krycek, noooooo!  I think Skinner shooting Krycek point blank in the head is one of the most shocking things I've seen on this show, and that's saying a lot.  Even though I've seen it before, so I know it was really Skinner and not a replicant, it's still almost unbelievable that he really just did that. 

And speaking of Krycek, what a fantastic showcase of his relationship with Mulder in this episode.  They hate each other intensely, but at the same time respect each other.  It's incredible to watch them onscreen together.  Mulder gently pushing Scully out of the elevator and telling Krycek "Protect her" is just......I don't even have words.

I think I said this at TWoP some time back, but I've come to the conclusion that Dr. Perenti, Dr. Levy, and all those involved with the alien/cloning program really thought they were doing a good thing.  I think from their POV they were just using highly controversial methods (alien DNA) to find a way to prevent birth defects and such.  The show has rammed the phrase "more human than human" down our throats enough that it's got to mean something, after all.  In that sense, they were being honest with Mulder and Doggett about their work.  They really were sincere about using this research to help people and had no idea they were working toward a hybrid race that would survive colonization, or that the aliens themselves would take steps to prevent their research from continuing.

[ElleryAnne]

Taryn74, I agree with so much of what you just posted.  Essence/Existence was - and still is - a hard episode for me to watch, but that scene with Scully and Monica is a standout.  I still remember the chills I got the first time I saw it. 

The elevator scene, with Krycek asking what he can do (which shows a certain allegiance to Mulder, I think) and Mulder trusting him to keep Scully safe is another moment that I love.  It's a small moment in a busy episode, but it speaks volumes.  So does the little look Scully gives Mulder when he does that.  She doesn't trust Krycek even to the small degree that Mulder sometimes does, but she trusts Mulder.  He wouldn't be pushing her towards Krycek unless he really believed it was their best/only option at a really terrifying time.

It makes the later scene in the garage so much more of a WTF moment.  I honestly refused to believe it was Krycek waving the gun at Mulder, or Skinner shooting him.  I kept thinking there would be a reveal to show that one or more of them were replicants or shape-shifters or something.  It was a shocking moment, and a pointless one IMO, because of everything else that had been going on.  Krycek had saved Mulder and Scully earlier (and that car scene, with Krycek running over replicant-Billy is another one that visited my nightmares for a while, thank you very much Chris Carter).  In spite of Mulder's anomosity towards Krycek, the two had worked together successfully more than once in the past, and I've still never been able to wrap my mind around the shooting scene.  It's the reason I didn't watch S9 when it first aired.  (I still haven't seen all of S9.)

Poor Doggett.  He really does want to do the right thing, but while Mulder was gone earlier in the season, Scully stepped into Mulder's "believer" shoes and Doggett was the de facto Scully.  He wasn't ready for what he was going to have to deal with at all.  Monica, OTOH, was right on board mentally.  (I've never understood the Monica-hate that I used to see on the TWoP boards.  I liked her.)  Doggett making his way around the Hoover building is another moment that stands out for me.  

Dang, that two-part finale was really pretty great if not for the Krycek-killing.

Edited April 16, 2014 by ElleryAnne

[Taryn74]

I honestly refused to believe it was Krycek waving the gun at Mulder

 

I could believe it had gotten to the point that Krycek knew that was the only way this could end, even though he hated it.  I believe he was completely sincere when he said "I could've killed you so many times, Mulder. You've got to know that. I'm the one that kept you alive. Praying you'd win somehow.....The tragedy's that you -- you wouldn't let it go."

[Taryn74]

As I was showering earlier, I was thinking more about Essence/Existence, about why Krycek wanted Skinner to kill Mulder, why he wanted earlier in the season to kill Scully's baby before it was born, and why the replicants left after Scully gave birth.  This has been a source of confusion, to say the least, for 'Philes for years.  But I think there are clues in the following conversation -

SCULLY: They want my baby.

(SCULLY is exhausted. She looks at KRYCEK.)

SCULLY: Why?

KRYCEK: They didn't even know about it. I don't know exactly how they could have found out just how... how important it is... how special.

SCULLY: My baby is normal.

KRYCEK: Your baby was a miracle. Born of a barren mother's barren womb.

MULDER: Are you saying that they're afraid of it?

KRYCEK: They're afraid of its implications. That it could somehow be greater than them. Something... more human than human.

SCULLY: (whisper) I don't believe this.

SKINNER: You wanted to destroy her child.

KRYCEK: I wanted to destroy the truth before they learn the truth.

MULDER: That there's a God... a higher power.

 

I will preface this by saying that how Krycek came to figure all of this out, I don't know, and we probably never will thanks to his untimely death.  But here's what I think (and this gets a little bit mystical, even for the X-Files, so bear with me) --

The aliens thought that William was the result of the hybrid program, and they sent replicants (who are basically their slaves here on earth) to witness his birth, verify that he was a hybrid, and then kill him.  Upon his birth, they thought they were mistaken and so the replicants left without harming him (or Scully, Monica, etc).  What they didn't realize is that William was a step beyond a lab-created hybrid -- he was a human child, conceived by normal human means(*), who APPEARED "normal" to the aliens (and to any tests the doctors would later run).  But what he actually was, was a genetically perfect alien/human hybrid who could hide the essence of his being from the aliens.  Krycek knew that if the aliens figured out what William was, they would kill not only William but Mulder and Scully, and probably everyone who knew anything about them and/or William.

I want to say more but it's time to pick the kids up from school.

(*) -- Of course, since Scully was left barren by the earlier experiments, there was a touch of the miraculous in her conceiving in the first place, which could have to do with the implications that the aliens feared.

[ElleryAnne]

I always thought that the replicants left because the baby wasn't the kind of hybrid they were interested in - possibly because the doctor did something with the ova before implantation.  But that may have just been me trying to fill in the gaps the show left.  It's been awhile since I first saw the eighth season, and I can't remember exactly why I thought that.  By that point, it was obvious that CC and the writers had lost control of the mytharc in general, and viewers were more-or-less left on their own to make sense of it.  

 

I will preface this by saying that how Krycek came to figure all of this out, I don't know, and we probably never will thanks to his untimely death.

 

 I never question how Krycek knows anything.  My headcanon is that whenever he was offscreen he was running around odd corners of the world breaking into labs,  stealing information and occasionally technology.

 

I could believe it had gotten to the point that Krycek knew that was the only way this could end, even though he hated it.  I believe he was completely sincere when he said "I could've killed you so many times, Mulder. You've got to know that. I'm the one that kept you alive. Praying you'd win somehow.....The tragedy's that you -- you wouldn't let it go."

 

I'd be willing to believe it if they showed me why.  I just don't feel like the show gave me enough reason to believe he'd come to that conclusion at that point.  I could believe he'd want him dead around the time of DeadAlive.  Three months dead, and they dig him up and he lives?  I'd be suspicious of that.  But by the end of the season I felt like that reason was nullified.  I think I'd heard around that time that Nick Lea wanted them to kill off his character, and I feel like the death scene was contrived to accommodate a dramatic death that didn't really fit.  (I don't blame Lea for it, of course.  There were ways to kill off Krycek that wouldn't have seemed so bizarre as the way they went.)  

[Taryn74]

I've been watching the S9 mytharc eps and am about to go to that thread to post, but I just wanted to drop back into this one for a moment. 

Reading over the Cherish the Past XF review for Essense/Existence, the author had this to say:

-- It was always my theory that the starlight that guided Mulder to the end of his journey represented Samantha. (Obviously, I was as sappy as Chris Carter by this point in the show. < g >)

 

I have to say, as one of the five 'Philes in the world who actually like the starlight explanation for Samantha, I think this is a brilliant idea and it made me very happy.  I can't believe it never occurred to me before though.  I'm a little ashamed of myself.

[ElleryAnne]

Heh. After the episode with that scene (Closure, I think it was?) first aired, my sister called me and said, "So Samantha's starlight now, WTF?"   Years later, I still remember that reaction. 

[Taryn74]

Heh, I think that was most people's reaction.  I thought it was beautiful, but I fully recognize I am in a very small minority there.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Heh, I think that was most people's reaction.  I thought it was beautiful, but I fully recognize I am in a very small minority there.

I liked it too. It was a little odd, sure, but by then, you'd probably figure that Samantha wasn't alive anymore.

[ElleryAnne]

Yeah, and I appreciate the fact that some people liked it as something different, I really do.  I think a part of me was just disappointed that Samantha was actually confirmed as dead, because of the whole earlier bit with her having been returned after her abduction and raised for a while by the CSM (until she was what, 14, I think Jeffrey said?), and because back in earlier seasons we'd seen fake Samanthas and hallucinatory Samanthas and whatnot.  So starlight Samantha was a letdown for me.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Yeah, and I appreciate the fact that some people liked it as something different, I really do.  I think a part of me was just disappointed that Samantha was actually confirmed as dead, because of the whole earlier bit with her having been returned after her abduction and raised for a while by the CSM (until she was what, 14, I think Jeffrey said?), and because back in earlier seasons we'd seen fake Samanthas and hallucinatory Samanthas and whatnot.  So starlight Samantha was a letdown for me.

Yea it's understandable. 

Just shooting a guess out here: Maybe he raised her til then and the planned to have her sent off to the aliens (the bad ones, that is). Then she ran away, and was 'saved' by the good ones. But the only way they could was by turning her into starlight.

[supposebly]

Yeah, my reaction then and now is still: WTF is starlight?

They had her fake-back, dead, not-dead, kidnapped, not kidnapped, raised by CSM, possibly not, cloned, and what not, I realize there wasn't much they could do with her story at this point, but I would have settled for a simple proof that she is dead and Mulder to accept it finally. This episode made her look like Caspar the friendly ghost.

[Bastet]

I would have settled for a simple proof that she is dead and Mulder to accept it finally. This episode made her look like Caspar the friendly ghost.

I've only ever read about it as opposed to actually having seen it, but that has pretty much been my reaction (right after "WTF?").  They actually go with the one plausible resolution, that she's dead, and then muck it up with this starlight silliness.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I've only ever read about it as opposed to actually having seen it, but that has pretty much been my reaction (right after "WTF?").  They actually go with the one plausible resolution, that she's dead, and then muck it up with this starlight silliness.

I don't think it's silly that she's become starlight. It's like she became part of the universal energy again, so she wouldn't be harmed anymore.

[joelene]

Heh, I think that was most people's reaction.  I thought it was beautiful, but I fully recognize I am in a very small minority there.

 

I'll take a seat at your table, Taryn74! I think a lot of it might have to do with that at that point I was barely invested anyone. I just wanted her goddamn story the end. And that scene with Mulder and Starlight Samantha really does it for me, I think it's so beautiful and sad and fulfilling. Tears in my eyes everytime.

[Taryn74]

And that scene with Mulder and Starlight Samantha really does it for me, I think it's so beautiful and sad and fulfilling. Tears in my eyes everytime.

 

Oh, I so totally agree.  It makes me teary just thinking about it.  DD played that to perfection.

 

The scene later when he walks back to Scully and she asks if he's okay, and he says "I'm fine....I'm free." is another teary moment.

 

And you know, they don't make a huge issue out of this on the show, but I really think Closure was a turning point for Mulder spiritually.  For so many years he carried so much guilt for not being able to "save" Samantha (either by preventing her abduction or by finding her later) so I think him being able to see that she really was okay, that Someone else had stepped in and taken care of her for him, was a huge burden lifted.

[IndependentMind]

I am a Scully/Mulder gal for life but I gotta admit the chemistry between Scully and Doggett was amazing.

All I can say is that Gillian can have chemistry with anybody. Damn brilliant!

Seeing Mulder so out of place in Scully's life and her being pregnant was something to behold. And him realizing that this is their son. And that she did not have another man in her life.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I am a Scully/Mulder gal for life but I gotta admit the chemistry between Scully and Doggett was amazing.

All I can say is that Gillian can have chemistry with anybody. Damn brilliant!

Seeing Mulder so out of place in Scully's life and her being pregnant was something to behold. And him realizing that this is their son. And that she did not have another man in her life.

Yea they had some good chemistry. But that was also good acting by the both of them.

[IndependentMind]

I completely agree:)

[Taryn74]

Totally agree about Scully/Doggett.  The more I watch the latter seasons, the more I love Doggett and his relationship with those around him, especially Scully.

[IndependentMind]

He cared deeply for Scully. I don't know if anybody would agree with me, but I do think he developed really deep feelings for her, or might have even fallen in love with her. He was very intense but there's a softness about him with Scully.

There was a lot of guilt in Scully when Mulder came back, because as ,much as she cared for Doggett as a partner, her loyalty is to Mulder and she will always belong to Mulder.

[Mama No Life]

The hardest part for me about Season 8 was Mulder's confusion when he returned and how he wasn't sure where he fit in. It was hard to watch. How hard would it have been to write a 15 second scene with "I don't know how I'm pregnant but it sure isn't from another guy dummy?"

[IndependentMind]

So true...It took the Gunmen to tell him that it is his child. 

[Taryn74]

So true...It took the Gunmen to tell him that it is his child.

 

 

HA!

[queequeg]

So we have officially begun the first of the seasons that do not exist.  We've only watched ep. 1 so far.  I'm not too offended yet.  We'll see how long it takes for me to get mad this time.   lol   But OMG with the sad music and Scully. 

[Taryn74]

You can do it!

[queequeg]

I thought I should record for posterity's sake that my husband fell asleep for the first time during an X-Files ep.   It was Salvage... only took 'til Season 8.   lol.  I sort of enjoyed Season 8 until about two eps ago.  Now I'm just in full Mulder countdown mode.

[Taryn74]

Hee!  I faintly remember Salvage.....I think.  Is that the one with the guy that his touch would eat through people's skin or something?

[queequeg]

Salvage was about the guy who was turning into metal.

Salvage was about the guy who was turning into metal.

[queequeg]

So I'm home sick today, and I think I've burned the H out on X-Files, so I'm forging ahead without him.  :)   Last ep he saw was Per Manum.  I just finished up DeadAlive since I'm home sick today.

 

Is it just me or does Mulder mouth "I love you" or "Love you" to Scully at the end of DeadAlive?  It even seems like she reacts to it?   I rewatched it a few times, but the more I watched it, the less sure I became.  Ah well.

 

That is true love, though.  She hugged his partially dead, stinky ass (when he was still hooked up to the life support).  lol   All I kept thinking was how bad he probably smelled, since at the beginning they said he was still in a state of decomposition. 

 

ETA:  Oh, and how do regular antivirals combat an ALIEN VIRUS?!?!?!

Edited June 23, 2014 by queequeg

[Taryn74]

Hee, I think the debate about whether or not Mulder actually mouthed something in DeadAlive (along with Scully doing the same in an upcoming ep - don't recall which one at the moment) was one of the biggest debates at the time.  It's one of those things we never got a definitive answer on.

 

 

ETA:  Oh, and how do regular antivirals combat an ALIEN VIRUS?!?!?!

 

 

On the one hand, it's XF so who knows, they do what they want to.  On the other hand, since by this time they are pushing that we are all descended from aliens in the first place, and are thus in part alien, it makes some sort of sense.

[queequeg]

On the one hand, it's XF so who knows, they do what they want to.  On the other hand, since by this time they are pushing that we are all descended from aliens in the first place, and are thus in part alien, it makes some sort of sense.

 

But then why did they blather on so long about that vaccine?!?!   Maybe I need to remember to just smile and nod when I can't fully make sense of it.  :)

 

Thoughts on the other episodes...

 

Three Words: 

 

Why has Mulder been dead 6 months?!?! and yet there is his apartment as it always was, except cleaner.  I mean, it's not like Scully had any hope/thought of him coming back.  They buried him, he was dead dead, or so they thought.   I guess she was holding on to it for sentimental reasons?   And how sweet was Skinner in both this and Deadalive?!?!  Such a good friend to Scully, a shoulder to cry on.  I'm glad he was there for her.

 

On to the who's my baby's daddy portion of the show, the scene in the apartment killed me.  I feel for Mulder.  Clearly he's uneasy and uncertain about this whole pregancy thing, but in true Mulder Scully fashion, let's not verbally address it.  And did she mouth "It's yours?"  Is that what you're referring to, Taryn?    Nevermind, Mulder doesn't see it, if it was even there. Ya gotta think that he thinks it's gotta be an egg and sperm donation (not his) kinda thing, right?  I felt like it took The Lone Gunmen questioning his involvement in the pregnancy for it to sink in that it could be his?   And how cute was Melvin hugging Mulder's ass.  lol.  Back to the pregnancy thing, in a previous episode (Per Manum) the one lady knew the baby couldn't be right because the timing was off.  There was no way she could have gotten pregnant when she did naturally.  Suppose Scully did the math?  So she knows it's possible it could be Mulder's vs alien baby creation?

[Taryn74]

Maybe I need to remember to just smile and nod when I can't fully make sense of it.  :)

 

 

 

Pretty sure that's the response they were going for, heh.

 

And did she mouth "It's yours?"  Is that what you're referring to, Taryn?

 

Yep.  Well, that's what I was referring to at least.  Whether or not she does.....beats me.  I never got into the debates that much.

 

Suppose Scully did the math?  So she knows it's possible it could be Mulder's vs alien baby creation?

 

 

Honestly I never doubted that Scully knew the baby was Mulder's, she just didn't know how.

[queequeg]

Honestly I never doubted that Scully knew the baby was Mulder's, she just didn't know how.

 

Taryn, you're a better person than me, because I'm not sure I was ever sure of that.  :)  I'm still not 100% sure of that now.  I remember watching these episodes when they aired and thinking OMG is Mulder the father?!  Why are they not addressing this?!   What is wrong with these people?  When will they tell us?  Then the frustrating reality hit me that they were never going to directly come out and say it, and I got annoyed.  And then Season 9 happened, and I got really, really annoyed.  And then I quit watching.  The Lone Gunmen were my final straw.  I probably threw my hands in the air and waved them around all angry jazz hands style after that ep.  I'm sure it was quite the sight.  lol

 

At least now, upon rewatching, I've decided they kind of beat it into us that Mulder is the father, at least figuratively if not biologically, and the how in the end isn't so important.  And being that father figure is more important than being a biological father (Bill Mulder vs. CSM).   (Not that any of that rules out Mulder being William's biological father, it's just my way of mentally dealing with the possibility that he's not).

 

ETA:  Actually, it just occurred to me that it's more probable that the kid is biologically Mulder's than Scully's b/c she had no eggs.  heh.

Edited June 24, 2014 by queequeg

[Taryn74]

ETA:  Actually, it just occurred to me that it's more probable that the kid is biologically Mulder's than Scully's b/c she had no eggs.

 

 

Ack!  Now THAT thought never even occurred to me!

 

OMG is Mulder the father?!  Why are they not addressing this?!   What is wrong with these people?  When will they tell us?

 

 

Maybe it's just me, but I always took the end of Existence to be direct confirmation that yes, Mulder is the father.  Not only the sweet kiss while Mulder held him, but when Scully says that she named him William after [Mulder's] father.

[queequeg]

Maybe it's just me, but I always took the end of Existence to be direct confirmation that yes, Mulder is the father.  Not only the sweet kiss while Mulder held him, but when Scully says that she named him William after [Mulder's] father.

 

I think part of the reason I get so hung up on this whole William thing is because I feel like the writers tossed out conflicting info.  Like hey, let's name him William after Mulder's father so clearly Scully must know Mulder is the father, yet Scully and Mulder are still going around trying to find the "truth" about their baby, whatever that is.  I really, really want to just grab ahold of things like naming him William after Mulder's father, and wrap it up neatly and say YES, he's THEIR son.  But then they go and mess it up for me by Scully and Mulder running around in late season 8 and early 9 (that's all the farther I've gotten) trying to find out the truth about how she got pregnant.  Like they're not really so sure after all;  they still have lingering doubts/questions.  They've (the writers) fed us so many theories via other very unreliable characters like Krycek (miracle baby), Knowles (implant), Shannon (stuff in the water) that I just don't know what to think anymore.  I gotta think they (the writers) were going for the miracle theory, because it was tossed at us so much (Per Manum, Essence/Existence), and I would bet I'll hear it again at some point in Season 9. 

 

I'm way behind on my thoughts on the other late season 8 eps b/c I've been a on a 2-day sick X-Files marathon (loved when Scully is packing up her desk for maternity leave... Queequeg!), but Scully said something in one of today's eps that I thought was pretty fitting of this whole William thing and most of this show:  "Uncertainty. No matter how thorough the investigation, some doubts inevitably remain. Just as juries seek to convict beyond reasonable doubt, the forensic investigator will seek conclusions supported by a preponderance of evidence. Rarely will you encounter a case where all of the variables, all of the open questions, are fully answered."

 

But maybe I'll know more clearly where I fall on this once I finish Season 9.  I don't remember much from 10+ yrs ago other than The Lone Gunmen died and Mulder went on trial for something or other at the very end.  

[GirlyGeek]

So, just started S8 in the epic re-watch.  I was posting on the S7 thread, but thought I should move most of my S8 thoughts here now  :)
I started my re-watch less than 90 days ago, at the Pilot and determined to not skip any episodes (even the sucky ones, lol).  I've found a new appreciation for the episodes that, in my head, 'weren't great' and have actually enjoyed 95% of the episodes during this re-watch.  Its been fun!

I'm 3 episodes in to S8 (and plan to finish it all by Xmas), and I have to say, that I kinda love Dogget.  Poor RP got thrown into such a bad situation, what with rabid angry fans wanting Mulder to stay and not wanting to give any replacements a chance.  I remember I felt that way and I hate-watched S8 and S9 for the most part, just biding my time waiting for a Mulder sighting.

Now, though, I love the way RP and GA interact and I love his choices for Doggett's character.  He's open to cases without being obnoxious, he looks for both sides, he just doesn't know what to do with it all yet.
I also can see that he is just a good man.  Honest and loyal and (if I remember correctly) he becomes even more so throughout the season and really cares for Scully.  I'll comment more when I see it.
I also like how he talks with her, as equals, but he has a softness to him (hmm, maybe not the right word.  Again, its something that develops so I'll wait :)

Anyway, I'm excited to watch this season because, save for a few eps, I haven't re-watched S8 or S9 since it first aired.  Its refreshing to watch this, as an adult now (as I was 13 or so when the Pilot aired) and now my kiddos are watching it with me (sometimes  ;)

[Taryn74]

GeekGirl, are we like soul sisters or something?  LOL.  Everything you describe is exactly how I feel.  Except that I was a tiny bit older than you when XF first aired.

 

Now, though, I love the way RP and GA interact and I love his choices for Doggett's character.

 

 

YES.  Once I got past the HE'S NOT DD thing, I realized how much I loved Doggett.  He is great.

[queequeg]

Heh, I was 14 when the pilot aired.

 

I loved that they had Gillian toss that water on Doggett.  It's almost like that was there for the sake of the viewing audience, since I don't many people that were OK with the departure of Duchovny and them adding Robert Patrick.  I honestly was pissed at DD for years.  Like how could he betray and abandon the show?  Gillian?  The fans?

[janestclair]

I was only 13 when the pilot aired, but I turned 14 two weeks later.

 

I always thought the water toss was for the fans too.  And I really like Doggett. I've always liked him, although I will say I like him better without Reyes.  If we couldn't have Mulder, I'm glad he was sort of the anti-Mulder in a sense. Maybe that's why I never liked Monica. 

[GirlyGeek]

Ok, the road so far:

Within and Without, no problems with these on rewatch except Scully was kind of obnoxious trying to one-up Doggett the whole time.  Skinner was cool and I always like seeing Gibson.  I thought it was a good intro of Doggett.

Patience:  I didn't really remember this one and it was a good monster of the week on re-watch.  

 

Roadrunners:  I like this one.  Scully ditching Doggett and him coming after her.  The MOW is icky, the townspeople are whacked.  All good

 

Invocation:  always makes me sad.  As a parent, these types of eps are rough.  Good insight into what I know is coming with JD, and a pretty solid storyline, too.  Little kids are always creepy, ;)

Redrum:  yawn

Can't wait to get into more of the meat of the season and more of JDs backstory, when he finds out S is preggo, the Mulder stuff.  Fun fun!

[GirlyGeek]

Finished season 8. Much more enjoyable than back in the day. Less expectations make it much easier to bear.

I think my single biggest complaint is the writing. Specifically, the writers create each episode as if Mulder and Scully don't talk in between episodes! As time doesn't pass between scenes and episodes. As if NONE of the characters do anything off screen to further the plot or fill each other in on information.

It's kind of maddening. We're supposed to believe M and S never talked about the sex of the baby or its origins? That for an entire episode (or a few days at least) S and M don't discuss that she's been working on the XF with a new partner? Idk why this bothered me so much, lol

I still love Doggett and Reyes is not so bad. I'm easy to entertain actually, so I don't mind her.

Dead alive still kills me. Poor Scully. And I still love M when he comes back and says "who are you?" Lol. Scullys look is so devastated but I still laugh at Mulder.

It was heartbreaking to watch M & S and their awkwardness when M is back from the dead. He really didn't understand where he fit in, how to reconcile where he'd been and everything was changed for him and around him. Unsettling I'm sure and it was painful to watch him lash out in frustration.

I still don't think I understand Nole Roark and krycek and all the different factions and what their motivations are/were. If they wanted the baby born, why were they going after Mulder and Doggett and skinner, etc?

Edited to add: on re watch, Scully doesn't seem nearly as emotionally unstable as I recalled. All of her emotions and crying were very much warranted, so I don't know why I was onboard the Scully is whiny train all those years ago?

Her screaming of this is not happening and nooooooo still crack me up and are way over the top, but other than that, GA hit all the right notes with me (with what she was given, especially)

Edited December 15, 2014 by GeekGirlnb

[Taryn74]

It was heartbreaking to watch M & S and their awkwardness when M is back from the dead. He really didn't understand where he fit in, how to reconcile where he'd been and everything was changed for him and around him. Unsettling I'm sure and it was painful to watch him lash out in frustration.

 

 

It really is.  I know a lot of people (at least at the time) were upset with Mulder and the way he was acting, but MY WORD.  The man had been abducted, tortured, experimented on, and left for dead.  And then upon his miraculous return?  Most of his friends were acting like they may be too polite to say so, but felt rather inconvenienced by the whole thing.

 

I love Scully.  You guys know I do.  But when she told Mulder in Three Words "Mulder... I don't know if you'll ever understand what it was like...." I imagine it took some major willpower on his part not to scream obscenities at her.  And I don't think I would have blamed if he had.

[Bastet]

I love Scully.  You guys know I do.  But when she told Mulder in Three Words "Mulder... I don't know if you'll ever understand what it was like...."  I imagine it took some major willpower on his part not to scream obscenities at her.  And I don't think I would have blamed if he had.

 

I probably shouldn't talk, since I had long since quit watching, but how is she wrong?  Dude was dead.  He can relate to what she felt when he was missing, because he went through that with her -- but, even there, it's only somewhat comparable as they were partners and friends when she went missing but partner-partners and co-parents-to-be when he did -- but he never lived through a reality in which she was dead.  This was no prematurely-ordered (and ridiculously-quickly created, but that's another story) headstone, this was a dead body in a coffin.  

 

They both know what it is to suddenly be returned to a life that has gone on without them, with only hazy - and terrible - memories of the time away, but it doesn't sound like the show dealt with that connection.  They were too busy continuing to play coy paternity games.

[GirlyGeek]

argh, the coy paternity games.  So obnoxious.

If I had to hear Scully say "my baby" (as in 'they're trying to get 'my baby'" or "there's nothing wrong with 'my baby'") one more time I was going to freak!  Especially when talking directly to Mulder.  And Mulder, referring to the baby when talking to Scully as "your baby".  Annoying.
And then, in S9 she's still doing it!  For crying out loud, the kid has a name!  And 'our baby' would be even less annoying.

[Taryn74]

I probably shouldn't talk, since I had long since quit watching, but how is she wrong?  Dude was dead.

 

Oh it's not that she was wrong.  Like you said, Mulder was dead, and while he did go thru something similar when she was abducted, it wasn't on the same level at all.  It was just the way she said it, that got to me.  Like I mentioned before, everyone really just acted very put out by the whole thing, like Mulder had....I don't know, deliberately left, or had been faking his death, or something along those lines.  It's like they treated him like he was trying to fit back into a life that he didn't deserve to fit back into.  It's hard to explain.

[queequeg]

Oh, Season 8.   If this turns into a rambling mess, I apologize in advance.

 

I think the whole season, and the characters of Mulder and Scully were just lazy, bad writing.   I have nothing against any of the actors, but all of the ambiguity and loose ends that are not never resolved drive me up the flipping wall.  And I blame Chris Carter.  This show was his baby, and I love this show, but sometimes I really wonder what he thought he was doing.  I don't know if he thought he was being clever leaving everything open to viewer interpretation?

 

First, the whole Mulder had a brain disease that we've never ever heard of before.  No. In my head canon I've decided to take the loose interpretation that this never happened because it's dumb and completely unnecessary, and it makes no sense when looking back at Season 7 and how Mulder acted in that season.  And that he would never tell Scully?  I mean, really.

 

Second, the lack of talking when Mulder returns from the dead.  I get it, we're supposed to assume that they're both varying levels of traumatized.  Mulder because he was dead and is now not dead, and everything is different, and Scully is knocked up and he doesn't know the who, why, what of it all.  Scully because he was dead and is now alive, and now he's acting all weird, plus he never told her about the phantom brain disease.  But it still strikes me as odd, that we don't ever see them hash out anything, including who the baby daddy might be.  I guess we're supposed to assume that they end up OK again, because they do eventually talk about stuff off-screen?  I dunno, but I for one, wanted more resolution.  

 

Also, I just feel like their characters are off.  I suppose their is a cumulative effect to the years of trauma, and I suppose it builds up over time, but I just feel that Mulder and Scully are very off at times in this season.  I get that's not a very objective opinion, but they're just so not resilient for them and it's depressing.  I mean this isn't even the worst of it.  The writers aren't done crapping all over their lives yet.  ;)