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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

Season 9: The Truth... is still out there.

AntiBeeSpray

By AntiBeeSpray
in The X-Files [V]

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Taryn74

Taryn74

I still can't even talk about the LGM dying.  IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.  NOT GONNA ACCEPT IT.

 

I have an irrational love for Audrey Pauley.  Well, love is too strong a word, but I do like the episode quite a bit.  Something about Audrey herself just really worked for me.  Although it was strange that Scully had just given up hope for Monica.  I know it wasn't Mulder lying there or anything, but geez.  Everybody and their cousin on this show has been closer to death at some point than Monica was.  But Scully was just all, eh.  She's dead.  Whatever.

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Tardislass

Tardislass

(edited)

I still can't even talk about the LGM dying. IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. NOT GONNA ACCEPT IT.

I have an irrational love for Audrey Pauley. Well, love is too strong a word, but I do like the episode quite a bit. Something about Audrey herself just really worked for me. Although it was strange that Scully had just given up hope for Monica. I know it wasn't Mulder lying there or anything, but geez. Everybody and their cousin on this show has been closer to death at some point than Monica was. But Scully was just all, eh. She's dead. Whatever.

No more whale songs would be good enough for me. :) but I did like her and Doggett better in the last season. Mainly because Mulder was MIA and writing bad fanfic letters and Scully was so damn weepy. Every episode she cried about something. Sorry CC but new moms don't cry that much. Season 9 was pretty crappy for me IMO. Even The Truth was sort of a final clip show. Skinner as a lawyer? And what's that you saw about the LGM dying?

Finally, I'm still not sure why Mulder didn't take his whole family into hiding? That never made sense that he'd leave Scully and his son.

Edited by Tardislass
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Tardislass

Tardislass

After watching all of Season 9, I discovered that I must have wanted to forget it because besides the finale and JTS and William I didnt remember anything. However, this time I did like Sushine Days and it was almost sweet in a way. Perhaps it was Vince G's farewell to the show. I am sorry he won't be writing as I think he brought a certain humor and emotion that the others couldn't capture- see X-Cops with Steve & Edie. Yes they are stereotypes but at the end their love isn't.

I also like Aubrey Pauley and thought it was well done for that season. But Pod!Scully was weird-since not a year ago her partner was on life support himself and she was trying to save him but Monica was dead from the get go with her.but then Scully was a Pod person all season. Obvious to me now that Anderson was just phoning it in this season-though at least with The Truth, her chemistry with Duchovny made the episode.

The Doggett/Reyes story moved so quickly I thought I'd get whiplash. No subtly there. In Sushine Days, Mulder was mentioned no less than 5 times-subtle 1013, very subtle. But the music still was beautifully-the beginning melody in Release is possibly the most beautiful in the show, I loved Monica's jackets and the set design was still first rate. I would have loved to walk around the Brady Bunch set. Finally the Xfiles were just getting into 21st century tech in SD. Scully was wearing a Bluetooth headset during the autopsy instead if using the tape recorder and her and Doggett/Reyes spoke by video on the computer. Hopefully, the merge a bit more tech in the new show.

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Tardislass

Tardislass

(edited)

Day 3 of my least favorite episodes and its a doozy: TrustNo1. So we go back to an episode name after a characters online name/email like 2Shy, only Mulders not a fat sucking killer. But if I was making up a screen name and I'm one the run, I might just want to use something that's not so central to my character. But I digress and I'll start with the good things: I love the opening monologue and I could see Scully writing this down for William to read when he's older. I also thought William was cute as a bug and did look suspiciously like AD Skinner.

Now the bad: Everything after the title sequence. In the first 15 mins alone Pod!Scully manages to leave the baby alone at the Internet cafe while she investigates an abandoned baby. She then leaves William in an unlocked car while she proceeded to intervene in a strangers argument. To top it off she lets the strange woman sleep in the living with the baby while she sleeps in her bedroom. WTF?! You mean Scully couldn't take the crib into her bedroom or give stranger her room. Of course there's the Bad!Fic emails but I found those rather hilarious. Took all my will-power*pun* to make it through the end and see Scully having to be saved by Reyes. (Duck woman!) and the deal with the Super Soldier. They totally killed her character and turned her from a capable yet vulnerable agent.into a weepy female mom who seems not be able to function without Mulder. Yes I get she's scared about William but to go all to pieces.?

Random observations-

Scullys email was an actual account on hotmail. Wonder if the public ever wrote to her.

It's usually not a good idea to point a gun at a woman who's holding your son.

I do like the Scully/Reyes interaction because it's rare to see her interact with a woman in a friendly way and not jealous.

Whoever designed these Supersoldiers needed to be fired. Having rocks be dangerous to"men" you want to take over the world was a bad idea. In the same way that the Death Star could be destroyed by laser guns shot into a really big hole.

Finally, I realize why William was so calm in his new home. No one will be injecting him, kidnapping or leaving him unattended!

Edited by Tardislass
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joelene

joelene

I think that if a new series aired today that was like season 9 of The X-Files, standalone-wise, I'd be all over it. But with so much better X-Files that came before it's so hard to swallow this seasons stand-alone episodes. On the mythology eps I'll just stay quiet.

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SnideAsides

SnideAsides

The other thing worth noting is that the Lone Gunmen's spinoff (cleverly titled The Lone Gunmen) was set in between the season eight finale and the season nine premiere. It doesn't matter right now (there's a sight gag in the premiere and that's it), but it'll play a part later in the season.

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DaynaPhile

DaynaPhile

Popping in to say I watched Trust No One tonight and aside of how gorgeous Gillian looks, like...all the time, including the crying because dang that woman can bring the tears and stab you right in the heart with her tear ducts...ANYWAY...I was watching on Netflix and guess what they did? They digitally erased the wrist tattoo Gillain had. It had made an accidental cameo appearance but someone finally caught it and they fixed it.

I have nothing else enlightening or intelligent to add. Except those emails mead me want to barf. Bad fan fiction indeed. Like a 12 year old imagining M&S as gushy lovers.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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Popping in to say I watched Trust No One tonight and aside of how gorgeous Gillian looks, like...all the time, including the crying because dang that woman can bring the tears and stab you right in the heart with her tear ducts...ANYWAY...I was watching on Netflix and guess what they did? They digitally erased the wrist tattoo Gillain had. It had made an accidental cameo appearance but someone finally caught it and they fixed it.

I have nothing else enlightening or intelligent to add. Except those emails mead me want to barf. Bad fan fiction indeed. Like a 12 year old imagining M&S as gushy lovers.

 

Yep. But oi, I got tired of Scully crying so much in s8 and s9 :(. It was beyond tragic.

 

Lmao XD. I know, it was even worse than anything from a Harlequin Romance novel!

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DaynaPhile

DaynaPhile

She did cry, like every episode! I'm about 3 from the end now and there are constantly tears in her eyes. She plays it well though, especially those times when she just wells up but they don't run down her cheek, so I distract myself with the pretty. Because dang, her tear ducts could have won their own Emmy.

I want to know how many season 9 episodes started with "Scully exits elevator". Every once in a while it's not her, and it's not always the first scene, but I swear, that elevator got more action this season than the whole series before.

Also...weird thing...I'm watching through Netflix on my iPad with earphones...is it just me or did the foley guy really ramp up the footsteps this season? I just hear hard soles on hard floors ALL THE TIME. And they're loud! I should put on a disc on my regular tv and see if it's as pronounced.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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She did cry, like every episode! I'm about 3 from the end now and there are constantly tears in her eyes. She plays it well though, especially those times when she just wells up but they don't run down her cheek, so I distract myself with the pretty. Because dang, her tear ducts could have won their own Emmy.

I want to know how many season 9 episodes started with "Scully exits elevator". Every once in a while it's not her, and it's not always the first scene, but I swear, that elevator got more action this season than the whole series before.

Also...weird thing...I'm watching through Netflix on my iPad with earphones...is it just me or did the foley guy really ramp up the footsteps this season? I just hear hard soles on hard floors ALL THE TIME. And they're loud! I should put on a disc on my regular tv and see if it's as pronounced.

 

Yep they could have.

 

Lmao XD, yes it did ;).

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DaynaPhile

DaynaPhile

(edited)

So I just have the last double episode to watch and I honestly can't remember what happens to a particular character, so I will get at least one last surprise. I know WesleyBrad shot Regali, but I don't remember what happened to him after that. So I will finish watching tonight and see. For some reason, while watching Release I though someone plugged him too, but I was wrong.

Editing to say I finished. I guess I was wrong, we never find out what happens to Brad. I'd like to see Monica smack him upside the head at least once.

Edited by DaynaPhile
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wanderingstar

wanderingstar

I just (finally) finished watching the last 5 episodes of S9. I enjoyed Release and Sunshine Days best.

 

I was a bit underwhelmed by the William episode, but that may be because anything mythology-related in this season made me zone out. Watching this series now, it's sort of fascinating how the writers kept chopping and changing what - to use a term of my third grade teacher's - the main idea was regarding the alien conspiracy. They dropped the anti-colonization virus angle after a while, the black oil seemed to vanish (permanently) and they seemed to go back and forth on whether the super soldiers were aliens or humans*

 

The Truth was a confused mess of an episode. I found the trial parts in particular to be pretty tedious. But it was nice seeing X and Marita and even Krycek again. 

 

*I could be wrong on all this, since, as I mentioned, I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the mythology stuff.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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I just (finally) finished watching the last 5 episodes of S9. I enjoyed Release and Sunshine Days best.

 

I was a bit underwhelmed by the William episode, but that may be because anything mythology-related in this season made me zone out. Watching this series now, it's sort of fascinating how the writers kept chopping and changing what - to use a term of my third grade teacher's - the main idea was regarding the alien conspiracy. They dropped the anti-colonization virus angle after a while, the black oil seemed to vanish (permanently) and they seemed to go back and forth on whether the super soldiers were aliens or humans*

 

The Truth was a confused mess of an episode. I found the trial parts in particular to be pretty tedious. But it was nice seeing X and Marita and even Krycek again. 

 

*I could be wrong on all this, since, as I mentioned, I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the mythology stuff.

 

Yea they pretty much cherry picked a lot from it over the years. It's one of the main reasons why I stopped following the myth arc back in 98'. Wasn't worth trying to keep up with it anymore XD.

 

I didn't find the Truth to be that confusing. They had a lot to put into one whole episode to be honest. 9 seasons of stuff. I didn't envy them then and I still don't now.

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Jac

Jac

I've been stuck on s9 since last April. I want to finish the show but I also don't want to watch this show. I like Annabeth Gish and Robert Patrick as actors but I feel no attachment to their characters and pod!Scully crying all over the place is not interesting to me at all.

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AllyinthekeyofX

AllyinthekeyofX

I had previously never watched 'William' - there was stuff going on in my life at the time that just made it emotionally impossible. I read spoilers so I knew the broader details but on the whole I shut myself off from it. After the finale I put XF to bed and filed it away. I didn't re-watch any of it. My life moved on, my priorities changed. I stopped writing fic and basically, for me it was like the show never happened. Of course I was kidding myself at the time. Like I say, I had some serious health issues at the time. When I heard it was coming back again I was shocked and a little afraid that painful memories would resurface. But I felt compelled to revisit the series right from Pilot. Maybe I wasn't paying attention by the time season 9 originally rolled around but now I've watched it in detail, I have to say that I think some of the finest character moments came from that last season. OMG the heartbreak. It was like all the feelings I'd had for the show had merely been sleeping. And now I feel like I never stepped away for a second. Sorry for the ramblings lol

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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I've been stuck on s9 since last April. I want to finish the show but I also don't want to watch this show. I like Annabeth Gish and Robert Patrick as actors but I feel no attachment to their characters and pod!Scully crying all over the place is not interesting to me at all.

 

Yea crying Scully wasn't one of my favorite parts of that season. As for Doggett and Reyes, I didn't mind them. 

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baileythedog

baileythedog

I am home on FMLA and I I have watched seasons 1-10 and both movies since February 1. Nothing I would ever recommend a sane person doing. However the myth arc now makes sense. I get it. I can't explaine it, but I get it.

 

It actually does hang together pretty well.  Never understood people who thought it spiraled out of control and became a mess.  It isn't perfect but it does pretty much make sense.  Having said that, I'm one of those fans that are also okay with the change in the direction in took in S10 as well--I don't think it contradicts near as much as others insist. 

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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It actually does hang together pretty well.  Never understood people who thought it spiraled out of control and became a mess.  It isn't perfect but it does pretty much make sense.  Having said that, I'm one of those fans that are also okay with the change in the direction in took in S10 as well--I don't think it contradicts near as much as others insist. 

 

There are bits that make some sense in s10, but some of it just seems scattered. Just too many ideas coming at me at once. O_O

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festivus

festivus

Season 9. I'm here. Against my better judgement. 

 

NIHT 1 & 2: OMG these credits are freaking me out. This is a bad idea. Okay maybe not. Hello Doggett. Poor "John" as he's now being called by "Dana". I also shall now call him John. Everyone's against him. Liked Monica standing on the desk to get a ceiling pencil. Did John just die? Again?/ So is every episode gonna start with John half naked in the bed? I approve. Whoa, there is some heat between LL and RP. Off to find some fanfic. Like I said, I ship everybody. Sk & Sc. Damn, these people still can't have a coherent conversation. Just tell him what the baby did! I have a bad feeling that Scully is going to be ruined for me this season.

 

I have no idea what's going on in these episodes! And why is Langly's face blue?

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Taryn74

Taryn74

And why is Langly's face blue?

 

Ha! I had forgotten about that.  As I recall, it had something to do with something that had happened on the LGM spinoff show.  I never watched it so I don't know what exactly.

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GreenScreenFX

GreenScreenFX

(edited)

I didn't watch it, but during an XF rewatch a few months ago, I was so confused about Langly's blue face, that I looked it up on an episode guide and then promptly forgot about it, until you mentioned it here.

There is an upcoming episode 9. 15 called "Jump the Shark" which assumes the viewer is also watching the other series at the same time. It is SO confusing, but not to be missed. Just try to fill in the blanks.

Edited by GreenScreenFX
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festivus

festivus

(edited)

I'm probably going to have to get hold of TLG show and watch it. It bothers me that I can't remember if I ever watched it or not.

 

Daemonicus: Well now that was interesting. It amuses me that John is giving Monica those same "Oh shit, what is coming out of her mouth" looks that Scully used to give Mulder.

 

4-D: Damn, John dies again? I'm sad. Monica was actually pretty good in this one. Yep, Hell is freezing over.

 

Lord of the Flies: Okay, that scene of J & M falling in beside Scully was the best. Like I said, planets to the sun. This Rocky guy is awful. But he's fallen into orbit just as he should. Is it wrong that I feel really bad for poor bug boy Dylan?

 

These last few episodes have let Doggett have more of a sense of humor. I already thought he was kinda funny before even when he wasn't trying to be. Just the way he says stuff.

 

Trust No 1: What the hell did I just watch? We must still be back in that alternate dimension from 4-D. Or an A-ha video. Whatever, this episode is stupid and pointless and the only person left with any sense is John.

 

John Doe: RP is the best. So I don't do the gushy fangirly thing, I think I'll just stop there. 

 

Hellbound: Not bad.

 

Provenance/Providence: Well of course Alan Dale was in the X-Files. That man has been in everything. I thought Doggett was too harsh with Scully after that dude had just thrown her around and tried to kill her baby. First time I've been mad at him. Then of course the stubborn fool wouldn't give up his stand in the road and got hit. I forgive him./ So now he's in a coma. At least he didn't die this time. After watching this season so far, I can see why Scully decides to give up William. I'll probably have more to say on that subject when I get to that episode. 

 

Since seeing this stuff for the first time I have some new thoughts and I'm also having more thoughts connected to season 10 and what might happen in 11. 

 

So Scully's immortal, she has a chip in her, and she was probably healed and made fertile by the ship. Mulder had the black oil in him, got abducted and kinda came back from the dead. Of course they created alien Jesus. Do they ever figure this out? Does the show? It's what I think, anyway. In these episodes I see that she loves her baby and she's scared for him, but also of him. Can't say I blame her there and I disagree with the people that think GA is phoning it in this season. I think she's playing it to perfection. 

Edited by festivus
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Taryn74

Taryn74

"Or an A-Ha video" has me laughing way more than it probably should.  We're talking snorting here.

 

So Scully's immortal, she has a chip in her, and she was probably healed and made fertile by the ship. Mulder had the black oil in him, got abducted and kinda came back from the dead. Of course they created alien Jesus. Do they ever figure this out? Does the show? It's what I think, anyway. In these episodes I see that she loves her baby and she's scared for him, but also of him. Can't say I blame her there and I disagree with the people that think GA is phoning it in this season. I think she's playing it to perfection.

 

I was trying to pick out one thing here to say "ITA" but ITA with it all, so... yeah.  William was just kind of like the perfect storm, the unstoppable culmination of everything Mulder and Scully had been put through.  I can even see how it perfectly ties in with the starlight thing from S7 that everyone hates so much (but I never have).  For all the posturing and the planning and the tinkering around, there were forces at work which, at the end of the day, CSM and the Consortium were simply powerless against.  We saw it in S7 when Samantha was literally snatched away from them by starlight, and we saw it in S9 with William.

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festivus

festivus

You know I don't really hate the starlight thing now. At the time I just wanted the whole Samantha thing to be over. I was just so sick of seven years of still not knowing that the starlight thing just felt kind of lame. I still wonder if that truly was the end of the Samantha story. 

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baileythedog

baileythedog

I'm probably going to have to get hold of TLG show and watch it. It bothers me that I can't remember if I ever watched it or not.

 

Trust No 1: What the hell did I just watch? We must still be back in that alternate dimension from 4-D. Or an A-ha video. Whatever, this episode is stupid and pointless and the only person left with any sense is John.

 

Provenance/Providence: Well of course Alan Dale was in the X-Files. That man has been in everything. I thought Doggett was too harsh with Scully after that dude had just thrown her around and tried to kill her baby. First time I've been mad at him. Then of course the stubborn fool wouldn't give up his stand in the road and got hit. I forgive him./ So now he's in a coma. At least he didn't die this time. After watching this season so far, I can see why Scully decides to give up William. I'll probably have more to say on that subject when I get to that episode. 

 

Since seeing this stuff for the first time I have some new thoughts and I'm also having more thoughts connected to season 10 and what might happen in 11. 

 

So Scully's immortal, she has a chip in her, and she was probably healed and made fertile by the ship. Mulder had the black oil in him, got abducted and kinda came back from the dead. Of course they created alien Jesus. Do they ever figure this out? Does the show? It's what I think, anyway. In these episodes I see that she loves her baby and she's scared for him, but also of him. Can't say I blame her there and I disagree with the people that think GA is phoning it in this season. I think she's playing it to perfection. 

A few things:

 

1.) Someone has helpfully uploaded all of the The Lone Gunmen episodes to youtube, so you don't have to search to hard to get your hands on them.

 

2.)  TrustNo1 was creepy for a number of reasons: 1. That Mulder and Scully send terribly sappy emails to each other.  2. That head supersoldier guy has been eavesdropping on all aspect of Scully's life for years. Ew. 

3.) Prov / Prov were easily the worst mythology episodes of the entire series.  And I'll even include My Struggle I/II in that calculation.  One of those eps literally included the line: "Bring me the head of Fox Mulder."  Ugh.  But more importantly, even if Scully is both afraid for and of her son, giving him up for adoption was truly a terrible character moment for her.  Clearly whoever is after her son can find him by other, non-earthly, means. So she's stuck her son with people who would have no idea what kind of antagonists are after William and would have zero idea how to protect him. And being afraid OF her son just means she's pawned the burden on to someone else. 

 

4.) As much as I completely loathed S9---Mulder pointlessly on the run, Scully giving up William for adoption, at least both IWTB and S10 squarely addressed the issue to give it some resonance. It still seems like character assassination to me but they've layered it into middle-aged Mulder and Scully nicely. 

 

5.)  I don't think the chip in Scully's neck would have restored her fertility. If it did, the IVF probably would have worked. Must be something else at play. 

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festivus

festivus

5.)  I don't think the chip in Scully's neck would have restored her fertility. If it did, the IVF probably would have worked. Must be something else at play.

 

I don't either. I do think it was the ship. But as far as I can tell the show has never said that.

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festivus

festivus

Audrey Pauley: Oh No! Doggett & Moronica. I, I, think I don't mind it. They are different personalities but they are both direct people. One day there will be an awkward conversation when they both have to admit to being in love with Scully. And you know Monica's coming date with CSM's burned out skull.

 

Underneath: Oh John. You can't accept this? You almost died in a dream. You got the memories sucked out of your head by a memory sucking vampire. You actually did die and got puked back up alive. Get with the program son!

 

I still love you. <3

 

So I'm looking around the internet and I read that this episode was supposed to air before 4-D but there were problems with it. It explains some things like why Scully isn't freaking out about people taking her BABY. Also the lack of Doggett's puppy dog eyes for Moronica and Scully is still gazing at his lips.

 

Improbable: Well that was something.

 

Scary Monsters: This episode is cracking me up. Scully and Leyla's boyfriend with the dead cat. Doggett shooting those bugs like he shot Slurms MacKenzie (yeah I gave the jesus slug a name). Cranky Doggett. Yeah I blew him a few kisses. I do that sometimes. 

 

Jump the Shark: It's like a two year old throwing a tantrum. And just like I would do in that situation, I choose to ignore it.

 

William: I Hate this episode. F- 

I still give it the same side eye I gave it 15 years ago.

 

William: Now this episode which begins with Scully singing Joy to the World and ends with John "I'm so hot I can make fire with my fingers" Doggett doing pushups, this episode gets an A+

 

Release: That was heartbreaking.

 

Sunshine Days: I love this episode SO MUCH. A monster who's not really a monster. Doggett just accepting and believing the things that are happening. Ben Linus and Bud Bundy. The ending was so sweet and I cried a little. And yes, I grew up watching The Brady Bunch so I'd love it just for that alone.

 

The Truth: I gotta be honest, I zoned out some. The mythology just does that to me. I woke up again when they got to the desert and and CSM's shriveled old carcass. And then Noel Roar turned into the T-1000. Okay that's not exactly what happened but wouldn't it have been cool? We're at the motel room now and I've paused. There are only 6 minutes and 16 seconds left. I'm not ready.

 

Well it's over. I'll probably have more to say about season 9 later. For now I have one last confession. I always hated Scully's shoes! For nine seasons! They were all absolutely terrible.

 

 

 

 

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Taryn74

Taryn74

I'm enjoying your mini recaps way too much.

 

One day there will be an awkward conversation when they both have to admit to being in love with Scully.

 

 

Ha!

 

Improbable: Well that was something.

 

 

I want to love Improbable, really I do.  After watching it with CC's commentary I was intrigued by the message he was trying to get across, so I went and read the transcript thru and thought hey, this is great!  So I watched it again and was like hey, WTF?  Sigh.

 

Release: That was heartbreaking.

 

 

I agree.  I think it gets overlooked because it's Doggett and not Mulder and people were just pretty much done by this point, but I thought it was a great episode with a creepy guy who ends up not being a bad guy at all (the new FBI dude), an old friend who ended up being involved with all the wrong people (Dread Pirate Brad) and at the end of the day Poor Dead Luke was just the son of a good, upstanding, straight laced NY cop who ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  :(

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festivus

festivus

I'm enjoying your mini recaps way too much.

 

Thanks for always laughing at my stuff. That made me feel good.

 

 

I agree.  I think it gets overlooked because it's Doggett and not Mulder and people were just pretty much done by this point, but I thought it was a great episode with a creepy guy who ends up not being a bad guy at all (the new FBI dude), an old friend who ended up being involved with all the wrong people (Dread Pirate Brad) and at the end of the day Poor Dead Luke was just the son of a good, upstanding, straight laced NY cop who ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  :(

 

When I was watching it I thought it was kinda weird that Dread Pirate Brad was involved, I wonder if that was always the plan, or it just became the plan after they found out they were cancelled.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

When I was watching it I thought it was kinda weird that Dread Pirate Brad was involved, I wonder if that was always the plan, or it just became the plan after they found out they were cancelled.

 

I don't know.  His entire story was just always....strange.  I'll have to get to S9 again to remember how I feel about him.  I do know that when I watched Release the first time, I assumed DPB was the "businessman" who walked in on Bob Harvey and Doggett's son, and Regali was commissioned to "take care of the problem".  But everyone else assumed Regali was the "businessman" and it reads either way so who knows.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

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I'm enjoying your mini recaps way too much.

 

 

Ha!

 

 

I want to love Improbable, really I do.  After watching it with CC's commentary I was intrigued by the message he was trying to get across, so I went and read the transcript thru and thought hey, this is great!  So I watched it again and was like hey, WTF?  Sigh.

 

 

I agree.  I think it gets overlooked because it's Doggett and not Mulder and people were just pretty much done by this point, but I thought it was a great episode with a creepy guy who ends up not being a bad guy at all (the new FBI dude), an old friend who ended up being involved with all the wrong people (Dread Pirate Brad) and at the end of the day Poor Dead Luke was just the son of a good, upstanding, straight laced NY cop who ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  :(

 

Yea, Improbable is a bit wtf, but at least it's easier to follow than Babylon.

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festivus

festivus

I should probably watch Improbable again, I was a bit like WTF the first time. I wish I could hear the commentary but I can only stream X-Files, I don't own any dvd's. I do love numbers though, I always have, I guess because numbers are the only thing that stick in my swiss cheese memory. I've always had this thing about having to know people's birthdays. I did like the scenes at the end in the parking garage. Burt Reynolds was good and we had cranky Scully. That's my favorite Scully.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

I should probably watch Improbable again, I was a bit like WTF the first time. I wish I could hear the commentary but I can only stream X-Files, I don't own any dvd's. 

 

The commentary was actually pretty insightful.  Basically CC's premise was that God (played by Burt Reynolds) created everything to work together in sync, and everything that happens, happens because there's a pattern to it, like notes flowing together to make music.  But we usually cannot see the patterns because they're on such a grand scale.  People like Monica into numerology can get a glimpse of the patterns but there is still a lot they just can't grasp because it's too large, too "out there".  It all fits into God's plan though, his pattern.

 

Even though God didn't want Wayne to be a murderer, because of Wayne's free will he was free to choose to murder, but even then was compelled to commit the murders within a pattern that Monica and Scully eventually figured out.

 

Like I said, I love the idea of this episode and I wanted to love it, but something about it when you're actually watching it just does not quite come together.  

 

I do find this a pretty powerful exchange though -

 

MR. BURT: You know, there's a secret to this game, Wayne-O. And I'm gonna tell you what the secret is. Choose better. (MR. BURT smiles at WAYNE.)

(WAYNE moves closer.)

WAYNE: You got somethin' to say to me, you say it.

MR. BURT: Son, I just did.

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eleanorofaquitaine

eleanorofaquitaine

(edited)

So, Season 9 - it's been a struggle to get through, I am not going to lie.  I mean, it isn't as if the episodes are that bad, exactly (though I disliked the "Doggett-is-in-love-with-Scully" turn in Daemonicus because I think it demeans both characters - I hate it when female characters are just turned into "it" girls, where everyone is in love with them just because they feel as if they can't connect to the character in any other way), just that without Mulder and Scully, it is difficult to be that engaged.

On the subject of Reyes, I don't know why so many people hated her.  I feel like there is definitely more that they could have done with the character, but on the whole, I like her.  I actually do prefer the episodes that focus more on Doggett and Reyes, like 4D, Hellbound, and John Doe in this season because, if you can't have actual Mulder and Scully, I at least like having a sense of who Doggett and Reyes are.

On the subject of the more controversial episodes - I didn't hate TrustNo1.  I get that people hated the emails, they feel it was fanfic blah blah blah.  But I thought that the actual plot was pretty suspense-filled, and certainly prescient.  I don't even hate the emails - I do wish that they had at least one line from Mulder in there that was sarcastic, because it would have sounded more like him, but at the end of the day, I can believe that Mulder and Scully have an easier time writing to each other than in talking to each other.

Finally, I watched Improbable last night, and I liked it.  It's an interesting conception of God, as someone who wants humanity to make the right choices but also has imbued humanity with free will.  Burt Reynolds was actually good in it, conveying both resignation and the arrogance that you might expect from God.  The only thing that I didn't love were the musical sequences.

All in all, though, I am looking forward to finishing season 9 - of course, I still have to get through Jump the Shark and William, and I am not relishing that, either. I Want to Believe was not a great movie, by any stretch of the imagination, but at least M&S are in it.

Edited by eleanorofaquitaine
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Taryn74

Taryn74

15 minutes ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

On the subject of the more controversial episodes - I didn't hate TrustNo1.  I get that people hated the emails, they feel it was fanfic blah blah blah.  But I thought that the actual plot was pretty suspense-filled, and certainly prescient.  I don't even hate the emails - I do wish that they had at least one line from Mulder in there that was sarcastic, because it would have sounded more like him, but at the end of the day, I can believe that Mulder and Scully have an easier time writing to each other than in talking to each other.

 

Huh.  That's a really brilliant way of looking at it.  I "write" differently than I "speak" for sure.  Don't know why I never made a connection like that before.

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eleanorofaquitaine

eleanorofaquitaine

Finally made it through Season 9. First, let me say, I really loved Sunshine Days. What a sweet and beautiful story to end the show's monsters of the week episodes (though, of course, it now is not). I imagine it wasn't popular at the time, but I liked it.

With both Jump The Shark and William, my feeling is this - I think that both episodes feel emotionally correct, even if the stories are both pretty weak. I do believe that Scully would give William up for adoption, sacrificing a chance to raise him if she felt it was for his own good. But I actually would have believed it more if she had done so after Provenance/Providence, when William really was in danger, than after this episode. Similarly, I also believe that the Lone Gunmen would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but this just didn't seem to be it.

Now, as for The Truth - I watched the finale in real time, so I was already aware it was a fairly mediocre episode. But you know, after a whole season of no Mulder, I was happy to see him back. Plus, as I said previously, I am going to CC a pass on this one because he had already written two quite good episodes that could be series finales, and I really think you can only do that so many times.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

I need to go back and rewatch Sunshine Days.  I have a feeling I would like it a lot more now.  (At the time, it was just mind-boggling that they would have such a "mediocre" episode be the next-to-last episode of the show.  Like, ever.  Or so we thought, of course.)

Agree with you on William for sure.  It's kind of interesting, to me, that Mulder was the one saying he couldn't "do this anymore" without Scully (in FtF) but at the end of the day it was Scully that felt she just couldn't raise William in safety without Mulder.  They may be a beautiful tragedy but they really are each incomplete without the other.

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M.F. Luder

M.F. Luder

5 hours ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

Similarly, I also believe that the Lone Gunmen would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but this just didn't seem to be it.

What I never understood is WHY they had to sacrifice themselves in that situation. As I remember it, they pulled the fire alarm to trap the virus-holding guy in between the lowering fire doors, but the doors were closing so slowly that they definitely had time to run under them before getting trapped. The bad guy even tried to do that, but stopped for some incomprehensible reason. At the very least, they could have had 2 of them get to safety while one of them held the bad guy down. I could be remembering the scene slightly incorrectly, or maybe I missed some key plot point as to why they all needed to die, but I really never got why they all just sat there solemnly looking at Yves and Jimmy while the doors lowered.

As for season 9 as a whole (and season 8 too), I think it would have been much more tolerable if they had just increased the role of existing secondary characters rather than introduce new characters that no one cared about as the leads. Season 8 could have focused on Scully and Skinner leading the efforts to find Mulder, and Scully having to solve some cases with a new (but secondary character level) partner. Sort of like the episode Tithonus. They could increase the role of The Lone Gunmen, Maggie, Krycek, and CSM to build out a lot of episodes without needing Mulder. Reyes and Doggett were just not enough of a draw to keep long-term fans around or to attract new fans.

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eleanorofaquitaine

eleanorofaquitaine

(edited)
1 hour ago, M.F. Luder said:

What I never understood is WHY they had to sacrifice themselves in that situation. As I remember it, they pulled the fire alarm to trap the virus-holding guy in between the lowering fire doors, but the doors were closing so slowly that they definitely had time to run under them before getting trapped. The bad guy even tried to do that, but stopped for some incomprehensible reason. At the very least, they could have had 2 of them get to safety while one of them held the bad guy down. I could be remembering the scene slightly incorrectly, or maybe I missed some key plot point as to why they all needed to die, but I really never got why they all just sat there solemnly looking at Yves and Jimmy while the doors lowered.

As for season 9 as a whole (and season 8 too), I think it would have been much more tolerable if they had just increased the role of existing secondary characters rather than introduce new characters that no one cared about as the leads. Season 8 could have focused on Scully and Skinner leading the efforts to find Mulder, and Scully having to solve some cases with a new (but secondary character level) partner. Sort of like the episode Tithonus. They could increase the role of The Lone Gunmen, Maggie, Krycek, and CSM to build out a lot of episodes without needing Mulder. Reyes and Doggett were just not enough of a draw to keep long-term fans around or to attract new fans.

You basically remember Jump The Shark correctly.  I mean, the doors weren't closely super slowly, but certainly slowly enough that they could have made a run for it.  I can buy the fact that none of them wanted to leave the other in that situation but still, it didn't quite work as a dramatic death, even though I can buy the reasoning behind it.

With regard to your thoughts about seasons 8 and 9 - I think that the problem in doing that is that the only other person (besides Mulder and Scully) they set up as unambiguously a good guy* was Skinner, and I am not sure I would have liked Skinner in Mulder's role.  Partly because you need someone higher along in the food chain protecting Scully, etc.  That being said, I think that Doggett worked as a character from the beginning because they had a full sense of who he was - an incredibly decent and ethical cop, which was different Mulder's background as a profiler and Scully's as a doctor.  The truth is that I am not sure much could have saved season 9, mostly because the show was ultimately always about Mulder and Scully.  Once it became clear that Anderson was on her way out, I am just not sure how you could make it work.  Honestly, though, the show had been on for nine years at that point - I think it was okay to let it go.

* I do sometimes wish that they had created some colleagues for Mulder and Scully earlier in the series, like in seasons 3 or 4. Even in Season 6, when they were out of the basement and in that bullpen room, it would have been nice to expand the cast a bit to include people who didn't immediately reject and mock M&S. But that would have also fundamentally altered what the show is about. Still, had they done so, then the scenario you posit could have worked.

Edited by eleanorofaquitaine
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