S11.E01: My Struggle III

[AimingforYoko]

Quote

Mulder and Scully learn that they aren't the only ones desperately searching for their long-lost son, William. The very fate of the world may depend on it.

Chris Carter has lost his damn mind.

[festivus]

OMG I'm sick. I'm literally sick to my stomach. I KNEW the whole episode that it was leading up to that. 

[mtlchick]

So this is the alien version of who's the baby daddy?  Yeah....no.  I can see why Gillian may want out. 

[callie lee 29]

I swear Chris Carter, if CSM is really the father I will find you.  I will find you and we will have words!

[cambridgeguy]

Maybe they should stick to standalone episodes?  The mythology was already getting tiresome back when Bill Clinton's picture was hanging in the FBI offices. 

[WritinMan]

As a long time X-Files fan...I can honestly say that was terrible. I can see why Anderson doesn't want to do this anymore.

And if I see another commercial for 911, I'm gonna go insane.

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I predict lots of people hating this episode.  I don't love it but I do like that they brought the En Ami history into it. 

[Morrigan2575]

I'm confused.

Is this an alternate reality? Did time get reversed or something?

I figured people would freak out over that William reveal. Since I never shipped Milder/Scilly I don't care about who's the daddy...especially since I never knew when Milder/Scilly supposedly conceived the kid.

However, I'm absolutely disgusted by the Smoking Man "impregnation" Reveal

[SparklesBitch]

2 minutes ago, festivus said:

OMG I'm sick. I'm literally sick to my stomach. I KNEW the whole episode that it was leading up to that. 

Same. My dad and I have watched this show together from the beginning and now we live in different cities and text our reactions to each other. 

We both texted the exact same thing at the end of this episode: “I feel sick”

No wonder GA is out after this season. Ugh. 

Also, I’m SO TIRED of all the flowery narration/dialogue. 

[insomniadreams88]

That episode was just completely disappointing. I had a feeling when last season's finale ended that it would end up being a vision of Scully's and I'm annoyed I was right. But it was the only way they could do it and go back to stand-alone episodes the next week. 

Don't even get me started on the William reveal. WTF.

[ParadoxLost]

What show are they reviving here?  Red Shoe Diaries?

Have I blocked out Mulder having poetic inner monologues when Scully is unconscious, when Mulder is in a car, when Mulder is still in a car.  Mulder, get out of the car and stop it.   Dear God, this dialogue is dreadful.

Let’s make a bargain, I know the truth of what happened in Roswell, New Mexico.  I’ll tell you if for F@$&s sake you will never be in a scene by yourself again.  I need you to verbalize, outwardly.  Get the Red Shoes Diary dog if you have to. 

At this point I hate your inner monologue as much as I hate Neegan’s outer monologue and it took under thirty minutes for you to accomplish it.

Seriously, was this an X Files thing? If it was they must have done it much better because it was annoying as hell and I didn’t quit the X Files the first go around.

And no more talking in cars to yourself or anyone else either because your phone call to Scully was way over the top melodramatic.

Other things I didn’t get while ranting at Mulder talking in the car while driving.

• I thought Mulder and Scully were abducted at the end of the last season.  What happened with that?
• Scully’s head transmits morse code?  Did I get that right?  That is idiotic.  Let’s not dumb things down just to move plot again, please.  Next time you can cut an inner monologue and get some science dude to decipher some more complex clue that serves no purpose when Scully wakes up in five minutes.
• CSM kept saying sons.  Does Fox have a brother?  That guy who visited Scully in the hospital is Fox’s brother?  Did I know this?  Nope, worse than that.
• Mulder has high speed chases at very low rates of speed

Ominous reveal of guy that tries to kill Scully.  Do I know who that is?  I probably should have rewatched.

The inner monologuing makes me want to punch you in the face, Fox Mulder. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

I don't even want t o talk about the ending.

Edited January 4, 2018 by ParadoxLost

[AimingforYoko]

2 minutes ago, SparklesBitch said:

Also, I’m SO TIRED of all the flowery narration/dialogue. 

After I heard, "I was running on adrenaline and Scully's premonitions." I said, "The Emmy race for writing is over."

[Starchild]

Who wrote that crap?

[AmeliaBedelia]

Why God why? I knew going in that this one was supposedly rough, but my lowered expectations weren't even met. I had vomit in my mouth at the beginning (flashes of 45) and at the end of the episode. Does Chris Carter not want people to watch? This used to be a show my whole family would enjoy. I asked my dad what he thought of this one and he said he shut it off halfway through. Blech. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by AmeliaBedelia

[shrewd.buddha]

Ugh. What a bunch of nothing.

Chris Carter has attempted to turn cryptic dialogue,  non answers and retcons into some type of art form. But it is the equivalent of Dogs Playing Cards or Elvis on velvet : tacky. 

So now Scully and Mulder chase monsters for eight episodes, say "William" occasionally and then end the season with another myth arc episode?  Count me out.

[wanderingstar]

I was finding this episode middling but not offensively bad. Until that ending. Are we supposed to think "ooh, cool shocking reveal?" The notion that CSM drugged and impregnated Scully is vile and extremely disrespectful to the character. This just reinforces my belief that CC shouldn't be writing for this show. The dialogue in this ep just made him seem like an out of touch hack.  

Finally, this is a small thing, but I found it odd that Mulder had Jeffrey Spender's number in his phone.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Gillian Rosh

[Peanut]

Okay so the plague has not yet been unleashed on the world, Scully just foresaw it.  All righty.  That's like lame writing 101, and I don't let my students get away with that shit.  

 

(side note: if the Walking Dead would like to make everything dealing with Negan a hallucination/dream/flash forward and go back to before he arrived to pollute my teevee, that is acceptable)

 

I don't think the CSM is actually the dad; I'm gonna guess it was some alien and a turkey baster or something was used.  At least I hope so because otherwise?  Ew. 

[JackONeill]

This episode neatly (and I say that with tongue-in-cheek) illustrates the problem this show has with balancing the two very different X-Files that exist. In longer seasons, with more episodes, with people waiting anxiously, maybe throwing in an “aliens” episode is tolerable. The rest of us know we’ll get a decent stand-alone episode, in which Muldaur and Scully will act like themselves.

But now there’s just too much time between the seasons, and the seasons are ridiculously short. In fact, the seasons are so short, I resent when TPTB insist on giving us a piece of shit like this. I spent the first 20 minutes where Muldaur’s bruises went that he got in the last episode last season. 

And who were the “look-alike” people in the large house. And how many times has Muldaur driven back and forth to North (or South) Carolina? And why? But you know what—I don’t care. This isn’t what I signed on far. And from what I can tell, the actors don’t much care either. They seemed barely awake.

What in the world has happened?

[Tardislass]

17 minutes ago, Gillian Rosh said:

I was finding this episode middling but not offensively bad. Until that ending. Are we supposed to think "ooh, cool shocking reveal?" The notion that CSM drugged and impregnated Scilly is vile and extremely disrespectful to the character. This just reinforces my belief that CC shouldn't be writing for this show. The dialogue in this ep just made him seem like an out of touch hack.  

Finally, this is a small thing, but I found it odd that Mulder had Jeffrey Spender's number in his phone.

Seriously, for a character who’s gone through so much having CSM be Scullys baby Dady is vile. I get it CC - Mulder/Scully sex is icky...but you can’t write a show to save your life.

Thats it I’m done with the show. I have fond memories for 7years and DD\GA give it their best but everything must end sometime. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the episodes but I’ve had it.

[siangali]

58 minutes ago, festivus said:

OMG I'm sick. I'm literally sick to my stomach. I KNEW the whole episode that it was leading up to that. 

Same, so gross. I am out. I'll stick with my fond memories of this show. No wonder Gillian A wants out.

[supposebly]

Soo, I guess I'm skipping this one?

[Nanrad]

I haven’t even watched the ep and I’m sick. Chris hates his characters and resents that people want them together. There is no way he’s fond of the in any capacity and do stuff like this. There is no way. 

Some fans tried to criticize outspoken fans of are critical of Chris and I wonder how they feel after this episode.

[roamyn]

Where did I miss out that the CSM is Mulder’s father?  And why would either trust Spender to arrange the adoption/carry away, William?  And why was Anabeth Gish working on the CSMs side?  And you seriously want me to believe that Scully would go anywhere w/the CSM?  If CC writes that.Schwarzenalien has been raising William incognito, I’m gonna take a switchblade to the back of his neck.

For the record I do believe he’s lying to my honey Skinner.

But that was even more convoluted and disbelieving that Samantha’s “abduction”.  And that’s saying a lot.

Edited January 4, 2018 by roamyn

[Frost]

I was disappointed that I forgot this was on.  But from the above comments, the whole plague storyline and Mulder lying dying on CSM's floor didn't actually happen?  WTF?

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Peanut said:

I don't think the CSM is actually the dad; I'm gonna guess it was some alien and a turkey baster or something was used.  At least I hope so because otherwise?  Ew. 

EW has a Q&A up with Chris Carter where he has this to say about it:

Quote

Likewise, back in season 7, did you know at the time what was really going on when CSM drugged Scully?
Yes.

So William’s parentage reveal has been part of your plan for the show since 1999?
Yes. But, of course, if The X-Files never came back, we would have never gotten to explore it.

When CSM says he’s William’s father, is he literally his father, to some biological extent? Along with alien DNA?

No. He’s the figurative father if he’s not the actual father. He didn’t rape Scully. He impregnated her with science.

I haven't seen the episode yet but am certainly not looking forward to watching it now. 

[Bastet]

10 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

[Chris Carter said]:  He didn’t rape Scully. He impregnated her with science.

Well, that makes it okay.  I mean, sure, it was completely against her will, but, hey, there was no penis involved, so it's not that bad.

Please, tell me some more how I'm too hard on CC.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Bastet

[eleanorofaquitaine]

11 minutes ago, roamyn said:

Where did I miss out that the CSM is Mulder’s father?  And why would either trust Spender to arrange the adoption/carry away, William?  And why was Anabeth Gish working on the CSMs side?  And you seriously want me to believe that Scully would go anywhere w/the CSM?  If CC writes that.Schwarzenalien has been raising William incognito, I’m gonna take a switchblade to the back of his neck.

For the record I do believe he’s lying to my honey Skinner.

But that was even more convoluted and disbelieving that Samantha’s “abduction”.  And that’s saying a lot.

Mulder suspects that his mother had an affair with CSM going back to Demons, and it's all confirmed with the Two Fathers/One Son arc, I think. 

10 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

EW has a Q&A up with Chris Carter where he has this to say about it:

I haven't seen the episode yet but am certainly not looking forward to watching it now. 

Personally, I think CSM is lying, because that's what he does - he lies.  I also think that Carter is not a shipper and he likes doing this kind of thing to rile people up. 

[ganesh]

11 minutes ago, roamyn said:

Where did I miss out that the CSM is Mulder’s father?

Back during the show proper, when Mulder got the super-DNA or whatever, CSM telepathically told him he was the father. We (mbtv) thought it was CSM just being delusional. 

11 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

Likewise, back in season 7, did you know at the time what was really going on when CSM drugged Scully?
Yes.

So William’s parentage reveal has been part of your plan for the show since 1999?
Yes. But, of course, if The X-Files never came back, we would have never gotten to explore it.

When CSM says he’s William’s father, is he literally his father, to some biological extent? Along with alien DNA?

No. He’s the figurative father if he’s not the actual father. He didn’t rape Scully. He impregnated her with science.

He is completely full of it. He didn't plan jack. 

1 minute ago, eleanorofaquitaine said:

Personally, I think CSM is lying, because that's what he does - he lies.  I also think that Carter is not a shipper and he likes doing this kind of thing to rile people up. 

The title card even said I Want To Lie. The whole Musings of a CSM was just delusional rantings that no one believed. 

I said last season that Carter was still producing for a 90s audience. That may have worked back then; cryptic dialogue, CSM just popping up and saying things. It doesn't work now. There's been a long time to reflect on the show. This just doesn't work anymore.

They really should have let DD and GA produce the show and just everyone get out of the way. 

[Sandman]

This episode was full of Chris Carter's worst tics and habits as a writer: voice-overs galore, floridly pretentious writing, horrifically stilted dialogue, and yet ANOTHER layer of paranoid conspiracy theory (which, quite frankly, is beginning to seem like wish-fulfillment for the alt-right conspiracy types). Agent Moronica only speaks in aphorisms, CSM entirely in riddles -- what possible reason do these two characters have to discuss their present situation so cryptically? Worst of all, he's creating narrative tension by having Mulder and Scully and Skinner (and probably Miller and Einstein, but who cares?) act completely out of character.

2 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

The notion that CSM drugged and impregnated Scully is vile and extremely disrespectful to the character. This just reinforces my belief that CC shouldn't be writing for this show. The dialogue in this ep just made him seem like an out of touch hack.  

"Seem"? No. Chris Carter IS a hack. I think he has been all along.

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

He didn’t rape Scully. He impregnated her with science.

CC is making a creepy distinction without a difference. Go fuck yourself, Chris Carter.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sandman

[eleanorofaquitaine]

4 minutes ago, ganesh said:

 

The title card even said I Want To Lie. The whole Musings of a CSM was just delusional rantings that no one believed. 

I said last season that Carter was still producing for a 90s audience. That may have worked back then; cryptic dialogue, CSM just popping up and saying things. It doesn't work now. There's been a long time to reflect on the show. This just doesn't work anymore.

They really should have let DD and GA produce the show and just everyone get out of the way. 

I actually think some of CSM's dialogue did work - as the kind of old white man who plays with people's lives, and doesn't seem to care who gets hurt as long as he gets his way, CSM is a great metaphor for our current political climate.  And as an old white man who cannot accept that his time has come and gone, who continues to have this reverse-Oedipal struggle with his sons - Mulder and Jeffrey Spender - CSM absolutely works for me.   But the fact that he (CSM and CC, I suppose) can't just let the reality of Mulder and Scully's romantic relationship be doesn't work for me. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by eleanorofaquitaine

[Guest]

Just now, Sandman said:

20 minutes ago, Giant Misfit said:

He didn’t rape Scully. He impregnated her with science.

A distinction without a difference. Go fuck yourself, Chris Carter.

I know you were quoting me quoting Chris Carter, but just so I'm 100% clear -- I didn't say that. Because UGH. 

[Toomuchsoap]

The CSM absolutely DID have a relationship with Mulder's mothter. I saw that episode on a Chiller ep two years ago; but I thought Samantha was the the offspring. 

Whatever.  I loved this. What is everyone so fucked up about here?

[ganesh]

I feel terrible for DD and GA. Neither need the work. If this is what it's like then they shouldn't do the show anymore. Unless they put the myth to bed once and for all. 

Just now, eleanorofaquitaine said:

I actually think some of CSM's dialogue did work - as the kind of old white man who plays with people's lives, and doesn't seem to care who gets hurt as long as he gets his way, CSM is a great metaphor for our current political climate. 

He works as a Cold War relic. If they portrayed him as someone trying to get that back I could buy it. Just - I'm going to release an alien plague. It's dumb.

Just now, Toomuchsoap said:

The CSM absolutely DID have a relationship with Mulder's mothter. I saw that episode on a Chiller ep two years ago; but I thought Samantha was the the offspring. 

That is open to interpretation. He certainly was fixated on her. 

[Sandman]

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

I know you were quoting me quoting Chris Carter, but just so I'm 100% clear -- I didn't say that. Because UGH. 

Oh, absolutely! I did go back and put in a more detailed attribution to make it clear that I was really quoting (and blaming) CC, and not you -- definitely not aiming for the messenger, here.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sandman

[MissL]

I am SO angry. First it was a mess of an episode and I spent the first 10 minutes thinking no way in hell was that whole awful LAST episode just her damn vision.  But of course it was because CC has lost all his talent along with his mind.  What a lazy way to get out of the mess he wrote himself into. And if that was the plan all along....still stupid! 

 

Then the Mulder dialogues which I remember from back in the day (Scully had them too but they were generally journal entries or field notes) but they didn't seem so jarring back then. Were they that bad and I didnt recognize it then? 

Then the William's father reveal. As I did last season finale  I spent the last five minutes of this episode yelling "F$ck you Chris Carter" at the TV.  Let's even ignore he shit on shippers right there and go for the fact that he took Scully's agency away from her,  and screw that impregnated her with science shit, he VIOLATED her and for a show that was trying to throw so much contemporary crap in that's pretty damn tone def for the national mood Christopher.

I wish they'd never brought it back and left me with my memories. Asshole had better be pulling a con on all of us. I met David Duchovney  last summer and if I'd known this I never would have been able to keep my mouth shut about my disappointment. Awful.

[ganesh]

I'm not a shipper and even I thought that was awful. Especially given our current climate. 

[Sandman]

So not only does this episode feature another stupid retcon to keep the conspiracy(ies) alive -- a Chris Carter bad habit I somehow failed to enumerate in my earlier post -- it allows Carter to indulge his even worse habit of denying the retcon even exists and pretending he planned it that way all along.

[SparklesBitch]

51 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Well, that makes it okay.  I mean, sure, it was completely against her will, but, hey, there was no penis involved, so it's not that bad.

Please, tell me some more how I'm too hard on CC.

Exactly. Exactly. I hate the whole thing. CC has no respect for his own characters. And making this choice for Scully, especially in the light of the current climate in the US right now surrounding sexual assault and consent and all that. He ripped her agency away from her and I’m not going to forgive him for that. I just....really, CC?

[ganesh]

8 minutes ago, Sandman said:

So not only does this episode feature another stupid retcon to keep the conspiracy(ies) alive -- a Chris Carter bad habit I somehow failed to enumerate in my earlier post -- it allows Carter to indulge his even worse habit of denying the retcon even exists and pretending he planned it that way all along.

I don't think anyone actually thought he planned anything out past S4, and he probably didn't plan anything at all when you back on it. 

What I find galling, is like I said before, DD and GA don't need the work. They didn't need to do a second movie really. They like working together and they like playing Mulder and Scully. Dude, they know the characters better than you now. You're disrespecting the actors as just people. Get out of the way and let them lead. 

[Sandman]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Dude, they know the characters better than you now. You're disrespecting the actors as just people. Get out of the way and let them lead. 

I don't think Carter could ever let this happen. He clearly loves messing with continuity -- and I think he likes messing with the fans as much as with the characters.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sandman

[ganesh]

There's no way he would. But now you have GA saying that she thinks she's done with the show, so where does that leave you, Carter? You're not getting anymore work. She'll go back to the UK and do a play or another miniseries and be totally fine. If the show ends here, I can't see it coming back. Unless the rest of the episodes are so stellar that people write this off. I hope behind the scenes the actors are voicing there opinions strongly. 

The second movie was actually fine. I don't know why they didn't draw from that success. 

I guess it's like Lucas who didn't have someone in their face telling them to dial it back. 

[Nanrad]

1 hour ago, Toomuchsoap said:

The CSM absolutely DID have a relationship with Mulder's mothter. I saw that episode on a Chiller ep two years ago; but I thought Samantha was the the offspring. 

Whatever.  I loved this. What is everyone so fucked up about here?

This is like the second/third time CC he had Scully medically raped. It’s gross. Not only as an overall narrative technique, but to his characters. Why? Because he’s never going to allow Scully to properly address this and the ramifications if it’s true. He keeps invading her body and messing with her fertility as plot devices. How often has he done that to Mulder? Not nearly as much.

also, the x files isn’t a happy go lucky show, but it is about hope. CC gave Scully a child, then killed; have her another one and gave that one up for adoption. And now that last child could’ve been conceived via medical rape with someone who has medically raped her before AND has done tons of messed up stuff to her, Mulder, and the world at large?

he wants his characters to be miserable because that’s the only outcome I can see IF this is true. All

he does is take. And if he gives something he takes that too, but ups the angst. Mulder and Scully are never allowed long term happiness or something good.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Nanrad

[mledawn]

1 hour ago, Giant Misfit said:

EW has a Q&A up with Chris Carter where he has this to say about it:

I haven't seen the episode yet but am certainly not looking forward to watching it now. 

From the above linked article, I found this particularly lovely:

Quote

I suspect fans are going to have some strong feelings about Mulder not being the father and Scully being impregnated by CSM while she was drugged. What led you to this move?
It adds to the characters in an interesting emotional way. And because the audience is now in on this truth, and Mulder and Scully are not, these revelations are huge for this show because they’re huge for the characters. Mulder and Scully’s life history, both professional and personal, are the heart of the show.

 

IT ADDS TO THE CHARACTERS IN AN INTERESTING EMOTIONAL WAY.

 

What an ass.

 

However, having said all that, I spent the episode feeling anxious, wondering what was going to happen. And while the ending made me want to vomit, I was able to just sit back and enjoy the show. I knew once I took the time to think about it, the plot/timelines would irritate the shit out of me, but I did enjoy watching the episode. With the exception of Mulder in the car: wtf was that? Horrible camera angles and stupid non-dialogue and he's wearing sunglasses so we can't read his expression half the time. I kept expecting a S4 Alias finale with a car t-boning him out of the blue - then it happened to Scully. Chris Carter absolutely does not deserve these characters, but he's all we have, so I'm watching. Like an idiot.

[Bastet]

Great Googly Moogly, I need to start drinking earlier in the evening if I’m going to watch shit like this.

Once I read the speculation that most of My Struggle II was a dream/vision/whatever, I re-watched it and felt that was going to wind up being true.  My big issue with MSII was that the public, global scale of the events was not at all in line with XF, which has always been about things cloaked in secrecy and easily whitewashed as something else.  So, having taken that as a given, I rolled with that aspect of this; the events of part two being real didn’t at all work for me, so I’ll just go with getting out of it, however it happens.

I saw Cancerman’s opening VO a week or so ago, and pronounced it even worse than Mulder’s and Scully’s in parts one and two, respectively.  (CC’s notorious VO/stock footage combo is always crap, but the My Struggle installations have been particularly bad!)  I read several of the many reviews saying that, as usual, CC’s mytharc is shit, but just get through it and then you can enjoy good MOTW episodes.

So that’s what I was going to do. 

But holy fuckballs.  Congratulations, Chris Carter; you just made my issues with James Duff (Major Crimes executive producer) seem miniscule in comparison, and I’ve been riddled with anxiety about those for weeks now.  Thanks for the relief, I guess.

“I Want to Believe” morphing into “I Want to Lie” suggests this is as Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man was – CSM’s delusions and fantasies, totally untrustworthy (and thus, as I ranted about that episode, uninteresting to me).  But the interview posted upthread suggests CC really is going with the “impregnated by science” bullshit (and claiming he planned that from the beginning; that’s a laugh, because motherfucker hasn’t planned shit for many, many years now).  En Ami was shit.  This is worse.

And, to say again, that whole “it wasn’t rape” attempt at softening the horror of this storyline is abominable. How many times is he going to do this to her?  Abduct her, experiment on her, harvest her ova, use them to create Emily just to make her die, etc.  This show is seriously fucked up in its love of medical rape.

Specific thoughts, jotted down during commercial breaks, because no way I’m going back and re-watching this:

- Scully’s brain is flashing Morse Code?  And Skinner is the one who leaps to “Find him” meaning William?  Come on now.

- Oh, Jesus, here we go with the VO.  And it turns out Mulder’s is even worse than CSM’s.

- Why are Scully’s eyebrows so dark?  Gillian is blonde, Scully is a redhead; these eyebrows seem darker than before?  At least they didn’t cover up her mole.  And it is so refreshing to see a forehead that actually wrinkles.

- I didn’t watch seasons 8 and 9, so was Spender really part of the adoption process, such that he’d know where William is? 

- Yes, by all means, let’s leave Scully in a hospital bed and send Mulder off on an adventure for the episode, before he can come save her.  How new and invigorating.

- I still can’t with CSM being alive; he was a flaming skeleton, for Pete’s sake!  You don’t just get some skin grafts and carry on.  Yep, sucks to have killed off your villain in the final episode, only to find out years later, oops, not the final episode, but he’s very dead, so move on.

- The attempts to backtrack on the nutjob nature of the conspiracy introduced in part one by acknowledging/mocking the nutjob nature of current reality do not work for me

- “I have to find our son; you need him, and I need you” is lovely, but not nearly enough to justify this William shit

- Skinner needs to shave

- Holy green screen, Batman; in 2017 we can’t make the background outside the cars look any better?

- The Syndicate, alien colonization, it’s not what you thought, we’re the good part of the project, and we’re so close, blah, blah, blah.  How many times has this been done?  How long ago did I lose interest in the “no, really, this is the truth” bullshit?

[baileythedog]

I didn't hate this episode at all.

As a rule, I don't love voice overs, but this episode had a lot of ground to cover and I thought, while often overwrought, it was an effective means of moving the action along. Compared to the clunkiness of My Struggle I/II, I think this was the way to go.

Did no one else laugh hysterically at CSM yelling "cut" after faking the moon landing?!? 

My take on the ending and CC's comments -- I don't think CSM is "literally" William's father. CC's comment that he impregnated her with science -- to me that could mean that CSM was the one who "healed" her such that she could get pregnant. Wasn't that kind of the premise of En Ami?  That CSM had some secret code that cured all illness? It is possible that that CSM "cured" Scully's infertility?  That was my take-away from that scene.   After all, if Scully were to actually become pregnant during the time frame of  En Ami we would have to assume that she is world's worst doctor that can't count since that came a couple months before Requiem.  (Presumably.)  If true, I'm not sure this can be classified as medical rape. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by baileythedog

[Sandman]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

And, to say again, that whole “it wasn’t rape” attempt at softening the horror of this storyline is abominable. How many times is he going to do this to her?  Abduct her, experiment on her, harvest her ova, use them to create Emily just to make her die, etc.  This show is seriously fucked up in its love of medical rape.

I would just like to repeat this for emphasis, please. "Quoted for truth," as the kids say. (Wait, do the kids still say that?)

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

- I still can’t with CSM being alive; he was a flaming skeleton, for Pete’s sake!  You don’t just get some skin grafts and carry on.  Yep, sucks to have killed off your villain in the final episode, only to find out years later, oops, not the final episode, but he’s very dead, so move on.

Didn't CC say early in the show's life that he didn't want Mulder and Scully to have a romantic relationship because he didn't want to write soap opera? What does he think he's writing with the flambéed skeletons coming back to life and retroactively rhapsodizing about their importance to history? Complete with a "Who's your daddy?" storyline! The one thing CC seems incapable of doing-- or, rather, one thing AMONG OH, SO MANY -- is moving on.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sandman

[MrWhyt]

WTF was that? Carter is so far up his own ass. I never finished the last 3 episodes of the comeback season until today and those were nowhere near as bad as I had been lead to believe (IMO) but this was terrible. Allegedly this is the worst of the ones the reviewers got screeners for so i have my fingers crossed for next week.

[Sandman]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

- The Syndicate, alien colonization, it’s not what you thought, we’re the good part of the project, and we’re so close, blah, blah, blah.  How many times has this been done?  How long ago did I lose interest in the “no, really, this is the truth” bullshit?

Oh, yeah! Well before Season 9 -- Season 7? Maybe 6? I barely remember all the layers of "blah, blah, blah..."

[Folk]

Not to gloat, but I predicted this right after the episode Requiem all those years ago. CSM was having himself some fun and I knew it. He had her eggs on hand and had it ready. Don't forget William turning the machine in the episode William either.

Considering the black oil returns in the finale, my guess the colonization is happening and the other old syndicate fart was just trying to butter Mulder's wheels since they know what is coming. I suspect Scully will leave with William to live their life on the alien planet while Mulder dies. The truth can be a bitch.

[Ghost of TWOP Past]

No offense, but why are so many of you surprised at the ep's content? 

• Long, pretentious speeches which add up to nothing? Check. 
• Characters who keep insisting they have something important to tell but never tell it? Check. 
• My familiar sense of resentful incomprehension? Check. 
• Yet another plot/conspiracy without resolving any of the pre-existing ones? Check. 

Yep, this is the same old X Files alrighty. :D 

I got the feeling there were 900 continuity problems, but to be honest, I remember almost nothing after season 5. So CSM really is Mulder's dad? That wasn't a head game lie? Wasn't there an apocalyptic plague in S10? Please don't tell me that was all a dream? How could Mulder NOT be William's father? Haven't they tested the kid's DNA inside and out? 

Anybody understand what the plan was with the guy homicidally chasing Mulder? What was he going to do if he caught Mulder? Did he not notice Mulder following him for 7 hours, or was it the plan that he was leading Mulder to the Other Syndicate? 

 

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And you seriously want me to believe that Scully would go anywhere w/the CSM?  

She did. It was in S7. I think. Maybe 8. Or 9. Anyway, she went along because he promised her the cure for all diseases. On a CD single. Or something. 

Young agents Einstein & Whatsisface: "Hmm. A stranger is going into the hospital room of our friend/co-worker who someone/something is always trying to kill? Oh well. Probably nothing." 

Blah blah, fishcakes. Let's just get to the monsters of the week, please.