S11.E02: This

[Bastet]

27 minutes ago, Taryn74 said:

But grabbing him and slitting his throat?  That was.....odd.

Especially since he is an armed federal agent, is he not?  But instead of using his FBI voice and weapon, he instead grabs a scalpel - that is there for reasons, I guess - and slits someone's throat?

[Taryn74]

Watched MSIII and This again today. 

Enjoyed This a whole lot more the third time around.  The flirtation and verbal sparring gives me life.  I'd watch 35 seasons of the X-Files if it always included M/S flirting with each other.

The 'I'm getting too old for this' running jokes are cracking me up.  "I thought I was gonna throw up for a second there. I'm okay now."  Ha ha ha totally missed that the first couple of times.  (I had closed cap on today.)

That weird twirling-his-fingers thing the long-haired guy did at the end?  He did the same thing when he was shooting at Scully in the cemetery.  Very strange.  I wonder if it's supposed to mean something, or if it's just a personal quirk?

So I guess Barbara Hershey and her crew are the new shadowy government now.  I wonder if Mr. Y really was a part of the same Syndicate as CSM way back when, or if he was just lying about that.  This is the first time the actor has been credited with the show, and Mr. Y is not a name we have heard before.

I meant to look up and see if the info on Frohike's and Deep Throat's tombstones match up with what we know from the OS or if there were clues there too, but I forgot.  I do believe the spelling of Fitgerald is supposed to mean something.  It's too obvious a mistake to not be on purpose.

[Bastet]

30 minutes ago, Taryn74 said:

That weird twirling-his-fingers thing the long-haired guy did at the end?  He did the same thing when he was shooting at Scully in the cemetery.  Very strange.  I wonder if it's supposed to mean something, or if it's just a personal quirk?

It was so obvious, and repeated, I think it has to mean something, but damn if I know what.  I'm not real sure what maybe half this episode means, really, but unlike the utter piece of shit that was MSIII, this one provided me with the type of "wait, what's happening?" feeling I very much enjoy with XF; I don't understand everything, but I'm intrigued by what I don't get, and what I do understand I love, and I find it all smart, a little spooky, a little quirky, and in character, and sometimes flirty and sometimes funny.  I'll take that any day of the week over the mytharc mess.  This episode was a relief, fundamentally, and a bonus on top.

[AntiBeeSpray]

Why I love 'This'... Mulder and Scully are played as being essentially (at least in my opinion) as being married (so in a way it's now canon). Big thanks to David, Gillian and Glen Morgan for it. 

[Imapanda]

I don't comment on these things that much but I'm a diehard fan (anything after halfway through season three is "new" to me because I remember it new.  Almost stopped watching altogether after the last episode.  I really liked this one a lot.  This was my favorite  new episode since season 7.  Didn't hate season 10 but didn't love it and didn't get the Were-monster love either.  I may watch the stand alones and skip the finale.

[phantom]

So I was pretty lost throughout - kind of forgot how that happened frequently during the original run. :) The way the camera lingered on the gray-haired baddie made me think I was supposed to recognize him? Loved that the light, teasing banter was back - bran muffins and handcuffs, oh my! But the super ninja-like fighting off private armies and three shootouts in five minutes kept me waiting to see if this was all a simulation too - too much Mission Impossible and not enough acknowledgement that their hand-to-hand combat skills shouldn't really be better 17 years later..

Sorry that Langley's girlfriend was only allowed to live long enough to give three minutes of exposition. And sorrier that Mulder/Scully had no inkling about, I don't know, a backup to the super-secret simulation machine?

[festivus]

Just watched it again. I still wish it wasn't so dark. I was watching to see if I could pick up anything I missed the first time. Something just seems so off about the whole thing, (and the last episode too) I'm on to the alternate reality/and or simulation theory now. The project being called Operation Blarney stuck out to me on this watch. The tagline which said "Accuse your enemies of that which you are guilty". Don't understand that but it has to mean something. Also the first episode which I think was "I want to lie".  And honestly the new people on the show remind me of people from the past. Mr. Y reminds me of Elder #1. Erika reminds me of Diana. The gray haired assassin reminds me of CSM. I don't really know where I'm going with this I'm just noting more things that seem weird to me besides what was already mentioned here.

[Bastet]

7 minutes ago, festivus said:

The tagline which said "Accuse your enemies of that which you are guilty". Don't understand that but it has to mean something.

It's a tactic that has been employed by a national figure, so it may just be a comment on current politics.  I Want to Believe morphing into I Want to Lie in MSIII may have just been about CSM telling tall tales in that episode, as he does.  Or, I agree, both of them could mean something bigger about the reality of this season. 

12 minutes ago, festivus said:

And honestly the new people on the show remind me of people from the past. Mr. Y reminds me of Elder #1. Erika reminds me of Diana. The gray haired assassin reminds me of CSM.

Barbara Hershey's character reminded me of Diana Fowley from the moment she was cast and described.  Mr. Y doesn't remind me of the mumbling guy with the bad teeth (that's First Elder/Elder #1, right?), but when people mention it, I can see it.  I'd have to look at the assassin again.

[festivus]

6 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It's a tactic that has been employed by a national figure, so it may just be a comment on current politics.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking the first time I watched the episode. But then the episode was so weird that I'm trying to think about what else it could mean.

Edited January 17, 2018 by festivus

[MissL]

Did a rewatch. Appreciate it even more after tonight's  weird Darin ep.  Have to give a shout out to one of my other favorite moments I forgot to mention. When Mulder and Scully are on the bus and she asks if he really thinks they can get into a secure building looking like they do and he looks at her and says "You look good."  Love the way he delivers that line and it felt like classic Mulder. I've missed my M&S.

I'll say this this season has reignited my love for the show in a way season 10 could not so that's very good. I mean I'm rewatching and I actually deleted all of season 10 and will likely never watch again. 

[millennium]

After the suckfest that was "My Struggle III," anything would seem better.   Doesn't mean it was a good episode.  The underlying concept was unoriginal.   Put me at the table with those who see "San Junipero" written all over it.   I suspect the writers backed into the story, proceeding from a primary objective of finding some way to bring back a dead character to facilitate fan service.   The San Junipero approach was probably the least demanding way of accomplishing that.

The script itself was simplistic to the point of silliness.   Mulder and Scully's subterfuge to enter the NSA building was ridiculous.  Sam and Dean Winchester ridiculous.   The "twist" at the end wasn't even a twist; all it did was make Mulder and Scully look like simpletons for not considering there would be a backup.

I have to ask, why is CSM still a thing?  Are there really that many fans who love CSM that he has to appear or be mentioned in every episode now?   Wish they had left him dead at the conclusion of the original series.   

I criticized Carter in the previous episode for failing to bring the X-Files world up to date regarding our modern dystopia.  This episode accomplished some of that -- Russians in league with the Executive Branch, Skinner's soliloquy, etc.   Unfortunately the story itself had nothing to do with anything that's going on today.   Maybe if the Russians were trying to manipulate the climate somehow and Mulder and Scully discovered that the US backing out of the Paris Climate Accord was part of that ... I don't know, but that's the kind of contemporary conflict I'd like to see.  Something relevant to now, not just some Black Mirror pastiche.

My final complaint: Langly.   The only man who could upload himself to the cloud 16 years ago yet apparently age 30 years in the meantime -- and also find the worst wig this side of Arrow.   They never should have done the close-up.   The effect was more credible when restricted to the cell phone screen.

On 1/11/2018 at 6:42 AM, Happy Harpy said:

I wasn't a fan of the Weremonster (unpopular, I know)

I categorically HATED the Weremonster episode.   One of the worst episodes of the entire series, if you ask me.

[Baby Button Eyes]

I noticed during a rewatch that when Skinner opens the old X-Files on the computer to show M&S, that for two seconds, the FBI photo ID card for Reggie (Forehead Sweat) appears on the screen, more evidence he must have existed, lol.  No one would have noticed this as this episode aired before Reggie himself is introduced. Just thought it was funny to see when rewatching.

[AudienceofOne]

On 28/01/2018 at 5:20 PM, millennium said:

I criticized Carter in the previous episode for failing to bring the X-Files world up to date regarding our modern dystopia.  This episode accomplished some of that -- Russians in league with the Executive Branch, Skinner's soliloquy, etc.   Unfortunately the story itself had nothing to do with anything that's going on today.  

Having Skinner reel off "things that exist today" does not in any way make CC's knowledge of geo-politics less sophomoric. I should not have watched this after Mr Robot.