The X-Files 10×1 “My Struggle”, 10×2 “Founder’s Mutation”

Let me just ramble randomly because I’m not organized enough for recapping or reviewing.

Let’s be honest, 80% of the first episode’s appeal was to see Mulder and Scully (and Skinner) again, and to see them see each other again. I appreciate that Scully and Mulder have a drama-free rapport. I’m usually expecting TV writers to ramp up the angst and conflict in set-ups like this, so it’s nice to have two characters who genuinely like each other and who are happy to spend time together.

My main problem with the oddly-titled “My Struggle” was how quickly Mulder believed in the “it was all a lie, it was the government all along” theory. The episode moves a bit too fast, and it ends up feeling a little like a slideshow of typical X-Files scenes and plots: The wide-eyed abductee, the UFO hovering in the air, the secret hangar, the Roswell flashback, the nightly meeting with the informant … Well, it makes sense, since this episode basically goes “So, X-Files, righ? You know this stuff, but what if we give it all a more political, more 21st century explanation?”

Jeff from Community as a rich – demonstratively rich conspiracy theorist with a talk show. Dunno yet.

When Mulder discussed the idea that there is no looming alien invasion, but the government is secretly experimenting with alien technology and planning evil things … and the aliens only came to Earth because the rapid weapon development in th 1940’s made them worried …?

Yes, that’s Plan 9 from uter Space.

Where the aliens fear that after atom bombs, humanity would discover “solarite bombs” that EXPLODE THE RAYS OF THE SUN and thus the universe. :D

The X-Files really missed an opportunity here. They should have given the monologue to another character and have Mulder point out the Plan 9 connection.

In fact.

What if X-Files IS Plan 9? What if all the unexplained phenomena during the series’ run, the ones that arren’t shady government experiments, are actually the aliens’ various (failed) attempts to stop humanity?

Plan 9, as we all know, involves resurrecting the dead and unleashing zombies. Plans 1-8 might have been just as ridiculous! They might have involved chupacabras, vampires and yetis. Anything is possible!

Ahem.

Founder’s Mutation worked much better as a stand-alone episode, although it still pretty much tied into the idea that the government is running tests with alien DNA.

And then suddenly Abigail popped up! From Hannibal, I mean. I finished watching Hannibal just two weeks ago, so it was funny to see an actress from this show. Even funnier is that Gillian Anderson was also on Hannibal, but I still didn’t think “Abigail is talking to Bedelia” but “Abigail is talking to Scully”. Scully is just too iconic to be overshadowed by anything.