Title: The X-Files: My Struggle
Air Date: January 24
Network: Fox
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
With The X-Files back on television, the long-awaited return of everyone’s favorite alien-chasing FBI agents has finally come to an end. With Scully and Mulder back together fans are sure to tune and relive the same feeling they got back in the 90’s (at least I want to believe). It’s been a while since we’ve seen this duo on television which is sure to make fans nervous, but hopefully with all the people from the original series on board we can breathe easy.
The X-Files Mini SeriesEpisode 1: My Struggle is reminiscent of the classic 90’s show with enough callbacks from the original series for the fans of the original to say “I remember this” while being entertaining enough for newcomers to hopefully not change the channel (and maybe encourage a binge watch in order to figure out what’s going on). My Struggle centers around a conspiracy that raises questions and puts the entire history of The X-Files on its head. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) make a skeptic return to their former field of expertise as they accept a case by an online conspiracy theorist (Tad O’Malley) convinced with finding out the truth and exposing it to the public.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1SmJUBT5q0[/embedyt]
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Remember back when you first saw an episode of The X-Files. There was a sense of rebelliousness because Mulder and Scully were tackling problems that no one else was willing to tackle. Now that conspiracy theories have become a bit of a joke to a lot of people it’s a bit difficult to watch Mulder and O’Malley ramble on about conspiracies without thinking to yourself “I love Mulder but you’re starting to sound crazier then what I remember.”
It’s not the worst episode of The X-Files I’ve ever seen but that only means that the upcoming episodes are sure to be better (I hope). The feel of the original series was the same as Scully and Mulder appeared on screen (together once again) but once the episode’s plot began to advance I started to have my doubts. Why are they willing to jump on this so quickly? Why doesn’t Mulder pull out his phone and take some pictures or videos of this? And really, this is how it’s going to go? I’m sure the new series can win me over after this episode but I’ll tread lightly.
Mulder seems to be more unstable than he’s ever been and as he’s dragged into a case that seems to only keep him interested because of heart strings being pulled and Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale) being a really cool guy and letting Mulder see some pretty spectacular things. Scully remains the voice of reason in this entire ordeal but ultimately returns to Mulder’s side as they have no choice but to join forces. We get to see the old office with a nice little cameo and by the end of the episode guess what? The X-Files are back.
If you have questions about Mulder and Scully’s relationship and wonder how they’ve been for the past 13 years, then I’m sorry to say the first episode won’t give a lot of those answers, but it will give you enough of an incentive to keep tuning in. Trust me there’s plenty of embers in here to keep the people that follow these characters because of their “romance” strung along for the ride.
If anything else the show coming back will encourage a lot of fans to go back and re-watch their favorite episodes or even completely re-watch every single season. All the old seasons are up on Netflix and Fox is nice enough to let you watch the new episode on their website so there is no reason why The X-Files should not be on everyone’s even after this little mini series has run it’s course.
- Story: The X-Files writer seemed to have crafted quite an interesting and convoluted storyline for the series revival. If you’ve never heard of The X-Files you’re going to have a hard time following the narrative and if you’re a longtime fan you might have a hard time believing the direction we might be going.
- Acting/ Characters: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson deliver great performances. The tension between these two is still there and I can’t wait for their interactions in the future episodes. The performance of the victim left a bit to be desired but I’m sure I won’t have the same complaints in the future.
- Cinematography: It certainly looks like the X-Files. It’s dark and intense shots bring you back to 1995 with enough flashy special effects to reminds us it’s 2016.
- Organization: The pacing works well as the hour moves quick enough to make you forget you have work in the morning. Unfortunately, there is a lot of rambling that can throw you off if you tried to grab a quick snack.
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