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Urgh sorry to have been so MIA lately, I know that I've been terrible with commenting and keeping up with my flist, we've just been having so much internet trouble still :( It went back off-line again for a while, and TalkTalk are coming back on Wednesday to take another look at the router :sighs:
Anyway! I finished season 5 of The X-Files! :D I enjoyed the number of stand-out episodes that year, you could really tell that they were having fun playing around with the format. I guess my only quibble would be that it didn't feel all cohesive as a season, it's one I enjoy more for random one-off episodes, rather than really coming together as a season to binge-watch. They could have made Mulder's lack of belief in aliens more of a throughline for the season IMO, it was interesting to see him become just as dogmatic and stubborn about not believing in the possibility of aliens in Patient X, but the show only ever brought it up in that two-parter (well other than the one off-hand mention in The Post-Modern Prometheus I guess). It could have been kind of a cool turnaround to have an entire season of this slightly bitter Mulder being sceptical about other supernatural phenomenon, and Scully having to be more open-minded to make up for it, but the show never seemed interested in going against the status quo too much with their characters, so Mulder's new (lack of) belief system is only ever an issue in the mythology two-parter sadly
And I'm sorry, but I thought that Redux was a truly terrible start to the year. It's like Chris Carter thought that he was writing a novel instead of a television episode, it's practically all told in voice-overs by Mulder or Scully throughout the entire hour?!? And even when there was a dialogue between two characters (Mulder and military guy) it seemed to go on forever. I'm genuinally shocked at how boring this was for a season premiere, it could have easily been condensed down into one episode, *nothing* happened in the first half. And it's frustrating because Part 2 was actually really great and a ton of stuff happens, so I don't know why they couldn't have condensed it down into one episode, that way they could have had a kick-ass premiere. There were a ton of really powerful moments with Scully and Mulder in the hospital (major aww at Mulder's, "I'm only half dead" <3 ),and then everything with CSM and Samantha
Detour was really fun! I especially enjoyed the idea of Mulder and Scully at a “teamwork seminar“ lol, I loved how they tied back in with that later when Mulder and Scully build a tower of bodies to escape from the hole *g* I liked how it felt like a classic old-fashioned monster tale amidst all of the new things that they were trying that year, and it's just a really fun episode for Mulder/Scully interaction too, it reminded me a lot of earlier episodes like Darkness Falls and Quagmire. Gotta love that moment when Mulder takes the first opportunity to run into the forest, and Scully looks so amused when she starts following him *g*
And then The Post-Modern Prometheus is one of my favourites of course. I just kind of let myself get swept along with the more troublesome implications of the script frankly lol, because the whole episode is structured as such a fairy-tale anyway, and it has one of the best endings of the entire series <3
Sadly I wasn't much of a fan of the Emily two-parter. It was okay, but it felt really maudlin to be back in hospitals and terminal diseases so soon after Scully's illness in Redux. The writers kept talking about worrying about doing the season 4 cancer arc in case it seemed melodramatic and didn't fit with their show, so it's interesting that they returned to that kind of storyline so soon. Not to sound heartless, but it very much felt to me like it was all about pulling at the audiences heartstrings with Emily's tragic fate and how much it destroyed Scully, even though that's really not earned by the actual bonding scenes that we got with Scully and Emily. Like they're talking of Scully falling in love with Emily after they've had exactly two scenes together? It just seemed like it was assumed that everyone would immediately buy into it because it was a cute little kid that was dying...
I really enjoyed Kitsunegari, it was tough for an episode to try and live up to Pusher, but I thought this was a pretty decent effort. I enjoyed all of the callbacks, like the death from cerulean blue paint, or Mulder holding a gun on Scully. The only issue with it I had was that Pusher's sister could have been a more interesting character, I thought they could have done more to make her stand out, instead it felt like she was mostly only there for the sake of the twist
Chinga was a bit of a disappointment on re-watch, it's one of the episodes that actually does stand out really strongly in my mind from my first watch, but I don't feel like it holds up very well? It's mostly notable for the fun of seeing Scully on vacation, or the jokes about Mulder not knowing what to do with himself when she's away, but the main plot with the killer doll and the creepy little girl just feels like a really obvious and
clichéd idea for a plot. Eve back in season 1 told an interesting story with a few twists in it when it came to the creepy little girls, but the idea of a killer doll in this episode just feels sooo lazy because it's such a familiar story, and there's really nothing new added to it.
It was definitely one that made an impression on younger me though, so there's that I suppose. It's hard to go wrong with creepy evil dolls really, I just wish that the episode felt a bit more inspired
Bad Blood is of course one of the best episodes ever. Not only was every single M/S scene fantastic, I also thought it was a really clever idea to have the vampire not be the kind of traditionally suave vampire from horror movies, just a vampire who really *wants* to present himself that way *g* The Post-Modern Prometheus has the best ending of any X-Files episode, but Bad Blood has the best opening teaser :D Boo at the lack of commentary for it though, and zero mention of it on the extras, even the season 5 documentary had no mention of it?!?
Honestly I was kind of bored at the beginning of Travelers, although I got a little more into it as it went along. I definitely missed Mulder and Scully as a team though! It wasn't a badly-done episode or anything, it just felt a bit out of place for TXF, but then season 5 was the season when they give the actors a lot more time off to allow time for movie reshoots I guess. A season with so much of Mulder and Scully separated will never be one of my favourites though, at times it was a bit too obvious that they were thinking up other ideas for episodes to give David or Gillian some time off.
Oh and one thing that I never really picked up on before is that, while audiences generally always think of Mulder and Scully being an equal team and equal co-leads, the people behind the show really don't seem to see it that way? They're always happy to have Scully miss an episode if she's not needed for that week, i.e with the origin stories for CSM or for TLG, whereas Mulder hasn't missed a single episode so far. I always remembered Christmas Carol has having no Mulder presence whatsoever, as obviously it's a story completely carried by Scully, but even then they shot one scene with David for a scene of where Scully calls Mulder, then hangs up. They really didn't need David physically present for that scene to work, so it did come across as if they can't even conceive of Mulder missing a single episode of the show, which makes it even weirder that they ended up continuing the show without Mulder's character. Every indication is that they considered it his story first and foremost...
All Souls was a strange episode, it doesn't sound like the writing staff were particularly thrilled with it, Chris Carter talked in the extras about the scenes of Scully in the confessional being added late to try and tie the episode together better, and he also complains about the effects for the angel not really coming off. Apparently it was an idea from some freelance writers, Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban were then given the job of rewriting the script, and it was their idea to add the visions of Emily. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I can understand why it would be viewed as a bit of a mess, but I thought that it was one of the more interesting religious episodes that they've done, even if the show is always a bit clumsy when it tries to be spiritual.
Folie a Deux is one of my absolute favourite episodes of the entire series, and Vince Gillian himself has actually talked about how if there's any X-Files episode of his that he feels is underrated, it's this one. I loved how it had fun playing around with the idea of workers at a call centre being turned into mindless zombies, and you're not quite sure at first whether to take the ravings about monsters seriously. And lol something about Scully bursting to a terrified Mulder's rescue at the hospital really made me swoon <3 I really liked how it follows up on the humour of Bad Blood and Mulder and Scully's differing viewpoints, by then having an episode showing just how similar their worldviews have become at the same time, "a madness shared by two"
Of course I love the "You're my one in 5 billion" quote as much as any other shipper, but I did always find it a bit odd that that's how Mulder chooses to characterise his relationship with Scully when a lot of other people believe in his theories far more readily than Scully does? I'm completely with the show when they have Mulder describe Scully as his touchstone, his anchor, the one who saved him etc, but in retrospect I'm not really feeling why he would describe Scully as the only one on the planet who will believe him?
I thought they followed up on that up well in The End though when Scully is so uncomfortable with Fowley's rapport with Mulder, it must sting to be introduced to his former partner who is so on Mulder's wavelength, right after you've been called his "one in five billion". I think that I blocked a lot of that arc out actually lol, I really don't remember Fowley very well, but it's already annoying me how O/T the writing is going with jealous Scully fleeing at the sight of Mulder holding hands with her. I was mostly reading it as professional jealousy on Scully's part to see Mulder clicking so much with a less sceptical partner, but it's hard to deny that she's also meant to be romantically jealous in some way as well meh. That whole tease about which woman Mulder is really thinking about didn't appeal to me much either, that sort of contrived jealousy is not what I like about the Mulder/Scully partnership
Anyway! I finished season 5 of The X-Files! :D I enjoyed the number of stand-out episodes that year, you could really tell that they were having fun playing around with the format. I guess my only quibble would be that it didn't feel all cohesive as a season, it's one I enjoy more for random one-off episodes, rather than really coming together as a season to binge-watch. They could have made Mulder's lack of belief in aliens more of a throughline for the season IMO, it was interesting to see him become just as dogmatic and stubborn about not believing in the possibility of aliens in Patient X, but the show only ever brought it up in that two-parter (well other than the one off-hand mention in The Post-Modern Prometheus I guess). It could have been kind of a cool turnaround to have an entire season of this slightly bitter Mulder being sceptical about other supernatural phenomenon, and Scully having to be more open-minded to make up for it, but the show never seemed interested in going against the status quo too much with their characters, so Mulder's new (lack of) belief system is only ever an issue in the mythology two-parter sadly
And I'm sorry, but I thought that Redux was a truly terrible start to the year. It's like Chris Carter thought that he was writing a novel instead of a television episode, it's practically all told in voice-overs by Mulder or Scully throughout the entire hour?!? And even when there was a dialogue between two characters (Mulder and military guy) it seemed to go on forever. I'm genuinally shocked at how boring this was for a season premiere, it could have easily been condensed down into one episode, *nothing* happened in the first half. And it's frustrating because Part 2 was actually really great and a ton of stuff happens, so I don't know why they couldn't have condensed it down into one episode, that way they could have had a kick-ass premiere. There were a ton of really powerful moments with Scully and Mulder in the hospital (major aww at Mulder's, "I'm only half dead" <3 ),and then everything with CSM and Samantha
Detour was really fun! I especially enjoyed the idea of Mulder and Scully at a “teamwork seminar“ lol, I loved how they tied back in with that later when Mulder and Scully build a tower of bodies to escape from the hole *g* I liked how it felt like a classic old-fashioned monster tale amidst all of the new things that they were trying that year, and it's just a really fun episode for Mulder/Scully interaction too, it reminded me a lot of earlier episodes like Darkness Falls and Quagmire. Gotta love that moment when Mulder takes the first opportunity to run into the forest, and Scully looks so amused when she starts following him *g*
And then The Post-Modern Prometheus is one of my favourites of course. I just kind of let myself get swept along with the more troublesome implications of the script frankly lol, because the whole episode is structured as such a fairy-tale anyway, and it has one of the best endings of the entire series <3
Sadly I wasn't much of a fan of the Emily two-parter. It was okay, but it felt really maudlin to be back in hospitals and terminal diseases so soon after Scully's illness in Redux. The writers kept talking about worrying about doing the season 4 cancer arc in case it seemed melodramatic and didn't fit with their show, so it's interesting that they returned to that kind of storyline so soon. Not to sound heartless, but it very much felt to me like it was all about pulling at the audiences heartstrings with Emily's tragic fate and how much it destroyed Scully, even though that's really not earned by the actual bonding scenes that we got with Scully and Emily. Like they're talking of Scully falling in love with Emily after they've had exactly two scenes together? It just seemed like it was assumed that everyone would immediately buy into it because it was a cute little kid that was dying...
I really enjoyed Kitsunegari, it was tough for an episode to try and live up to Pusher, but I thought this was a pretty decent effort. I enjoyed all of the callbacks, like the death from cerulean blue paint, or Mulder holding a gun on Scully. The only issue with it I had was that Pusher's sister could have been a more interesting character, I thought they could have done more to make her stand out, instead it felt like she was mostly only there for the sake of the twist
Chinga was a bit of a disappointment on re-watch, it's one of the episodes that actually does stand out really strongly in my mind from my first watch, but I don't feel like it holds up very well? It's mostly notable for the fun of seeing Scully on vacation, or the jokes about Mulder not knowing what to do with himself when she's away, but the main plot with the killer doll and the creepy little girl just feels like a really obvious and
clichéd idea for a plot. Eve back in season 1 told an interesting story with a few twists in it when it came to the creepy little girls, but the idea of a killer doll in this episode just feels sooo lazy because it's such a familiar story, and there's really nothing new added to it.
It was definitely one that made an impression on younger me though, so there's that I suppose. It's hard to go wrong with creepy evil dolls really, I just wish that the episode felt a bit more inspired
Bad Blood is of course one of the best episodes ever. Not only was every single M/S scene fantastic, I also thought it was a really clever idea to have the vampire not be the kind of traditionally suave vampire from horror movies, just a vampire who really *wants* to present himself that way *g* The Post-Modern Prometheus has the best ending of any X-Files episode, but Bad Blood has the best opening teaser :D Boo at the lack of commentary for it though, and zero mention of it on the extras, even the season 5 documentary had no mention of it?!?
Honestly I was kind of bored at the beginning of Travelers, although I got a little more into it as it went along. I definitely missed Mulder and Scully as a team though! It wasn't a badly-done episode or anything, it just felt a bit out of place for TXF, but then season 5 was the season when they give the actors a lot more time off to allow time for movie reshoots I guess. A season with so much of Mulder and Scully separated will never be one of my favourites though, at times it was a bit too obvious that they were thinking up other ideas for episodes to give David or Gillian some time off.
Oh and one thing that I never really picked up on before is that, while audiences generally always think of Mulder and Scully being an equal team and equal co-leads, the people behind the show really don't seem to see it that way? They're always happy to have Scully miss an episode if she's not needed for that week, i.e with the origin stories for CSM or for TLG, whereas Mulder hasn't missed a single episode so far. I always remembered Christmas Carol has having no Mulder presence whatsoever, as obviously it's a story completely carried by Scully, but even then they shot one scene with David for a scene of where Scully calls Mulder, then hangs up. They really didn't need David physically present for that scene to work, so it did come across as if they can't even conceive of Mulder missing a single episode of the show, which makes it even weirder that they ended up continuing the show without Mulder's character. Every indication is that they considered it his story first and foremost...
All Souls was a strange episode, it doesn't sound like the writing staff were particularly thrilled with it, Chris Carter talked in the extras about the scenes of Scully in the confessional being added late to try and tie the episode together better, and he also complains about the effects for the angel not really coming off. Apparently it was an idea from some freelance writers, Frank Spotnitz and John Shiban were then given the job of rewriting the script, and it was their idea to add the visions of Emily. I'm not sure how I feel about it, I can understand why it would be viewed as a bit of a mess, but I thought that it was one of the more interesting religious episodes that they've done, even if the show is always a bit clumsy when it tries to be spiritual.
Folie a Deux is one of my absolute favourite episodes of the entire series, and Vince Gillian himself has actually talked about how if there's any X-Files episode of his that he feels is underrated, it's this one. I loved how it had fun playing around with the idea of workers at a call centre being turned into mindless zombies, and you're not quite sure at first whether to take the ravings about monsters seriously. And lol something about Scully bursting to a terrified Mulder's rescue at the hospital really made me swoon <3 I really liked how it follows up on the humour of Bad Blood and Mulder and Scully's differing viewpoints, by then having an episode showing just how similar their worldviews have become at the same time, "a madness shared by two"
Of course I love the "You're my one in 5 billion" quote as much as any other shipper, but I did always find it a bit odd that that's how Mulder chooses to characterise his relationship with Scully when a lot of other people believe in his theories far more readily than Scully does? I'm completely with the show when they have Mulder describe Scully as his touchstone, his anchor, the one who saved him etc, but in retrospect I'm not really feeling why he would describe Scully as the only one on the planet who will believe him?
I thought they followed up on that up well in The End though when Scully is so uncomfortable with Fowley's rapport with Mulder, it must sting to be introduced to his former partner who is so on Mulder's wavelength, right after you've been called his "one in five billion". I think that I blocked a lot of that arc out actually lol, I really don't remember Fowley very well, but it's already annoying me how O/T the writing is going with jealous Scully fleeing at the sight of Mulder holding hands with her. I was mostly reading it as professional jealousy on Scully's part to see Mulder clicking so much with a less sceptical partner, but it's hard to deny that she's also meant to be romantically jealous in some way as well meh. That whole tease about which woman Mulder is really thinking about didn't appeal to me much either, that sort of contrived jealousy is not what I like about the Mulder/Scully partnership
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Date: 2016-09-13 02:04 pm (UTC)Also, Mulder's singing of 'Shaft'. And the way the vampire is like, "You are SO dead when I pick all these up!" after he chucks sunflower seeds at him.
Another one I really liked from Season 5 (I think it's season 5?) when I watched it the first time around is Kill Switch, with the virtual kick-ass Scully (who it turns out is evil) rescuing virtual armless Mulder from the creeptastic hospital. IDK how well it stands up now but it was one of my favorites, if only for poor Mulder getting attacked by the computer.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-13 02:38 pm (UTC)Unusual Suspects was another great episode that I forgot to mention, season 5 really did have a lot of standouts
Kill Switch seems to be an episode that I need to be in the right mood for tbh, because last time I watched it I remember really enjoying it, but I just couldn't get into it as much this time around. The dream sequence was really great though definitely, it was fun how OT badass they made Scully with her kicking ass and blowing hair out of her face afterwards *g* But the episode as a whole really didn't come together for me, it was an interesting idea for an episode, but X-Files doing virtual reality hasn't dated that well for me unfortunately
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-13 04:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-13 05:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-14 03:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-14 05:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-14 01:07 am (UTC)I agree, it could have been very interesting to shake up the dynamic for a season and reverse Mulder and Scully's roles as believer and skeptic. I guess the recent S10 tried to do this, but most of the episodes were so terrible that they missed out on doing anything really notable.
Redux pt. 1 is just terrible. It's Chris Carter at his exposition-y worst, and that's really saying something.
I love the final scene of Post-Modern Prometheus, and there are several scenes throughout the episode that make me laugh, but I am one of those people who just can't get past the premise to really enjoy the episode. The resolution to the plot is basically "it's okay that we were drugged and raped because babies are cute!" CC and the writing staff had some weird issues with women and pregnancy. I can definitely see why people love that ep, because it is fun, it just hits some skeevy buttons for me.
But man, S5 really does have some great episodes. Folie a Deux is absolutely an underrated classic, and Bad Blood is probably one of my top five episodes.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-14 05:14 pm (UTC)The funny thing is that I didn't remember the pacing being that bad, because it's a two-parter I guess that the second half saves it in a lot of people's minds, but the first half is just *painful* to sit through
And I can definitely understand why Post-Modern Prometheus would be too squicky for some fans, it being so far from a traditional X-Files is what saves it for me. There is such little real world logic in it anyway that I just got kind of go with it as a storybook, but looking back it is odd how both this episode and Small Potatoes have that exact same ~whelp it all worked out okay in the end~ message
Folie a Deux is absolutely an underrated classic, and Bad Blood is probably one of my top five episodes.
:nods: Folie a Deux isn't an episode that you hear raved about as much, but for me it's definitely right up there with the greats