The X-Files: Season (Gr)8?

For what seems like an impossibly long time, I've be watching entire series of The X-Files, start to finish. I was one of the few people who never got into it when it first aired (more of a Third Rock from the Sun man, myself) and only saw episodes in syndication about three times (two of which was the episode with Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi [the other was the riff on The Thing, Ice, and is amazing]). However, since my youth, my sensibilities have changed a lot. As a kid, I got scared quite easily and slept with the light above the stairway to my room on all the time (my room was in the attic and my dad would occasionally turn it off before I fell asleep, so I'd have to brave my room in the dark to turn it back on, a process a call "re-lumination"). It makes sense that I would favor the comedy about aliens than the one with monsters, violence, and any number of creepy crawlies.

Seasons One and Two were largely hit and miss. The episodes that everyone hated weren't as bad as all that and many of the episodes people loved weren't as good, either, but the show had a good hook and I knew that it was going to pick up into Season Three. And it did. I was told that the show started it's downward decline at Season Six by some sources, Seven by others. I'd say Seven as Six is my favorite season with ease.

The X-Files took a lot of risks during this sweet spot playing with genre and storytelling. The Monster-of-the-Week episodes were generally more entertaining and interesting than the alien/Mulder's/Native American stuff, which was usually stilted and self-serious (and convoluted as the show went on). And almost right on queue, Season Seven hit a creative nadir for the show.

That's not to say I didn't have problems with the rest of the series. Mulder is frequently an ass hole who mistreats and marginalizes Scully (the better writers are able to play this up and self-consciously mock the show, which generally makes Scully seem all the stronger in the end). Scully is almost always a passive participant in the X-Files who is usually the victim. She is a target against her will whereas Mulder is fully responsible for any peril he is in. For as strong of a character as Scully is, the gender politics of the show/writers is very evident (it'd be interesting to see how many of the episodes that give Scully short shrift were written by non-staff writers).

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have great chemistry together and as the show progressed, the filmmaking just got better and better. Then Season Seven comes along and everyone seems like they're sleepwalking through it. Most of the episodes are outright boring and the whole pregnancy angle is a drama killer. Add to that Duchovny the departure of Duchovny for much of Season 8 and it really does feel like the show is going to fall apart.

I get why people aren't into Season 8. I have friends who've already voiced skepticism about me liking it. A lot of it stems from losing the Mulder/Scully chemistry and having to insert a new character into the middle of all the action, give him a backstory, and make the viewer care. I don't envy Robert Patrick for having to dive and try to fill Duchovny's shoes. But by and large, I think the shows writers nailed a Sisyphean task. Agent Doggett could have come across as an ass, just like the people who used to mock Mulder, but he views his job as having two duties: finding Mulder and being there for his partner. While the switch in Scully to trying to be more like Mulder sometimes feels forced, she's given a great monologue about how she's trying her best to think like him and it's not working. The shadow of Mulder looms over the show in his absence and that's a good thing.

It's fun to watch a new person experience the paranormal for the first time again as the show couldn't sustain Scully's disbelief much longer since she's seen so much herself. When (spoiler alert) Mulder returns, the writers mine some nice conflict between Mulder and Doggett who bot want the best for Scully, but Mulder is Mulder and can't trust anyone until he sees them do something to show whose side they are on.

Season 8 isn't all good. Scully's pregnancy puts her on the sidelines a lot and I'm not a fan of Agent Reyes (who looks like she's going to be around for a while). The trama from Doggett's life about his son is pretty hackneyed and a cheap way to try to humanize him. But by and large, the show needed a shake up and it worked. Season 8 was pretty awesome. Not Three to Six awesome, but close. I'd be very interested to hear what fans who revisited Season 8 think about it now knowing what to expect and not having the same emotions tied up in the show.

I haven't watched Season 9 yet, but if there's one thing I know, it's that babies ruin everything.