The X-Files: New Season Preview

I’ve been an X-Phile from the beginning. Well, not exactly the beginning, because I initially skipped the first season worried that the show would give me nightmares (it did!).  When I got my first access to the internet the summer before my senior year in high school, I spent most of my computer time searching for stuff related to the show. In college, I watched every Sunday night in the TV lounge with a group of friends that I hadn’t even known before our shared interest was revealed.

Fast forward over a decade, and I excitedly waited for Season 10 last year. Maybe my expectations were too high, but with the exception of the darkly hilarious and brilliant Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-monster episode, I found myself overall disappointed with the six-episode season and in particular with the “the whole world is ending… WTH?!?” ending of the finale.

So, maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, or maybe I remembered that for every season 8 and 9 there was a season 2 or 3. Regardless, when given the opportunity to check out the first few episodes of the upcoming season 11, I jumped at the chance. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Here’s what I can tell you:

We get 10 episodes this season, and they are a mixture of mythology and standalone. I can’t say that I felt any less “WTH?” after watching the premiere than I did after the finale, but I’ll give it time to work itself out. A big reveal at the end of the first episode had me screaming at the screen. The second episode is not exactly standalone but didn’t follow right from the first, either. Mulder and Scully are approached by a blast from their pasts and then things get really weird.

The two standalone episodes were my favorite of the 4 I watched – both entertaining, more Were-Monster than Founder’s Mutation (both season 10 episodes, the former awesome and the latter meh). One is a darkly funny and really creepy suicide mystery with a significant death toll while the other is comedically offbeat and felt like it took a cue from the madcap Jose Chung’s From Outer Space from season 3. They are both the kind of episodes to watch with a friend, or at least watch and tweet, because you’ll want to talk about them as they are happening! The fourth episode in particular is chock full of references and easter eggs for long-time fans.

Overall, for the episodes that I’ve seen, Mulder and Scully seem to have fallen back into their comfortable relationship – it feels great as a viewer to see them joke, worry, and work together so easily. Few characters on television have had the kind of relationship that they have, on such an emotional level where they clearly love each other, but there isn’t pressure from the show or anyone else for them to show it in traditional ways (i.e. they aren’t constantly making moon eyes at each other or jumping into the sack). Watching them again makes me realize how much I’ve missed them after all these years!

If the rest of the season lives up to the hype of the first few episodes, it’s going to be a fun ride!

Watch all new episodes of The X-Files on Wednesday nights at 8/7c on FOX!