AKA: Never Trust Chris Carter
(Okay, maybe that’s not totally fair, but dammit, we deserve better. )
Chris Carter has become the George Lucas of my TV. He had a great idea, he has a wonderful imagination, and really cares about his characters, but he should not be allowed to write anymore. Hell, I’ll even let him direct, but leave the writing to someone else, my good man.
Because this episode could have been something. Imagine it opening with Mulder, who has seen the pain that Scully has been experiencing over their child, and him having some tidbit of info for her regarding William. Together they go to just take a peek at their son, to make sure he is, indeed safe. And maybe they find out that CSM has meddled in William’s life, and our heroes have to snap into action to keep William out of the cabal’s clutches. In the meantime, Einstein and Miller catch wind of a growing pandemic, putting together the pieces, as the world’s population is thrown into a tizzy via conspiracy theorists like McHale’s O’Malley. THEN, we get Mulder and Scully, and Einstein and Miller work together to figure out what is real, what is fiction, and they could have even still had the confrontation with Mulder and CSM, and the info that Scully was immune, and tie William in that way. YOU COULD EVEN HAVE HAD THE “ALIEN” SHIP CLIFFHANGER. Just make the whole thing more coherent, keep Mulder and Scully working together in the freakin’ finale for goodness sake, and make it a team thing, a way to have Mulder and Scully have two more allies in Einstein and Miller in their fight. GEEZ. It could have been really cool.
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
But instead, we got Mulder being separated from Scully until the last few minutes of the episode, Scully and Einstein making wild leaps in reason and in antidote making, an anemic visit by Agent Reyes, and no Skinner at all. BAH.
At least the Mulder and CSM Henchman fight was outstanding, so it wasn’t all bad.
Oh, it hurts to see all the pieces sitting right there in front of you, and not being able to assemble it in a cohesive and relevant manner.
These two should always be together. ALWAYS.
THAT BEING SAID:
I very much enjoyed this revival as a whole, and I think there is still a lot of life left in The X-Files. I was surprized by all the William stuff, but it felt natural to me, being a middle-aged Gen X-er who understands that having the 50th birthday looming in the near distance can bring up some serious thinking on the choices that have been made, and what choices to make next. Grieving the bits that have passed, finding the way to what is next, and deciding what really is important. I thought that part of revisiting these characters felt real and grounded and made sense. And I am always up for a Darin Morgan TXF episode. ALWAYS.
I hope that FOX pokes at Chris Carter to get another chunk of episodes, that someone helps Carter straighten out his manic conspiracy ideas, and that sometime in the next year or two we get ourselves some more of what we really want, Mulder and Scully, working together, being awesome.