The X-Files: A Spooky Mulder Appreciation Thread

Arts & Entertainment
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At the behest of @RiskyFlush, and after reading a good comment from @Rexx about how the TV thread tends to drift off into tangents, this thread will document my first ever watch through of The X-Files.

The idea is that as I watch new episodes, I’ll give a brief recap and give my thoughts. Hopefully some of the long time fans of the show can chime in, discuss, post memes, and take this as an opportunity to rewatch some favorite episodes.

I don’t think this is really the kind of show where spoilers are a problem, and I’m appreciative of the fact that it came out over 25 years ago. With that said, if there are any big plot twists or major story arcs that you all think are worthy of being protected by spoilers, please do so. If you’re just talking about random stuff from monster of the week episodes or whatever, I don’t think that merits spoiler tags.

For anyone who is interested, the entire series is available on Hulu. At some point they must have remastered the whole series, as all of the episodes are in HD and it looks surprisingly good.

I’ve currently seen 19 episodes in S1 - next post will have some thoughts and highlights from those episodes. I’m hoping to get through the remainder of the season and maybe start S2 over the holiday weekend.

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Such an awesome show. Looking forward to the thread.

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This show is thirty years old. I reserve the right to laugh at any spoiler tags used ITT.

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I’m trying to watch it. I saw random ones growing up and later on and always remember liking it, I’m on ep4 right now.

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One of my all-time favorites.

Can’t wait to read your reaction to season 4, episode 2 (“Home”), which for me remains one of the most psychologically-affecting episodes of television ever. Hopefully it’s available. It’s often pulled from reruns and syndication because it was so disturbing.

On the other end of the spectrum, Season 6 has “The Unnatural” which is one of my favorite episodes ever.

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There is some early foreshadowing that true fans will know about that we might not want to spoil for a new viewer, tbh.

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I recently started watching with my 14-year-old, in the first episode when Scully refers to Billy as “the vegetable” his jaw literally dropped and he was like “are you fucking kidding me, they could say that on TV back then?”

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Where is the Scully appreciation thread?

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maaan, I don’t have time but now I want to do a rewatch. Again.

I know half the episodes by heart and here I am wanting to watch them again. LOL

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I’m pretty sure it’s on the Hulu list.

While Home is great, my favorite episodes tended to have a bit lighter faire. How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, and Small Potatoes, Hollywood AD, and Nothing Lasts Forever

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Well, I like “Home” and “Squeeze” for very different reasons (the same reason people like horror movies) than “The Unnatural” and “Jose Chung’s…” and “Post-Modern Prometheus”

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Ohhhh, and what’s the one with the Pleasantvill vibe? That one is fantastic as well.

Meowmers, while the show is one of the best dramas of the 90s dont overlook its humor. You could tell Duchovney always wanted to be in comedies.

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Ahhhh Post Modern Prometheus is so good.

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Arcadia?

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I’m not saying don’t use them.

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Got me itching to rewatch too. This show wasn’t just revolutionary. It was good, too.

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Season 1, Episode 1 - Pilot

Scully meets Mulder, is immediately confronted with evidence of alien life

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the pilot episode really caught me off guard. We start out with a classic formula: we follow Scully as she gets the news that she’s being assigned to work with Spooky Mulder. The show has permeated pop culture enough that I know that man smoking in the background is… significant? In some way, I guess? We’ll see, for now he’s just a glaring reminder that this is in fact the 1990’s, and smoking inside an office building is still a totally normal thing to do.

I left the opening scene expecting that the first few seasons of the show is going to be a battle between the rational Scully and the spooky Mulder. A long chain of unexplained occurrences that might be aliens, or might just be normal earthly happenings.

Clearly that’s not what kind of show this is. We get confirmation that a group of high schoolers was abducted. Scully and Mulder maybe get abducted too? They lost 9 minutes of time which is PLENTY of time to get probed - a fact that I’m sure Mulder is acutely aware of. The final scene of the smoking man storing the alien implant with a bunch of other basically identical implants was perfect.

Season 1, Episode 2 - Deep Throat

Mulder keeps getting caught by the military at their secret UFO air force base

We get our first instance of Mulder working with unorthodox sources in his investigation when he gets tips on breaking into base from some stoner teenagers. Most importantly, we’re introduced to the shadowy informant who tells Mulder that, yes, aliens are real and the government is covering them up.

Season 1, Episode 3 - Squeeze

A guy who murders people the same way Tim Allen goes down the chimney in The Santa Clause

Our first “Monster of the Week” episode. Tooms is super creepy, and his performances manages to sell what is really a pretty silly concept. Episodes like this are fun because they follow the same beats as a law and order episode but with absolutely no rules about what the suspects are capable of.

Season 1, Episode 4 - Conduit

Mulder drags Scully to Florida to investigate an abudction at a trailer park

We’re introduced to the story about Mulder’s little sister. Duchovny does a good job with the dramatic notes I think - I really buy Mulder as a sympathetic character overall.

Season 1, Episode 5 - The Jersey Devil

Mulder and Scully discover that there are families of hairy cannibalistic humanoids living in the forest outside of Atlantic City. As if we didn’t already know

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Loving it. A watch like this is fascinating. I watched the show on first run, so I remember it more as a finished product than a mystery yet to be unveiled. Very easy to forget what it was like to discover the show one new episode at a time.

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I still think of Tooms when my dog shreds up paper…lol

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A federal office building no less