Plot: What’s it about?
As I began this new, six-episode X-Files “event series”, I was finally able to discern exactly what this show has always been about. It’s often been said that The X-Files is, at its core, about the struggle between faith and science. Looking back on the series as a whole, though, I’m not sure I believe that. For me, this is a show about the struggle between different types of faith. Whether we personally choose to place our faith in a higher power, in science, in atheism, or in the unknown possibility of alien life, it’s really all the same. Ultimately, we all make a choice about the things in which we choose to invest faith, live by, and accept as personal truth. For the entire run of The X-Files, examples of different types of faith were illustrated in nearly every character, not just the obvious paranormal and scientific faiths respectively demonstrated by David Duchovny’s Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson’s Dana Scully. Many of the other, peripheral characters are shown placing their faith in man, in government, in God, in cults, or in any countless number of things defined only as “the unknown”. If this series has had one quintessential, defining strength over the years, it’s that it struck a fine balance in never passing definitive judgment on any one belief system against another. Depending on which episode or season you watched, you might see overtly positive or downright negative aspects highlighted about virtually any realm of faith. Yet through it all, those faiths were always there, tying all of the show’s peculiarities together.
One of the more interesting aspects of this series’ initial run for me was Season 8, in which Mulder’s character was replaced for a time by Robert Patrick’s John Doggett. While the chemistry that Anderson shared with Patrick never even pretended to equal what she’d had with Duchovny, I found the decision to flip character motivations (with Scully taking on the role of the believer to Doggett’s hard-lined skeptic) truly fascinating. It showed us Scully’s character in a much different light than we’d seen before. What’s more, it made organic, logical sense to do so, given what she’d experienced with Mulder. In the latter part of the series (and the subsequent, aptly-titled film I Want To Believe), we saw that through-line of faith taken to its pinnacle, with Mulder questioning everything he’d ever believed about the paranormal, and Scully seemingly finally at peace in the knowledge that, in the end, some things truly are best left to faith. Whatever else one thinks about I Want To Believe (and make no mistake, it was unquestionably a grave miscalculation of fans’ expectations of a second big-screen adventure), it at least understood and respected the characters enough to bring one of the most deeply personal themes of the entire show – personal faith – to a thoroughly appropriate and satisfying denouement.
This epiphany about the vital role that faith has played in the life and longevity of The X-Files brings me to these six episodes. When I first heard about this limited run airing on Fox, I must admit that I was excited. The X-Files always struck me as a series that would age gracefully and always have something pertinent and timely to say if handled correctly and not driven into the ground by the necessities of cranking out a full season of episodes every year. Sadly, for me, this new series simply fails to capture much of any of the magic that this show once had. There are certainly exceptions to be seen in little moments here and there (Duchovny, in particular, seems to be having a ball with Mulder for the first time in decades – probably since around the time of the much-more-satisfying first film, Fight the Future) and even a standout episode (“Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster”) that’s so spot-on, tongue-in-cheek hilarious that you’d swear you were watching an episode from 25 years ago. Sadly, though, a few positive elements do not a good series make – especially not when it’s also riddled with so many negative ones. From the very first episode, things simply feel so orchestrated, stilted, and poorly written that it’s hard to take it half as seriously as it so obviously takes itself. As a result, what should have been a great time catching up with Mulder and Scully all-too-often feels like catching up with Duchovny and Anderson instead.
And while I, as a fan, was certainly willing to cut this new show a generous amount of slack for its awkward staging (18 years is, after all, an awfully long time to be out of character – even with a feature film in between), it’s the series’ preachy and cynical storytelling that I ultimately found unforgivable. While The X-Files has never exactly shied away from making thinly-veiled political statements in some of its episodes (much like another of my favorites, Star Trek: The Next Generation), the over-the-top and patently one-sided nature of the statements made in this one-off were a bit hard to stomach – even for someone who tries particularly hard to enjoy entertainment on its own terms and not let real-world sensibilities intrude. Within the first few minutes, we’re shown President Obama in an appearance on late-night television, laughing and personable, followed almost immediately by an ominous montage about government corruption inter-cut with shots of former President George W. Bush (Obama never makes another appearance). The villains this time around aren’t the alien invaders we might have expected but, predictably, the evil, money-grubbing corporations who are out to exploit formerly acquired alien technology in their quest for world domination. This is a show no longer contented with merely hinting at its arguments, but one near-obsessed with making sure you agree with its conclusions. Unfortunately, things only go downhill from there.
Throughout these six episodes, we’re gradually treated to an all-out PSA assault, ranging the entire spectrum of political issues. One of the main characters is an (obviously crazed) right-wing talk show host who breeds fear in his audience about an (obviously crazy) governmental plot to seize all of our guns. He’s quickly dismissed by Mulder as a jackass in one of our first scenes. Another episode takes not one but two swings at tackling racial intolerance and Islamophobia. A suspected terrorist (ironically portrayed in the broadest, most stereotypical way imaginable) nearly meets his death at the hands of a random, rogue nurse who – and I’m serious – only tries to kill him because he’s a Muslim. In a different scene, Mulder is literally told by Scully that “not all Muslims are terrorists”, as if Mulder as a character would be so ignorant as to need this pearl of wisdom spoon-fed to him. And I haven’t even touched on this show’s (conspiracy’s) take on how we deserve death as a species because of our role in climate change, or how the God of the Bible and the Koran are one and the same – both dismissed as “angry” deities. The latter assertion, delivered by Scully, proves especially incongruous with and even offensive to her character’s history (strangely, she still wears a cross around her neck). In one particularly snide bit of commentary on ill-perceived Southern culture, Mulder arrives at a Texas airport, at once surrounded by cowboy hats by virtually every extra on camera. Perhaps that one was intended as a joke, but with so many other societal judgments being handed down with the cynical subtlety of a sledgehammer, it’s a bit hard to tell the difference.
All of which brings us back to faith. Faith is what kept The X-Files interesting all of those years. Whether it was the warring aliens/science faiths between Mulder and Scully, or the more subtle agency/personal faiths between our leads and A.D. Skinner (Mitch Pileggi, who makes one of the more successful and welcome returns of this series), the show always knew how to balance faith in a way that ultimately respected all viewpoints. Over the years, we’ve watched as Mulder’s faith diminished and Scully’s grew through their experiences, challenging one another to retain a belief in something, even if it’s not what they once held to be true. In the new series, we sadly find these two without much faith left in anything, be it paranormal, spiritual or otherwise. We’re left with a Mulder who feels that his life’s work has likely been spent in the pursuit of nothing (and, frankly, given the big reveals of this series, can we really conclude anything else?) and a Scully who callously dismisses the one truly fascinating duality about her character (the oft-hinted-at spiritual center behind her scientific mind), making her about as interesting as an emotional Mr. Spock (I’m glaring at you, J.J. Abrams). To be sure, I can accept virtually anything out of these two beloved characters. This is Mulder and Scully, after all, and this is The X-Files. And even as let down as it leaves me as someone who sees faith as the connective tissue that holds all of their exploits together, I recognize that there is some narrative logic behind their losing faith. But with these six episodes, something even worse has happened. The X-Files has finally lost faith in its audience.
Video: How does it look?
Having purchased all nine seasons of The X-Files recently released on blu-ray and both feature films, I can tell you unequivocally that there’s some very good and very bad news about The Event Series. The bad news is that no amount of makeup can hide the advancing ages of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on these incredible new discs. The good news is pretty much everything else about these MPEG-4 AVC presentations. These are absolutely stunning and jaw-dropping transfers. All I can say is “wow” and “job well done, Fox”. Whatever my thoughts about the series itself, I could find nary a fault in any one of these episodes’ video qualities. As so often happens in the age of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon streaming, it sometimes takes a stellar, reference-quality set like this to remind us of the (still) superior capabilities of physical media. This collection effortlessly does just that. From the first shot to the last (barring perhaps the credit sequences, which wisely opted not to update the classic montage we all know and love from the original seasons), these episodes positively sparkle on blu-ray. It’s been a long time since a release impressed me like this, but this is about as great as video at home gets this side of 4K. Colors are flawless, black levels impeccably inky yet consistently revealing, and fine object detail routinely astounding in even the most mundanely lit scenes. The pores of the actors can clearly be seen in close-ups. Textures on clothing are easily discernible. Every inch of the 1.78:1 frame is utilized to near-perfection. I noticed one instance of very slight shimmering down the face of a building in a single establishing shot which in and of itself just wasn’t worth downgrading my rating even half a point. I’m giving The X-Files: The Event Series a rare perfect score for video. This is simply a fantastic presentation that I can’t recommend highly enough. Subtitles are available in English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
Audio: How does it sound?
Nearly as impressive as the visuals, The X-Files rattles the shutters with a set of terrific DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio tracks that raised my eyebrows more than once. You would truly never know this was a show produced for the small screen going by these audio presentations alone. Your sub-woofer will get one heck of a workout when called for. Dialog is always clear, crisp and intelligible, and surround envelopment is a virtual constant, even in quieter moments. One of the biggest compliments I can give a soundtrack is that it immerses the viewer in its world. This necessitates a sound mix that doesn’t just come alive during big action set pieces, but that details the smallest nuances of all the smaller sequences in between. The tracks on these discs are just great, and compliment the stories on screen about as perfectly as anyone could have expected or hoped. While I’m not prepared to say that these tracks sound quite as good as the latest big-budget 7.1 summer blockbusters (and, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m still only equipped with a 5.1 setup, so I’m not sure I could tell you if they did), I can say with confidence that absolutely no one will leave these episodes disappointed – at least not with their video or audio quality. I had a fantastic time with The Event Series, at least from the perspective of being reminded of what my equipment could do. It’s been too long. Thank you, Mulder and Scully. Also available are DTS 5.1 tracks in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in Spanish and Portuguese.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Audio Commentaries – First up, we get commentaries on three of the six included episodes in the set. Always-talkative series creator Chris Carter is joined by director James Wong for “Founder’s Mutation”, David Duchovny and Gillan Anderson team up (in a split-commentary capacity) with Kumail Nanjiani and writer/director Darin Morgan for “Mulder & Scully Meet The Were-Monster”, and Carter returns along with writer/producer Gabe Rotter for “My Struggle II”.
- Deleted Scenes – A brief collection of mostly expendable deleted scenes are up next, running around five minutes in total.
- Documentaries – By far the crowning jewel of this set, though, are the pair of documentaries on deck. “43:45 – The Making of a Struggle” starts things off. Tons of the cast and crew are on hand to offer insight to what it took to bring Mulder and Scully back to the small screen after so many years. I wasn’t expecting such a thorough documentary on the making of this six-episode series, but it was thoughtful, informative, and quite the welcome addition to the package. The second documentary is “Season X” – another surprisingly lengthy feature that runs nearly an hour and a half. Put to it, I probably enjoyed this one a hair more than “43:45”, as it serves as a great bridge between the final season of the original series, the last feature film, and this new set of episodes. It’s a terrific look at how fan interest actually helped motivate the powers that be to bring the show back and give a more satisfactory cap to Mulder and Scully’s story. To be perfectly honest, I actually enjoyed these two documentaries a bit more than the series itself.
- Gag Reel – Next up is the always welcome “Gag Reel” feature. I really do wish more releases would include these. Some of this stuff is just gold, and in a show that (usually) takes itself so seriously, it’s great to see these actors cutting up and having a good time.
- Monster of the Week – We also get a pretty entertaining little 10-minute featurette titled “Monster of the Week” that’s more or less hosted by Kumail Nanjiani as he recalls his favorite X-Files monsters from years past.
- The X-Files: Green Production – Rounding out the extras, we get a very brief featurette called “The X-Files: Green Production” on how the show-runners kept the production environmentally-friendly, and a 10-minute short film entitled “Grace”, directed by series script coordinator Karen Nielsen.
The Bottom Line
I suspect that one’s enjoyment of The X-Files: The Event Series will come down, in part, to one’s sensitivity to heavy-handed social commentary that picks a side early and makes its points strongly and often. For my part, I’ve always enjoyed The X-Files as a paranormal thriller which found a near-magical balance between profundity, humor, drama, and deep (if inconsistent) mythology. It worked because it took its time to develop characters that made sense, stories that entertained, and over-arching themes that made you invest in where it chose to go – even when it jumped the proverbial shark more than once. While Duchovny and Anderson will always be welcome on my screen as Mulder and Scully, this series honestly left me feeling little else but a longing nostalgia for the show I once loved. I wanted to delve back into the dark world of conspiracies and aliens. What I got was a six-episode-long lecture of political talking points and religious platitudes that seemed determined to stay at the forefront of the experience, even at the expense of established character histories and the more intriguing possibilities that could have been explored in the fictional arena. When the final episode ended on its (by now rather predictable) cliffhanger, I should have been left wanting more. Instead, I was merely relieved at not having to count the minutes until the writers awkwardly jammed another timely message down my throat. Sadly, I can’t in good conscience recommend this series, even to fans of the original show. On the other hand, if you caught these episodes on Fox and enjoyed them for what they were, I can’t recommend the quality of this set highly enough.
