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X-Files Season 10 (2016) — We Knew It Was a Snake When We Picked It Up

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The X-Files came back with a six-episode new series. At RevolutionSF, we were in the trenches for the show’s last few seasons. We watched. We had to. Well, when we remembered to set the VCR. I believed that my outrage at the show’s last few years has subsided. So here is the show again. Old wounds. Feelings. This is what is happening. Here’s my look at all the new season-10 episodes.

Oh, Monster of the Week episodes. How I missed you.

 

 

1. My Struggle

I am so happy to see Mulder and Scully again that I am willing to forgive a lot of things. If that is true, I must be willing to forgive:

1: Debunking of everything in the X-Files up till now.
2: Instant belief in that debunking by Mulder. Mulder.
3: A new old guy that Mulder has never mentioned before who says something cryptic then vanishes.

4. References to real-life things that happened since X-Files went off the air. That takes me out of the X-Files universe and back to sucky reality. The references have no purpose; Mulder says, “I’m familiar with Edward Snowden,” and that’s it. No punchline. No follow-up. Now, if Snowden was a Fluke-Man, OK. I would’ve been down for that.

The good parts are seeing Mulder and Scully again. They’ve aged with their actors. They are a couple who have lived their lives together. They’re both still Mulder and Scully, but they’re smarter and more confident. The show hasn’t tossed away the relationship. It’s comforting that the show reopens the X-Files and gets back to business so quickly. It’s sweet, even.

So I say all that to say this: I’m willing to let a few things go.

A FEW things.

2. Founder’s Mutation

Oh, Monster of the Week episodes, how I missed you.

After over-delivering on its first episode back, this one simmers down. It’s just a murder investigation. Mulder and Scully investigate Lester from Chuck, who is totally not in Jeffster style here.

They have dream sequences about William, their telekinetic baby who they shipped off in the final season. They didn’t have time to do emotional acting about William during the original series. The stories back then desperately tried to un-filk the conspiracy and the Black Oil and the aliens and ha ha ha, that turned out great. Hooray for the conspiracy!

But now they have plenty of time to discuss William and be sad.

The investigation parts are fine. This episode is OK. It’s just neat to see Mulder & Scully back together again. Six episodes isn’t long enough for this nice feeling to wear off.

OR IS IT?

3. Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster

They appear to be attempting, with each of these six episodes, to revisit a different genre of X-Files episode.

“My Struggle” was a conspiracy. “Founder’s Mutation” was a Monster of the Week episode. This is a funny one. The show used to do a funny one every now and then, usually to clear our pallet for something with the Black Oil the next week.

It’s quite silly, and I mean that as a compliment. The heroes meet a lizard man and he is hilarious. This episode is very fun, and it reminds us that the show can be fun when everyone just relaxes.

Comedian Kumail Nanjani has a role in this episode. He analyzes the show on his podcast, The X-Files Files. That’s where the X-Files people say they found him, and offered him a part on this episode.

I and most of the RevolutionSF irregulars wrote analyses of X-Files episodes for years. The show ended before they had a chance to offer us parts. Obviously.

But I ain’t mad at you, X-Files! Well, I’m not mad about that one thing.

Scully makes a nice reference to “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” when she reminds Mulder that Bruckman told her she doesn’t die.

Which reminds me, what did Raymond’s dad on Everybody Loves Raymond mean by that?

That never got a payoff, and doesn’t here, either. Hooray for X-Files!

4. Home Again

This show is not a sequel to “Home,” the episode where Scully and Mulder fought inbred hillbillies who kept their scary-ass mother under their bed for breeding purposes.

But it is about mothers!

Scully’s mother is dying, and that’s a big old bummer. Before that happens, they encounter a monster who kills people who hate homeless people. He’s Swamp Thing made out of garbage.

Scully and Mulder have some good relationshippy moments. Very sweet. Very human. Then Scully yells at Mulder that she has to go to work and find Garbage-Thing to take her mind off her grief.

So Scully goes back to work, then doesn’t stop the monster from killing, doesn’t catch it, and doesn’t find out anything.

So on The X-Files, you handle the grieving process by getting frustrated and confused about something else.

5. Babylon

Please allow me to paraphrase a character from a different speculative-fiction show from the 90s, Chandler from Friends. 

Could the first few minutes of this episode BE any more outdated, hacky and offensive?

Spending a wordless few minutes with Middle-Easterners as they prepare for a suicide bombing is something, all right — but the ensuing story isn’t about Middle-Easterners. The bombers could have been literally any race and the story would be the same.

I’m going to assume this episode is named after the David Gray song “Babylon,” which this video will now cram into your brain. Baaaaaaa — bylon. This is super appropriate since that song, like The X-Files was also popular in 1998.

The Lone Gunmen came back in this one.

For about three seconds.

Seriously.

A sci-fi show where almost everyone has died and come back.

But the Gunmen came back for a couple of seconds during Mulder’s line-dancing peyote-trip.

It’s revealed that Mulder was not hopped up on goofballs. It was a placebo, which raises more questions, but that’s the X-Files‘s thing.

He wasn’t hallucinating that he line-danced, because Scully told him he had to be dragged out. That scene was hilarious. So I choose to think the Lone Gunmen were there, in cowboy gear, alive, just hanging out, then Mulder showed up. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Before I get to the last episode, here’s what I think about the whole thing. I’m glad it’s back. I’m glad the same creators and actors are coming back and trying this thing again.

I still love The X-Files. If it didn’t have the same problems it always did, I don’t know what I would do. Rewatch it for fun? Discuss episodes all the time with friends? I do that already.

My Struggle, Part 2

“Well, I knew it was a snake when I picked it up.” — Becky Pano

RevSF writer Becky summed it all up in one sentence. I’m going to try to do it one word.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

Book Probe: The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia

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RevolutionSF’s Book Probe eliminates the troublesome freedom of choice from your book buying needs. Buy it at the link, unless your glasses are broken and there’s no one left in the world. Bet you feel like a big ol’ dope now, huh, Penguin? 

The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia.

This book contains more than I ever thought I wanted to know about The Twilight Zone.

Author Steven Jay Rubin is clearly a super-geek, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment. He has dissected and catalogued every episode of the original series in this alphabetical look at each one, the actors, the creators, from “The After Hours” episode to Zamba, the lion who appeared in the episode “The Jungle.”

(That’s not exactly where Rubin starts and ends the book, but I wanted to mention Zamba.)

Zamba!

The behind-the-scenes notes are a treat. They include quotes from actors and creators about individual episodes. My favorite one at the moment is from James Best from “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank.” The future Roscoe P. Coltrane says he stuck a pencil under the coffin lid while he was in it, so it didn’t get “too stuffy.”

While many super-fans of shows might scoff at such books, believing they know everything about their favorite show, I say to them “Scoff not.”

Each episode’s entry includes Rod Serling’s opening narration and crazily detailed information. It acts like a concordance that you can keep handy as you freak yourself out watching all the episodes.

Seriously, don’t do that all at once. Your mannequins will all start talking to you (if they don’t already).

Bonus Stuff: 
Follow author Steven Jay Rubin on Twitter. 

A Rocky Road, Westworld Wins

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And here we are for my second installment of Quick Reviews! I still need to get current on Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow, but I am keeping up with everything else. Mostly. So let’s get started!

1

Westworld — Seriously, this may be the best show on TV right now. This story is deep, the characters are well crafted, and it’s masterful in the art of the slow reveal. I love how we’re seeing more of the scary dark side of Dr. Ford; his lunch with Cullen was a beautiful depiction of how he may be playing the adorable grandfather, he’s using it to hide his keen and manipulative mind.

As a table-top RPG player, I’m also loving the exploration of people “playing” the park, with William as the type of gamer I prefer to be/have in my group, and Logan as the typical Munchkin who could care less about story, setting, morals, NPCs or other players, except in how he can use/abuse them for his own good time. Sticking Dolores in with these two is going to be interesting. Speaking of, I do wonder how she had her conversation with Bernard, while still out with those two. Is her “memory” being remote loaded into that little glass room with him? And it’s interesting that Bernard is keeping her clothed in these little secret meetings, against Dr. Ford’s insistence on keeping them naked behind the scenes to drive home his “these are things, not humans” agenda.

Getting back to the slow reveal side of the show, the hints on Harris’ Man in Black. He’s perfect in this role; the menace in his “Say another word and I’ll cut your throat. This is my vacation.” line gave me chills. I love that he’s searching for a game with real stakes, I’ve known that type of gamer as well. They can be a great addition, or poison, depending on what they’re looking for in your game. Then that end scene, I see a robot uprising in our future.

Supergirl — I finally got a chance to watch the first two episodes, and the move to the CW really hasn’t hurt the show at all. Mainly because it continues to be a show about optimism and heart, with a stellar cast. Losing Cat hurts, but at least she’ll come back for visits. Speaking of the cast, shuffling Jimmy to the new boss, the DEO into new digs and folding Winn in with them works for me. These first two episodes were full of fun, heart and Tyler Hoechlin is the Superman we need and deserve. He had great chemistry with the group, especially Kara, and he nailed both Clark and Kal-El. Like a lot of other people, I would be really interested in him having his own series.

As for the plots, I hope that Lena is not secretly evil, but she is a Luthor. I won’t be shocked if that reveal happens, though it would be a better twist (and fit the show’s heart) if she was legit. The worst would be if they play the “she was legit, but X happens, she blames Kara and turns evil” bit. It would mirror Lex’s story (some versions), but it’s a bit overplayed and hokey these days. I like Cadmus being the season’s Big Bad. They did a good job with Metallo, but he reminds me of a minor thing that’s been bugging me since the show started: they’re giving Kara a lot of Kal’s villains/stories in this series, which makes me wonder what he’s been doing/who he’s been fighting for the 12 years he’s been flying around Metropolis? (And yes, loved the “Moving back to Gotham” line)

Ash vs Evil Dead – The show continues to be so much better this year. Ash over his dead dad was the perfect mix of pathos and humor, and the line “Think of your life as a good time, not a long time,” was pure Ash. The addition of Ted Rami has been great, but I always enjoy his work. The rodeo with the Demon Delta was a blast, and intercut nicely with the ladies hunting down the spawn of the Necronomicon. It was also cool seeing the hell portal in the trunk of the car, and I can’t wait to see what trouble tossing the book inside is going to cause.

Gotham – The storyline with the Mad Hatter continues to be mildly interesting, but Gordon himself remains the least interesting guy on the show. The real reason I keep watching it Penguin/Nigma, and now it looks like the show is going to screw that up with a dumb love triangle storyline. Those always work out so well. Here we had a chance to have a show with a decent non-heteronormative relationship, and they’re gonna screw it up with a cheap attempt at manufactured drama. I’m going to keep watching, hopeful that the show is pulling off a cunning or crazy misdirection, but I’m worried. I’ve walked away from this show before, and if they screw this up, I’m willing to do it again.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – This show is still improving, but Daisy/Sky/Quake backslid again this week into “I hate her” territory. I’ll be glad when they finish off this self-pity arc they’ve locked her into. Ghost Rider continues to be cool, though I totally called him letting his uncle get grabbed by our physics ghosts while he killed off the gang guy. I also liked the new director facing off with the Congress lady on TV, but I’m not sure that I’m going to like the political angle they seem to be setting up between them in the end scene. Still, watching May & Coulson continues to make the show worthwhile.

Legends of Tomorrow – Another show that continues to improve in its second season. I’m happy that this Vixen is joining the team, and I loved their little adventure in Japan. Though I do have to wonder why a show that is strapped for the budget to do Firestorm on a regular basis added a guy who’s powers are another expensive CGI effect. Ray’s struggle of “am I a hero without the suit” arc is hopefully ending soon, with him building a better looking set of armor. I also hope they end the “Secret Message from Barry” thing quickly/the return of Hunter before they get tiresome as well (which won’t take long).

Arrow – I finally watched the first episode of the new season, and while Mopey Oliver is always a drag, at least by episode’s end he seems to be pulling out of it. I also got a little tired of their naear constant attempts at putting over Diggle. The guy doesn’t need it, we already know how good he is, was there ever a question about his skills? Still, I like our new bad guy in town, and the fact that we’re going to have both Wild Dog and Ragman, two of my favorite underutilized DC characters, makes me very happy and hopeful for the season.

American Horror Story: Roanoke – This season is amazing. I had wondered why on Earth the husband had come back to the house, as he was the only one I couldn’t figure out. The actors didn’t believe in the ghosts, and the wife wanted her husband back, but the reveal on why he went back into this merry land of murder made sense. As did his wife’s reaction, the poor dear. I’m wondering if she’s going to be our sole survivor. Speaking of, there were so many kills this episode, three before the opening credits! I’m so happy the producer died, but is it bad that I wish the jackass had suffered a bit more, at least on camera? I love the real Butcher, and felt so bad for Bates’ character at their fated meeting, especially her meek little “I just wanted to be on TV…” before her head was split from crown to nose. Though with the other three ladies being held by the murder hillbillies and the Butcher’s forces at the house, I wonder how they’re going to make this last for three more episodes.

Channel Zero – This show continues to be a slow reveal, slow burn kind of thing, and really working on the creepy vibe more than out and out scares, which is nice. I’m still trying to figure out how the tooth fairy fits in with Candle Cove, and we have the mystery of the teacher’s level of involvement. I like the twist that the main guy had to kill his brother because of what the show was turning him into, and I wonder now what it’s doing to his daughter. It still feels a little forced at times, but I’m still enjoying it enough to stick with it.

The Walking Dead – The hell with this show. And not because of the deaths of [SPOILERS], lots of people have died on this show. My issue with the show is that it’s fallen into a horrible formula. Unless it’s the first episode of the season, the mid-season finale, the return episode or the final finale, not one damn bit of real plot motion happens. There’s more life in the undead on the show than in its plot. All you need to watch for each season is those four episodes, and you won’t miss a damn thing, and that’s frustrating as hell. JDM was great as Negan, but I don’t think he’s gonna be enough to make up for the lack of plot progression and once more having to watch Rick suffer through a crisis of “Oh god, I can’t do/deal with this!” whining. And I’m also sick of his and Daryl’s plot immunity. Negan should have killed Daryl for slugging him, and the only reason he didn’t was the “If Daryl Dies, We Riot” crowd would turn on this show and tear it to pieces. Maybe this season will change, but I have my doubts.

Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s do the Time Warp Again – Someone at Fox has had a burning desire to remake Rocky Horror for at least 10 years, at least that when I first heard of their thinking about doing this. I’m personally not opposed to remakes; my favorite movie is a remake, John Carpenter’s The Thing. But if you’re going to do a remake, you should at least try and bring something new to the table, and this, well . . . it did add “Superhero” to the end, so that was new.

Most of the cast did their best, I loved Milian & Carny as Magenta & Riff Raff, the casting of Ben Vereen as Dr. Scott was genius, and it was cool that Curry was the Criminologist. Everyone else was pretty solid, though McCartan over-sold Brad’s squareness but did well after his tryst with Frank.

Speaking of, casting Laverne Cox as Frank seemed like a good call. And while she can sing, her Frank just didn’t work for me. Her Frank was sexy as hell, and had some great outfits, but Frank should feel dangerous, slightly crazed and have an edge. And she felt Hot Topic edgy. Especially with removing the cannibalization of Eddie. But, in a way, that’s my complaint with the whole thing. This was bloodless, toothless and somehow sexy yet nearly sexless. Most of the songs were decent, but overall, this is not gonna be the version anyone thinks about or requests when they wanna see Rocky.

Quick Reviews

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So, yes, I and this blog site, are alive. Because the internet doesn’t really kill anything until the servers break down. Or you’re a popular superhero MMO that people still miss to this day.

I have missed writing reviews and the like for the site, but life’s been interesting and kept me away; mainly doing the podcasting and posting over on the social media, aka Facebook. I have been posting my thoughts on the TV shows that I’m watching over there, and it suddenly occurred to me “Hey, why not post them on that blog thing you’ve been neglecting for three years!?” This way, I have stuff for people to read here, and I can expand/expound a bit more than I can over on the FacBoo. So that is what I’m going to do!

Now, while I can say more here, I fully intend to still keep these as short reviews, so I can keep up with them as I watch the shows, and not fall behind as might happen if I were to try and do an in-depth look at each show. I want these to be a quick hit of what I’m enjoying (or not) in each show.  I was thinking of calling this Blipviews, in reference to Max Headroom’s Blipverts (kids, ask your parents), but it doesn’t quite work for me. If I do come up with a clever name, I’ll let you all know; or if you have a suggestion, please leave a comment! Now let’s get started!

1

Channel Zero – Watched the first two episodes, and it’s okay. Not good, not bad, just ok so far. I like how it seems to be merging two Creepypastas, Candle Cove and the Tooth Fairy, but some of the “weird-for-weird’s sake” feels forced. The jumping back and forth chronology and flash-cuts to cause confusion, tension or jump scares could also be handled better. And the show is desperately trying to grab the “Stranger Things” vibe, and not doing that so well. On the other hand, it does have some great visuals, and they’re doing a great job with the Candle Cove show inside the show itself. I’m going to stick with it, as I like anthology shows, even in the AHS-season story vein, though my preference is the one-and-done Twilight Zone style.

American Horror Story – Speaking of which, this season continues to be f’ng amazing! The “twist” of turning it into a “reality” show is a bit of genius, and gets the whole cast into the house. There were two bits that surprised me, but should not have, was seeing the “actress” Kathy Bates is playing. I forgot that her scenes were “re-enactments”, so of course she’s an actress. Though her going bug-nuts in the role is brilliant. The other was related, in that the the real crazy nurses were different, and much scarier in appearance, which made me happy. Other things that I liked: When the PA acted like a normal person and decided “Fuck this, I’m out of here.” “Fuck her, I’m don’t care who that is!” and “Oh fuck, there’s a pig headed ghost in my car!” The text cards explaining that the show never aired and we’re seeing the footage stitched together (though I wonder then, who’s watching this?) was a nice touch. The glimpse of the “real” professor’s tape, and that Angela Basset directed it. My only question is why the husband came back to the house. I know the actors don’t believe in the ghosts, the wife wants to get back with her husband and the sister wants to clear her name, but why in the world would the husband willingly come back to this place? Still, this show is just killing it this year (ha!) and I am so sticking with it to the end.

Ash vs Evil Dead – At last, this show finally feels like what I was expecting! Episode two fully embraced the old “Splatstick” description of the original movies. The big fight between Ashy Slashy & the possessed intestines was horrifying and hilarious. I was right there with Ash in screaming “Not up the butt! Not up the butt!” And yeah, it’s nice to have a show brave enough to balance female naked with full Monty pierced male naked, even if it was on a corpse. For episode three, everything with the possessed Olds killing the teens was great, it’s always good to see Ted, even with the weird blonde hair, and it was nice seeing Ash make up with his dad, before waxing him, which they telegraphed five miles off, but it was still funny/shocking. I’m loving Bruce and the gang, the show is the mix of funny/gory that we’ve been promised, and I can’t wait to see where this all goes, though I really am gonna miss Lee Majors.

Gotham – This show continues to be amazing. It’s grabbed hold tight onto the Bat-Guano crazy rail, and the more it does so, the better it gets. Gordon continues to be the most boring guy on the show, but Bruce is coming along nicely (as well as growing like a weed!) The Cobblepot/Nigma bromance is the best thing on the show, and I know the shipping community must be having a field day. I almost bought that Nigma was going to turn on Penguin, because of how crazy that would be, but I was glad that it was a fake-out. When it was over and they were talking at Casa Penguin, his and Nigma’s embrace at the demanded to end with a kiss. I’m also wondering where they’re going with Chief Chickles and Alice’s blood in his eye.  I hope they don’t kill him off, but I’m not sure he’s gonna survive the season.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – The show continues to improve! The story is getting a lot more interesting, and I’m glad they’ve forced the band back together so we stop having dueling storylines. I’m still highly annoyed with Daisy/Sky/Quake, but I liked Simmons standing up to her, and I loved Ghost Rider facing off with explosion guy. The look on his face when he held the flaming chain was perfect. I’m not sure where they’re going with AIDA, but I’m guessing she’s gonna be more of a back-end of the season story arc thing, with all the setup going on while we deal with these Physics Ghosts/obligatory tie-in to Dr. Strange. And while I kinda hope he sticks around, my feeling is that G-R is gonna be G-one when this arc is finished.

Flash – Episode two had the most awkward family dinner ever, but aside from that, it was a solid episode. Any appearance of Jay Garrick/John Wesley Ship makes me all kinds of happy. I also like that the Flashpoint event wasn’t just insta-fixed, and it looks like this is our new reality, at least until the big-mega-five-show cross-over happens. And while Berlanti keeps saying Supergirl is gonna stay separate, I’m hoping that it’s a cover, and the BMFSCO is a mini-CRISIS/multiverse collapse that merges things. And no, I still haven’t caught up on Arrow or Supergirl, as I have to find time to watch them. Though I have been watching…

Legends of Tomorrow – So far the show continues to be an improvement over the first season. I like Canary as the leader, though I didn’t enjoy seeing Stein struggling as the “ahh, ahh, I need a minute” guy. What I did enjoy was watching the JSA kick Nazi ass all over the place, even with the bad CGI on the Uber-Nazi. I would have also liked seeing Hourman, Dr. Mid-Nite and Obsidian have more to do. Or lines. But still, it was a fun romp, which is more I can say about most of season one.

I also watched some movies this week, and here are my thoughts on them.

Steve Jobs – The one with Fassbender as the tech/design guru. It was not your standard bio-pic. It plays in three acts, showing us Jobs backstage before three big events in his life, and the conversations he had with people before he headed out onstage. It’s a clever setup, as it gives everyone a reason to be there and have these talks that reveal Jobs, his mindset and the growth of his life. He talks with the mother of his child & the child, with the Woz, and others. The first act is before the introduction of the Macintosh, the second is before the introduction of the NeXT, and the last is before the introduction of the iMac. The movie does not sugar-coat Jobs, and shows that while he was brilliant in design and knowing what a computer can do, or how design matters in use, that he was also a bit of a condescending jerk, a control freak and be overly vindictive when he felt wronged. It’s a good movie, especially if you like bio-pics or have any interest in the history of personal computing.

Hatchet – This is one that’s been on my “I need to get to this list” for a few years, because I’m a huge fan of Kane Hodder, and this movie was pretty much built around him. That and as a throwback to “old-school” slasher horror. And it is pretty much that. We have about a 40 minute opening of meeting a bunch of thinly drawn characters, watch them venture they shouldn’t go, find out about our mad killer, and then enjoy his dismembering the poor doomed fools in various inventive ways. If you like this kind of horror, you’ll enjoy it.

Maggie – This is the zombie drama that’s notable in that it stars Schwarzenegger doing a fairly serious, dramatic role as a father who’s daughter is slowly becoming the undead. It’s an understated, indie drama, with a zombie frame, and it’s ok. Schwarzenegger gets to show off his dramatic chops, and while he’s not bad, it’s still hard to buy him as any kind of a “normal” guy and not the larger-than-life guy we’ve come to expect from him. The movie also suffers from an ending that is a mixed success in that it tries to make a statement on the power of family, but it also tries to be ambiguous and feels unsatisfying. I’m not unhappy that I watched it, but only watch if you’re a hard-core zombie or Schwarzenegger fan.

Z for Zachariah – This movie is apparently based on a popular book, and has Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie and Chris Pine as survivors of some kind of radioactive apocalypse, living in a valley that was somehow spared the fallout that wiped out the rest of the world. Robbie is a devout Christian girl who grew up in the valley, Ejiofor is a scientist who makes his way there, and then Pine is a miner who gets there after Ejiofor & Robbie has been together for a while. This is a movie with three great actors, an interesting premise, and yet still manages to still be boring as hell. It wants to be a meditation on faith, science, love and relationships, but instead it was like watching paint dry. When the movie finally gets to the big climax between Ejiofor & Pine, it decides to be ambiguous (there’s that word again), and ends up feeling more frustrating/annoying than compelling/interesting. I hate to end on a downer, but don’t bother.