X-Files: Season 11 *spoilers included*

[Alexa]

Ugh this episode was too much like supernatural. It doesn't help that they filmed on the same ship as a recent supernatural episode. Take away aliens and it basically was a supernatural ep.

Sam and Dean never had to deal with DOD and DOJ though

Also scully voice is weird.

Maybe they have budget problems. That ship is obvious only for Supernatural fans, so no harm done.

 

[Alexa]

Any alien.

I don't think they will add a 3rd alien. It's quite strange having a grown-up William who communicates with his mother in her dreams and on the other side Mulder's father. But I will not complain if we have another one later.

 

[Cli-Fi]

So here Carter is basically saying it's up to you Brits to save the show?

The X-Files has more life in it with or without Gillian Anderson

Chris Carter interview: 'X-Files has more life in it'

 

[ctg]

So here Carter is basically saying it's up to you Brits to save the show?

I think CC is saying it's really up for David. If the audience shows enthusiam then maybe, but overall he wants to write new stories. Something has changes, and there has been a great lull in the conspiracy theories, especially in regards of the ancient civilisation(s). UFO's and space-aliens are at heart of it but in someways I feel it will take whole show to an aspect it hasn't been before, as it would set a long term trend the older series can lean to, maybe even releasing David at some point in the future.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I think CC is saying it's really up for David. If the audience shows enthusiam then maybe, but overall he wants to write new stories. Something has changes, and there has been a great lull in the conspiracy theories, especially in regards of the ancient civilisation(s). UFO's and space-aliens are at heart of it but in someways I feel it will take whole show to an aspect it hasn't been before, as it would set a long term trend the older series can lean to, maybe even releasing David at some point in the future.

On my website I speculated that Mulder could do a Supernatural cameo. I think that would be hilarious.

 

[ctg]

"It's me, Skinner!" - A War Is Never Over

I'm honestly quite surprised Carter haven't written Skinner another episode. He is in most of them any ways, but they haven't solely focused on him. So, if this is the last season of X-files I'm glad they gave him more flesh over his bones for being one of the major characters in the show. I do admit he has often been the face-behind-the-desk rather the caring boss Mulder and Scully never really had, because of the Washington DC politics. But it makes me wonder, in recent light of US government publicising UFO contact videos, should they have given more light to what is happening at the back rooms and other places, given him role as the Federal Fixer. I say that because that's what he mostly does after Mulder exposes something.

It's him, where the buck stops, even though Mulder and Scully sometime receive blue-on-blue fire and be in mortal danger because of the government deal with the space-men. After the Vietnam's experience I wonder what really made him to choose the position in the US government? The exposure to "the weaponised fear gas" must have been a life-changing experience that would have turned him most likely against the Authorities, instead of making him to take role in the Federal government. He is old enough to know about what papers wrote about the Project MKULTRA, even if he didn't had the knowledge of other projects. So I believe the only thing made him to take role in the Federal Government was the need to something to salute. Over the years that enthusiasm veined, yet it's still there for his need to continue the role as a gear in the great bureaucratic machine. Even if Mulder and Scully somehow managed to expose the whole coverup and bring up the darkest secrets they pointed at with "the chemrails" exposition, I believe Skinner would be there to build the whole system back up.

Would the X-Files department still be at the Hoover building basement or would the Authorities had got rid of it if it wasn't him "fixing things?" To my mind the US Government is the last institute who wants to expose any skeletons to the public. They would have shut it down the whole thing long time ago, just like it happened to the Project Blue Book. So is he the pillar that keeps the X-Files floating?

 

[Alexa]

I believe Skinner helped Mulder as he was not afraid to search for the truth. Maybe he saw something in Mulder and wished he had the courage to do the same thing.

 

[REBerg]

11.06 Kitten

It was good to see Skinner's character get some long overdue attention and regain some good guy respect.
Kitten didn't offer anything paranormal or supernatural. Weaponizing a hallucinogenic gas isn't much of an imaginary stretch.

 

[Cli-Fi]

"It's me, Skinner!" - A War Is Never Over

I'm honestly quite surprised Carter haven't written Skinner another episode. He is in most of them any ways, but they haven't solely focused on him. So, if this is the last season of X-files I'm glad they gave him more flesh over his bones for being one of the major characters in the show. I do admit he has often been the face-behind-the-desk rather the caring boss Mulder and Scully never really had, because of the Washington DC politics. But it makes me wonder, in recent light of US government publicising UFO contact videos, should they have given more light to what is happening at the back rooms and other places, given him role as the Federal Fixer. I say that because that's what he mostly does after Mulder exposes something.

It's him, where the buck stops, even though Mulder and Scully sometime receive blue-on-blue fire and be in mortal danger because of the government deal with the space-men. After the Vietnam's experience I wonder what really made him to choose the position in the US government? The exposure to "the weaponised fear gas" must have been a life-changing experience that would have turned him most likely against the Authorities, instead of making him to take role in the Federal government. He is old enough to know about what papers wrote about the Project MKULTRA, even if he didn't had the knowledge of other projects. So I believe the only thing made him to take role in the Federal Government was the need to something to salute. Over the years that enthusiasm veined, yet it's still there for his need to continue the role as a gear in the great bureaucratic machine. Even if Mulder and Scully somehow managed to expose the whole coverup and bring up the darkest secrets they pointed at with "the chemrails" exposition, I believe Skinner would be there to build the whole system back up.

Would the X-Files department still be at the Hoover building basement or would the Authorities had got rid of it if it wasn't him "fixing things?" To my mind the US Government is the last institute who wants to expose any skeletons to the public. They would have shut it down the whole thing long time ago, just like it happened to the Project Blue Book. So is he the pillar that keeps the X-Files floating?

This is my second favorite episode of the season. It was a really cool story, and pretty original. the chemtrails stuff was a little cheesy, but this is the X-Files. It's always been cheesy! It's interesting to note that we didn't know much about Skinner, and we still don't know anything about Skinner. This only focused on his mission in Vietnam. Skinner Spin-off!!!!!

 

[Dave]

I can't read the comments here yet as I'm watching this via Channel 5 (so only up to episode 3.) I've enjoyed these, and this current episode (3) is very reminiscent of the classic X-Files at their best, but I feel the spark has definitely gone.

 

[REBerg]

11.07 "Rm9sbG93ZXjz"
Hilariously terrifying!
Holy smart device paranoia! This makes me question the wisdom of the "Internet of Things." I am reconsidering adding the Nest Hello doorbell to my growing population of machines which can "talk" to each other. It might be the tipping point.

Spoiler

Amid all the chaos, I had to laugh when Scully was under ice cube attack and when Mulder asked: "Why is your house so much nicer than mine?"

The next time I dine at a Panera Bread, I won't question why the server deserves a tip.

 

[ctg]

This makes me question the wisdom of the "Internet of Things." I am reconsidering adding the Nest Hello doorbell to my growing population of machines which can "talk" to each other. It might be the tipping point.

Yeah. I did find disturbing that for first ten minutes Dana and Mulder didn't say anything. I have never known American who can be quiet for so long. [/sarcasm] On my serious note, I think they wanted to really
address the hype of general AI and make an episode to play on those fears that we have on automation.

Yet, they managed to make it obvious that because of our nature, nothing ever really works. Not perfectly and not forever as we are living in a society that consumes so much. The engineers are forced to create products that are inferior in durability if you compare them to item from the past.

But the problem I see is the general AI. We know how to do certain things, but we cannot make a generally intelligent machine that can understand all the quirkiness that comes from being a human. It is an impossible task for now even though the mainstream media plays with those fears. So, I agree, Rm9sbG93ZXjz
was hilariously terrifying. We need to tip our Robot Overlords when ever we can.

 

[REBerg]

What really struck me about this episode was how many of these devices are already in place in my household.
I've lost track of the things on my network -- including computers, printers, cell phones, thermostat, camera, lights, TV set, video game consoles, Echo, Roomba, drone and, the most threatening of all, BB-8.
I just watched a similar episode of Corporate (1.08 Society Tomorrow) which focuses on a tablet-sized activity tracker monitoring the wearer's every move while distracting them with an addicting television series. Now, I am also regarding my Fitbit with suspicion.
Am I doomed?

 

[ctg]

Am I doomed?

Yeah, but not to an AI. Not yet anyway. The next level of terror we are likely to see is a smart virus. An autonumous cybertool that takes over your IoT devices and make them play for the hacker. It won't be intelligent enough to pose threat we saw in the episode, not unless a person was behind all of them. Among those drones were amazingly most of things we've already seen in the trade shows. I especially loved seeing Boston Dynamic's AnyMal and Intel's swarm with a hundred mini-drones guarding Mulder's hut. Thing that surprised me most was the bomb disposal robot that handed the mobile back to Mulder as that thing is a milspec proto.

 

[Dave]

I'm caught up with you now so I can talk.

Maybe it is because I have been watching so much Black Mirror, but that does these kind of 'tech-out of control' stories much better than the X-Files can. What was quite funny was the Bell adverts for "Wireless tech support 24-7" that were playing at the bottom of the screen during that. Also, I find that Mulder and Scully are too tongue-in-cheek during this whole Season for me to believe they are in any danger (even when they were attacked by the three gunmen while watching TV a few episodes back. The X-Files used to be fantastical, but believable. Now it is just fantastical i.e. I can't believe that Langly would have recorded that video to be played to Mulder years after his death. They are just playing for laughs now and going through the motions.

The episode on Skinner's Vietnam history was good (I agree that a Skinner episode was long overdue) but hard to believe Skinner never investigated the old best buddy any further before, but waited until be was 66. In the same vein, Mulder and Scully seem to have forgotten that William is still in danger, his foster parents murdered and DOD and DOJ agents hunting him down. He does have special powers of camouflage, but you'd think they might be at least, a little more interested about their son.

 

[ctg]

In the same vein, Mulder and Scully seem to have forgotten that William is still in danger, his foster parents murdered and DOD and DOJ agents hunting him down. He does have special powers of camouflage, but you'd think they might be at least, a little more interested about their son.

Exactly, the final is apparently all about William and CMS. So, it's a shame that they used these episodes to do filler material while they could have used whole season to push William, CSM, Alien Agenda and The X-Files department being in the middle of all of it. They could have also deepened more about the other alien faction whose clearly against CSM agenda as they've done in the Blacklist.

In fact, their concept has been a perfect for the whole series and the X-Files could live perfectly by doing the same thing and giving people files that are all connection, while there are clear factions that play for the power. All of this can also mirror the our real life world, but for some reason the producers decided to stick to the old format and not give fans stringed together episodes.

I don't blame Gillian wanting to opt out from future X-Files episodes, because there's really no story for her to act. This episode with her ladytools was waste of her potential and I think it spoke against M&S relationship because at the end they were perfectly happy without gadgets. There really hasn't been an episode in this run where she had to play a scientist.

 

[ctg]

Spoiler: S11E08 - Familiar

The X-Files horror episodes are not always the best of the lot, but Familiar certainly hits the spot in this season as the most creepiest. And just as I blamed them for not giving Gillian a chance to play the female scientist, she's plunged back into the murky tale of horrifying familiar.

I felt from the beginning that this was standalone standard episode. Well, not bog standard as Mulder and Scully literally dive into the historic facts of spooky New England, including witches and their familiars. If the X-Files had ran on Autumn slot I would have loved seeing this as their Halloween episode. But Mulder's explanation on the hell hound being the perpetrator doesn't make sense from seeing the familiar skulking the woods at the beginning. If there had been sights of big black hound with glowing eyes around the area, I could have believed it, therefore it's so much easier to believe Scully explanation than Mulder's theories.

For over all the years, Scully has been the firm foundation to the science and logic, while Mulder's been the investigative part, willing to follow any loose thread. It is the system that makes the X-Files so successful and without Mulder's willingness to believe the supernatural and sometimes go beyond it, this whole series would lose its magic. But, in the current climate of chained together episodes, series long arcs, it is doomed to disappear at the past.

Thing about the familiars is that they're almost always summoned entities, devils, spirits and so on. Very often they're portrayed having a malicious intended even though the familiar itself is loyal to the summoner. Because of the X-Files past it was easier to believe in the spirit theory then going down the route logic and science with Scully's serial killer.

What is the most creepy thing is the fact that abducted people often talk about seeing cartoon like people before they're taken and forced to go through all sorts of things. By going down the witchcraft route CC's writers avoided creating a connection to Williams and CSM case. Nevertheless, this was a wonderful episode and it had more story than the last one. I wish they would have given this treatment to all episodes and thought carefully on how they could have pushed the long arc.

 

[Dave]

If the X-Files had ran on Autumn slot I would have loved seeing this as their Halloween episode.

It realy felt like a Halloween episode, so no doubt it was written that way, and it would have done better if the series had been shown in an autumn slot.

Exactly, the final is apparently all about William and CMS. So, it's a shame that they used these episodes to do filler material while they could have used whole season to push William, CSM, Alien Agenda...

That has always been the X-Files formula - a few mythology arc-episodes, interspersed with monster-of-the-week episodes. What is different about the William story is that it is personal, or it should be. William is their son.

Cop: Have you got children?
Mulder: I have a son but he is older.

How can they not be putting every joule of energy into finding him and helping him? Instead they are going and staying in one horse towns picking over witchcraft cases and escaping from machines with menacing demands.

 

[ctg]

How can they not be putting every joule of energy into finding him and helping him? Instead they are going and staying in one horse towns picking over witchcraft cases and escaping from machines with menacing demands.

Exactly. Fringe did much better job and they had a number of filler episodes in the mix as well. Maybe I'm hoping they'd do Fringe treatment to the X-Files, if CC decides there's more life in this series without Scully. Why can't they add those two other new agents in any episodes?

 

[REBerg]

I've never been a fan of horror/supernatural mumbo-jumbo, which this episode certainly aspired to be.
Mulder brought it all back down to earth at the end, when he told Scully: "There's no getting out of this town. Not these days."