The X-Files: Rejuvenated!
Pros:
1) I think I'll speak for all "X-Philes" out there when I say I would watch Mulder and Scully talk about and do nearly any wildest thing if it meant they actually grace my television with their incredible chemistry. A flawless actor-->actress relationship like Duchovny's and Anderson's is hard to come by. Glad to see their banter resurrected not for the first, or second (Mulder's returns in s8, and s9), and not for a 3rd (the absolute trash that was 2008's I Want to Believe) but a fourth time! This show/media franchise, like the entire human race facing imminent threat within the show's universe, refuses to die!
2) Luckily, we have additions who seem more than prepared to share screen time with our 90s TV ace pairing. Joel McHale, in a role he seems born to play, as Tad O'Malley, a conspiracy theorist TV Show Host who Mulder humorously compares to Bill O'Reilly. O'Malley is quick to spin the humor right back in Mulder's face, remarking, "What Bill O'Reilly knows about the truth could fill an eyedropper." Excellent! I'm interested to see what becomes of this new character, an unprecedented opportunity and vice Scully and Mulder have seemingly associated with, as O'Malley is adamant about exposing "The Truth" to the American Public, On-Air.
and 3) Anyone else who was pleased with the heavy voice-over sequence conducted by Duchovny when he brings up things such as the Post 9/11 electronic surveillance of The American people, can thank this year's Golden Globe Award Winner for Best TV Drama, Mr. Robot, as big inspiration Chris Carter clearly drew from. I also read in an expose preview for the show that once the Edward Snowden news broke, Carter had an epiphany of sorts, and was already implementing his efforts into future plot lines, just in case the show was ever to be revived. That, combined with the montage of shots showing George Bush, and crowds of massive American citizens, add just the right flair of new wave and critique of capitalism and materialism, drawing in the fans who felt focusing mainly on the alien conspiracy themes alone simply just wouldn't cut it any longer.
Cons:
1) Mulder seems to be dancing in circles again. In s5 of the original series, you can recall after talking with Kritschgeu (or however you say his name), that Mulder became a real skeptic for a little bit, believing all the truths he came to discover were an Elaborately constructed "smoke screen," designed to throw him off and believe aliens existed, when they in fact didn't. But there was just too much proof which kept throwing itself back in Mulder and everyone else's faces, that he ultimately caved and became a full-fledged believer again. Now, it appears he's spent the past 8 years since putting to rest his short-lived "bromance" with a convicted pedophile psychic priest ("I Want to Believe" that movie was just a figment of my imagination) just waiting for that next phone call about an event, classifiable as an X-File, just so he could play square dance with his own emotions again. Obviously, we've got five more episodes to go, and with the visual explosion "My Struggle" offered us, I certainly hold faith in the overwhelmingly relieved Carter and the rest of the writing staff to bring more clarity to why Mulder's faith is being tested again. Frankly, I just think the guy's been through too much, more since s5 when he first started doubting then ever before, to just drop the truth, solely cause he has been stopped at a red light for X amount of years, waiting for it turn green so he could be enabled to discover the more important truths that are still out there for him to discover.
2) Reyes and Doggett (and William) disappeared. The agents faced tough scrutiny from an entire fan base because of their role as the "replacements" in seasons 8 and 9, but Reyes and Doggett were solid characters who were dealt the most daunting task, and did it with the utmost professionalism. Much credit to their real-life counterparts, Annabeth Gish and Robert Patrick, as well, whose struggle mirrored their own characters' struggles, trying to fit in in a truth-seeking world built for Mulder and Scully. I read Gish is set to return, I just wish the two characters were given more closure, if only just one sentence, explaining what came of them after The X-Files were closed in '02. I also read Mulder and Scully's son, who was put up for adoption in season 9 for his own protection against the, dare I say, Supersoldiers (sorry for contaminating this review with mention of such blasphemy), will return at some point, so I am not too concerned. But still, I feel like if he could have handled the "William -arc" better back when the original series was still airing, he would have.
3) Three words. The Smoking Man. How the f$*k is this man alive? I'm genuinely annoyed. Because it's one thing to push a dying man down stairs in s7 finale just to hold out for his return in a big but not too shocking reveal in s9 finale, but his face was burned clean off in his "death" scene. And I loathe the fact that I just sandwiched death in between two quotations. I see he's signed on for two more episodes. He better have more freaking lines, and explain how he has become The X-File's version of Richard Alpert (immortal "LOST" character).
All in all, this episode was a better "Re-pilot" than any of us ever could have anticipated. I usually give out 9's for outstanding achievement, and very few 10's. So I gave "My Struggle" an 8, because I'm saving my 9 for "My Struggle II," if it successfully fills in all the blanks this episode failed to.
Pros:
1) I think I'll speak for all "X-Philes" out there when I say I would watch Mulder and Scully talk about and do nearly any wildest thing if it meant they actually grace my television with their incredible chemistry. A flawless actor-->actress relationship like Duchovny's and Anderson's is hard to come by. Glad to see their banter resurrected not for the first, or second (Mulder's returns in s8, and s9), and not for a 3rd (the absolute trash that was 2008's I Want to Believe) but a fourth time! This show/media franchise, like the entire human race facing imminent threat within the show's universe, refuses to die!
2) Luckily, we have additions who seem more than prepared to share screen time with our 90s TV ace pairing. Joel McHale, in a role he seems born to play, as Tad O'Malley, a conspiracy theorist TV Show Host who Mulder humorously compares to Bill O'Reilly. O'Malley is quick to spin the humor right back in Mulder's face, remarking, "What Bill O'Reilly knows about the truth could fill an eyedropper." Excellent! I'm interested to see what becomes of this new character, an unprecedented opportunity and vice Scully and Mulder have seemingly associated with, as O'Malley is adamant about exposing "The Truth" to the American Public, On-Air.
and 3) Anyone else who was pleased with the heavy voice-over sequence conducted by Duchovny when he brings up things such as the Post 9/11 electronic surveillance of The American people, can thank this year's Golden Globe Award Winner for Best TV Drama, Mr. Robot, as big inspiration Chris Carter clearly drew from. I also read in an expose preview for the show that once the Edward Snowden news broke, Carter had an epiphany of sorts, and was already implementing his efforts into future plot lines, just in case the show was ever to be revived. That, combined with the montage of shots showing George Bush, and crowds of massive American citizens, add just the right flair of new wave and critique of capitalism and materialism, drawing in the fans who felt focusing mainly on the alien conspiracy themes alone simply just wouldn't cut it any longer.
Cons:
1) Mulder seems to be dancing in circles again. In s5 of the original series, you can recall after talking with Kritschgeu (or however you say his name), that Mulder became a real skeptic for a little bit, believing all the truths he came to discover were an Elaborately constructed "smoke screen," designed to throw him off and believe aliens existed, when they in fact didn't. But there was just too much proof which kept throwing itself back in Mulder and everyone else's faces, that he ultimately caved and became a full-fledged believer again. Now, it appears he's spent the past 8 years since putting to rest his short-lived "bromance" with a convicted pedophile psychic priest ("I Want to Believe" that movie was just a figment of my imagination) just waiting for that next phone call about an event, classifiable as an X-File, just so he could play square dance with his own emotions again. Obviously, we've got five more episodes to go, and with the visual explosion "My Struggle" offered us, I certainly hold faith in the overwhelmingly relieved Carter and the rest of the writing staff to bring more clarity to why Mulder's faith is being tested again. Frankly, I just think the guy's been through too much, more since s5 when he first started doubting then ever before, to just drop the truth, solely cause he has been stopped at a red light for X amount of years, waiting for it turn green so he could be enabled to discover the more important truths that are still out there for him to discover.
2) Reyes and Doggett (and William) disappeared. The agents faced tough scrutiny from an entire fan base because of their role as the "replacements" in seasons 8 and 9, but Reyes and Doggett were solid characters who were dealt the most daunting task, and did it with the utmost professionalism. Much credit to their real-life counterparts, Annabeth Gish and Robert Patrick, as well, whose struggle mirrored their own characters' struggles, trying to fit in in a truth-seeking world built for Mulder and Scully. I read Gish is set to return, I just wish the two characters were given more closure, if only just one sentence, explaining what came of them after The X-Files were closed in '02. I also read Mulder and Scully's son, who was put up for adoption in season 9 for his own protection against the, dare I say, Supersoldiers (sorry for contaminating this review with mention of such blasphemy), will return at some point, so I am not too concerned. But still, I feel like if he could have handled the "William -arc" better back when the original series was still airing, he would have.
3) Three words. The Smoking Man. How the f$*k is this man alive? I'm genuinely annoyed. Because it's one thing to push a dying man down stairs in s7 finale just to hold out for his return in a big but not too shocking reveal in s9 finale, but his face was burned clean off in his "death" scene. And I loathe the fact that I just sandwiched death in between two quotations. I see he's signed on for two more episodes. He better have more freaking lines, and explain how he has become The X-File's version of Richard Alpert (immortal "LOST" character).
All in all, this episode was a better "Re-pilot" than any of us ever could have anticipated. I usually give out 9's for outstanding achievement, and very few 10's. So I gave "My Struggle" an 8, because I'm saving my 9 for "My Struggle II," if it successfully fills in all the blanks this episode failed to.