Some people are giving this a 1* which is silly, there are many worse monster of the week episodes from the past, 'improbable' from season 9 comes to mind.
It's a fairly standard mythology episode that follows the main story arc set out from the pilot (aliens and their existence or purpose) and the reuniting of a separated Mulder & Scully. But my only real gripes are:
1) The story ignores where season 9 ended. What happened to the super soldiers, apparently being in the government, in the FBI etc? The aliens were supposed to invade earth on 22 December 2012, this was the main revelation from the final episode. They kinda glossed over this, without mentioning it, an annoying continuity error.
2) The revelation in this episode, though feasible seems to come out of nowhere with little to explain why Mulder would be drawn to this conclusion, the catalyst for this unexplained conclusion also seems to go against the vast wealth of knowledge the viewer and surely Mulder has from past episodes. This is a shame as past x-files episodes always worked hard to have intelligent or as realistic as possible explanations for even the most unlikely of scenarios, they were quite detailed. There's really not much meat on the bone here. Maybe it was rushed or less experienced writers helped?
The acting is ok but being the first episode after so long, can feel a tad stiff and may take a few episodes to get the gears oiled again.
Overall not a terrible return by any means, but more thought and better pacing that doesn't rush revelations with weak explanation, could've made this first episode even more solid. From reviews I've seen it does get much better after 2-3 episodes so will continue watching.
It's a fairly standard mythology episode that follows the main story arc set out from the pilot (aliens and their existence or purpose) and the reuniting of a separated Mulder & Scully. But my only real gripes are:
1) The story ignores where season 9 ended. What happened to the super soldiers, apparently being in the government, in the FBI etc? The aliens were supposed to invade earth on 22 December 2012, this was the main revelation from the final episode. They kinda glossed over this, without mentioning it, an annoying continuity error.
2) The revelation in this episode, though feasible seems to come out of nowhere with little to explain why Mulder would be drawn to this conclusion, the catalyst for this unexplained conclusion also seems to go against the vast wealth of knowledge the viewer and surely Mulder has from past episodes. This is a shame as past x-files episodes always worked hard to have intelligent or as realistic as possible explanations for even the most unlikely of scenarios, they were quite detailed. There's really not much meat on the bone here. Maybe it was rushed or less experienced writers helped?
The acting is ok but being the first episode after so long, can feel a tad stiff and may take a few episodes to get the gears oiled again.
Overall not a terrible return by any means, but more thought and better pacing that doesn't rush revelations with weak explanation, could've made this first episode even more solid. From reviews I've seen it does get much better after 2-3 episodes so will continue watching.