The X-Files Season One Review (Spoilers)
The X-Files: Season One
The debut series of the Proto-Lost.
How is it? The first season of the show doesn't really follow the rest of the series' mythology about aliens and government conspiracies. The players are all the same (Cancer Man is in the very first episode) but very little is consistant with what they set up in later seasons. This should have been a troubling clue to the audience that creator Chris Carter had NO clue where he was going with the series. We had already been punked by Twin Peaks and us fanboys should have known better.
All that said, the series is STILL enjoyable if you can appreciate it for what it is instead of what it should have been. Normally, the "monster-of-the-week" episodes are better than mythology episodes and the first season is no exception. Highlights include the series' take on The Thing (Ice), the delightfully twisted and unsettling story about two VERY bad seeds (Eve), the touching and disturbing Scully spotlight (Beyond the Sea), the scary bug episode (Darkness Falls), and the season finale which arguably is the very first mythology episode or at least the first one that adheres to the series' larger themes (The Erlenmeyer Flask).
Worst episodes are the boring Ghost In the Machine, the yawn-inducing Space, the unsatisfying Miracle Man, and the episode that stretches (bad pun intended), ALL credibility (Tooms).
Season Overall: ****.
Pilot: Cool, creepy opener to the whole franchise that touches on basically everything you need to know about the series to enjoy it before it got tied down completely in it's own overwrought mythology. ****.
Deep Throat: Like most second episodes this one is a bit of a let-down but it was cool meeting Deep Throat for the first time. Also fun to see Seth Green as a stoner. ***1/2.
Squeeze: Very scary. Guest star Doug Hutchison (as Eugene Tooms) has a very scary but child-like way about him and it was cool seeing Donal Logue as a jerky FBI agent. Very good. ****.
Conduit: A somewhat boring episode that picks up during the last act. I think the scene of the motorcycles coming into the woods at night is one of the most iconic visuals the show has ever done and it was pleasant to see Don Gibb in a serious role as the biker bartender. The last scene of Scully listening and Mulder remembering to his hypnotic regression session was both sad and touching. I wish the series had ultimately paid Samantha off better. ***1/2.
The Jersey Devil: Wow, the Jersey Devil is HOT! I liked this episode and I thought the end was both sad and neat. ***1/2.
Shadows: MUCH better than I remembered it. This is also the first episode to REALLY rack up the body count although Ice did it better. ***1/2.
Ghost In The Machine: Boring episode with little to no supernatural elements. Cool to see Deep Throat in two nice scenes though. *1/2.
Ice: A classic and the first great episode of the series. One of the cool things about rewatching TV shows from the nineties is that they always feature guest stars before they made it big. This episode features Xander Berkeley (24), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) and Jeff Kober (Buffy The Vampire Slayer). The episode is tense and features a lot of nail-biting scenes and has paranoia up the wazoo. Excellent. ****1/2.
Space: REALLY dull episode. Yeah, Susanna Thompson is hot but really there is no excuse why this is so yawn-inducing. *.
Fallen Angel: Superb. I love Max Feinig and how delightfully nerdy he was (you could tell Mulder found him funny too: "The enigmatic Dr. Scully"; Ha!) and this episode is exciting. I AM going to take off points for something the entire first season is guilty of: the aliens seen here and throughout the season completely contradict the mythology of the later seasons (not that that didn't often contradict itself). I know Chris Carter had no idea where he was ultimately going with the story (and the last episode proved it) but I REALLY wish his incompetence had been less obvious. ****.
Eve: Truly horrific and at times darkly humorous tale about TWO Bad Seeds gone amuck. The girls who play the younger Eves are incredibly creepy as is Harriet Harris as the adult version. The show's stand-alone episodes tend to either really suck or be great. This is the latter. I especially like how for once Mulder is completely wrong in almost all of his guesses and that the audience finds out the truth before the agents do. This is the best episode thus far and in my opinion the best episode of the first season. *****.
Fire: I KNEW I knew Firefly and Battlestar Galactica's Mark Sheppard from somewhere but I could never place his face. He was the psycho arsonist in this episode. His scenes with the two boys are extremely unsettling. Unfortunately the episode has a HUGE weakness: Mulder's ex Phoebe who is a truly vile and despicable character. And not in that "love to hate" way but in the "get off the screen NOW" way. Still, the pyrotechnics in this episode and the cool baddie are enough to earn the episode ****.
Beyond The Sea: I love this episode. It's a definite classic. Brad Dourif gives a performance so disturbing and at time surprisingly touching that it's a crime he wasn't even nominated for an Emmy which had there been any justice he would have won. My only problem with the episode is Mulder who REALLY ticked me off for the first time for talking down to Scully for believing Boggs. He acquitted himself in the last scene but that always bugged me. The title song is one of my favorite songs too. *****.
Gender Bender: Oh, yeah, transgendered Amish aliens. Sometimes I LOVE how wild the concepts on this show are. The episode was VERY interesting from start to finish and we even got to see a pre-Krycek Nicolas Lea as an embarrassed club patron before he was given his major role in season two. ***1/2.
Lazarus: Kind of dull. I WAS a little bit surprised (but not really) at how stubborn Scully was in believing Willis was still Willis. But yeah, it was personal for her, so of course she believed it. **1/2.
Young At Heart: The show has done better. The best scene in the episode is Scully in her apartment with her gun held out for Barnett. The music is terrifying. ***.
E.B.E.: Good Deep Throat spotlight. This episode makes me realize that Jerry Hardin has a GREAT sounding and distinctive voice. I also like that this episode introduced The Lone Gunmen. ***1/2.
Miracle Man: This episode was extremely unsatisfying. It IS worth noting that it is the third episode this year to feature a regular from Stephen King's Golden Years in R.D. Call as the sheriff (Ed Lauter in Space and Felicity Huffman in Ice were the others). **.
Shapes: A boring first three acts is barely saved by the climax being exciting. It was cool seeing Twin Peaks' Micheal Horse as the reluctant Indian Sheriff and a Pre-Battlestar Galactica Donnelly Rhodes. **1/2.
Darkness Falls: Intense episode that keeps making the situation worse and worse as it goes along. Frankly, I'm shocked three people survived even if two of those were Mulder and Scully. A fantastic outing. *****.
Tooms: Y'know this episode was somewhat well put together and featured the debut of Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man's first line...But... Sometimes even an X-Files episode pushes credibility too much. I just can't buy that Tooms would be released so early and that no-one would have any problems with the idea besides Mulder. And Mulder... doing himself NO favors by sounding completely insane at the parole hearing. He says he doesn't care HOW he sounds as long as he gets to the truth. Well, if he had just pointed out that Tooms was a suspect in four recent murders without delving into the supernatural he could have prevented his early release and not gotten that doctor killed. I just wasn't buying the problems the episode set up. **1/2.
Born Again: This was pretty good. I like the concept of reincarnation and I love that the episode didn't make any judgments about what Michelle/ Charlie was doing and left it up to the viewer to decide if she was a monster or not. ***.
Roland: Great episode and James Sloyan is awesome. Best bit was the body outline with the head split into a baziliion pieces. Truly hilarious. Roland's dilemna was touching as well. ****.
The Erlenmeyer Flask: The first "real" mythology episode of the show the episode works because it gets closer to the truth than the show has EVER come before. REAL bummed they killed off Deep Throat but they managed to make it so Jerry Hardin could make multiple re-appearances in later seasons. Trust No One. *****.
Deleted Scenes: Pilot: Scully was originally supposed to have a boyfriend! And he would have been played by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Tim Ransom! These two scenes are EXCELLENT finds! ****.