The X-Files Season 1 (Rewatch part 2)
Continuing from my last post, here’s the next part of my rewatch of The X-Files. I’ll be covering another batch of episodes from Season 1.
1X11 “Fire”
A fun episode, “Fire” stars a young Mark Sheppard as the antagonist who can start fires (hence the episode title).
There’s a series of set pieces: the man who catches fire, the bar scene, the party and the kids, and the final scenes at the house. As a backdrop to all this, there’s also the slow burn (haha) of the driver drinking the cough syrup.
Mulder meets an old flame - Phoebe Green, whose name sounds a lot like the writers took inspiration from Friends. Scully’s eyeroll when she sees the two of them kiss is amusing. Apparently, the character was meant to return, but never did.
As a result of the Phoebe Green character, it sometimes felt like Scully was taking a back seat in the episode.
Overall a pretty good episode.
1X12 “Beyond the Sea”
A well-regarded episode, and for good reason. It’s a great episode where Scully takes centre stage - dealing with the death of her father, and for the first time, switches to being the believer while Mulder becomes the sceptic.
I liked the vague-but-accurate comments from Boggs about the whereabouts of a kidnapped couple. The possibly psychic abilities of Boggs unfold in an interesting way: the episode is expertly paced, revealing just enough information but also throwing curveballs to show Boggs isn’t 100% reliable or trustworthy.
It’s a good, solid mystery and a real high point of Season 1.
1X16 “E.B.E.”
Mulder and Scully go on a wild goose chase to find the titular E.B.E., or Extra-terrestrial Biological Entity.
We were never going to get particularly close to the truth at such an early point in the series. And I don’t recall the term E.B.E. coming up much after this episode: they just say “alien”. But it’s a good introduction to a few staples of the show.
Mulder and Scully discovering that people are listening into their conversations feeds the “trust no-one” part of the show.
The introduction of The Lone Gunmen is good. The characters recur throughout the series, and they’re fun to watch.
Deep Throat informing, but also misleading, adds a new dimension to the character. The series starts to feel a bit more risky, especially with the surveillance earlier in the story.
A solid episode, it just doesn’t progress the mythology plot very much. We come away knowing about as much as we did at the start - certainly in terms of evidence. Actually that’s ok - but it gets a bit tiresome later.
1X19 “Darkness Falls”
This is a great episode. The mystery unfolds gradually, and it’s an episode where you really wonder how they’re going to get out of it. The tension remains high throughout.
The ending is quite ominous. While we don’t always get a nice tidy conclusion and explanation, this is an unusual example.
It’s not the last time we’ll be taking a trip to the woods (“Detour” in season 5 is another good example).
1X20 “Tooms”
A great follow-up to “Squeeze”; it’s mostly a series of set pieces, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless.
This is also Assistant Director Skinner’s first episode. Skinner is a great character throughout the series, and is a welcome addition to the FBI, beyond the silly characters who refer to Mulder as “spooky” and do little else.
The Smoking Man is back, and has his first line - and only line in season 1. His lack of dialogue at this point in the show adds to the mystery behind the character. I’m undecided about him here, though. We know so little about him, so it’s hard to think he’s up to no good. He’s just there.
Still, we’ve got to start somewhere, right?
1X23 “The Erlenmeyer Flask”
A fast-paced finale to season 1, this episode throws in several new elements and ratchets up the threat level, particularly for Mulder.
There are a lot of puzzle pieces thrown in here, not all of which are explained at this point. Deep Throat initially leaves the tiniest breadcrumbs, before finally revealing a lot more.
The stakes are high throughout, with Deep Throat ultimately helping too much, which is his downfall.
I found it interesting to watch this episode again having already seen the rest of the series. There are also hints to a later plot point that most people would probably miss on the first watch.
It’s a fantastic episode, an explosive finale, and leaves you wanting more. It doesn’t say too much, and the repercussions extend well into season 2 - which we’ll get to next.
Next time
So yes - we’ll get to season 2 next, unless I write about something else first. I’m already enjoying this rewatch. See you next time.
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