Martin Carr reviews the season finale of The X-Files season 10…
Now I’m no Chris Carter and can’t lay claim to his legacy. But if you’re going to have a two-part episode common sense dictates they follow each other. Sound advice under any circumstance yet completely ignored on this occasion. Leaving us with a finale which veered towards the indifferent rather than anywhere else. A problem that stemmed from its counterpart having a distinct lack of plot and structural meat on its bones.
‘My Struggle’ which ushered in this rebooted X-Files spent way too much time filling in newbies and much less concerning itself with narrative. For that reason even though we get an unmasked William B Davis and an incapacitated Mulder, things never get interesting for this series closer. Joel McHale was engaging enough but his on-line media hack had little to do and less time in which to do it. Mulder spent most of the travelling and getting progressively sick, while the US infrastructure slowly collapsed around Scully’s worried ears.
My primary issue with this was the fact that no one felt under threat. Scully and Einstein were busy formulating an antidote from her tampered bloodstream, while others dropped like flies. Leaving Davis gesticulating over an incapacitated Mulder being all holier than thou when offered an out. Given I know little of the backstory between these two it remained an anti-climax, that culminated in a savagely convoluted and dated plot twist.
Miller and Einstein may play a bigger part in things should The X-Files return for another season, but the question is how people would be interested. I have no access to the ratings but figure that nostalgia may well have provided an undeserved boost here. In the final analysis all you can say about this X-Files is that it showed potential. There are those who have been very vocal in their derision of both Anderson and Duchovny. Complaining that characterisations have now drifted into caricature, while show runner Carter lacks vision. Cramming every idea he has into every episode rather than focusing on specifics.
As I said in my initial review there are no rose-tinted memories of The X-Files for me. I remember Anderson’s legendary FHM appearance and good performances from Duchovny outside of the show in Kalifornia and Evolution. But beyond that I stopped watching after three maybe four seasons. As both actors have matured their work beyond Mulder and Scully is worth noting, whether on stage for Anderson or mini-series for Duchovny. These actors are no longer in need of Carter’s creation but clearly still feel an affinity for the material. If they were given more to do and storylines were tighter in emphasis, then a Season 11 might be worth watching. For now though this reboot remains in the distinctly mediocre category.
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Originally published February 29, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
