The Grand X-Periment: My October of X-Files

Usually, for the month of October, I try to watch 31 horror movies. This year, I decided to watch the 60 core Mythology episodes of the X-Files, plus 22 others I love and the first X-Files movie.

I hope to keep a day by day account of my reactions to this experiment.

Day 1- 10/1/11-


1) Pilot- Here is where it all begins. I have seen this episode many times because I often attempt to burn through all the X-Files in a row. Unfortunately, there are so many subpar episodes, I end up getting frustrated and quit. Hopefully, this time will be nothing but the good stuff.

The Pilot episode introduces us to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, our heroes. Mulder's sister vanished when he was young and, under hypnosis, he has recalled bright lights and paralysis. He believes she was abducted by aliens and has used his career as an FBI profiler to investigate strange cases that may lead him closer to the truth. Scully is sent to watch Mulder and debunk his theories. She is meant to present a rational explanation for the paranormal crap they encounter. She is also pretty attractive.

This episode establishes the formula. Before the opening credits, a weird thing happens somewhere in America. After the credits, Mulder and Scully investigate. Mulder throws out the wildest theory he can and Scully shoots it down. Eventually, they find evidence that supports Mulder's ideas and then there is a bit of a climax before the agents are left with nothing again. In this episode, local young adults are being found dead in the woods in a small town in Oregon with two strange marks on their backs. There is a conspiracy amongst the town adults to keep the truth hidden (although why they want to cover it up when it just ends with their kids dead is never explained) and a seemingly larger conspiracy afoot to keep our heroes from amassing solid evidence. By the end, Scully has a weird metallic object that was placed up the nose of the teens and Mulder gets the feeling he is on the right track.

2) Episode 2- Deep Throat- If Pilot set the template for regular episodes, Deep Throat sets the template for the Mythology episodes. Perhaps I should explain my lingo here. There were 202 episodes of the X-Files produced during the run of the show. As you can see from my opening paragraph, only 60 of them count as "Mythology." These episodes form the spine of the series. They concern Mulder and Scully's quest to unravel a large conspiracy about the existence of aliens. The other 142 episodes usually involve a wide variety of other weirdness like vampires, ghosts, genetic freaks, etc.

Deep Throat, like I said, is typical of a mythology episode because they usually start with Mulder being pointed in a certain direction by an informant rather than stumbling onto something weird himself. Deep Throat is the first such informant in the series (although by no means the most awesome, X, I am looking at you). He approaches Mulder in a DC men's room and warns him about pursuing a case involving a missing Air Force pilot.

Mulder and Scully investigate a town in Idaho with an unmarked military base. The town is known for UFO sightings. Why no one thinks these are probably Air Force craft is never fully addressed (although Scully, quite reasonably, raises that point). Seth Green pops up as a stoner who helps Mulder sneak onto a base and come face to face with a UFO. Of course, Mulder's mind is wiped (Men In Black style) and he is set free thanks to back up from Scully.

This is a good team building episode and kind of cements why Mulder needs Scully (even if it isn't clear why Scully would believe in Mulder). In the end, Mulder has less than nothing to go on. The missing airman is back home (but altered) and nothing has been accomplished except that now, Mulder has Deep Throat feeding him info.

3) Episode 8- Ice- Ice is not a mythology episode (even though it does deal with alien parasites, they aren't part of the big picture) but it is one of my favorites from Season 1. In a clear homage to The Thing (made by Howard Hawks and remade by John Carpenter), an arctic research station becomes infected by an alien parasite and all the men there slaughter each other. Mulder and Scully (along with Felicity Huffman and two other well known character actors) go to investigate. It isn't long before they figure out there is a parasite loose that was unearthed from the ice shelf nearby that can burrow into your brain and make you violently angry. After their pilot is killed and a storm traps them inside, our five characters must figure out who amongst them (if any) are infected. They immediately assume Mulder is because he is being a dick and lock him in a room. The rest plays out in such a fun manner I will not ruin it.

This will become a bit of a formula of its own eventually, isolate Mulder and Scully and then have them deal with internal and external threats. It makes for fun television even if the solution to who is infected is not telegraphed or explained at all. So, not a vital episode, but too good to pass up.

Episode 10- Fallen Angel- The first of two mythology episodes that deal with downed UFOs. In this one, a UFO crashes in Wisconsin and the Air Force scrambles to recover the pilot (an invisible, Predator kind of deal). Mulder winds up captured but he meets Max Fennig, a fellow UFO fan who may have been abducted himself. The military, Max, the alien and our heroes get on a bit of a collision course that ends with Mulder witnessing an abduction first hand.

We already knew from Deep Throat (the episode) that the military was very involved with the cover ups. This episode just kind of expands the playing field a bit to show us that there are others who share Mulder's beliefs but they are on the fringes of society. These guys (personified by the Lone Gunmen in my next episode) are the only real allies Mulder can trust. Although Mulder gets to see a crashed UFO and gets his ass kicked by an alien, he is still left with no real proof at the end of the day.

5) Episode 17- E.B.E.- The title stands for Extraterrestrial Biological Entity and we have another UFO crashing in it. This time, in Iraq. The US government recovers the pilot much better than they did in Fallen Angel and begin shipping it to a remote facility in Washington state via transfer truck. Mulder and Scully are drawn to investigate after the transfer truck is seemingly attacked by aliens in an attempt to retrieve their buddy.

Again, this is a standard mythology plot in that Mulder ends up with nothing more than he starts with but it does introduce one of the main themes of the show...Trust No One. Deep Throat (who we previously discovered is connected to the shadowy cabal than wanted Mulder debunked) is feeding Mulder crappy intel and trying to steer him away from finding the transfer truck. He and Scully have to ditch a couple of agents stalking them as well as figure out what information is reliable. The Lone Gunmen are introduced here. They are three conspiracy theorists who often aid Mulder with getting info he can't legally obtain otherwise. Some of my favorite later episodes are centered on these guys.

By the end, Mulder's faith is shaken and he is unsure "which lie to believe." That leaves us in as good a place as any for the end of day 1. Besides Season 7, this is the season least relevant to the overall plot of the series. By the end of the day tomorrow, I will have finished Season 1 and moved into Season 2.

Mulder and Scully are already bound pretty tightly to one another by the 17th episode. Scully says she only trusts Mulder. We get the first attempt by higher ups to close the X-Files in Fallen Angel only to have Deep Throat insist they remain open by citing the old "Keep your enemies closer" mantra. By now, we have a pretty clear view of how big this whole conspiracy is (and Deep Throat implies at the end of EBE that there are multiple nations involved). What can two FBI agents hope to accomplish? Tune in next time and see.