Lazarus

Much better than the previous episode, Gender Bender! Scully’s fellow FBI agent, Agent Jack Willis, is shot in a bank robbery along with the robber. Willis is brought back to life but appears to have been taken over by the spirit of the deceased criminal.

Rather predictable results follow – Agent Willis returns to health, but under the personality of a very bad man. Scully puts her faith in him, and Mulder gets it right from the start (as what happens 95% of the time).

This episode had the kind of “mini-movie” feel to it. Willis would visit his friends and relatives from the criminals past life, putting things right (notably killing). All while Scully chases him, fighting his innocence and Mulder does his best to dig up some dirt.

I felt Scully was very naive in this episode. Even if she didn’t believe that Agent Willis could become possessed by another man, surely she could open her mind to the fact he may have become dangerously disturbed following his near-death experience, especially when you consider his erratic behaviour.

Also what was with the blood leaking from Willis’ chest? If it is to represent the bullet wound sustained in the robbery, then surely his health would dramatically weaken as a result. His diabetes proves he isn’t indestructible. Maybe I’m being picky!

Gender Bender

I didn’t like this episode at all. I thought it had a silly plot and the story never really got going. Man meets girl in nightclub. Man has sex with girl. Girl kills man. Girl turns out to be man. A few more victims are claimed, and unpredictably, one of our beloved FBI agents, in this case Scully, is nearly killed too.

I thought Scully was very naive to even allow herself to get into the situation where she may be seduced by a dangerous man.

I thought the villains were not evil enough.

The sets were poor, most notably the cave/basement Mulder explores. It looked like it was made up of bed sheets; as if it was a fort made under the kitchen table by a young child.

The only interesting thing is that the shape-shifting cult turns out to be aliens, or so we are lead to believe. This ties in with later seasons involving other shape-shifters; mainly the bounty hunter. A fact not referenced in future episodes.

Beyond the Sea

So, Scully proves to us that despite dismissing the existence of extraterrestrials and other paranormal phenomena, she does allow her mind to open up to the idea that the human brain has more powers than are scientifically known about.

It was interesting to see Scully take the reverse attitude to Mulder as the believer, and follow what for her, was an emotional journey after the sudden death of her father.

For probably the first time in the series, we see a darker side to Scully. She tricks Luther Lee Boggs into providing her with information, by promising him that his execution will be annulled. She then threatens to personally kill Boggs when Mulder’s life is put in danger; something Scully blames Boggs for.

Like many episodes in season 1, this episode is more about character exploration and development and is key in how future series’ pan out.

Personally I prefer the episodes with mutants and monsters to the psychological thrillers like BTS, but because of a well-written script and a major role for Scully, I thought this was one of the better season 1 episodes.

Fire

One of my favourite episodes of all time. Nothing to do with any mythologies, no sci-fi mutants, just a wacky, humorous serial killer out to murder those he doesn’t like. Classic.

Mulder’s character is developed more in this episode when Phoebe Green, a friend from his Oxford University days appears on the scene. We learn about a past romance for Mulder and also of this phobia – conveniently for this episode, fire. We also start to wonder if Scully holds feelings for Mulder when she appears jealous of Phoebe’s affections towards Mulder.

A lot of the characters in this episode are British; whether they are the victims, their friends, family, or Phoebe Green herself. Us Brits are depicted in stereotypical form by the Yanks as soccer loving, suite wearing fools; where the upper class speak with plums in their mouth and their working class counterparts resemble characters from Oliver Twist. Thank goodness the Yanks come to the rescue; just like in WWII... or how they like to remember it.

This is one of the most gruesome episodes in the series so far. We have already seen victims killed for their livers, grown men attacked by creatures from the forest, and what happens if you annoy a computer system hell-bent on world domination; but you haven’t seen gruesome until you see a man burnt like a well cooked sausage, his flesh red raw and skin burnt black.

A few points from the episode...
Why did Cecil Lively (the killer), decide to burn down the bar? I suppose if I was prepared to burn people alive, I wouldn't think too rationally.
Did the driver not taste rocket fuel in his cough syrup and surely it would have made him more sick than he actually was - even a small amount.
And finally, the hotel had a pretty crap fire alarm system, where all you are alerted by is a tiny flashing red light on the panel. Why did it take half the floor to be burnt down before a siren eventually went off? What was the family doing having a whole floor of a massive hotel to themselves anyway?

I would also be interested to learn how they imprisoned Cecil, assuming he was convicted of murder. Surely with his ability to start fires, even a maximum security prison would not suffice.

Eve

I found this to be one of the weaker episodes of Season 1. Parental killings, abduction, mental illness and a pair of freakish children made Eve is an uncomfortable to watch, child psychology based episode.

Mulder still seems to be obsessed with alien abduction, and instantly links the early deaths with an extraterrestrial source. As the seasons progress and Mulder matures, this is seen less.

One thing which I did find interesting is Mulder and Scully’s ability to work with children. I found them to be very sympathetic towards the girl who had just lost he father and handle the matter very well; especially as they had no experience of working with minors.

The girls’ behaviour did disturb me and brought back memories of The Exorcist - excellent casting by Chris Carter.

One thing I did find amusing was the fact the murderous girls ended up being committed to a horrible mental hospital for the criminal insane. I can’t see this happening with kids who kill nowadays!

Mulder’s “mate” Deep Throat makes another appearance, and shows the government are not just covering up alien conspiracies.

Fallen Angel

The return of the “Mythology” episodes, which I am not normally a fan of. Fallen Angel I do like, though.

In this episode we are given an impression that there is a major conspiracy involving extraterrestrials and the military are being recruited to carry out the government’s dirty work.

We are also introduced to Max Fenig, an alien abductee, who will return to the series 3 years later. It is interesting to note the symptoms Max appears to be suffering from and how they bare similarities to Scully’s abduction in future seasons.

What amused me is how Mulder is able to defy the orders of his employees and go on personal missions whenever he feels like it, at the expense of the taxpayer. I know a lot of the episode is based around Scully’s efforts to bring him back for a disciplinary hearing at Washington, but even after a stern slap on the wrists, he manages to get away with what you or I would probably be sacked for!

This is also one of the first episodes where Scully appears to doubt rational science and considers the possibility of a cover up with her government. She seems particularly disturbed at the end of the episode while reading the newspaper headline reporting a toxic waste clean up on the site of the alleged spaceship crash.

Deep Throat makes a welcome appearance and for the first time, we start to doubt how trustworthy he actually is after issuing the infamous line “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. This is also probably the reason why the FBI continues to employee Mulder.

Where did I leave things?

In light of some recent and very exciting news of a brand new X-Files movie; set to be released in the summer, I have decided to resurrect this blog and continue my marathon (if you can call it that). I hope to have seen every episode by the time the movie hits the UK in August 2008.

Now, I think the next episode was Fallen Angel...

Space

I didn’t like this episode the first time and my stance on it has not changed after watching it this evening.

The whole episode seems somewhat out of place from the rest of the series. Most are based either on the ongoing mythology or involve a MOTW (Monster of the Week). Space was neither of these.

I thought that a story involving astronauts, space exploration and NASA was too extensive for a standalone episode. I also found it to be rather far fetched and silly - an astronaut runs into a ghost while in space, returns to earth, only to find that Casper decides to leave his body, fly back into space and sabotage another mission. Not my cup of tea.

Also, why did the ghost go after Generoo (the scientist)? One would presume it to be because she was aiding the space programme. If so, why not go for even more people involved with the project - or even Mulder and Scully?

Lazy story. Lazy script. A weak episode by Season 1 standards.

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS EPISODE

Ice

I’ve just watched Ice. It is as good as I remembered it to be and as impressive as any movie of its genre. Six people trapped in the middle of nowhere, a deadly parasite which is killing them off one by one, nobody knows who is infected and everybody thinks it is everybody else – the perfect story.

Even at this early stage in the series, it is nice to see the relationship between Mulder and Scully is strong. When there is risk of infection, they trust and look out for one another.

I have seen this episode loads, but that crazy, infected dog still scares me every time. I’m always relived when they stick that computer-generated worm in his ear and give him a bowl of food. He seems a lovely dog when he’s not mad.

One thing that does puzzle me, and maybe I’m missing something here – where do they get the second worm come from? One worm comes from Bear’s neck, the other - ?????

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS EPISODE

Ghost In The Machine

I always though Ghost in the Machine was one of the weaker episodes in Season 1. Watching tonight, I found it to be considerably better than I remember. Maybe it is because I work in the I.T. industry and computers are a matter of interest to me.

The episode centres around an advanced computer system, hell-bent on World domination. What I found amusing was the attitude portrayed towards computer technology in the episode. Season 1 was made in 1993, 14 years ago. Computer technology has changed dramatically since then – although we haven’t got computers killing people in lifts yet! The computer technology in the episode appears extremely dated by today’s standard, and it is funny to see such retro equipment performing such advanced tasks such as “thinking” at a level of human intelligence. Mulder and Scully’s reaction to a “talking elevator”, something standard in 2007, also raised a smile.

I was surprised to see how young David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson looked back in 1993. I suppose chasing aliens and bile eating monsters can dramatically age an FBI agent over 9 years.

It was nice to see Mulder and Scully’s characters progressing in this episode and learn more about their past pre-X-Files. Small elements like this are often missed when watching the episode the first time around - a good argument for re-watching the whole series!

Finally, Wilczek’s Feng Shui house with all the water features and plants was excellent – I want to live somewhere like that!

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS EPISODE

The FBI's Most Unwanted

Hello – welcome to my X-Files blog.

You may well be wondering what the purpose of this blog is and why it was not started 10+ years ago, when X-Files was in its prime.

The aim of this blog, like many others, is a personal project. I have been a massive X-Files fan since 1995 and have watched re-runs, video recordings and DVDs more times than I care to remember.

I plan to dig out the DVDs and watch every single episode from Season 1 to 9, commenting on each on this blog. These comments will include memories of when I originally saw the episode, what I thought then, what I think now and any other random notions which come into my head over the course of the next few weeks, months and years (depending on how dedicated I am!). Don’t get this confused with a factual website. There will be no episode guides here, just my ramblings on them!

I should really start with the Pilot episode - I’m not going to though. Nor am I going to watch the episodes which shortly followed - Deep Throat, Squeeze, Conduit, Jersey Devil and Shadows. Not because these episodes were bad – far from it. The reason I am avoiding the first six episodes is because I have seen these the most. I must have watched these episodes a dozen times each. Why? Because this isn’t the first time I have planned to watch every episode back-to-back. Previous attempts have failed due to distractions and lack of interest, mainly because of the amount of times I have watched them! I will start with Ghost in The Machine and then watch Ice – one of the greatest episodes ever.

As with any blog, please feel free to leave comments along the way and share you own X-File experiences and memories. I would love to read them.