X-Files Review: 10×01 “My Struggle”

The first episode of this revival starts with a yawn, dives headfirst into a conspiracy, and ends with a bang…or two

The X-Files have been disbanded, Scully (Gillian Anderson) is working in a hospital, and Mulder (David Duchovny) looks like an author with a dozen looming deadlines. Enter Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale), a conservative, paranoid conspiracy theorist desperate to get the former agents’ help in proving that aliens are real and the government has been covering everything up. Sounds familiar—other than Mulder’s descent into the unshaven masses.

O’Malley, however, has all sorts of proof. He’s got an ARV (Alien Replica Vehicle) that actually works—on free energy no less. He’s also got Sveta (Annet Mahendru), a young woman who has been abducted more than a dozen times, during which she was probed, impregnated, and had her babies stolen. With all this on the table, Mulder jumps in.

“It’s about controlling the past to control the future. It’s about fiction masquerading as fact.” -Mulder

Ever the skeptic, Scully’s more interested in DNA than Sveta’s mind tricks. To make matters worse, even Sveta isn’t 100% behind the alien theory—she’s convinced it was humans who abducted her. But as historical flashbacks show, there isn’t a simple answer, and considering the car-exploding UFO at the end, finding the truth might just be deadly.

Mulder: What the hell happened to you?

For the first time in my recollection, Mulder no longer seems convinced of the presence of extra-terrestrials. He wants to believe, but the dissolution of the X-Files and his break-up with Scully seems to have hit him hard. He’s apparently still working for the government, but based on all evidence, he’s working from home and really doesn’t care about much of anything.

At least until the ARV. He was intrigued by Sveta, but clearly new Mulder is more impressed with the shiny things. This makes me wonder what exactly happened to him in the dozen years we missed. Then again…the thing is really shiny, and free energy would be awesome. And it has a gravity warp drive thanks to element 115 (UnUnPentium). Honestly, with all of that, I’m still not sure why Scully wasn’t swayed by the ARV…or why she wasn’t shown it (assumption on my part since it wasn’t mentioned as part of her decision and she was never shown near the ship).

But the ARV reveal is the first moment he really starts to believe O’Malley has something. It’s our first spark of the Mulder we knew and loved. When Sveta says she doesn’t think it was aliens—that’s when he starts really putting the puzzle together to decide this may not exactly be an X-file after all. Cue the Mulder raving!

“Scully, listen to me. I’ve been misled; we’ve been misled.” -Mulder

“Mulder, hold on a second.”- Scully

“No. Just listen to what I’m saying. What if everything we’ve been led to believe in is a lie? What if there is no alien conspiracy?” – Mulder

I really like what they’ve shown us of Mulder so far, but I fear with the very limited series, we’re not going to get solid answers as to what happened to drag him so low, to make him question his belief. Sure, depression might be part of that answer, but this isn’t the kind of show where I’m willing to just swallow that as the whole thing. And, honestly, I never bought Mulder as that type of person.

Based on this first episode, I got the sense I’m not the only one who struggled with characterization of Mulder. I never expected him to be the weak link, but Duchovny didn’t seem to fully embrace the role this time around. Sure, his voice and inflections were spot on—I have no qualms there, but he was lacking the presence Mulder had in the original series. I hope that changes as they move back to working for the FBI.

Scully: Were you really naïve enough to think you could have a normal life?

Gillian Anderson apparently never forgot the X-Files or Dana Scully. From the very first time she shows up on screen, I believe her. I believe her as a surgical assistant treating children with microtia (based on the conversation with O’Malley, I’m pretty sure this congenital anomaly is going to play into the series). I believe her as a skeptic. I believe her as everything…except maybe a mother, but we’ll deal with that in a minute.

Considering her history of abduction, I did question the level of her skepticism a bit. She lived through the same years of X-Files as Mulder, and over that time, she’d been more of a devil’s advocate, forcing Mulder to think rather than just theorize. Somewhere in the intervening years, though, that closeness seems to have vanished. She’s back to being a scientist all the way, with little to no room for creative thinking.

“Do you miss it at all? The X-Files?” –O’Malley

“As a scientist, it was probably some of the most intense and challenging work I’ve ever done. I’ve never felt so alive.”-Scully

“You mean working with Mulder.”-O’Malley

“Possibly one of the most intense an d challenging relationships I’ve ever had. And quite honestly, the most impossible.” -Scully

Sure, she got on board with everything once test results confirmed at least part of O’Malley and Mulder’s theory, but I felt like there’d been a lot of unexplained backsliding in her level of belief. Again, I really hope they do more to address those “missing years” than a six episode mini-series suggests they will.

And what about the kid? They keep bringing up baby Mulder (who wouldn’t be a baby anymore, but they didn’t mention a name), but no one is at home with the kid. No one is talking in terms of anything other than his existence. Is this “William” who was adopted at the end of the previous series? Or was there another child? Are they talking about him in vague terms to avoid the ongoing issue Supernatural has with

Adam in the cage? Or is he going to be integral to the story?

Too. Many. Questions. And I’m not sure if any of them are important. GAH!

O’Malley: Creepy Conspiracy Theorist Is Creepy

When we first are introduced to O’Malley, I kind of shared Mulder’s initial response.

“Why would I watch this jackass, Scully?” -Mulder

Even with the further information on abductions and whatnot, I struggled a little to figure out why this new, somewhat more skeptical, Mulder would bother meeting him. Maybe it was the money. Or just to keep him from being alone with Scully.

My biggest problem with O’Malley is the same one I have with all characters who have the best information at their fingertips and keep it hidden. Why? Why if you have Sveta and the ARV are you staying quiet until after poking at the intelligence community? I mean, if I was convinced there was a government conspiracy, I wouldn’t wait until they knew who I was to shout it from the rooftops.

Granted, maybe there had been more on his show than conjecture, but it wasn’t shown for the audience. And with Sveta coming out at the end and saying he forced her to lie—it’s hard to discern if she’d been a guest on his show, if he had recordings of interviews with her, or what. But the ARV was super-secret, which makes zero sense. If you want to stir up the public against the government, knowledge regarding the existence of free energy would be a simple way of doing it.

However, Joel McHale plays the creepy guy with questionable behavior perfectly, and he seemed to be having far more fun in his role than anyone else. Which leads me to question where he really fits in to the bigger story. Is he just the watchman calling out a warning to an uninformed public? Or is there something more insidious going on? Prior to his attempted seduction of Scully, I would have landed squarely on the former side. With that sub-plot, I’m just not sure. And why the hell wasn’t he doing more to protect Sveta? At least the ARV site had boatloads of security.

FINAL VERDICT: Oh, X-Files, I want to believe that the truth is out there.

While this episode was a little uneven for me—I was honestly rather bored for the first half—I have a lot of faith in Chris Carter, and I am a sucker for a well-defined government conspiracy. Using space technology and alien DNA to take over the world? That’s a pretty good one. And, as intrigued as I was with the character of Sveta, the method of her death was proof that anyone might die—no matter how integral to the story we might think they are.

The stakes (world-domination) are high. The conflicts, both external and internal, are believable. And the characters…I love them. I’ve loved them for decades.

So, bring on more X-Files! But what do I really want for the next five episodes? What will make me a true believer?

Backstory—I want to know what the hell happened to tear Mulder and Scully apart. I want to know where the kid fits into all of this—and I damn well want that to matter. I want to know why Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) allowed the X-Files to be disbanded and who stole the files out from under him.

Skinner—Speaking of, I want more of him. He seemed an after-thought in this first episode, and I’m not okay with that. Skinner was the one person through the original series who really seemed to believe in the work that Mulder and Scully did. To just bring him in for a couple lines here and there is a waste of the character.

Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis)—This is another character that either needs to be in the thick of things or needs to die. He’s back and still smoking (through a throat stoma no less), but we only have five more episodes. I don’t buy him as a shadow character anymore.

A tight plot and tighter writing—My biggest worry for this mini-series is exactly how “mini” they went. Some of the dialogue in this first episode was delivered so rapid-fire that I was rewinding to catch it all. I know Mulder often raved at top speed, but it was a little ridiculous, especially when combined with O’Malley ranting right after. It felt almost like they had no choice if they were going to fit in all the necessary information.

That ginormous info-dump? Everyone noticed. It was mentioned by several people on my (friends only) twitter feed. It was sloppy, and I’m really hoping it isn’t a sign of things to come. Maybe if they’d negotiated to have this premiere be commercial-free they could have fit everything in a more realistic manner, but they didn’t. So we got top-speed info-dump.

The acting is there. The characters are there. And the world-building is already done. We just need a solid story with efficient writing. I’m sure plotting and writing a mini-series like this compared to a full-season series is a lot like writing a novella versus a full-length novel. You have to choose only the most important plots and subplots, the most integral characters, and you have to make them still feel big and cohesive. My fear is that they have a story and world that’s too big for this short of a novella—and the viewers will be the ones who pay for it.

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My Reaction on Twitter…

• Where is our backstory? Over a dozen years since they closed up shop on the X-Files at the FBI, and they expect the audience not to care?
• Twitter: Of course shoot it to hell. Because ‘Murica. #XFilesRevival
• Mulder not a believer? Not sure I’m loving this direction…
• Twitter: Can Joel McHale ever not be the creepy guy who hits on the female lead? He’s too good at it. #extracreepy #XFilesRevival #whatsyournumber
• Feel like the way Scully got on Mulder about his crazy theorizing was a backslide from where they ended the old series. Felt more season 1 X-Files than where we left them in season 9.
• Holy info dump, Batman!
• Twitter: So…Hydra? Are they linking the X-files to the MCU? #XFilesRevival
• What’s the deal with the kid? Was this William? Another kid?
• Thank goodness Skinner is back. I missed him.
• A breathing stoma? I’d feel worse for CSM if not for the fact he’s still smoking through it.
• Really expected Sveta to get abducted again—didn’t see the explosion coming. Is their plan to kill all former abductees now?
• Speaking of…why have they let Mulder and Scully live so long? Especially if they aren’t with the FBI anymore?