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It's unheard of for an X-Files episode to aim for this level of scale AND reach the point where the in-universe public witnesses what's happening, which could have been a interesting game-changer. X-Files has usually shied away from letting episodes have tangible long-term consequences, opting instead for uncertain stakes and a stable status quo. But the Carterness of the execution just undermines the episode every step of the way. It's so boring and garbled. There's just so much telling rather than showing, and the characters doing the telling leap from conclusion to conclusion in an unintelligible way. This has to have been the most obtuse possible way to film the story of a global pandemic.
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Feb 24, 2016 11:30
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This is definitely how I imagined the last episode of the X-Files would be. 40 minutes of boring exposition conversations and trying to figure out if it's supposed to be some kind of satire or if this was written by committee. Agent Einstein? How does a professional writer think it's a good idea to name a character that?
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Feb 24, 2016 12:36
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Supercar Gautier posted:It's unheard of for an X-Files episode to aim for this level of scale AND reach the point where the in-universe public witnesses what's happening, which could have been a interesting game-changer. X-Files has usually shied away from letting episodes have tangible long-term consequences, opting instead for uncertain stakes and a stable status quo. But the Carterness of the execution just undermines the episode every step of the way. It's so boring and garbled. Yeah, it's just really weird to end a revival mini series that wasn't guaranteed another season (?) with a cliffhanger and 1000x more world-ending consequences than the whole colonisation mytharc put together. All based on plot beats only introduced in the last 40 minutes (80 if you count S10E01 I guess). The whole thing felt like a Star Trek episode that gets so out of hand you just knew it was going to be resolved by a time travel reset button at the end. The fact that I'd be much happier with that kind of cop-out here instead of the alternatives says a lot about this episode.
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Feb 24, 2016 13:08
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Her name is Einstein so you know she's a scientist.
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Feb 24, 2016 14:21
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mabels big day posted:Her name is Einstein so you know she's a scientist. Is it? Or is it so you know she's secretly part of the Jew conspiracy? 
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Feb 24, 2016 14:39
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mabels big day posted:Her name is Einstein so you know she's a scientist. Special tramp Agent Einstein!
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Feb 24, 2016 15:39
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What a bunch of cry babies - this was pure X-Files, distilled into 6 episodes. Like any other 80's icon, your sense of nostalgia is clouding your judgement - the X-File was never a great show. There were great episodes, but, like Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, the idea is way better than the execution. It was an enjoyable run and a worthy addition to the non-Doggett X-Files.DarklyDreaming posted:Yeah that's the thing. 80's/90's fears were of an army of CIA (Or UN depending on what kind of sticklefifer posted:Like I said, O'Malley was a crackpot conspiracy theorist who believed everything, even beyond what Mulder believes. So when he latched onto a real conspiracy he added a bunch of paranoid bullshit like chemtrails and alien graffiti, while Scully had already long since proven it was the smallpox vaccination that spread it. Also, I'm not sure what kind of doctors Chris Carter consulted with, but the smallpox vaccine hasn't seen action since 1972 (at least in the US.) As such, only people older than 45 should have been affected by Spartan.
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Feb 24, 2016 16:28
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Jokes on you buddy, I watched the series for the first time last year, and that finale and Babylon were complete garbage. It's not the X-Files distilled. It's the X-Files meets crazy mentally ill youtubers. Making it about people killing people with virus' is the opposite of fun. Fun is "Aliens might come and destroy the worrrlllddd!!!"
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Feb 24, 2016 16:37
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Aliens are pretty boring now though, it's like Mulder said in the Were-Monster episode.
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Feb 24, 2016 16:43
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My wife and I thought all 6 episode were hot garbage, and it makes me wonder if what I consider the "golden age" of the show (up through the movie) was ever any good or I'm just nostalgic. The writing was all over the place, and the characterization shifted in every episode. Mulder's dry acerbic with was replaced with glib one-liners, and it's clear that Duchovny has no idea how to play the character anymore. You could almost see the phone he was using to phone it in. But really, I don't know what I expected from a 15-year-later revival. Like others have said, I can't seen this as anything other than a ridiculous cash grab for all involved. At least Gillian Anderson held out to be paid the same amount as Duchovny, so good for her.
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Feb 24, 2016 16:50
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No, the first six seasons were legit good to very good with far better writing, acting, and everything than s10. People trying to say it's just nostalgia couldn't be more wrong.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:02
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Ginette Reno posted:No, the first six seasons were legit good to very good with far better writing, acting, and everything than s10. People trying to say it's just nostalgia couldn't be more wrong. Agreed. I binge watched the entire series about 5 years ago and it's mostly really good for 6 seasons. 7-9 were blah 10 was legitimately bad overall. A couple of good moments and one really fun episode, but sheesh. That was some sloppy show-making.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:12
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Ginette Reno posted:No, the first six seasons were legit good to very good with far better writing, acting, and everything than s10. People trying to say it's just nostalgia couldn't be more wrong. Nah, you're purposefully downplaying this season. There are at least two, probably three episodes (I'm waffling on "Home Again") that would've been above average to all time greats in S10 had they been in the first six seasons. I know this because I've been watching them for the first time over the past month.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:13
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The three non-Cris Carter episodes would feel right at home with the X Files best seasons. The three Cris Carter episodes are terrible and would feel right at home with the worst of seasons 8 and 9, where everybody stopped watching.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:20
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computer parts posted:Nah, you're purposefully downplaying this season. There are at least two, probably three episodes (I'm waffling on "Home Again") that would've been above average to all time greats in S10 had they been in the first six seasons. I agree that the highs of this season would fit right into classic X-files, but the lows are some of the lowest the show has ever seen. There are a very small handful of episodes from the original run that are as bad as the My Struggle I and II, and they were spread out over 9 seasons. If this were a full 22 episode season and these were the only poo poo episodes, fine. But the ratio here was bad and much worse than its ever been in the past.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:22
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I think Carter has joined the ranks of Lucas and Roddenberry as creators who are good at world building and setting tone, but should really leave the nitty gritty of plot, characterization and especially dialogue to other, more talented people.
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Feb 24, 2016 17:28
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BrandonGK posted:I think Carter has joined the ranks of Lucas and Roddenberry as creators who are good at world building and setting tone, but should really leave the nitty gritty of plot, characterization and especially dialogue to other, more talented people. I noticed this in the finale quite a bit. Some of the dialogue sounded more like internal thoughts given a voice - especially when Mulder said "musings of a madman" - it's sounds like an internal realization that just gets plopped into awkward dialogue. It could work if it was Mulder talking to someone else about a madman, but it's such a weird way to say that to the actual madman.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:06
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"As if we're not already in the dark" 
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Feb 24, 2016 18:20
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berzerkmonkey posted:What a bunch of cry babies - this was pure X-Files, distilled into 6 episodes. Like any other 80's icon, your sense of nostalgia is clouding your judgement - the X-File was never a great show. Nah, I never really watched it when it first was on. I think Postmodern Prometheus was the only episode I ever watched in the 90s. I watched the whole thing until I gave up around the beginning of season 9 on Netflix, about 2-3 years ago. This was objectively much worse, with a couple decent episodes and one very good one (the Were Monster). No nostalgia, just the truth.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:23
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The Chris Carter episodes were all varying degrees of bad. The other three were fine to Great.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:47
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Enderzero posted:I noticed this in the finale quite a bit. Some of the dialogue sounded more like internal thoughts given a voice - especially when Mulder said "musings of a madman" - it's sounds like an internal realization that just gets plopped into awkward dialogue. It could work if it was Mulder talking to someone else about a madman, but it's such a weird way to say that to the actual madman. I thought it was a reference to musings of a smoking man because that is the only way it made sense, because yeah it was really awkward.
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Feb 24, 2016 18:48
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egon_beeblebrox posted:The Chris Carter episodes were all varying degrees of bad. The other three were fine to Great. Agreed, but 50% bad is a high ratio even for this show (except seasons 8 and 9, that's par for the course then and why I couldn't finish the show).
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Feb 24, 2016 18:59
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The last two episodes were terrible.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:15
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This season was the definition of a mixed bag but I don't care, I want more X Files. I hope they get twice as many episodes next season; a 12 episode season seems about perfect. It's me, I'm the worst fan.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:24
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12 episodes would actually probably be a good amount if they have time to prepared for them, cause I imagine Carter would want about the same amount of episodes to do and so he would have less episodes overall.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:26
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10-12 episodes would've been better even if he got an extra episode or two. I don't think My Struggle II would've been so bad if it hadn't been crammed into one regular length episode. Mulder being accosted, then going to and talking with CSM is the kind of thing that would have been its own episode at one point. Speaking of, I'm still struggling with figuring out why the guy sent to offer Mulder life from his bio dad never bothered to say "I'm not here to fight you rear end in a top hat" instead of pulling a gun at the first opportunity.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:36
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12 episodes would be a much better count, but given Duchovny and Anderson's schedules they'll likely have to stick to half of that. Carter seems keen on doing a mix of mytharc and motw going by all the interviews he's given, so a serialized season is also out of the question.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:55
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The 6th episode was terrible, but the 5th one still wins the crown of dogshit by a god drat mile. I can't believe how they even decided to air that one.
Batham fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 24, 2016 20:51
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During the "Previously on X-Files" bit at the beginning I think they literally say "Alien DNA" like 8 or 9 times in less than a minute, I was loving laughing out loud before the episode even started.
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Feb 24, 2016 21:35
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Chris Carter posted:ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The episode explained how William B. Davis’ Smoking Man survived the explosive 2002 series finale. How did you decide on bringing him back that way? Yeah I'm not sure "not incredible" would be the term you want for a sickly dude who got a missile to the face
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Feb 24, 2016 21:37
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I love in a series with super soldiers, dna manipulation, shape shifters, and weird science experiments the best Chris Carter could come up with for bringing CSM back to life was "he just got burned really badly" Its really funny
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Feb 24, 2016 21:44
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Babylon became extra disappointing for me when I remembered how shady the FBI can be about breaking up "terror plots". Even the less ridiculous conspiracies about the Boston Bombing could be the foundation of an episode. Instead we got a boring and racist episode. Even a straight forward false-flag twist would have been a bit better and an excuse to reintroduce TAD O'MALLEY before the last episode.
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Feb 24, 2016 21:57
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Yeah apart from the Shrooms scene that episode was pretty weak. God drat good scene though.
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Feb 24, 2016 22:07
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After having digested the finale some more, I can say that my final opinion on this season would be that we had a great episode (you know which one), two rather good episodes (alien kids and Trashman), two "eh" episodes (the Kampfs), and one garbage bin episode (Babylon). All in all, not nearly as bad as this sort of revival could have gone, though I will admit I'm kind of nervous about how the series is going to move on with the fallout of something as life-altering as a global pandemic.
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Feb 24, 2016 22:11
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Guest characters completely wasted: Skinner Langley Byers Frohike CSM Plot threads that went nowhere: Super baby William Scully's dead mom has secrets Super secret scientists surreptitiously salvage secret saucer Scully <3 Tad Seriously, how do you bring the Gunmen back and give them zero lines? It's honestly kind of impressive how bad Carter's writing has gotten.
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Feb 24, 2016 22:54
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Hey, Super baby William will be needed for the STEM CELLS, so he was set up for the next (mini)-season.
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Feb 24, 2016 23:47
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Super baby william could have just been setup in the finale, you don't spend time setting up something throughout the season for the reveal to be "oh hey now are going to go get that guy, but not in this episode"
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Feb 24, 2016 23:57
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Cybershell posted:During the "Previously on X-Files" bit at the beginning I think they literally say "Alien DNA" like 8 or 9 times in less than a minute, I was loving laughing out loud before the episode even started. I'm going through season two and any time they mention alien DNA, which isn't often, but happens sometimes, is now just funny to me. Also, I cannot believe that I didn't instantly realize the first and last episodes were Mein Kampf. Like, holy poo poo, Chris Carter.
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Feb 25, 2016 00:31
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Is MindQuad some kind of reference to something? It sounds familiar. Was it that pilot with Jack Black on a motorcycle from a long time ago?
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Feb 25, 2016 00:55
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There's no way Agent Einstein got a smallpox vaccine. They quit that poo poo in the 70s.
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Feb 25, 2016 00:56
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