The X-Files: "I've Been Getting My Ass Chewed"

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > The X-Files: "I've Been Getting My Ass Chewed"

Nothus Infelix: Jan 1, 2006; Scelesti vulgus superstitiosus ignavusque sunt.

Febreeze posted:

I watched up to about mid season 7 in college but ran out of free time and lost interest as the myth arc got increasingly stupid and convoluted.

Are there any episodes in 8-9 that are still worth watching?

I have to add to the love for Robert Patrick Via Negativa. And Improbable must be seen, because that's the one where Scully and Reyes meet God. The mytharc is pretty toast by this point, but there's some interesting bits in William and The Truth. Or skip The Truth, and read Eat The Corn.

Mark Snow wrote some pretty good cues for This Is Not Happening, Release, and some others I'm sure I'm forgetting. And Scully gets a theme. All are on YouTube.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2014 04:59

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 23:16

Nothus Infelix: Jan 1, 2006; Scelesti vulgus superstitiosus ignavusque sunt.

david_a posted:

Outside of the overall myth-arc story being stupid, do the actual myth-arc episodes get bad at some point? I'm trying to justify abandoning the mythology since I know it leads nowhere good, but it's still pretty good so far (I just started S4).

The mytharc gets more or less explained in season 6. After that, mytharc episodes go from being paranormal paranoia to straight up science fiction. The episodes themselves are still decent through the end of season 7. Beyond that, there are more misses than hits, I think.

But I don't really think the story itself is stupid, so YMMV.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 18:22

Nothus Infelix: Jan 1, 2006; Scelesti vulgus superstitiosus ignavusque sunt.

I give them credit for going back to Bellefleur as the springboard for the mytharc coda, but what they came up with just wasn't that interesting. Don't know if it needs to be spoilered, since new viewers rarely make it this far anyway....

The aliens killing abductees to "resurrect" them as Terminators fits into the theme of aliens infiltrating and replacing our civilization. It also dovetails nicely with the idea that they will present themselves as gods when the day of Colonization comes. And it finally explains the mutant corpse from the pilot episode. The aliens knew the Syndicate would betray them, and this was their backup plan. (After the petroleum, bees, old folks homes, bovine growth hormones, Nazis, leprosy colonies, Anasazi, and Tunguska, it was probably plan 9 from outer space.) For various reasons, the writers just didn't tell this part of the story very well. I think they were never clear on when the series would end, so they couldn't plan out the final arc.

Then, for better or worse, the entire mytharc was ignored for the last movie, save a throwaway line about the FBI dropping charges against Mulder. Which makes me think the writer of that movie turned off the series finale halfway through, and wasn't really paying attention to the first half.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 22:24

Nothus Infelix: Jan 1, 2006; Scelesti vulgus superstitiosus ignavusque sunt.

Castle Radium posted:

But it was the same writer that ran the show for 9 seasons, and also wrote the finale.

It looked like the same writer. But I bet if you stabbed him in the base of the skull, you'd end up with a frothy puddle of green goo.

quote:

Just looked on IMDB, I'd forgotten Xzibit was in there. Haha.

He's on the soundtrack, too. Kind of a step down from the tie-in albums of the 90s, I think.

Octy posted:

I think The X-Files mastered the art of having people die in a violent and gruesome way, though. I used to watch Law and Order pretty regularly in the 90s and they never topped anything seen on The X-Files.

XF and Millennium set a new standard for the amount of gruesome violence you can put on prime time TV. But when they showed the violence, or its aftermath, it was both affecting and relevant to the plot or the characters. If you think of an XF/MM murderer, you usually know, or even feel, why they did what they did. It could be insatiable hunger, loneliness, fear, a sadistic desire to manipulate and dominate, etc. The important thing is, you understand it, and that makes the depiction of violence an extension of the character. When I watch Eugene Tooms stretch through a vent and rip out someone's liver, I'm not just watching gore, I'm watching a character study.

Since then, the grotesque has been sanitized by CSI and made into farce by Bones. They can be fun, but they don't get under the skin or let you into the characters' headspace the way XF and MM did. The violence is just a story hook, or voyeurism (see also Dexter, Sons of Anarchy). They don't feel real to me. The killer isn't real, their motivation isn't real, the victim isn't real, and the violence is just splatter.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2014 04:01

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > The X-Files: "I've Been Getting My Ass Chewed"