The X-Files, Season 1, Episode 1, “My Struggle”
Directed by Chris Carter
Written by Chris Carter
Airs Sunday, January 24, 2016

“I’m a true believer.”

From 1993 through 2002, The X-Files had an amazing run, becoming a cult TV phenomenon and spawning some truly memorable seasons. Unfortunately, it didn’t end on a high-note. Later seasons failed to live up to early promise, and a second film outing — X-Files: I Want to Believe — was met with a tepid response from fans and critics alike.

So re-opening The X-Files as a six-episode miniseries, with the prospect of righting the wrongs the series fell into, isn’t such a bad idea. Perhaps now the franchise could conclude with more rewarding material — and surely the nostalgia factor alone of seeing David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson together again, as former-agents Mulder and Scully, might be enough to carry the show along, right?

Wrong!

Even though they’ve spent years claiming they’d love to slip on their iconic trench coats and wave flashlights around in the dark again, Duchovny and Anderson both seem incredibly uninterested in the first episode of the new X-Files, “My Struggle”. Duchovny in particular comes across as in need of a good nap, and whether this is because he’s playing Mulder as more rundown and defeated, or if it’s just because he’s bored is unclear. Anderson, always a highlight of the original series even in lesser later seasons, and  recently so wonderful on Hannibal, gives Scully an icy, disengaged characterization that’s all wrong. Scully may have always been a skeptic, on-hand to fact-check Mulder’s wild theories, but she was never this cold. If anything, she helped bring out a more human side of “Spooky” Mulder. The chemistry between the actors, which was pitch-perfect during the original run, is also lacking. It doesn’t help that the script decides to split Mulder and Scully up — I’m talking partnership wise, here; I could care less about their romantic pairing — only to have them instantly come back together. When we only have six episodes to tell this story, why waste time separating these two characters if you’re just having them reunite within the first ten minutes?

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“My Struggle” is heavy on exposition and set-up, almost too much set-up for such a limited run. the set-up is even more perplexing simply because The X-Files isn’t telling one continuous story during these six episodes, but rather little individual ones that aren’t interconnected. During this episode, Chris Carter’s script goes through the awkward motions of re-launching the basic story: The X-Files are still very closed, but Mulder and Scully get back into the action when Joel McHale’s character Tad O’Malley — a younger, hipper version of Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly — clues the former FBI Agents in on — you guessed it– a vast government conspiracy. Oddly enough, this conspiracy reveal somehow undoes all of Mulder’s beliefs that the original series spent so much damn time establishing. After a few words from O’Malley and a visit to a secret aircraft hanger, Mulder is instantly ready to change his tune and buy into the controversial quackery Tad is selling. On top of the poor script and lackluster performances, the visual style of this episode is flat and feels considerably dated. Director and series creator Chris Carter films the premiere as if this were still the 1990s — all standard straight-on shots, and blocky framing. That might seem like a deliberate way to recall the show’s original aesthetic, but it looks awful.

The best episodes of The X-Files knew how to loosen up and have fun with the formula. They were episodes capable of being both scary and funny at the same time, with the chemistry between Mulder and Scully the glue that held it all together. We cared about what was happening because we cared about these characters. They kept each other balanced — Mulder chasing things that go bump in the night while Scully was chasing facts and hard science, each causing the other to re-examine their established personal beliefs. Here, Mulder and Scully spend most of their time together bickering, and the lackadaisical performances from Duchovny and Anderson make it the most unexciting bickering you’ll ever see. At least if there was some fire and passion from the leads this might be engaging.

There’s always a chance that the remaining five episodes of The X-Files will succeed where this premiere fails. Perhaps Duchovny, Anderson, and writer-director Carter were just a bit rusty, because by episode 2, both Duchovny and Anderson seem to be back in the grove. There are a few glimmers of hope here and there: Mitch Pileggi seems excited to be back in action as A.D. Skinner; a long exposition dump of information gets a snazzy Oliver Stone-like montage of archival news footage; and a last-minute appearance of an original series character who has no business still being alive may be silly and nonsensical, but it’s also a lot of fun. And fun is something this new X-Files could use a lot more of. As a big fan of this series when it originally aired, I was cautiously optimistic at the prospect of this revival. After this first episode, I’m having a hard time believing The X-Files has anything left to say. I could be wrong though — I certainly want to believe.

 

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CASE NOTES

ALIENS or MONSTER OF THE WEEK?
Aliens (sort of).

IS THERE A GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY?
You better believe it.

DOES MULDER HAVE A BIG SPEECH?
Yup, several in fact.

DOES SCULLY PERFORM AN AUTOPSY?
Sadly, no. She does do some other science-y stuff, though.

Classified Materials:

— There’s no nice way to put it: the first episode of The X-Files revival is a big misstep. But all is not lost! Things get considerably better in the second and third episodes, so stay tuned.

— I’m fairly sure Mulder’s I WANT TO BELIEVE poster has been destroyed more than once during the original series run, yet it pops up here, mostly intact. Mulder must have a whole stash of those things somewhere.

— Mulder and Scully’s long-lost-son doesn’t come up here, but he’s mentioned heavily in the second episode.

— While this episode ends with Mulder and Scully working together again, there’s no hint that their romantic relationship has been rekindled. This will probably be a controversial opinion, but I think that’s for the best. The show always worked better by playing off the sexual tension between the two without ever fully acting on it. Besides, their chemistry here is sorely lacking, so the prospect of them jumping back into the sheets together doesn’t seem very promising.

— On the next episode: Mulder and Scully investigate “Founder’s Mutation“!

Final Grade: C-