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Revisiting The X Files Episode 13 · Death by Multimedia

0:22
None. Good day everyone and welcome
0:48
back to episode 13 of Revisiting The X-Files where each episode I
0:54
will be working my way through the 11 series, 2 movies, and
0:58
several books that make up The X-Files.
1:01
For those of you returning for this in the next episode, thanks
1:04
once again for being here. And if you're a first time
1:07
listener, well, I hope this is not only enjoyable for you to
1:10
listen to, but perhaps piques your interest once again in a
1:14
great TV show. The format here is that I'll be
1:17
working my way through the entire show and several other
1:20
media as we go, and for the most part, we'll cover 5 episodes of
1:25
the series in each podcast episode.
1:28
Today's episode, however, is a wrap up of Season 2 of The
1:32
X-Files, and hopefully those of you who are listening to this
1:35
episode have already listened to the previous episodes and know
1:38
the basic outlay of what I'll discuss today.
1:42
This isn't meant to be a long episode, it just gives me the
1:45
chance to riff about the entire series as a whole rather than
1:49
discussing each episode individually to take a look at
1:53
how the season progressed, how the characters interacted, and
1:57
its worthiness overall. So without any further ado, here
2:01
is my season wrap for the second season of The X-Files.
2:10
So let's talk about the show as itself to begin with, and my
2:15
memory of watching this series the first time around was that
2:19
it was all amazingly brilliant. That each episode was more or
2:23
less a perfect episode. And on each occasion since then
2:28
that I've gone back and re watched season 2.
2:31
Over the years, including this time, I've found that overall it
2:37
has been less brilliant than I remembered it.
2:40
So Full disclosure on that original time when I first
2:44
watched season 2 of The X-Files. Now this was shown on Australian
2:48
TV back in 1995, which I have explained on other podcasts that
2:53
I produce, was a blackout year for me.
2:56
Very much a period of my life that was very tough with a lot
3:00
of stuff going on. And at that time that this
3:04
series aired, I was actually living in a house shared with
3:07
two of my best mates and the two sisters of one of those best
3:11
mates. And we would watch this show
3:13
together every week. And it was a highlight of our
3:16
week watching The X-Files, which was then followed by Melrose
3:20
Place. And I mean, those two shows
3:23
being watched together were strange, but they're always such
3:28
great fun because the five of us sitting there tended to add our
3:32
own thoughts all the way through, which would of course
3:35
make the episodes even funnier or more interesting to cover up
3:40
any pursued flaws that may have existed on those episodes or
3:45
often all of those things combined.
3:48
So I remember that time as a lot of fun in regards to the
3:53
watching of The X-Files, not necessarily everything else that
3:55
was going on in my life. And it did result in me holding
3:58
up Season 2 as my favorite series for some time, and
4:03
probably up until the time that I first rewatched the entire
4:07
series, which was a few years later, once it started coming
4:11
out on DVD. And it was then that the lesser
4:15
episodes appeared to be far more, less, or just far less
4:22
perhaps than they had been at the time.
4:25
Because I guess of what the five of us had added to each episode
4:29
with their comments over the top and just our funny remarks.
4:33
And so watching it, certainly on that second occasion, a lot of
4:38
the episodes that are not as good as the great episodes
4:42
appeared far less good than they actually did on that first
4:45
watch. Now, in working out the average
4:48
rating of each episode for the series as I've been going along,
4:52
it does come to pass that, for me at least, Season 1 actually
4:56
ranks as a better season than Season 2 on those average
5:00
episode rankings. Which in my memory of the first
5:03
run of the show, I would never have acknowledged that.
5:06
I always acknowledged that Season 1 was terrific because it
5:09
was set everything up that came, but my belief was always that
5:13
Season 2 was just barnstorming, and looking back now I can
5:20
probably see that. But at the time I couldn't
5:21
possibly believe that Season 2 had any flaws really.
5:26
There are of course some amazing episodes in this season, and
5:29
some of the best of the whole 12 series.
5:33
In fact 11 series, Sorry. But they are tempered by some
5:37
that are fairly average and ones where it almost feels as though
5:42
they had gotten through the episodes, had actually gotten
5:45
through in a push for time, rather than to check the overall
5:48
quality of the episodes and perhaps make a review of the
5:52
episode or a rewrite or a reshoot or whatever it was.
5:56
And that came to pass, I think, especially in the period where
6:00
Gillian Anderson was unavailable due to giving the birth of her
6:03
first child and in the period after she came back.
6:08
And that sort of became the fact that all of that happened became
6:12
a happy accident. Because if she hadn't been
6:15
pregnant towards the end of that first season and then giving
6:19
birth here in that second season, then the whole storyline
6:22
arc of The X-Files would have been completely different.
6:25
The need to give Jillian time away from the show meant that
6:29
the storylines had to be adapted to allow that.
6:32
And at the time when they were writing for the second season of
6:36
The X-Files, it's been acknowledged by the writers that
6:39
they were going to go in a completely different direction.
6:42
And that changed when Jillian had to have time off.
6:46
And that brought about the Dwayne Barry storyline and her
6:49
abduction by quotation marks aliens, which became the
6:55
centerpiece of Season 2. And it gave the suspension of
7:00
The X-Files a longer term than was initially considered, as in
7:05
the fact that The X-Files had been closed down because in the
7:09
long run, they were going to, I think Chris Carter was going to
7:13
open The X-Files again in episode 1 of Season 2.
7:16
And as it turns out, it didn't happen until much later because
7:20
of this storyline that that was then written because Gillian was
7:24
going to leave the show for a certain period of time, not
7:26
long, as it turned out. And all of that has worked for
7:31
the absolute betterment of the show.
7:32
It's it's such a better season because of that.
7:36
With Skinner not reopening The X-Files until after Scully's
7:39
abduction, it gave greater depth to the government conspiracy
7:43
going on around them, along with the introduction of one of the
7:47
greatest characters of the show, which was even more important.
7:52
But it also led to one of the worst episodes of the whole
7:56
series, sandwiched between two of the best.
7:59
And then there was also a stretch in the middle of the
8:03
series that episodes were sort of average at best.
8:08
The very best of the the Alien Mythology arc seemed to have
8:12
destroyed the ability to find good scripts of Monsters of the
8:16
Week episodes to keep the momentum going.
8:20
Now, as I've already mentioned, I still remember loving each and
8:23
every week when it was first aired in Australia.
8:26
But it just doesn't remain the case, I don't think, on multiple
8:29
viewings, and there are several episodes here that tend to get
8:34
even weaker over time the more you watch them.
8:38
Now, nine of the 25 episodes in this series related to the Alien
8:42
Mythology arc or utilize an alien or extraterrestrial theme
8:47
within the story. And that's an increase from
8:49
Season 1 where there are only five such episodes.
8:52
And the majority of these episodes in Season 2 occur in
8:56
the first third of the season apart from Dwayne, Barry and
9:01
Scully's abduction and then return.
9:04
It was the the double episode. It only had a storyline that saw
9:08
the supposed return of Samantha Mulder, which turned out to be
9:12
of course a part of the clone colony that our erstwhile bounty
9:16
hunter was chasing. So that was the other major
9:20
alien arc of the series. And then of course, we had the
9:23
cliffhanger Anasazi, and it was the other.
9:25
And I've already examined the mental anguish that was caused
9:29
to me by that episode on our previous episode.
9:35
So overall, Season 2 ends up being a mixed bag of utter
9:40
brilliance and then some quite average episodes.
9:43
And perhaps the cliffhanger was the true indicator of why I held
9:48
this series so highly in my thoughts in the long run.
9:51
Perhaps it was just the fact that that I still remember
9:55
exactly how I felt when that aired.
9:56
And then I thought I was going to have to wait four months to
9:59
find a resolution when I knew that the resolution had already
10:02
aired in the United States. I guess at that time, that
10:06
anticipation, that's what really remains with me from Season 2 as
10:11
the main contributor to why at the time I was watching it, I
10:14
thought it was absolutely so brilliant.
10:22
The true interaction here and the relationship between our two
10:25
main characters in Season 2 is one that is done almost from
10:30
long distance. And while there are a couple of
10:32
moments where it truly comes to shine a light on their
10:35
professional and personal relationship, most of the time
10:39
Mulder and Scully appear to be operating independently of each
10:43
other. From the very first episode.
10:45
Of course, they are apart because The X-Files has been
10:48
shut down and they have both been assigned or reassigned
10:52
sorry to other areas now. Despite this, they are still
10:56
always seeking each other out as Mulder moves with the cases that
10:59
he is being assigned and Scully at times almost demands that she
11:03
be kept in the loop and allowed to help where she can, which is
11:08
more or less to still be a part of what Mulder is doing and
11:13
almost I think to keep an eye on him and and make sure that he's
11:16
OK. We find that she flies to Puerto
11:20
Rico to save him before he's caught up by the the government
11:23
conspiracy forces after the information he believes he has
11:27
collated about extraterrestrial life.
11:29
In Little Green Men, the first episode, she's important in the
11:33
episode the host with what she discovers from her autopsy and
11:37
things like that. And of course she's dragged into
11:41
the Dwayne Barry hostage negotiation which eventually
11:44
leads to her abduction. So through all of these
11:47
episodes, there is barely a minute or two where the
11:50
characters share the screen together.
11:53
They are always a part speaking by phone.
11:57
Now, once Scully is returned, the writers do take their time
12:01
in reestablishing that relationship, drawing on the
12:04
fact that Scully is still finding her feet and Mulder is
12:07
aware, at least underneath, that she must still be having adverse
12:12
effects from her ordeal. More than anyone else, though,
12:17
Scully is consistently getting the crap booting out of her.
12:20
And this becomes something that the more I watch this series,
12:26
the more I sort of thought, wow, they are really going to town on
12:29
Scully. Because Donnie Fista in
12:32
Irresistible is well and truly, you know, going to take care of
12:35
her before Mulder arrives to save the day.
12:38
But he still beats the crap out of her.
12:40
In End Game, she gets cracked by the bounty hunter posing as
12:43
Mulder and he's kidnapped. In the Calisari, she gets
12:47
knocked around by the ghostly Michael, and in our town, she's
12:52
knocked out again and getting prepared to be well, getting
12:56
prepared for a meal of her. So I know it's a dangerous job
13:02
being a female FBI agent, but in this season she takes her fair
13:06
share of knocks. And kudos to Gillian Anderson
13:09
for dealing with all of that as an actress, because even though
13:13
she has stunt double S and things like that, there are
13:17
times when she's obviously the one who is being thrown around
13:20
and she's getting some cracks around the head.
13:22
So as an actress, she's done an amazing job in this series with
13:27
that. So overall, for me at least,
13:30
there just aren't as many scenes in this season that show us the
13:34
great strengths of their professional relationship, where
13:38
they are both so passionate about what they believe is
13:40
happening, and yet they can still work together despite
13:44
their difference of opinion. And it's interesting that with
13:47
there being fewer alien mythology episodes following
13:50
Scully's return from abduction, we don't get to see whether her
13:54
thoughts on extraterrestrials have moved again following that
13:59
incident. Her scientific analysis of the
14:01
Monster of the Week episodes remains on track, looking to
14:05
satisfy scientific reasoning before being drawn into Mulder's
14:08
offbeat theories. The bumping off of Bill Mulder
14:12
so soon after having just met him during this season, along
14:16
with the Samantha clones, does mess with Mulder's family
14:20
dynamic throughout, creating difficult situations.
14:24
We also see the introduction of Scully's sister Melissa,
14:29
ostensibly to be a possible romantic interest for Mulder,
14:32
but then soon pushed into the background with Scully's return.
14:37
So season 2 is a rebuilding phase for these two.
14:41
The X-Files being reopened and having both of them back into
14:44
that area of the FBI doesn't happen until 1/3 of the way
14:48
through the season, and the slightly off kilter episodes
14:51
that followed that for a while. Saw reestablishing the way the
14:55
characters had been by the end of season 1 does take some time.
15:05
The arrival of X as a replacement for Deep Throat,
15:08
both in Mulder's investigations and for the show itself, brings
15:12
in a different character for Mulder to interact with, and one
15:16
who was not quite as forthcoming or friendly or wholesome as Deep
15:22
Throat was initially. Steven Williams comes into the
15:26
role initially as just a voice on the phone in The Host, and
15:30
would eventually meet Mulder face to face in Sleepless.
15:34
He is immediately, as he himself describes, not on a similar
15:38
plane to Deep Throat. He is not interested in dying
15:41
for the cause and does not feel beholden to interact with Mulder
15:45
nor be at his beckon call. He is sinister, he is sullen,
15:51
he's always less than forthright, and he acts as a
15:54
true antihero should, working for his own needs rather than
15:59
those expected of him by Mulder. There is little lost, little
16:03
love lost, sorry between the two men, and the animosity stretches
16:07
throughout the season. Each says on more than one
16:11
occasion that they do not want to be contacted by the other
16:14
again. Molder does use X to find out
16:17
where the bounty hunter is escaping to, and when Scully
16:21
realizes this, she contacts X the same way Molder has been,
16:25
with an X formed by masking tape on his apartment window
16:29
illuminated by a lamp. So X comes believing in his
16:33
Mulder, but of course finds Scully instead, and in
16:36
attempting to leave he's bailed up and beaten by a late arriving
16:40
Skinner, who then gets the information from him that Scully
16:43
was after. So having been exposed to more
16:47
people than he was initially willing to, X shows no interest
16:51
in helping Mulder with Doctor Banton in soft light.
16:56
But then we see his deception by instead kidnapping Banton for
17:00
his own means, which Mulder eventually realizes.
17:03
And then of course he then says don't contact me again or make
17:07
this the last time I ever have to speak to you.
17:11
So the introduction of X gives us another link to the
17:14
conspiracies of government and the fact that he is not overused
17:18
gives his character the benefit of being mysterious as well as
17:21
menacing. The back and forth over his
17:24
appearances where he may be helping at times, but for the
17:28
benefit of whom is what gives him his intrigue.
17:33
Stephen Williams is fabulous every time he appears on screen
17:36
and the fact that he makes it through the whole season without
17:40
being discovered and bumped off like his predecessor gives a lot
17:44
of scope for his character going forward.
17:52
It remains a point of interest that the pairing of Walter
17:55
Skinner and The Smoking Man remains so relevant throughout
17:58
this season. Some of the best interactions
18:01
during this season came in the office of Assistant Director
18:04
Skinner, with some or all of the main 4 protagonists involved.
18:10
The Smokey Man is often sitting in the corner, but occasionally
18:14
just outside the door listening in.
18:17
Skinner continues to remain firmly in the role of working
18:21
within the hierarchy of the FBI, often saying that we all take
18:25
our orders from someone and while there is the occasional
18:29
heavy-handed comment between the two, for the most part they are
18:33
shown to be in a working relationship.
18:36
In the work environment. The Smoking Man has his obvious
18:40
agenda, something that Skinner understands is the case and that
18:44
at times it involves his agents, but he simply knuckles down and
18:49
follows procedures and orders for the most part.
18:54
But Skinner's character is growing and taking on things of
18:57
his own accord on occasions. The confrontation in the
19:00
elevator of Mulder's apartment complex to find out his
19:04
whereabouts for Scully is a major part of the series, not
19:08
only because Skinner appears to recognize X, but because he went
19:12
out of his way to help after he had given his official position
19:15
of no. Back in the office, he comes to
19:19
Mulder's aid in retrieving helping to retrieve Scully from
19:22
the bounty hunter as well. He knows the difference between
19:26
his orders in his job and the need to occasionally circumvent
19:30
them for the good of his agents. His is a role that is expanding,
19:35
and Mitch Pileggi continues to make the role his own, injecting
19:38
more personality and punch to his performance in each episode.
19:43
The writers too are giving him more to work with, which
19:46
improves the character progression in this season.
19:50
The Smoking Man too becomes more influential in the direction of
19:53
where episodes head. He has a certain belief that he
19:57
is untouchable, that when he is cornered, his lies will buy him
20:01
the time to reset the problem, which mostly is the case.
20:07
The best scene of the series is when Mulder appears in his
20:09
apartment, with the emphasis on killing him if he can't save
20:13
Scully. The fear in The Smoking Man's
20:15
eyes tell you that in that moment he thinks he's cashed his
20:19
chips in, and it is brilliantly acted by both David Duchovny and
20:23
William B Davis. Mulder eventually surmises that
20:27
it is Skinner who has given him his address, which peels back
20:30
another layer of that character, and that even though he is
20:34
supposed to be a type of shadowy hidden figure, Skinner still
20:39
knows where he lives. The fury which the Smoky Man
20:43
shows at the end of the series, trying to track down the stolen
20:46
DAT tape, and furious when he cannot find Mulder or the tape.
20:51
It shows that although he is powerful, his grip on everything
20:54
is not as firm or safe as we may have been led to believe.
21:00
Both of these characters continued the development in
21:02
season 2, and the show is far better because of it.
21:06
And of course, we can expect that to continue in Season 3.
21:16
The greatest anti hero of The X-Files arrives here in season 2
21:22
and immediately establish himself as the bumbling, mostly
21:26
incompetent, likable villain of all time.
21:30
He plays both sides but doesn't really know which side he should
21:33
be on, and he keeps getting screwed over by his general
21:36
inability to stay away from trouble and do the simple tasks
21:41
efficiently. Yes, his name is Alex Krycheck,
21:45
played wonderfully well by Nicholas Lee, and his beginnings
21:51
gave no indication as to how wonderful his appearance would
21:54
be on The X-Files. In fact, every time he appears
21:58
on the screen now, I applaud each and every time and just
22:02
refer to him as the great Alex Krycheck.
22:07
The character was created by Howard Gordon as a replacement
22:10
for the character of Scully when Gillian Anderson was to be
22:13
absent from the series, and yet he developed into someone who
22:17
would be around for years. His introduction as the agent
22:22
who took a case from under Mulder's nose in Sleepless, only
22:26
to be paired up with him as a result all seems a little
22:29
strange until the end of the episode where we discover he's
22:33
working for The Smoking Man and the Syndicate and will be acting
22:37
as an informant in a disruptor going forward.
22:41
All leading up to Scully's abduction, and all of which was
22:44
orchestrated and carried out by Crycheck behind the scenes right
22:49
up until he disappears once Mulder and Skinner have worked
22:53
out that he was the one responsible.
22:56
His change from green understudy to ruthless carrier outer of
23:00
treachery on screen is done really well and acted
23:04
tremendously by Lee who has to go from appearing in charge to
23:09
an incompetent agent in the blink of an eye.
23:12
His reappearance in Anasazi as the murderer of Bill Mulder and
23:16
then his almost deaf at the hands of Fox Mulder in an
23:20
amphetamine induced rage only makes his character even more
23:24
impressive. Much more is to come from my
23:28
favorite X-Files character, but his appearance here in this
23:31
season as a major antagonist is welcome and memorable changes
23:41
came in the writing and directing of the series for the
23:44
second season. Chris Carter of course, is the
23:48
creator of the series and he still had a heavy hand in the
23:51
production of season 2, writing or Co writing 7 episodes and
23:57
also directing his first episode, which was Dwayne Barry.
24:02
David Nutter, who directed many of the best episodes of season
24:05
1, returned to direct five more in season 2.
24:09
While the best writing combination from season 1, Glenn
24:12
Morgan and James Wong wrote three more episodes together
24:16
along with two others with a Co writer, Blood with Glenn's
24:20
brother Darren, and three with Chris Rappenthal.
24:25
Neither the director nor the writing combo were as effective
24:29
in this second series as they were in the first.
24:33
Morgan and Wong went on to develop the TV series Space
24:36
Above and Beyond, which meant that they did not contribute to
24:39
Season 3 at all, though they did return the following year when
24:43
that show was cancelled with direction of episodes.
24:48
Rob Bowman took over the major reigns directing 7 episodes, and
24:52
there were 13 different directors used throughout season
24:55
2. It is a reasonable question to
24:59
ask as to whether this contributed to the lack of focus
25:02
some episodes had in the middle of the season, though the answer
25:07
is probably no. It's more to do with the writing
25:10
than the actual direction. The arrival of Darren Morgan and
25:14
Vince Gilligan as writers in season 2 offset the eventual
25:19
loss of Glenn Morgan and James Wong the following year, who of
25:22
course were involved in writing the best episodes of season 1.
25:27
However, both would offer even more going forward.
25:30
Eventually, Darren Morgan brought us Blood as a story that
25:34
his brother and his partner turned into a screenplay, while
25:37
his own script for Humbug is a confirmed classic of the series
25:42
with his injected humour and horror perfectly formed within
25:46
the concept of the story he tells.
25:49
Vince Gilligan's Soft Light is one of the best episodes of the
25:53
season and possibly the entire show, and showcases a taste of
25:57
what he would bring to future seasons of this show and of
26:01
course, the shows he developed after The X-Files.
26:10
All righty well let's have a look at my rankings of season 2
26:14
episodes and even though I've been a bit harsh on some
26:17
episodes here on my tier ranking that I'm about to talk about, I
26:21
have exactly the same number of episodes in each same tier as in
26:26
season 1. The only change here is that
26:29
there is one extra episode here in season 2, but it actually
26:33
creates the all new tier D so nothing above it changes.
26:38
So even though I'm slightly disappointed overall, having
26:41
watched this season again, the whole tier system still works to
26:45
be exactly the same. So that turned out to be a
26:48
surprise for me, I can tell you. So yes, there are 25 episodes
26:54
and once again, I've split them into tiers, which is S tier,
26:58
which is superb. And then we have ABC and the
27:03
very new D, which this very got close to being E or F as it
27:09
turns out. So I ranked each episode, as I
27:12
would have said on each episode of the actual podcast
27:15
throughout, gave it each episode of ranking out of five.
27:19
And then I have ranked those into these tiers.
27:21
So there's one episode, as I said in tier DI gave that .5 out
27:26
of five and that was for three, which was written by Chris
27:30
Rappenthal, Glenn Morgan and James Wong.
27:33
And that was the vampire, more or less the episode, the one
27:37
that came between Scully being abducted and then returning.
27:42
And I explained at the time, it just didn't work for me.
27:45
I just thought they took a, a very simple old style, you know,
27:52
vampirical story and just decided to try and write
27:55
something out of that. And I just didn't like that at
27:59
all. I just didn't do anything for
28:00
me. And you know, Fox walks all the
28:02
way through and even though I understand how they're trying to
28:05
make him look as though he's lost, which he does in this
28:08
episode, and that he's not really thinking about things
28:11
very clearly in the long run, I just don't think it worked.
28:14
And some of the scenes just were a bit icky and very, very
28:18
unmoulder like, So I disliked that episode terribly.
28:23
That is currently ranked as my lowest episode.
28:25
It's going to be taking something very, very special to
28:28
beat that as a worse episode on The X-Files.
28:31
But sadly, I do have a couple that I can think of off the top
28:34
of my head later on that are just as bad.
28:37
So let's move up into the C tier, shall we?
28:40
And there were three episodes here in the C tier that I ranked
28:43
2.5 or two out of five. At 24, I have irresistible,
28:50
which was Chris Carter's episode.
28:51
I didn't really enjoy that either.
28:53
That was the the Fista episode again, the the, the fetishist.
28:59
I just thought, I don't know, is it the, is it just that I feel
29:03
icky about it, I guess. But I, I sort of, it didn't work
29:08
for me that this guy got away with this stuff, I guess in the
29:10
long run. And again, we're talking monster
29:13
of the week, but there was a, there's a little bit going on
29:15
there, which of course gets explained a little bit further
29:17
down the track. So if you don't know the
29:19
episode, it's worth watching it and then come back and listen to
29:22
my episode and hear me Lee talk all about it.
29:25
But yeah, that didn't work for me.
29:28
Then if Emasculata, which was episode 22 of the season, again,
29:32
that was OK but it just wasn't fantastic.
29:36
And then Firewalker, which honestly it's it's probably
29:40
better than a 2.5 episode. And I I do enjoy it more than AC
29:45
tier episode, but that's mainly because Bradley Whitford stars
29:48
in it and I think he's fantastic.
29:50
And of course the other two stars of that episode are also
29:53
fantastic in general. But again, it felt too much like
29:59
the episode from series 1 Ice and also a bit like a thing.
30:05
It just felt like they they utilized other storylines and
30:08
thrown it all in this one to try and make something work.
30:12
And that's why I probably didn't enjoy it so much.
30:15
It felt too much like copying. So there you go that's my CT and
30:20
now we go into BT where episodes are ranked from 3.5 to 3.
30:24
So currently we've now got episode 21.
30:28
So that's Aubrey, which was fine, but again, it's, you know,
30:34
a strange cop thing. And then, OK, so now we're going
30:37
to talk about the the fact that the bloodlines could bring
30:41
something back and had the same sort of homicidal tendencies
30:45
come through. OK, yeah, fine, I guess.
30:48
But I mean, it was it was fine to a point.
30:50
Again, it wasted really good guest stars, I think more than
30:54
anything else. Maybe that's what annoys me most
30:56
about it. At 20.
30:58
I have read a museum, 19 Fearful Symmetry, 18 Fresh Bones, 17 is
31:09
Excelsior's Day, yes that's correct and 16 is Dijon de
31:14
Verlette. So all of those episodes were,
31:18
were fine, but didn't have anything jumping out of their
31:21
skin to really bring it home in the 80s.
31:26
I am still a little bit surprised, I think that the
31:28
Kalasari ranks this high for me. I'd, I'd almost sometime would
31:34
think that it's on a par with Firewalker in that I, I, I enjoy
31:38
it more than I probably should and that perhaps it doesn't need
31:42
to be that high. But there you go at in this
31:45
current ranking, that's where it sits at #15 the Kalasari.
31:50
Blood, of course, is at 14. Blood is very good.
31:54
As I said, that was Darren Morgan's first effort in
31:57
writing. He came up with a story, and
31:58
then of course, Glen Morgan and James Wong turned it into a
32:01
screenplay. Little Green Men is at 13.
32:06
Again, I thought that was a really good opening episode.
32:09
And the only reason it's ranked this low, I think, is because of
32:14
the overall excellence of the episodes above it.
32:18
Sleepless ranks just above it at 12.
32:21
I thought that was unique and I enjoyed that story.
32:24
Dead Calm or Dodd Calm is also above that, which is also
32:28
another excellent story. Our Town is above that at 10, so
32:34
it ranks at #10 Dwayne Barry's at 9, and the host is at 8.
32:39
So you can see by that that those episodes, I think, are all
32:42
excellent episodes. And in here I've ranked these,
32:45
as I said, between 4.5 and 5. So as it turns out, I've got 10
32:50
episodes that rank either at 4.5 or five in a series of 25.
32:55
And so that's Our Town is at 10, Dwayne Barry's at 9, and The
32:59
Host are ranked at 8, which leaves seven episodes which are
33:03
in the STA the same as series 1. I had 7 episodes that I thought
33:07
were worthy of five out of five. And of course that's all very
33:12
subjective and I understand that a lot of people don't like to
33:15
use full marks for episodes or for album rankings or anything
33:20
like that. They they think there should
33:22
only be like half a dozen fives or you know, a dozen fives in
33:27
the entire history of everything.
33:29
I disagree. I still think that if I can get
33:32
the most out of an episode and I enjoy it this much, I can sit
33:35
there and just say how good was that?
33:37
Then that to me is a 5 episode. You know, there's, there's a
33:40
couple of things that don't quite work.
33:41
Like I said, it comes back to 4.5, which is why those 3
33:45
episodes just drop out of the, the St.
33:48
So at #7 I have Humbug. I'm sure that I'm going to pop
33:53
some grief there from a number of our people, my daughter
33:57
especially, who thinks Humbug's one of their favorite episodes.
34:01
I think Michael from Melbourne probably thinks something
34:04
similar. And of course, our wonderful
34:05
friend Jeff Doom doomed butt over there in Florida.
34:11
Yes, I have ranked that at 7. I'm sorry for you guys.
34:14
But yeah, I I mean, you know that I loved that episode.
34:18
And I just think that these ones are above it.
34:22
And I guess as it turns out, all but one of the ones above it are
34:27
a part of the alien arc mythology.
34:29
So perhaps that's what sort of spins it in that direction.
34:33
End Game is my number six and Colony is my #5 So of course
34:39
they tend to go together anyway. And they they very much are in
34:43
that respect. Anasazi for me is at 4I.
34:47
I love that episode, as I said at the time, and I still think
34:50
it holds up as a terrific closing episode.
34:56
Soft Light is at #3 and I can tell you that was very difficult
34:59
for me to put that at 3. And Vince Gilligan's first ever
35:03
writing credit. It's just a terrific episode.
35:07
And Tony Shalu was so good in that role #2 for me is
35:12
Ascension. I think again, my lovely
35:15
daughter Jessica might kick me because she loves that episode.
35:18
But yes, it's #2 for me, obviously just one of the great
35:22
episodes of The X-Files, especially this early on.
35:26
But for me, the number one episode is 1 Breath, and for
35:29
different reasons. Obviously one breath is where we
35:32
see the return of Scully, but it's all about Scully's lying
35:37
there, but it's about everything that's going on around her and
35:40
the Tor, the torment and the torture that that's Mulder was
35:44
feeling at that time. I just thought it was a
35:46
brilliantly written episode and a brilliantly acted episode, and
35:50
of course, written by Glenn Morgan and James Wong.
35:54
Probably not a huge surprise there.
35:56
So there you go. That's my rankings of the season
36:00
2 episodes and their other tears.
36:09
Righty O thanks everyone. That's the end of today's
36:12
episode. It's my wrap of season 2.
36:15
I hope you've enjoyed what I think.
36:17
As I've said before, feel free to offer your thoughts.
36:21
You can find me in several different places.
36:23
You can find me on X as Metal Bill at what's that at real
36:29
metal Kevin. You can find me on blue sky as
36:34
well, which is metal Kevin dot B sky, I think dot social.
36:40
I haven't got this written down. I've usually got all this
36:43
written down. I just read it off for you, so
36:45
you can actually hear my confusion here.
36:48
If you're listening to this on Spotify, obviously you can leave
36:51
a comment on Spotify if you're listening on any other platform
36:56
like Apple or Amazon, or you can go to my Patreon page.
37:02
You don't have to be a paying member on Patreon to listen to
37:05
these episodes through Patreon or to comment through Patreon.
37:09
I do have a page section which generally deals with my music
37:13
podcast and things like that, but I have a lot of free stuff
37:18
on there and Revisiting The X-Files is one of those things.
37:22
So you can go to the Patreon page and find my Patreon page at
37:26
Real Metal Kevin, which is called The Creation of Me, a
37:29
Lifetime retrospective. It's where I put on all my
37:32
podcasts that cover my entire love of TV, movies, music,
37:37
sport, all that kind of thing. So if you go there and you find
37:41
the the Revisiting The X-Files page, you can leave a comment on
37:47
this episodes page underneath and then I can get back to you
37:51
that way as well, or you can start a conversation there.
37:54
So if you're interested in doing that, please do so.
37:57
And there's other ways to find me as well.
37:59
Many of you might already have my message number or my WhatsApp
38:04
number and things like that, so if you feel like contacting me
38:06
that way, then that's also fun. Look, once again, to anyone
38:10
who's actually listening out there to this, I really
38:12
appreciate the fact that you are here and listening to this.
38:15
I just hope you're enjoying not only these episodes, but
38:17
hopefully you're actually also revisiting The X-Files yourself,
38:21
because it's just such a lot of fun to go back and watch these
38:24
great series and watch them all over again and hopefully get a
38:28
little bit more out of it each time you watch it.
38:31
So next week I have, as I did in the after the first series, I
38:37
had a special guest on who happened to be my daughter
38:40
Jessica, to talk about her favorite X-Files episodes.
38:43
Next episode, I'll be doing exactly the same thing with
38:46
another special guest who will come on and speak about their
38:50
favorite episodes through the entire run of The X-Files.
38:53
And I think that's going to be a terrific conversation and very
38:56
interesting for everyone to listen to.
38:58
And then after that, we get stuck into Season 3 and we find
39:02
out the resolution to Anasazi and what happens after that.
39:06
So I'm looking forward to that. I'm hoping you're looking
39:09
forward to that. And until next time, remember,
39:13
the truth is out there. Cheers.