Saturday, April 10, 2010

The X-Files: Little Green Men (2.1)

Not a typical opener to a new season, but one that portrays Mulder in an entirely new (and arguably better) light. Little Green Men doesn't have the strongest of storylines at its center, but works wonders from a character perspective.

I love the role reversals for Mulder and Scully, to go along with this entirely new universe the show is occupying. Here Mulder has become a reclusive, pessimistic office drone, doubting his own belief, and even doubting things he's actually seen with his own eyes. Meanwhile, Scully is the one trying to hold his sanity together, keeping up his morale in a time of personal and professional crisis.

In terms of specific scenes, I loved Scully's attempts to elude her pursuers in the airport, and the actual alien visuals, in both the flashback to Samantha's abduction and Mulder's visitation later in the episode, were stunning. Finally we're actually seeing real extra-terrestrials on this show, and it's remarkable to see them in all their long-limbed, big-headed glory.

The car chase shoot 'em up at the end came a little out of left field, the whole thing being too action-show for me, but you can see the type of audience they were reaching out for. The same could be said of the showy pre-title sequence, I guess.

The alien transmission storyline did nothing for me, but the little character moments made this pretty great. You have to admire Chris Carter's confidence, shaking up the show so much. It's like a different X-Files right now. Rating B

Credits
Guest stars Mitch Pileggi (A.D. Walter Skinner); Mike Gomez (Jorge Concepcion); Raymond J. Barry (Senator Richard Matheson)
Writers Glen Morgan, James Wong Director David Nutter

No comments:

Post a Comment