The X-Files: Biogenesis (6.22)

Everything's different, yet everything's the same. That was the feeling I got when the ominous 'to be continued...' rolled across the screen at the end. Biogenesis featured a lot that felt overly familiar. We had the same flat antagonists orbiting around the script, characters like Krycek and Diana Fowley being all shady and mysterious but with little understanding of what exactly they're doing. Skinner's loyalties are once again under scrutiny, and it took me a while to remember his nanobite blackmail thing earlier this season. There was the return of the Native American shaman dude, a character I'd entirely blocked out of my consciousness. But away from the stale villains and stale plot devices, Biogenesis was sort of fun.

The X-Files: Field Trip (6.21)

Last season's Bad Blood showcased the vast differences between Mulder and Scully, the former increasingly frustrated with his partner's lack of interest and diminishing investment in pursuing 'the truth', while the latter having only grown tired of Mulder's relentless pursuit of evidence she knew he'd never find. It makes sense that, after a season of sweeping change that has thrown them closer than ever before, an episode exploring their respective psyches reveals how reliant they've become on one another, and that they've both drawn from each other's unique perspectives in order to become better agents.

The X-Files: Three of a Kind (6.20)

I've never been a fan of self-consciously 'nerdy' characters, and the Lone Gunmen are the kind of co-stars that feel a little on-the-nose even in their brief appearances every once in a while. Unusual Suspects, the pre-cursor to this belated sequel, worked in spite of my personal ambivilance towards them, but Three of a Kind struggles to find any kind of identity, resting on the few set pieces that it has.

The X-Files: The Unnatural (6.19)

David Duchovny's directorial debut is absorbing and sweet, if so overly sentimental you could scream. You half expect Kevin Costner to show up midway through. But with that in mind, maybe that was Duchovny's intention? The Unnatural plays a lot like an old-fashioned fairytale. There are a ton of stock characters (scrappy orphans, whimsical baseball coaches), conversations about what it is to be human, and friendships developing over deep divides. It's all pretty trite, but somehow works.

The X-Files: Milagro (6.18)

I struggled writing a review for this episode, which is really saying something since I find I always struggle to say anything interesting or insightful about The X-Files. That's nothing to do with the quality of the show in general, I just find it hard to articulate my feelings about certain episodes, and Milagro was one of them. This is another experimental X-File, and a trademark Chris Carter script. It's pretty clear when Carter's fingerprints are all over an X-Files episode, if only because of the pretentious and overwritten dialogue. But this time around that's actually what makes Milagro so interesting, as it explores the job of a writer and how a writer forms the characters he creates.

The X-Files: Trevor (6.17)

I feel like I should be criticized for never being satisfied with this show. I've spent a long time this season requesting some monster of the week episodes that aren't played in such a comedic way, but the ones we've been getting lately have been pretty weak. Am I just overly demanding? Trevor isn't as heinous as Alpha since there are at least some interesting ideas at work, but there's something pretty routine and flat about the whole thing, resulting in what feels like a throwback to some of the less successful early episodes. More specifically, those annoying Howard Gordon scripts featuring guest stars embarking on some supernatural revenge mission.

The X-Files: Alpha (6.16)

This was a dog of an episode. I think this one should have been taken out and shot. This puppy needs to be put down. Ahem. Alpha is pretty terrible from just about every perspective. Casting, story, characterization, dialogue. It's all awful. At least it's bad from the get-go, though. So you don't spend fifteen minutes thinking "Hey! This could be great", only to be disappointed later on. Seriously, why would somebody open up a giant cage holding a mysterious animal that is clearly angry and twitchy? When will folks in sci-fi shows learn that cargo ships never carry anything remotely positive and non-evil?

The X-Files: Arcadia (6.15)

This is an X-Files version of 'creepy suburbia', planting Mulder and Scully into a picturesque gated community full of white picket fences and flawless driveways inhabited by a group of frantic families who secretly sit and judge and conform until their hearts give out. Oh, and there's also a huge trash monster killing folks. Arcadia actually works better as a dissection of cultural conformity than it does a horror episode, while the Mulder and Scully undercover hijinks are crazy fun.

The X-Files: Monday (6.14)

I adore time-loop episodes out of principal, so this unsurprisingly worked well for me. The fun in episodes like this is in the gradual differences that pile up on every additional visit to the same moment in time, and that concept ended up fitting beautifully into the rest of the hour. Writers Vince Gilligan and John Shiban also add a level of heart to their script, creating an episode that opens as a fun and interesting experiment episode, before becoming something that's affecting and emotional towards the end.

The X-Files: Agua Mala (6.13)

You can understand why a new writer would want to throw everything into the pot as he starts out on a major show. With Agua Mala, David Amann tries to create one of those 'trapped in a small area and attacked by monsters' episodes, something this show only did well right back in its first season. The script also throws in another appearance by Darren McGavin's vintage FBI agent. But, making this episode's failings even clearer, having missed McGavin's name in the opening credits, I entirely missed that this was the same character from Travelers. He's so tossed in and unnecessary that it's an easy mistake to make.

The X-Files: One Son (6.12)

There seems to be a concerted effort this season to bring The X-Files back to basics. The number of conspiracy episodes has been reduced, standalones are a lot more accessible and humorous. And with One Son, we appear to be getting something that previously felt impossible. We actually got some damn answers. While the show continued its tradition of showcasing some revelations while simultaneously setting up some new questions, this episode was another impressive mythology hour, the only weak element being some messy characterization.

The X-Files: Two Fathers (6.11)

Sometimes it does surprise me that The X-Files still manages to get mileage out of what are arguably some of the most tired ideas around. Black oil, the conspiracies, the CSM, Krycek. It's all so routine and predictable now that when an episode comes along that actually wins me over using the exact same elements, it's worthy of considerable attention. Two Fathers is a ridiculously entertaining mythology episode, book-ended by an intriguing framing device, littered with absorbing power play, and featuring some squicky face-ripping antics which everybody should somehow enjoy. Heh.

The X-Files: Tithonus (6.10)

Tithonus starts out feeling like an episode with elements cribbed from various other X-Files hours. There's the traumatized guest star-with-abilities of Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, the ability to spot coming demise of Leonard Betts, and the death photographs of Unruhe. But what this episode does so well is constantly subvert your expectations, opening as an ordinary pursuit of a supposed murderer, before becoming something far heavier at the end.

The X-Files: S.R. 819 (6.9)

This felt like an unnecessary throwback to the X-Files of yore, with a race against time, characters in peril, and contrived plot twists which end up being ridiculously underwhelming. So a guy we haven't seen in years, who was pretty shadily sketched in the first place, is revealed to be evil? Okay then. Krycek, a character who became increasingly redundant and illogical years ago, is back. Okay then. Isn't this the third or fourth time his character has randomly appeared out of nowhere? It's so dramatically lazy at this point.

The X-Files: The Rain King (6.8)

Like last week, The Rain King at first depicts ideas that are strange and extraordinary (the apparent ability to control weather), before exposing it all as something far more mundane and ordinary. At this episode's heart is unrequited love, and the element of the story I was most impressed by were the guest stars, all of whom noticed the chemistry between Mulder and Scully. There's Holman insisting that he's seen how Mulder 'gazes' at Scully, Mulder's insistence that that isn't the case, and later Sheila confronting Scully over her jealousy of her 'connection' to Mulder. It's really sweet and goofy, and ridiculously entertaining.

The X-Files: Terms of Endearment (6.7)

I'm still unsure if this worked or not. Principally because the story is all over the place, twists coming at you from all angles, little resolution and a tone that veers from high-camp horror to mournful tragedy. But, generally, it's pretty entertaining. It takes some somewhat familiar X-Files ideas (hellish visions, potentially demonic pregnancies, dead babies) and runs with it in varying different directions. It's the show once again playing around with your expectations, Mulder pursuing a bad guy he knows is a little 'off', but takes a while to actually discern what that 'off' is all about. It's a feeling we share, too, and I liked it.

The X-Files: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas (6.6)

I'm a huge Christmas fan, so I naturally enjoy anything remotely holiday-ish that a television serves up. No matter how corny or overly sentimental it may be, Christmas specials of a TV show always get to me. How the Ghosts Stole Christmas avoids being anything particularly annoying, instead being a wonderfully perceptive and eventually sweet holiday fable.

The X-Files: Dreamland II (6.5)

Considering it still doesn't exactly justify being spread over two episodes, I actually enjoyed Dreamland II a lot more than its predecessor. While it still remains a little flat and spends far too long coasting ahead of its underwhelming conclusion, I enjoyed the general theme that ran through the hour, of Mulder somewhat having wasted his life. Here's a man who had it all at one point, yet became so consumed with alien conspiracies and hunting for the truth that it eclipsed what could have been a successful career and personal life.

The X-Files: Dreamland (6.4)

Body swaps are an inherent part of science fiction, and usually follow one of two threads whenever they are featured. Sometimes you get a body swap episode that reveals a lot about the characters involved, exploring new depths to their psyche as they inhabit opposing bodies. Then there are the episodes which are pretty much played for laughs. Like season four's previous Mulder body swap episode Small Potatoes, Dreamland is another comedy X-Files hour, enlivened by some engaging performances from David Duchovny and Michael McKean, but something that struggles to be more than the sum of its parts.

The X-Files: Triangle (6.3)

One of the numerous highlights of this episode is the use of tracking shots throughout. Almost every scene is one long take, and the sheer number of extras and guest stars all of whom get entrusted to remember their lines and their cues is really awe-inspiring. It's funny though that it took about twenty minutes for me to realize I was actually watching numerous long takes, and it was the scene with Scully dramatically pacing around the FBI's offices that finally made everything click together for me. That scene in particular is staggeringly successful, Gillian's performance entirely on point as she rushes from corridor to corridor, stumbling into meetings she shouldn't have access to and bumping into folks she can't trust. It's one of the greatest sequences this show has ever done.