REVIEW: X-Files Double Dose Premiere Makes Fans Want to Believe

When The X-Files reboot was announced, fans everywhere rejoiced. And when the two-episode premiere aired Sunday and Monday, they did the same thing.

After being off the air for 14 years, the series comes back as if it just ended and FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) suffered some magical aging effects that could only be found in an X-file.

Once the stage is set in the first episode, “My Struggle”, viewers were hauntingly embraced by the nostalgic opening, still intact from its last debut in 2002. It sets the tone perfectly for the show, which takes turns of nostalgia every chance it gets from the acting to the directing and the X-Files-esque frame-by-frame shots.

As soon as Scully calls Mulder, telling him FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) has a person of interest for the former agent to meet, the audience could breathe a sigh of relief. A few years away from any project can cause some distance between the actors, their roles and even each other, but there is no such feeling here.

As has been noticeable throughout the years in appearances out of character, Duchovny and Anderson appear as if they’ve never been closer. The banter between the characters, from everything to Scully saying how much she’s missed her partner to Mulder trying to get her to believe all over again, the repertoire between the agents proves as strong as ever.

The content of the first episode could probably be considered the biggest disappointment, not setting the best stage for long-awaited new material.

The two meet political TV host Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale), a radical gun-nut and conspiracy hawk who Mulder compares to Bill O'Reilly, and find he is indeed radical, though not on as superficial a level as thought.

O’Malley introduces them to Sveta (Annet Mahendru), a woman claiming to be a multiple abductee with the standard X-file experiences: bright lights, taken multiple times, unborn fetuses stolen, the works. Pretty typical for the show. But in confidence later, Sveta tells Mulder that these abductions weren’t the work of an alien race, but the government itself. Different, but still very reminiscent of The X-Files.

The concept of Mulder having an epiphany that perhaps the government has been behind the alien conspiracy the whole time was the main-story premise of season 5, where halfway through Mulder announces to the public, very similarly to O’Malley and his TV show, that alien abductions aren’t real and it is actually men working in the government.

The struggle for this truth seems old, redone even, simply trading out The Syndicate for the Department of Defense. However, there is room to grow. Back in season 5, Mulder wasn’t going on much other than stories and an exhaustion with his own beliefs. In the reboot, Mulder is exposed to many, what he deems undeniable, factors that give him more evidence, such as seeing fully-functioning remodeled alien technology and the new idea that abductees, like Sveta, contain alien DNA in their genome implanted during government testing.

Despite the writers trying to make this old theory seem fresh by incorporating modern data, technology and information that didn’t exist back in the ’90s, many doubt whether The X-Files will deliver us the groundbreaking, edge-of-your-seat action the fan base has grown to expect.

But after a groan of what ifs, there were two things at the end of the first episode every fan will love: the FBI’s reopening of the X-files, and the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) being unhappy with it.

The second episode, “Founder’s Mutation”, helps bring viewers back from the spooky cliches with what appears to be a monster of the week episode. However, as it goes on, it raises more eyebrows.

As Mulder and Scully investigate the suicide of an employee of a company contracted by the Department of Defense, they are hit with stone walls labeled classified around every corner. Eventually, they stumble onto videos and information leading them to conclude the man killed himself after hearing a powerful sound that couldn’t be heard or explained by anyone else. So far, a typical X-File.

But the episode starts to take some interesting turns after their investigation brings to their attention experiments being done on children. In turn, this causes the agents to reflect on the child they had together 15 years ago, and who Scully had to ultimately give up for adoption for his safety.

Throughout the episode, there are flashbacks of what could have been; both Mulder and Scully reflect on a life including William, what watching him grow would be like and what strange mutations he may have developed as he matured. As fans can recall, there was some debate about whether William was actually an alien-human hybrid who, at the time of infancy, appeared to have the power of telekinesis, an ability seen used by one of the mutated children in this episode.

Such an in-depth reflection on William was long overdue for the show. In season 9, the subject of Scully and Mulder’s child was a frequent subject of debate, but “William” was just a name thrown around. Was this really their baby? Was he a hybrid? How did Mulder feel about all this after being gone for so long? So many questions and no answers.

Sure, it effectively helped bring closure to the subject, but it leaves viewers on edge, and not in the way The X-Files is meant to. With so much mention of their son, and the reminder that he would be 15 years old now — the perfect age to cast a permanent actor for the role — will he appear in the show? Will this be a dominating plot line, taking away from the supernatural hunt for the truth?

It could be interesting. It could also be a terrible turn for a show that has never relied on the draw of personal relationships to keep their audience interested. For now, William and his fate are still up in the air.

With the idea of alien-human hybrids back on the table, the episode quickly connects with the first, going back to the Department of Defense conducting secret experiments behind the population’s back.

But despite the eerie soap opera feel of William and the continuation of overdone X-files troupes, the acting is so on point that it greatly overshadows any qualms with the show.

In the scene in the assistant director’s office between Mulder, Scully and Skinner, it feels like the only thing that has changed is the president’s picture on the wall. Everything down to Skinner’s classic “We’re done here” to the no one believes anyone scenario screams classic X-Files.

Next week should prove to be interesting, taking the time to do a true monster of the week episode viewers have come to know and love as some the The X-Files finest work. As for how successful this season will be, there is still a lot more to see and only four episodes left to do it. But have faith. The truth is out there.

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