Somehow, someway, the third episode of the limited 2016 run of The X-Files is not only the best one so far of the three (not that the first wasn't flawed like hell, though the second was an improvement), it's one of the best episodes I can remember seeing of the whole show. I'm sure it'll not be loved by all fans, since it's especially satirical not just of the show itself but perhaps of what people think of such things as monsters in general.
It's a Darin Morgan script, and he's been writing for the show for so long that perhaps he just decided, 'I don't want to be bored doing this, what can I do to really shake it up... how about messing with the idea of what a monster REALLY is to Mulder?' I should say that this is the only episode that can work like this in this mini-season - it's a slightly (or just full-on) meta story where Mulder confronts his own malaise over knowing the unknown (it begins with Mulder showing Scully the many things that have been proved as explainable since they last left the X-files) while in the "plot" of a man who can turn into a lizard.... OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?!
I had a blast watching this, but I think it's the kind of thing you'll either really click in to or you'll find it too jokey. A joke or two don't connect, but almost the rest do, from the start with two drug addicts in the woods who see this lizard-person onward, and it doesn't shy away from the total absurd. How absurd it gets is seen when "Guy Mann", the purported culprit of a series of murders, tells Mulder his story and it involves things like, oh you know, suddenly having the compulsion when being turned into a human to... gulp.. get a job! And there may or may not be a Scully sex fantasy that Guy conjures up.
The end result of the case would seem a let-down if it didn't take this approach; it's not even about the case, but it's kind of half a jokey, almost early Buffy monster-of-the-week yarn and half of a, well, existential parable for Mulder's belief structure. I'm sure there are other episodes that explored these ideas of this, even so far as things being silly and almost embarrassing, but rarely have I recalled it being so knowing and gut-bustingly entertaining. For those who think they know the tone from the 1st episode of season 10 (with conspiracy theories raging like a 13 year old boner) or the 2nd (which has more of a core story among reminisces), this episode upends that with killer dialog and cutting wit.
It's a Darin Morgan script, and he's been writing for the show for so long that perhaps he just decided, 'I don't want to be bored doing this, what can I do to really shake it up... how about messing with the idea of what a monster REALLY is to Mulder?' I should say that this is the only episode that can work like this in this mini-season - it's a slightly (or just full-on) meta story where Mulder confronts his own malaise over knowing the unknown (it begins with Mulder showing Scully the many things that have been proved as explainable since they last left the X-files) while in the "plot" of a man who can turn into a lizard.... OR IS IT THE OTHER WAY AROUND?!
I had a blast watching this, but I think it's the kind of thing you'll either really click in to or you'll find it too jokey. A joke or two don't connect, but almost the rest do, from the start with two drug addicts in the woods who see this lizard-person onward, and it doesn't shy away from the total absurd. How absurd it gets is seen when "Guy Mann", the purported culprit of a series of murders, tells Mulder his story and it involves things like, oh you know, suddenly having the compulsion when being turned into a human to... gulp.. get a job! And there may or may not be a Scully sex fantasy that Guy conjures up.
The end result of the case would seem a let-down if it didn't take this approach; it's not even about the case, but it's kind of half a jokey, almost early Buffy monster-of-the-week yarn and half of a, well, existential parable for Mulder's belief structure. I'm sure there are other episodes that explored these ideas of this, even so far as things being silly and almost embarrassing, but rarely have I recalled it being so knowing and gut-bustingly entertaining. For those who think they know the tone from the 1st episode of season 10 (with conspiracy theories raging like a 13 year old boner) or the 2nd (which has more of a core story among reminisces), this episode upends that with killer dialog and cutting wit.