The X-Files (TV Series) Deadalive (2001) User Reviews

A solid conclusion of the two part story.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 29 September 2022]

Am old face from the last turns up unannounced, giving Skinner the impossible choice, literally choosing life or death.

So, before I start, I predicted that Krycek would appear, low and behold, there was a degree of predicability here, it's a minor gripe, overall it was a very strong episode.

I perhaps don't think it was as strong as the previous, but it was still a very good watch, 8/10.

Once again, Anderson totally steals the show, she was phenomenal here, as was her co star, that long glance at the end, that was beautifully done.

We got to learn a great deal about Doggett, he's become the new Scully, he's seen so much, but still refuses to believe what's right in front of his eyes.

It'll be interesting to see where they go from here, that was one plot twist I certainly wasn't expected to see.

8/10.

"Anybody miss me?"

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 21 August 2017]

In any other show, the idea that Mulder is brought back from the dead would sound pretty preposterous. It's actually pretty preposterous here as well, but in the grand scheme of weird things the X-Files is known for, I guess it's not so strange. What is strange is the idea that when Mulder was prepared for his funeral, he wasn't embalmed. Isn't that the only conclusion you can make when he's suddenly revived? I imagine viewers weren't supposed to think about that, but there's one in every crowd like me.

With the return once again of Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea), the guy is doing everything he can to push Skinner's (Mitch Pileggi) buttons. He did a pretty good job of it too, demanding a trade off between Mulder's life against Scully's baby. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I was still surprised to see Skinner making the attempt to pull the plug on Mulder. Fortunately it turned out to be the right decision, but with a positive result. You have to hand it to the writers for making impossible situations seem worthwhile.

There have been some gross scenes during the X-Files run but the one where Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley) takes that shower has to rank right up there among the grossest. It reminded me a little of Jeff Goldblum in the 1986 version of "The Fly", and I have to hand it to the special effects crew for a job well done. Well, as well done as can be expected when watching someone's rotten skin fall away and disintegrate down the drain. I almost couldn't finish my dinner.

It's going to be awful crowded down in that X-Files office.

[Muldernscully · 8/10 · 22 September 2007]

Deadalive continues with the story of Mulder's reappearance. Billy Miles, who was abducted at the same time as Mulder, gets picked up in the ocean by a fishing boat. On the autopsy table, they discover he is still alive. This prompts Skinner to dig up Mulder's grave, where he has been buried for the past three months. As with Billy Miles, they discover that Mulder is still alive barely.

My question is this: Wasn't Mulder embalmed when he was buried the first time? As far as I know that is a normal procedure to preserve the body from decaying, replacing the blood with embalming fluid. So either Mulder wasn't embalmed or they had to pump a whole bunch of blood back into him.

Over the past six months Doggett has come to care a great deal for Scully and the x-files. Kersh gives Doggett the opportunity to advance, but Doggett decides to think about it, wondering about what will happen to the x-files after Scully goes on maternity leave.

Even though darkness is a recurring theme on the x-files, with rooms rarely lit brightly, it's quite noticeable in this episode. No room is lit; the hospital rooms, the interrogation room where Mulder talks to Absalom, etc. They must really be into conserving electricity.

Doggett has a cool fight with Krycek while hanging onto the side of the car in the parking garage. Though Krycek still has power over Skinner with the nanobots. This is the last time we see him threaten Skinner with this.

Kersh continues to do a great job of making me hate him. I've hated no other character on the show as much as Kersh, with his contempt for Mulder and the x-files. Does he want Mulder to die? It appears so, since he tells Doggett to drop the case involving Mulder, and seems disappointed after learning of Mulder's recovery. I can't figure him out, especially concerning some of his later actions in the series which conflict with what he has done up to this point.

Deadalive is a great episode, where we get to see Alex Krycek up to his old, double-crossing ways. Mulder is back from the dead and the future looks bright...

...though he were dead, yet shall he live.

[Sanpaco13 · 9/10 · 1 July 2009]

Not the Peter Jackson directed cult zombie film of the same title. This is the second part of a decent mythology story from season 8 of The X-Files. While the episode is a followup to another episode, the two seem almost autonomous in their own respects. Deadalive begins with one of the most shocking things that any X-Files fan could ever imagine. Its so shocking and unbelievable that I personally think that no one ever really believed it and it probably even lost some of its effect. The thing I am speaking of is the funeral of Fox Mulder. Kersh can't contain his happiness over this when he invites Doggett into his office to tell him he is recommending he be promoted. Doggett respectfully tells him he will have to think about it. I think its interesting that through all that happens in this episode, it seems like Kersh is sitting in his office the entire time watching sunsets and sunrises and waiting for Doggett's final answer. Reminds me of my own boss. Anyway, Billy Miles body is found floating out at sea and is brought into a morgue where it is discovered that he is alive against all odds and logic. Skinner gets word of this and he and Doggett rush off to exhume Mulder and soon find out that Mulder is alive as well. Billy Miles is suddenly miraculously healed, Krycek shows up with a vaccine that supposedly can save Mulder but tries to get Skinner to kill Scully's baby in return (remember Krycek is controlling Skinner like a puppet with the nano heart attack robots in his bloodstream), and Doggett finds out from Absalom that he and Jeremiah Smith were healing the returned abductees to keep them from resurrecting as what we will later come to know as Super Soldiers. At this point they are simply alien replacements. Kind of like pod people. I love the scene where Billy's skin falls off as he showers. So gross! Skinner, unable to comply with Krycek's demands of killing Scully's baby, decides he has no other choice than to kill Mulder. So he takes him off life support but is caught by Doggett who chases Krycek but is unsuccessful in obtaining the vaccine. Inadvertently, Skinner saves Mulder by taking him off life support. Instead of turning into an alien, Mulder slowly revives through the treatment of antibiotics. Scully and everyone else sees it as just a fluke but as fans we all know that Mulder had already been treated with the vaccine that Krycek had way back in season 4. It was because of this that he was immune to the black oil and also that he was able to heal the old fashioned way here. The episode is very good. 9 out of 10.

Yes, Mulder is back!

[ellagarden · 9/10 · 2 August 2006]

Finally, Mulder is back. This episode is very emotional- for Scully. I was very touched to see the way she looked at Mulder. however, he didn't respond quite the same way. He was kind of cold towards Scully and the unborn child- which was disappointing. the only thing hasn't changed is his passion of the x files. i would like to think the way that Mulder treated Sully shows something deeper in his heart, something about their relationship that not able for him to express. X files without Mulder is like ...24 without Jack Bauer-incomplete and awkward. i haven't watched the later episodes but i can't imagine what season nine would be like without Mulder. No matter how smart, understanding or caring Dogget is, how special Monica is- they are just not Mulder and Scully. the story can still be fascinating, the lines are still very clever, but originality has been stolen.

Something dies in you... for ever

[hamidullahgenc · 10/10 · 5 March 2020]

A mother loses her child at young age, a kid never sees his six-year-old best friend after one afternoon, a cat disappears on a family in the dead of winter...

The mother will not be the same after being reunited with her child.

The kid will always yearn for a friend, for "the" friendship even if he meets his six-year-old best friend years later.

The family will miss the old dynamics even when the cat's found and happily playing around them.

Mulder followed his destiny, and this meant going off the center of the show.

Okay, maybe the actor had to clear his calendar. But still, the audience is lead to have invested in the show to an extent that the departure of Mulder from the center of the show, or possibly from the show, hurts them by producing mixed feelings...

F.i. Who is this new guy Doggett, and will he replace Mulder? Will Scully still long for Mulder, or move past her relationship with Mulder, and become very close with Doggett in a very short time? Will Mulder ever return? Should he return as he might had found what he had been been looking for?

All these were very strong points the show used carefully. Not much of anything felt forced. The episodes were bizarre and interesting. And even the music was binding when it came to Mulder. And the audience started liking Agent Doggett... He was brave, analytical, honest and hardworking...

Then Mulder's returned... Oh, boy have our hurt deepened!... We do not know what will happen with the new trio. And we especially care for Agent Doggett, and his feelings... More importantly... We feel that the old Mulder is long gone... And this will hurt for ever. So, this season has been of the best so far for this humane sentiment and reason... for we can never get back in time for the sweetest of things.

"Then We brought you back to life after your death that perhaps you would be grateful." The 56th Verse of the Chapter called "The Cow" in the Gracious Koran... Amen.

The most depressing 44 minutes in television history...

[lnvicta · 6/10 · 9 August 2015]

This episode opens with the burial of Mulder. It's tough to watch, as is most of this episode. The season 8 mythos has been depressing to say the least: Mulder being tortured Hellraiser style in a spaceship while Scully is battling with her pregnancy - basically half horror-show half soap opera with a bunch of cryptic dialogue and threats and double-crosses and oh there's Krycek again BUT now, finally, there's a chance Mulder can be saved. Well unfortunately he isn't... at least not for the bulk of the episode, which is filled with everything I previously mentioned. It's just... weird, for an X-File episode... everything is so dark and brooding, bleak, hopeless, and it's all expository. There's no Mulder sarcasm to be found, which was fine for the beginning of season 8 because Doggett turned out to be a damn good character, but this episode in particular is absolutely dreary, and it's not just because of the lack of Mulder.

This episode's sole purpose was to move the plot forward. Here are the plot advances of this episode: As the title suggests, Mulder was dead, and now he's alive. Krycek is still a dick (but still somehow captivating). Doggett is offered a better job and thinks about it. Everyone's life is at stake. In short, it's all melodrama - vital to the plot of the show, but melodramatic nonetheless. I mean, it's watchable because you're invested in all these characters and are anxious for what will happen next, but literally nothing happens. Where are the aliens? Where's the government conspiracies? DeadAlive is nothing but the characters moping around. The only interesting thing going on was the fact that Billy made a recovery somehow, but that was never really explained, so it's basically a waiting game until it happens to Mulder.

I want to love this season so much but this episode is all style no substance. Atmospheric but hollow. Worth a one-time watch if you're dedicated to the mytharc, but make no mistake: There is no X-File here.

Fox Mulder Is Back

[seanclarkester · 6/10 · 22 July 2010]

Having watched the increasingly over-convoluted mythology episodes drag the series down in the last two seasons my first reaction to watching X Files DeadAlive for the first time was "I can't remember the last time the conspiracy was so engaging" it's true that the episode is more watchable than most of the previous two years rubbish that has been churned out however there are some problems. The episode has all the ingredients of classic X Files all the big guns are back Skinner, Mulder, Krycek and the episode coasts along nicely unravelling each plot point as it goes until we get to the return of Fox Mulder, who dies after an alien abduction, is buried (no autopsy is performed despite the weird way he is found dead) dug up and inexplicably brought back to life. It was as though the writers were saying "here's proof we have lost our minds". DeadAlive does however feature some very strong performances (Anderson, Patrick) and viewers will get a kick out of seeing Krycek make every character he comes into contact with squirm. Throw in a nice car/fight sequence and DeadAlive is a worthy addition to your X Files collection even if it is just to hear Mulder's legendary first words upon coming back to life.