The X-Files

Let's talk about The X-Files for a quick minute.
Did you watch this TV show in the '90's?

I did and really liked it. It ran from 1993-2002 with a comeback in 2016. Season 11 has been airing on Fox on Wednesdays with four episodes so far.

It is so good that I wanted to give it a mention in case you were a fan and thought "nah, it can't be as good as the original series". 

Background: Created by Chris Carter

"The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a medical doctor and a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries to debunk his work and thus return him to mainstream cases. Early in the series, both agents become pawns in a larger conflict and come to trust only each other and a very few select people. The agents also discover an agenda of the government to keep the existence of extraterrestrial life a secret. They develop a close relationship which begins as a platonic friendship, but becomes a romance by the end of the series. In addition to the series-spanning story arc, "monster of the week" episodes form roughly two-thirds of all episodes.

The X-Files was inspired by earlier television series which featured elements of suspense and speculative fiction, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, and especially Kolchak: The Night Stalker."

There you go. Four of my favorite TV shows right there.

The original cast stars in the current 11th Season; David Duchovy (Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully) and Mitch Pileggi as Scully and Mulder's boss (Walter Skinner). We even have "the smoking man" played by William B. Davis (the main recurring villain.)

I especially liked the third and fourth episodes of this season.

Episode 3 - Plus One: "Mulder and Scully engross themselves in an investigation about a series of deaths caused by the victims being haunted by their own doppleganger."  

This episode is M. Knight Shyamalan creepy. A woman locked up in a mental institution plays hangman with her equally strange twin brother who is obviously a hoarder living alone in a creepy house. They play hangman telepathically. And the game is not friendly. If that's not creepy enough, people are being followed by their doppleganger, including Mulder and Scully. And they don't look friendly either. Mulder and Scully are trying to find out what is causing this phenomena. As usual, Scully has the scientific explanation and Mulder thinks it is a paranormal occurrence. This episode will make you want to cover your mirror.

Episode 4 - The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat: "While Mulder and Scully explore the concept of the Mandela Effect, the come to discover events that potentially led to the X-Files existence."

This episode was actually quite funny while following the theme of unexplained occurrences. A man keeps showing up mysteriously in the parking garage where Mulder lives, asking for Mulder's help and seems to have people coming after him. When Mulder asks the man his name, he replies "Reggie...something." He can't remember. He then becomes Reggie Something for the duration of the episode. Reggie is trying to convince Mulder that they knew each other, but "they" have caused alternate memories for large groups of people. Mulder asks Reggie "who's they" and Reggie replies "Dr. They". The episode has many of these quips delivered with a dry sense of humour that had me laughing. The best was when Scully finds Mulder tearing through boxes of old VCR tapes trying to find the first episode of The Twilight Zone. He tells her about how watching the Twilight Zone at age 8 inspired him to become interested in the paranormal. The funny part? They show Mulder at age 8, very animated, sitting on his parents couch with a bag of Jiffy Pop watching TV. He has the body of an 8 year old but his adult head. Hilarious. There are also the usual jumpy moments too.

If you were unsure about watching another season of The X-Files, I highly recommend it. You watch all of this seasons episodes on Fox online and Hulu.

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