The X-Files Reopened! - Babylon

Was that a parable?

I get it.  We are the world.  Not only should we speak as one but listen as one too.

The reconciliation of science with faith.  

Love.

Been there done that!

Not that I don't agree with the message.  I certainly do.  It's that we been down this road before.  

So now I guess it is the X-Files turn to preach to the faithful.  (Or heretical as it may be.)

"Babylon" held up the mirror and showed us at our intolerant worst.  It exposed our bigotry, zealotry and bald faced hatred.  It also taught us to be patient, kind and open to suggestion.  

All subjects worthy of exploration.  So why did it seem a little tired or recycled by the X-Files?

Perhaps it is the high expectations we hold the series to.   This is the first time I've felt the impatience others have complained about for this shortened season.  Six episodes and this is what we get? 

No, I'm not down on the X-Files.  Just a little worried.  I would have liked to have been thrown a bone at least on the William front.  When Mulder and Scully got together at the end of the episode I thought for sure their missing son would get a mention.  Especially after Mulder referred to, "Mother love" and the earlier "Pieta" like embrace the mother of would be terrorist, Shiraz, had with her comatose son.   Her faith in him remained unshaken.

Nope.  Now I'm afraid the subplot of William will be forgotten in the last episode.  They wouldn't do that to us would they?  (I have a theory the Smoking Man will get to William in order to blackmail Mulder and Scully into stopping their investigations.) 

So The X-Files wagged its finger at us and hopefully we listened.  I can't blame this series at having a little fun at our expense and at its own expense too.  It just didn't seem like fertile ground to me.


So, anything else new?

New as in a new generation of the X-Files?

As always, The X-Files gives us a new perspective.  Aside from the mirror The X-Files held up to our society in general we also got a reflection into what a new generation of investigators would be like.

Is this a back door pilot?

Rumors are running rampant (that's what the internet does) that a new generation of the X-Files is being tested out on us.  (What, no abduction and probing?) But if this is true, isn't it a little too on the nose?

I mean, one being the skeptical scientist and the other a free thinking contrarian?

It was funny, yes, for a short while.  But did Agent Einstein have to have the red hair too? 

I like Lauren Ambrose but her character was bit of an ass.  Perhaps she is meant to be callow.  I don't recall Scully being that hurtful towards Mulder.  There is self righteous then there is, well, being an ass.

Not that she didn't get the job done.  She did expose Mulder as being self indulgent.  That whole shroom thing was a figment of his overwrought imagination.  (Wasn't it?)  But even when Fox was at his self-indulgent worst he always retained that puppy dog hurt when proven wrong.

(Quick aside, didn't the whole shroom thing undercut Mulder's "out there" mind set.  If he was able to imagine that whole scenario what else was made up in his head?  His sister?  Please don't mess with the Mulder mythology anymore X-Files.)

And that's what I liked about Robbie Amell's performance as Agent Miller.  He too expressed that little boy hurt when his out of left field belief system was challenged.  Both he and Mulder wear their hearts on their sleeves and no matter how far flung their theories are they sincerely can't understand why no one else buys into them.

Amell and Ambrose will be back as Agents Miller and Einstein in the season finale.  I can only imagine the firestorm of resistance if they are named the new generation of the X-Filers.  (Phew, finally got that pun out of the way!)


Odds and Ends

 

Yes, Agent Mulder was exposed at his self-indulgent worst.  He even deserved it for the way he treated Einstein when he basically told her to sit down and shut up.  (Did he ever treat Scully that way?)

But there was a good reason for Mulder's trip into the fantastic.

In the end, Mulder made several concessions to Scully that he normally wouldn't do.   Call it old age, call it reason, call it love.  Imagine Mulder telling Scully God may have a voice after all and Scully telling Mulder he's been speaking to him all along.

Heady stuff.

 


What?  That's it for The Lone Gunmen?

Darn, I was hoping some sage wisdom from the boys beyond the grave.  At least they seem to be having a good time.

There has been some flak on the interweb about the depiction of Shiraz's grievous head wound.  Sorry my friends that is a pretty accurate depiction of the wounds you suffer when an explosive device goes off that near you.  Anyone that has seen the pictures of ABC's Bob Woodruff knows this to be true.  Thankfully Woodruff has returned to his work but sadly could not assume the mantle of evening anchor that eventually went to David Muir. 

Back to the "On the nose" department.  Einstein lets her hair down just like Scully's near the end.  Sheesh!

Did I say there wasn't a William reference in this episode?

We did get a quarter sighting so that is close.  At least they didn't completely drop the ball.

Hmm, do you suppose that's why Annabeth Gish's Agent Reyes is making a return next week?  Because she has information on the whereabouts of William?

Now that would be cool.