Seasons 4 and 5 are actually where the X-Files closed off one of its primary plotlines. People tend to forget this but in
season 5 they actually resolved their major mythology plots involving the gray
alien invasion and the global syndicate that had been manipulating the
Earth. Both groups would resurface
in season 6 and during X-Files: Fight the
Future but this is still where one chapter closed and another opened. That doesn’t have a huge impact on the
one-off episodes but it’s worth mentioning for the shift in elements. That would ramp up even more come
season 6 but we’ll get to that when we do, for now this is your guide to The X-Files season 4 and season 5.
S4E2 Home
This is one of the creepiest X-Files episodes.
Something that’s really helped The
X-Files endure to the modern era is that the original show had a kind of
cynicism about the changing times that proved eerily accurate. ‘Home’ might be the purest
crystallization of that idea, revolving around a family of hyper-violent inbred
monsters plaguing rural small town America. The episode honestly plays like a precursor to True Detective or the like, steeped in
the concept of American failure hidden behind a shining veneer of perfection
that simply propped an America that was never as safe as we imagined. There’s also a lot of ‘90s genetic
fixation, the kind of stuff that punctuated a lot of Gattaca. Overall, it’s
a solid episode that’s deeply frightening in a way that really sticks with
you.
S4E6 Sanguinarium
This is another episode like season 3’s ‘Wetwired’ where
there isn’t so much a point being made as there’s just the artifice of a point
surrounding the episode. In this
case, rather than being about television the episode’s central focus is
cosmetic surgery. The story
revolves around a series of mysterious and supernatural deaths in the cosmetic
surgery wing of a prestigious LA Hospital. The explanation eventually turns out to literally be
witchcraft because what else would it be?
This basically gives the episode an excuse to indulge in all kinds of
crazy witch tropes like possession, teleportation, pentagrams, sacrifice and
all manner of other creepiness.
Combine that with the already kind of weird and unnatural setting of the
plastic surgery ward and the lingering sense of inhumanity that infects the
operating theaters of the hospital and this is a very enjoyable and stylish
episode. Also it features Richard
Beymer of Twin Peaks, who is always
great.
S4E7 Musings
of a Cigarette Smoking Man
This may be the best episode of X-Files and, surprise, it’s another quasi-mythology episode. This episode affords focus to the
Cigarette Smoking Man, the series central antagonist and face of the alien
conspiracy. Rather than getting
into the mechanics of the conspiracy however, it’s about the phases of Cancer
Man’s life and how he became a hired gun for the rich, powerful, and morally
corrupt. We see what goes into a
person like Cancer Man, why he’s reached this point where he legitimately feels
like his actions are the only option life has afforded him. The episode is
almost like mythology in its own right, affording Cancer Man such a
transformative role in history it can’t possibly be true but it doesn’t matter
if the facts aren’t accurate; the emotions are truly real. Chris Owens does a superb job as the
young Cancer Man but it’s William B. Davis who makes this episode the knockout
it is. Grand, tragic, dramatic and
deeply sobering this is a must watch.
S4E12 Leonard
Betts
If I had to pick the best example of “a fun little X-Files
episode” it’d be ‘Leonard Betts.’
This is one of those episodes that’s a great little paranormal mystery
complete with weird facts, unexplainable phenomena, and a mutant monster on the
run from the agents. Like a lot of
episodes lately this one is more adjacent to a greater point than involved in
it, specifically it’s adjacent to the idea of cancer and the growing prevalence
of evolution in the culture consciousness. The central plot is about a paramedic who may be the next
stab in human evolution due to his incredible regenerative powers. That alone would be a solid premise for
an episode but they pump it up with a lot of neat ideas about evolutionary
theory and what’s killing us today.
This certainly isn’t one to blow anybody away but it doesn’t need to be,
it’s solid and enjoyable.
S4E15 Kaddish
This one holds a special place for me as a Jew. It’s about a golem stalking the streets
of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn meeting out vengeance against a
group of local hateful paranoiacs.
For an episode so simplistic it’s got the same plot as an episode of Extreme Ghostbusters this is a
shockingly somber episode overall.
The eventual revelation concerning the golem is steeped in themes of
love and loss and the entire episode is very much concerned with the way we
process these emotions, as well as feelings of weakness and hatred. The Neo-Nazi kids in this may be some
of the most chillingly real villains I’ve seen in the X-Files if only because of how earnest their mindless hatred is. This episode is a lot like ‘The List’
from season 3 in that the emphasis is more on the narrative, mood, and themes
than on any of the characters but it’s a well told and deeply human story
that’s shockingly challenging and deeply impactful.
S4E16 Unrequited
Another great veterans episode, the third of the trinity
with season 2’s ‘Sleepless’ and season 3’s ‘The Walk.’ ‘Unrequited’ is about a soldier who was
abandoned in Vietnam who’s returned with the power to turn invisible seeking
revenge on the high brass who left him behind. Admittedly, this episode’s basic structure is similar to
‘The Walk’ IE low-level soldier seeks revenge on commanding officers using
super powers, but the execution is very different. ‘Unrequited’s Nathaniel Teager is a much less loathsome
character, he’s someone who wants revenge for a genuine transgression rather
than just being a hateful monster let off the chain. Additionally, Teager is seeking direct revenge on those he
feels guilty and gets a lot less screen focus. This is an episode about the agents again and their
struggles to both stop Teager and get past the fact that he’s kind of right in
his anger over being abandoned.
The ending is a great sequence that really sticks with you and the whole
thing has a sense of legitimate anger over the real world issues that’s
palpable.
S4E19 Synchrony
Hey it’s a time travel episode, we finally got one. Synchrony revolves around a series of
scientists killed with futuristic technology. The episode is one of the lighter ones on how involved the
agents are, with them basically existing as investigative cameras while the
real drama comes from the community of scientists being targeted. There’s a lot of enjoyably trashy drama
amid the scientists concerning forged research and backstabbing that’s
thoroughly engrossing but it’s the time travel stuff that really sells this
episode. In particular, the time travel mechanics are very weird and
interesting and the central idea of the time traveler is a nice inversion of
what we’ve come to expect. It’s
something that plays well off the idea of trying to undo your greatest regrets
as well as the question of whether time really is immutable or not. Even though the ending kind of negates
some of the broader conflict it’s still a good episode with enough ambiguity to
remain engaging.
S5E12 Bad
Blood
Hey it’s a comedy episode for a change and this one stars
Luke Wilson in a prominent role. ‘Bad
Blood’ is a delightfully ridiculous vampire comedy romp trough the American
Southwest told in flashbacks from the conflicting perspectives of Mulder and
Scully. X-Files always has a lot of fun showing us other people’s
ludicrously skewed viewpoints of the agents and their adventures but this is
the best iteration of that idea as we see the Agents’ view of each other. Actually, the episode makes a lot of
solid points about the clash between Mulder and Scully’s views representing
subversion of the male gaze. Stuff
like Scully taking greater note of what a know it all jerk Mulder can be, as
well as Mulder’s frustrations with how often Scully refuses to believe
him. Luke Wilson is also a blast
as the small town hick sheriff/hunk and the show has a blast mashing up classic
vampire ideas and iconography with modern day elements in a very Fright Night esc manner.
S5E15 Travelers
Another quasi-mythology episode, this one revolving around
the late series reoccurring character Arthur Dales. Dales was an FBI investigator in the ‘50s involved in some
of the earliest X-Files and even knew Mulder’s father, a long time government
agent who was involved with high-level experiments. The episode is steeped in cold war paranoia and ‘50s
cynicism as well as beautiful period detail. Seriously, this is one of the best looking and most well
produced X-Files episodes you’ll get.
The plot revolves around a ‘50s case involving a terrifying escaped
government super weapon.
Seriously, the monster of the week in this episode is right up there
with the thing from ‘Host’ in creature design being the stuff of nightmares. X-Files
and its sister show Millennium would
do a number of ‘50s period episodes that all stand out as series best, to the
point I’d love to see an entire X-Files
prequel series set in the earliest days of the bureau. I mean, The Americans has proved a big hit, I think people would be fine
with it.
S5E18 The
Pine Bluff Variant
Given everything going on in Oregon this episode has
actually proved weirdly prophetic.
Due to the era it was made, whenever The
X-Files wanted to delve into terrorism it had to come from domestic
terrorists, usually some form of “don’t tread on me!” anti-government
types. Admittedly, said folks
might have more to gripe about in a universe where the government has an army
of killer bees that can turn people into aliens but they still come off as
total assholes. ‘Pine Bluff
Variant’ is about Agent Mulder going undercover in such a group as they try to
get a hold of an extremely deadly virus.
The really clever idea of this episode is how much the group already
wants Mulder as a member, that his stance against the government over aliens
and such has already given him the best cover he could hope for. This episode’s a tense military
thriller full of great turns and a knock-out twist ending.
S5E19 Folie
A Deux
This is a weird one.
‘Folie A Deux,’ which is French for a madness shared by two, is one of
those rare episodes where really nothing is explained. Usually there’s at least a theory or
two being thrown around about what’s happening but here there’s nothing. The monster of the week is legitimately
just a horrifying monster, seemingly escaped into reality from the realm of
nightmares. The story is about a
man who works at a call center and is convinced his boss is some kind of
insectoid monster that’s been draining the life out of his fellow workers. The only real explanation we get for
this is the kind of jokey parallel that call centers also suck the humanity out
of people, making them into human drones.
The episode cascades from this point through hostage situations, tense
questions about what’s really happening, and Mulder eventually picking up on
the same madness. It’s a tense and
enjoyable ride that sticks with you.
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