#<- new tag invented for the express purpose of complaining about this season.

[sinchronicity]

TL;DR: complaining about TXF season 8

scully taking over mulder's role and doggett brought in to be the new sceptic doesn't work, largely imo bc doggett isn't pulling his half of the equation. he just shows up and goes "that's impossible, agent scully!" end statement. no possible alternative explanation given, in contrast to those unlikely but scientific explanations scully would come up with, which are rightfully poked fun of but are essential. doggett's not bringing any creativity at all; scully at her most alien-denying still did.

scully is struggling with her half too but at least the show is aware of that. she is purposefully trying to do mulder's job, but failing at it. i hated s8e10, but it did have a great scene of scully crying, overwhelmed from having essentially done all the actual work on the case (mentally & physically, i might add) and still failing to "see" the paranormal possibilities that she thought mulder would have. i don't even know if she's right, mulder misses plenty of stuff lol, but it makes perfect sense that scully would build him up in her mind given the circumstances.

and that scene is what i WANT from this season! scully trying to be sceptic and believer at once, scully realizing that somewhere along the way she DID start believing, a little bit, but only when that explanation was the best.

which still leaves the real problem, which is doggett. doggett is funny to me bc i actually don't hate him despite my distaste for the season he's introduced in, but he is simply not filling the role vacated by mulder at all, which is seemingly purposeful by the writers, but like - mulder was co lead for 7 seasons y'all, you can't just chuck him and put a New York Cop (TM) in his place with nothing balancing the loss of mulder's other roles in the show (seeing as mulder actually does have atrributes beyond going "what if it was a vampire, scully!"). if doggett was a reoccurring side character rather than a lead, this would work better.

like, he and scully aren't even friends! this is great for both of them characterization-wise, but it isn't exactly thrilling to watch a bunch of mediocre mysteries get solved by like, coworkers who don't even like each other. there is a reason so many procedurals run on romantic tension or deep friendship and that's because you have to give the audience something to care about over the course of the episodes. if the murderer is stopped at the end of the ep but our leads haven't kissed yet, it's a reason to keep watching. i don't even usually watch that sort of show, nor am i all that committed to the mulder/scully romance tbqh, but like. c'mon! there's a reason why those things work, lol, and why most of the cultural currency that TXF has *now* is about the characters of mulder and scully and the relationship between them.

the fact that this bland man with no deep connection with scully is getting episodes focused on him when SHE just lost her partner is ridiculous. the whole season would've benefitted immensely by having the earliest episodes focused on scully, solo. you can toss in doggett but let her BREATHE. by any rational count she's THE lead; the show starts when SHE joins TXF. but i guess the story always has to be about a man, or, god forbid, we might lose the "male 18-35" demographic that doggett was explicitly introduced for 🥴🥴