#Ghouli | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

randomfoggytiger · 6 months ago

Text

React: A Late-Canon Reviler Gives the Revival a Try (Plus One, Forehead Sweat, Ghouli, Kitten, Rm9sbG93ZXJz, Familiar, Nothing Lasts Forever), Part VII

Part I (My Struggle I), Part II (Founder's Mutation), and Part III (Weremonster), Part IV (Home Again), Part V (Babylon), and Part VI (This.)

Had to cut down on my react posts because I didn't have the time, drive, or willpower to keep plowing through at the same rate.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

The usual complaints.

There are overly dramatic "DUUUUN" musical cues, scenes end too quickly, camera shots transition at odd times, and the cast can be too wooden or too emotionless in moments that desperately need something (Mitch Pileggi excepted. He nailed it.) David and Gillian trade off believability in their respective roles; and usually not in the same scene (unfortunately.) Scully is stuck with her 30-years-a-smoker voice; and Mulder magically finds every answer he could ever want from the Dark Web. (I don't think "the Dark Web" means what the writers think it means.)

However. The plots are tighter, the humor more effective, and the pacing (a tad) better constructed.

I wouldn't mind rewatching mid-S11 if it followed different characters in a different show. As it stands, nothing really hit the spot.

PLUS ONE

Mulder and Scully are but aren't but are together in S10 and S11. They also are in This but aren't in Plus One. What the script says they do versus what DD and GA portray them doing often clash.

Yeah, Mulder and Scully are already involved again in this episode. My theory: scoot-in-your-boot is a private in-joke they have. Backed up by: his twinkle and her quick "I'm scooting you out of here."

The siblings were like a Punch and Judy show, get it? (Chucky Poundstone? Punch? Ehhh? Also, Chuck like Chucky the doll. ...And also like the other Revival Chuck doll, Mr. Chuckleteeth.)

Plot problems:

A man who matched the profiles of recent, suicidal "sudden schizophrenia" victims was left, alone, in his cell while he screamed for help. That would not fly by 2015 standards. And if it did, there would be serious consequences or a serious attempt at a to cover-up (which the cops didn't attempt to do.)

Chucky Poundstone: Fight Club levels of overacting.

Mulder and Scully were constantly called hot not because the topic naturally bloomed in conversation but because it was relevant to the episode's theme.

Scully let Demon Judy get to her. Scully wouldn't have been bothered to be out of "child-bearing age" because Mulder might want kids with someone else (WHEN HAS MULDER EVER)-- she should've been bothered because she wasted their one shot at parenthood and "threw away" their son. Wrong track, wrong manipulation tactic. Like point 3, this was only brought up to serve the episode's theme, not because it was crafted to fit the characters.

A lot of Mulder and Scully's theories talked past each other or leaped from point to point without fully fleshing out the last one (i.e. Scully derailing their theories to insist that ghosts don't exist.)

Scully almost threw away the pills Judy gave her instead of, I don't know, testing them first.

Scully and Mulder didn't keep the lawyer under surveillance after he saw his double.

Scully didn't believe in the Devil anymore... despite the fact that she used to, and we aren't told when or why she changed her mind. Imperative character development the writers neglected.

Scully thought it was more plausible that a man would cut off his own head through shared psychosis than the possibility of a supernatural element at play.

Scully was butchered either way: she believes in a supernatural element but doesn't want to admit it to Mulder because Judy might be right about her; or, she believes everyone is in a state of delusion yet still gives weight to Judy's pokes about her age.

The "Can you hold me?" scene was pleasantly in-character for Scully, but wobbled and waffled for Mulder. It also bucked up against their "we're already together" vibe, and didn't fit with This (at all.)

"I don't have anyone to have one [a kid] with even if I could [have kids]." Script, don't insult my intelligence; Scully was literally in Mulder's arms when she said this ("What are we gonna do?"/"We'll think of something" kind of saves it. Rather, salvaged it.)

Mulder didn't see Scully's doppelganger even though he was facing the doorway and was on high alert. Scully didn't TELL HIM she saw her doppelganger earlier (which is stupid because she'd either be aware it's-- hello-- an evil entity or she could be considered a risk in the field.)

Mulder ran off WITHOUT SCULLY after seeing his double and after she admitted to seeing her own earlier.

Scully ATE RANDOM PILLS instead of, I don't know, analyzing them first. The plot needed to have Scully have the pills because she wouldn't have saved herself otherwise. And also: why did the placebo pills work??? We're never told anything about them other than they're leftovers from Judy's food, and that the nurses superstitiously take them, too. That's it. No followup.

Scully continued to drive after seeing "herself" in the backseat. She should have pulled over-- even if she believed the doppelganger was only an illusion-- because she'd become a road risk and was following the pattern of the other victims.

The siblings just got mad at each other and wrote each other's names in the hangman slots. Which saved Mulder and Scully while killing each other, conveniently.

The "Mom" and "Dad" hangman papers haven't aged a day, despite being written, supposedly, when Chuck and Judy were kids.

DD salvaged the ending by waiting in the doorway for Scully.

Plus One thrust me into a world where Mulder and Scully are jumping in and out of bed, from Unremarkable House to motel, from etc. to etc., without ever talking about their future-- more accurately, where the writing pretends Scully never pondered the obvious conclusion.

THE LOST ART OF FOREHEAD SWEAT

This episode worked... up to a point.

As a one-off, the comedy hit pretty consistently and Reggie was an enjoyable third wheel. (I admit: I ALMOST laughed out loud when Reggie shot Eddie Van Blundht in the head.) The writing was tight, the dialogue flowed smoothly, there were no out-of-place musical beats or lingering camera shots.

As a part of the overall canon?

Forehead Sweat solidifies, for me, what doesn't work about the "modernization" of the Revival. Dr. They kindly pronounces that Mulder and his way of life is no longer necessary in the current age... and that's the stickler. The current age. Fox Mulder didn't fit into the current-world 90s, either, because the mythology and Consortium and mystery behind the original show was a fabrication inspired by old politics-- the Cold War-- that was then mapped onto a very loose, very forgiving framework. If Carter and Co. had kept to that formula, had steered away from cookie-cuttering the 2015-2018 political climate into their show, then Fox Mulder and Dana Scully wouldn't seem so lost and out of place chasing X-Files in the forest in their 50s while aliens did or didn't plan to colonize the planet and Skinner might or might not be on their side. Because that would raise questions: why hasn't the Trump Administration shut them down-- he'd consider their unit useless. Why are Mulder and Scully now afraid the FBI will be suspicioned or "shut down" if it's always been corrupt, if even now they serve a counter-culture role to the establishment, instead of striking off on their own? More importantly, in an era steeped in finger-pointing and blame-shifting and distrust and disbelief, there's no way the cases that drift to the basement wouldn't be blown up on social media within hours-- especially when the 90s already had NICAP and MUFON and other groups who closely followed their niche interests. The logic of The X-Files quickly falls apart in a world that would afflict stricter and harsher consequences, 2015 and 1993 alike.

That aside, this was the best Revival episode, thus far, in terms of quality. I will give it that. (Note from the future: that will be outdone, I believe, by Kitten.)

Plot problems:

The comedy bits hit, but Mulder and Scully warp in and out of character to achieve them (particularly: the repeated one where Scully keeps leaving before Mulder finishes rambling. Ironically, it's out of place with Darin's other comedic episode Weremonster as well as 200+ other examples of her character. But if the execution had been tweaked, those scenes would have been satisfying to watch. )

Mulder was LOUD. That's not new; but he was LOUD in the wrong moments, at the wrong times-- raising his voice, yelling, punctuating statements with STATEMENTS rather than his usual smooth pantomime or one-off, quick-witted remark.

The Babyfication of Dialogue continues ("sugarboobs", "I'm Fox Freaking Mulder, you punks!", etc.)

I'll bet Reggie kept hiding from the baddies in Skinner's office, hence why he knew him. This isn't a criticism so much as a theory. Or maybe those two gossiped over the water cooler-- Skinner knows everything and everyone, after all.

The Trump Administration poses no threat compared to the global Consortium and Conspiracy Mulder and Scully faced in the 90s. It was considered a threat to 2016s America, which would explain the "I feel like the world's gone mad" quotes the two leads keep kicking around. But, to them? Who lost and almost died and tried to save as many lives as possible to the Syndicate? And in a mythology that had large, regular gatherings of conspiracists who believed in aliens and distrusted the government (as seen in The Red and the Black), it disrespects the intelligence of its viewers by injecting and magnifying struggles that Mulder and Scully would philosophically take on the chin.

GHOULI

Another bump up in quality. The sharp back-and-forth camera techniques are better utilized with this episode's destabilizing, reality-questioning moments. Mulder rambling about the pathos and history behind classic monsters is a classic Mulder moment, Scully snorting and slightly smirking as he does so is a classic Scully moment. Is this the origin of the "Bob" nickname on Tumblr? The girl's "Kids would get stoned on it, in the summer. ...Not me!" was hilarious. Scully's speech in the morgue was the most Scully moment I've seen thus far. Scully subtly admitting to hiding evidence from her parents in her mattress (like Jackson.) Skinner always gets updates about Mulder's activities through other government employees' complaints.

Demerits: shots and cutaways still, well, cutaway at odd moments. Instead of holding on a scene and easing the audience into the atmosphere, cutcutcutcut snaps them out of it. But that's par for the course in the Revival; and it's not tooooooo badly done in Ghouli. Hoebag Jackson Van de Kamp. Mulder didn't get a moment to grieve over his son.

Thoughts? It turned from gripping mystery to big, fat disappointment. Skinner was great, Scully's morgue scene was great, um, Clone!Mulder had a nice moment or two. Jackson stank. As a condensed, disparate experience? It's alright. I quite liked it. (But it still wasn't The X-Files to me, etc. etc.)

Plot problems:

Mulder initially thought Scully's experience was sleep paralysis when he quite literally experienced this before in Paper Hearts. And neither were off-put or shaken by the similarities. (The episode tries to patch this up with, "You've been receiving visions through seizures. I'm sure this is another form"; but that's after she pointed to an open x-file and identified that boat as the one in her "dream".)

Mulder quoted a quote similar but different to his own from the original show. Instead of, y'know, quoting his own quote.

Mulder and Scully's kid is just Free Willying it up everywhere. And for what?

If CC wanted to do away with William (and that's an if), his death and his last attempt at justice for himself and his adoptive parents would have been a mature, heartbreaking way to do it. But no, we got My Struggle IV instead.

Mulder is oddly hesitant to believe his son's alive-- he's usually the one who is borderline delusional about believing and having hope. Yes, the series is supposed to show Mulder on the "other side": depressed (maybe? jury's out), burnt-out, and afraid to believe. But it goes back and forth on that message so often that there is no concrete change in his character to hold onto.

SKINNER'S ON THE CSM'S LEASH AGAIN.

We're back on the "men in Conspiracy but actually aliens but ACTUALLY men in Conspiracy" schtick. Pick a lane, mytharc.

Jackson played dead but it backfired because his parents found him not the agents; then he had to escape so the agents know he's on the run anyway, so.... *Cue Tony Stark*: "Not a great plan." Jackson is an idiot.

Mulder puts together all the pieces of the case off-screen without us, the audience, being there to see him working the mystery out logically. A "tell don't show" approach that undercuts the brilliance of his leaps.

Jackson let his two gfs see a monster and stab each other.... Jackson is an idiot.

Jackson made up a monster legend website to prank both his girlfriends-- who don't know the other exists-- at once; and ended up causing them to stab each other in fright. Jackson's an IDIOT.

Jackson is an IDIOT and a bit of a psychopath. And a LOT of an IDIOT. And he only got his visions and powers recently (since My Struggle II or III, it would appear); so he had to be an idiot before unlocking his abilities-- like the Rush highschoolers. So. Great going, writers.

SARAH TURNED HIM IN BECAUSE HE WAS KISSING ANOTHER GIRL. I mean, get him, girl; but then don't come groveling back.

JACKSON DOES THE MULDER FOREHEAD TOUCH WITH ONE OF HIS TWO GIRLFRIENDS.

JACKSON GOES ON THE RUN INSTEAD OF ASKING FOR HELP FROM HIS POSSIBLE BIO MOM DESPITE HAVING VISIONS OF HER BECAUSE HE'S AN IDIOT.

Mulder. Never. Had. A. Moment. With. His. Son. WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY.

Oh. Mulder and Scully accepted their son wanted to move on with his life, away from them. ...Nnnnnnnoooooooooo, Jackson's not safe and is now an orphan and a high school dropout. NOPE.

KITTEN

This is Blood and Sleepless and Wetwired 4.0. ...But it's not bad.

Mulder snooping around Skinner's kitchen... fine, I liked it. Sue me.

The cop... fine, sue me, I liked him.

Skinner's code name is Eagle... because he's bald. I don't care, sue me, that was hilarious.

Skinner had the best speech.

I admit: I really, really do like this episode. It's the only one that fits into canon, oddly. (Mulder and Scully aren't themselves, etc. etc., blah blah, what else is new.)

My overall thoughts: Um. What did it achieve? Kinda progressed their characters forward... but had to regress them, first. Mind control and chemtrails and falling teeth and Mulder and Scully possibly holding Skinner's career back and Mulder distrusting Skinner but trusting him again while Scully did trust Skinner and was proven right in the end.... And a reference to Mulder's juices. It was necessary for Season 11, character-wise-- a "let's repair the damage to Mulder's trust issues" (which had been resolved?? in This but then wasn't, I guess??)

Plot problems:

There goes S9 Kersh's character development: all that he came to believe in. Right down the drain. (Not that I care; but keep it consistent, series.)

Scully questioning what happened to "the old, reliable Skinner we always knew and loved" is RICH considering A. she and Mulder were questioning his loyalty not five episodes ago and B. Skinner constantly got his hands dirty to help them out (which they largely forget in the Revival, for plot reasons, unless forced into a corner.)

Mulder: "As much as I don't trust the guy right now--" EXCUSE ME. I don't care what My Struggle II or III implied, Mulder of all people, Mulder, has seen Skinner squeezed into tighter corners and still ended up trusting him.

Skinner's getting framed, again, on surveillance tape.

SCULLY giving Skinner the benefit of the doubt, NOT MULDER.

There's no way Skinner's surviving that wound without blood transfusions and serious medical attention. Nope.

Skinner... was behind the two agents... in a pit... but managed to not only climb out but outrun them... in the woods... with a side wound... and knock over a full-grown man... and punch him enough so that said man could get caught in his own trap. ...'Kay.

So. The teeth falling out was never explained. Except to suggest, I guess, that the gas slowly rots them out? Except the policeman and his wife also had teeth loss? Or was that as a comedic bit? Or/and a comedic bit? Who knows!

WAIT, I WAS WRONG. CHEMTRAILS. Really. CHEMTRAILS SPREADING POISON OVER THE TOWN. (Blood already did this but BETTER, writers.)

Mulder's "We're with you" is undercut by nearly 30 years of previous history.

Rm9sbG93ZXJz

This episode is, again, not too bad.

The characters, again again, don't feel like Mulder or Scully to me; but I could see Mulder and Scully doing the actions that the characters did. All in all, I can see why those who like the Revival would enjoy watching this.

Also, I still wish Clone!Mulder never had to pay the tip.

Plot problems:

The world with all this tech doesn't coincide nor coexist with The X-Files universe (and, yes, that including the Revival.)

The whole... not speaking thing. I know it was supposed to be artistic or to convey some layered meaning; but, narratively, it was off-putting. Perhaps if they'd both been knocked about in the field, and it was painful to talk? Mutual tonsil surgery? Anything??

Whipz. Get it? Scully whipz and naynays.

The robots having that much influence over lesser forms of tech (i.e. Mulder's cable, not a smart tv....)

Mulder would have absolutely spiraled if he'd experienced half of what this episode put him through. Scully would have spiraled. None of this would not have been easily brushed aside with a tip.

Mulder still calls sex phone operators; and the machines ratted him out to Scully. Either that, or it was a callback just so Mulder could tell the caller to "Shut up." He's grown and changed, guys~~~~~.

It doesn't make sense why the robots are trying to kill Mulder or Scully if they want a tip from them. OR, one could argue, the robots are threatening Scully's life so Mulder will pay the tip. Either way, the two could have been killed multiple times if they hadn't ducked or dodged. Seems counter-intuitive, and mostly just in service for a "surprise, we just want the tip" twist ending.

"We have to be better teachers." REALLY. That's the takeaway. Not the fact that they were almost KILLED due to the incompetence or oversight of whoever created these robots. REALLY.

FAMILIAR

So. Uh. Classic X-File. Held up pretty well. Classic Mulder eating crime scene evidence. The script was old-school tight.

In other words, this was Chimera 2.0. But not as great.

Plot problems:

The police immediately rule out the child's cause of death as a murder. And think it might be a coyote. Or a coy wolf. ...Uh huh.

"You're my homie": Babyfication back.

Scully doesn't believe in human combustion. ...Honestly, shakes out with her theory having been disproved in Trevor. (Although, I don't know if there was a spontaneous human combustion case in S9, feel free to correct me.)

Scully telling Mulder he's "wasting his time" for wanting to interview a little girl who was an eyewitness. ...WHAT.

The boy's mother is... not the best actress. Taking me back to the OG show at times.

What are those creepy teletubbies. Nightmare fuel.

The community... didn't know... there was a convicted sex offender... in their midst. ...Did no one care to look up, I don't know, A SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY??

WHY is Scully fighting back against his witchcraft thesis when she's witnessed a witch doctor plastic surgeon AND a bewitched doll??? Amongst other things????

Gotta admit: I chuckled when Mulder accidentally got the Chief to confess to an affair (his "I... did not see that coming.") However: that scene was wildly out of place amidst the tragedy of the salt-circle and the possible murder of the innocent-in-this-case pedophile.

The episode just skips from the police officer shooting the pedo straight to the officer's trial. ...What happened to that old curse put on the town, huh? Just... took a break for a couple weeks? Mulder and Scully stuck around, or flew out-and-in while Mr. Chuckleteeth took a power nap?

Officer Wentworth let Scully's suspicions slip to the child's father, at the child's funeral, and is kind of portrayed as the good guy here. He doesn't express remorse for not following protocol (especially to a broken-down father grieving the death of his child), only that he is "sickened" a man (the father he broke protocol for) gunned down another man without due process. ...'Kay.

So, all the responsible parties involved all die because the jealous wife was cursing the cheating woman and eventually her husband. ...But if that's the case, why did the Hellhound go after the CHILDREN first, not the two people it was summoned to punish?? Usually things go awry after a bit of murder and mayhem, not before.

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

What a stinker of an episode. Just when the cinematography levels out, the plot absolutely rots.

I did like Mulder scaring off the two officers by pretending to be a religious supernatural investigator.

And the church scene was good. It was necessary for this series, for these characters. Glad it was done. (I say Scully whispered she's ready to let go of the past: a.k.a. move back in with him, let go of the files even, let go of her rigid expectations of herself. Hence Mulder's line: "I always wondered how it was going to end.")

Plot problems (well... some of them, lost interest):

I hated... everything about that opening sequence. Doctors eating pancreases, illegal organ harvest, "chemtrails" reference, NINJA WOMAN WHO CAN TOPPLE A GROWN MAN, NAAAAH, GET OUTTA HERE. THIS ISN'T BATWOMAN, BOOOOOO.

Mulder's defensive over his glasses. ...They both have needed glasses since the 90s. Is Scully ribbing him over a stronger prescription?? I don't think so.

Mulder only has progressive lenses because the plot needs a contrast to a cult sacrificing people for eternal life (Our Town and Sanguinarium and Roadrunners, anyone?)

The gore's just off the charts, huh?

Crazy, washed-up actress living off of her shut-ins' blood. Possibly their organs. To remain forever young. ...I unironically read a better fanfic of this, ngl.

There are so many, too many, egregiously many plot contrivances. Wow. Here's just one set: Ninja killer is seeking vengeance but just happens to attend church the same day Scully just happens to attend church the same day Mulder happens to follow Scully the same day the priest happens to put up the verse that just so happens to correspond with the verse on the evidence organ cooler which just so HAPPENS to be tied to a small illegal operation keeping a crazy washed-up actress alive and young while she subsists off of parts from her shut-ins she "rescued" from the street. Stunning.

Mulder never had a dog: confirmed. ...But he did have a dog in his childhood photos, soooooooooo. Guess someone else gave it to him, then. (Or there is no show bible. Or this is an awful, no good, no-hate-if-you-like-it-but-I-don't universe.)

WE'RE STILL ON THE MAGGIE COIN NECKLACE??? What other answer for it is there except it was the date Charlie walked out of her life???? Ugh, forget it. The writers wanted it to be a mystery box. Then Gillian walked away from the series and nothing was resolved, yolo.

Mulder always bears North, Scully says, no matter how hard the wind blows against him. ...Except it didn't-- numerous times in this series, numerous times in this season, in fact. The Revival is, in fact, built on top of him losing his way pre-My Struggle I. So. Strike 1000 for missteps in Writing 101, I suppose.

Big Boss fight with a woman attached to his back. ...Guys, this isn't The X-Files, this is Resident Evil.

Olivia looks ghostly pale one second, then almost normal the second the guy she's attached to is murdered. ...Guys. She's attached to a dead guy. That's gotta be sepsis by the time she's in the hospital, right? Also: if Olivia was in THIS deep in a cult, she would have been devastated, not dazed but delighted, that her sister had killed the guy she was attached to.

CONCLUSION

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

If I feel in a ranty mood in future, I'll cover the last three Struggle episodes. But until then, my Revival journey has reached its end.

And what are my final thoughts? The same as they were going in. ;))

Thanks for reading¬

Enjoy!

67 notes · View notes

randomfoggytiger · 6 months ago

Text

React: A Late-Canon Reviler Gives the Revival a Try (This), Part VI

Part I (My Struggle I), Part II (Founder's Mutation), and Part III (Weremonster), Part IV (Home Again), and Part V (Babylon).

I got a temporary student laptop so I can typity type type up these reacts! Hooray!

No more dillydallying-- let's get to the first episode of Season 11 (yes, I did skip the Struggles. You can't make me watch them.)

Let's gooooooooooooooooooo.~

‘Kaaaaaaay, I already see an improvement in quality. Nice set design. Nice set up.

Mulder and Scully asleep on the couch.

Oh, yeah. They’re already back together. (Canon’s gonna be reaaaaaally inconsistent about that, huh?)

Oh, I see that pic all the time on Tumblr. Thought it happened at the end of the episode, huh.

Oh, look, there’s A.I. Langly. …’Kay.

(Imagine if Mulder had slept through this and just… woke to some rando guys bonking him over the head for information.)

Okay, there was already an establishing shot of TLG’s pic, we don’t need to go back and focus on it. If you must, Director, I’d suggest that Mulder twists his head around so we can follow his line of sight as the camera's focus shifts from his him to the picture. Instead of, y’know, an unnecessary cut away.

Sooooo, if Langly’s dead-- "they know that he knows"-- why aren’t the other Lone Gunmen part of this problem?

And what a parting gift for his living buddy pals, huh.

Action scene’s okaaaa-- wait.

Al but the last bad gunmen guys shoot at Scully, get hit, and collapse; but the last one just keeps shooting at the table, assumes she’s incapacitated, and makes a break for the stairs where Mulder ran....

There’s no guarantee Scully’s down.

How did he know Mulder ran up the stairs?

If the answers to these questions are A. he just needed Scully down long enough to run past because B. he’s tracking the phone, not Mulder, then that’s logical and I’d give it a tentative thumbs up.

Welp, guy’s dead. Mulder nailed him from the top of the stairs.

I’m not mad at it.

I wonder if this scene was included to off-set their kinda geriatric pace and out-of-the-loop demeanor in S10. If so, that’s a smart way to include to establish credibility. A little (a lot) too late, but perhaps Mulder and Scully downed a few protein packs between this episode and My Struggle III (which I skipped.)

White-haired guy scampered out from the wreckage while Scully was yelling he’s behind the couch. Uh. She would have heard that. I assume. But… it’s plausible her ears were ringing and he scuttled while she was yelling, so. …We’ll see.

Also, from these few seconds, I’m getting more Scully, finally, and that’s… pretty great.

To be honest, though, she’s already so different from S10 that THAT canon doesn’t fit with S11 (which doesn’t fit with IWTB… which doesn’t fit with S9… which, etc.)

If I’m to take This with any degree of seriousness, it would have to be as the first episode, no exceptions, of the Revival: there is no S10, Mulder and Scully joined the FBI sometime post IWTB (perhaps while trying to work against Colonization, and remained), and both are chugging through a temporary separation patch.

Because there is no way this fits, with any degree of sense, into anything that came before. It could squeak by with IWTB; but how well would depend on Mulder and Scully’s characterization. If they are mercurial, then it would spring from IWTB; if they are consistent, then it would be a return to the 90s' form.

Regardless, canon has created five different Mulder and Scully variants:

Mainline Mulder and Scully, who either stopped their journey in Je Souhaite or carried it through to Existence’s happy ending.

Season 9 Mulder and Scully, who became uncharacteristically weepy and sappy; and are gifted with never-before-seen supernatural abilities (i.e. Mulder seeing ghosts) for plot contrivance reasons.

IWTB Mulder and Scully, who swung from a domestically-concerned couple to caustic, callous middle-schoolers.

Season 10 Mulder and Scully, who sacrificed their edge and intelligence for prolonged, dead-eyed, weightless declarations.

Season 11 Mulder and Scully, who somehow regained their 90s edge but combined it with a closeness that undercuts their narrative (i.e. their separation.)

So.

Yeah.

Okay, I’ll admit. …I’m intrigued.

Already loads better. Already feels more in-character (though to be fair Mulder and Scully haven’t really gotten “talking” yet.) Mulder’s house is more… Mulder. More stuff on the walls, more cozy, more shadows in the corners here and there. It’s nice.

Never let it be said I won’t give Chris Carter his flowers for his vision, because that’s one thing every person on and off set have agreed about him: the man approved of or tweaked every. single. detail. Wish his plots were handled with the same care, but.

(My temporary keyboard is now swapping the @ and the “ keys for some reason, huh. ...When I say technology hates me....)

Mulder trying to find a place to hide his cellphone was a good in-character moment, that’s good, that’s great.

Why is Mulder throwing pencils?

Why is Mulder bumping into discarded clocks.

Why… is Mulder teasing Scully about….

Y’know what.

It’s fine.

He was hiding the phone because the clean-up crew or FBI or police were being called… they’re gonna find it in an oven mitt, Mulder. They’re gonna find it in an oven, Mulder. No offense, but that’s where they found your mother, Mulder. Not the stealthiest hiding spot, truth be told.

WHY is Scully’s smoker voice back???? NO, GILLIAN, CAST IT OFF, YOU WERE ALREADY DOING SO HERE OR THERE IN S10, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Mulder doubts Langly’s dead. No one saw his body.

And to be fair, the comics were all like, “You haven’t seen their bodies, wink. They live like cryptkeepers in the Arlington cemetery, wink. They’re still alive, wink wink,” so I think Mulder’s doubts are fairly substantiated.

At least Scully’s not doubting that Langly’s message is tied to the--

Oh, wait, the baddies are back.

Guys.

Why aren’t you running.

Mulder and Scully, why aren’t you running?

Come back out of hiding once the clean-up crew have arrived.

DON’T--

They did wait around, WHY.

“Don’t answer the phone, maybe they’ll be able to pinpoint our exact location in the house” for what PURPOSE, they have you surrounded, anyway! They can flush you out in two minutes if they wanted! WHY ARE THEY CALLING UNLESS THEY'RE OFFERING A DEAL (or to shoot you through the window), HOW DO THEY HAVE YOUR HOUSE NUMBER BUT NOT YOUR CELL NUMBER (which is where Langly’s message came through), WHAT BROUGHT US TO THIS POINT??

“Identify yourself!” Mulder yells.

Russians: “Can’t hear you. Answer your phone.”

That got a snort out of me.

Scully… is questioning… is they should call Skinner… because they haven’t called him in a couple of weeks… and don’t know where he stands.

…

……

…………

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

I don’t even need to know the Struggles' plot to know this is garbage. When hasn’t Skinner been on their side, even if he played the game a bit coyly here and there. This is just… just… why this again???????

Wait.

Skinner just tells them to surrender.

Um.

Ummmm.

Uuuuuuuuuuuummmm.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting.

That line read didn’t sound fake or flat, at all.... But on the other hand. I’m… intrigued against my will.

I don’t see Mulder playing along for long, though.

The Russians are cracking me up. But the dialogue could use a few tweaks here or there.

Mulder’s grumpy at having to surrender.

The Russians are miffed about also being asked to surrender. (Unironically, they’re a react Discord channel: just sittin’ there talkin' smack at the protagonists.)

Oh, the duo are taken down.

That was quick.

This was going so well until Mulder made a George Orwell quip and the Russian noticed his poster (again with the poorly cut “LOOK AT THE POSTER” shot) and started working “I Want to Believe” into the interrogation, and….

“‘I Want to Believe’? Here’s what I believe: that Americans would have been fine losing the Cold War as long as they made a little money off of it.” What, lol. What a strange, strange line to say, here and now. Hopefully, this not-at-all clunky line will have plot relevance very soon and not at ALL be a cheap and easy tie-in to the plot, a rather ham-fisted way to get more information across. Absolutely not.

Yeah. My investment’s waning.

This guy’s not threatening: “Once we find his [Mulder's] phone….” Then he pantomimes the neck-slice motion. ‘...Kay.

Not Skinner’s brightest call to surrender to them.

Though I’m calling it now: Skinner misinterpreted who they were, or the guys are putting up a show because they’re on webcam (as they mentioned earlier.)

The cinematography’s better at picking which moments to go shaky on the audience. MUCH, much better.

They found the phone in under a minute because Langly’s an idiot chatterbox. How in-character.

I’m heartbroken. The Russian’s no longer fun-- he’s taken a turn for the badly-acted cheese. Rats.

Mulder and Scully just… knocked their guard over, together, while he was facing them with a gun. In a room full of men who have guns. And who have orders to shoot them. And are facing them.

Yeah.

This house needs to be lit up with gunfire right this second. As in, bambambam, agents down, permanently.

NO. No, no, no, no, THAT’S CHEATING. You can’t have Russians facing them then conveniently facing away (to look at the walls?? or the phone?? or around the room after the phone’s already been found??) so Mulder and Scully can run past their guard and out the door. NO, NO NO NO NO NO NO. They had a LOT of distance to cover from the kitchen to the front door, what are the choreographers and directors and everyone else thinking??????? THERE’S NO WAY.

Mulder and Scully literally jump over the porch, hit the ground hard, lie there a second; and the Russians burst out of the house a second later. WITH. GUNS. But the duo are gone, gone, gone.

Sure, Jan.

Excuse me? How did Mulder and Scully get from their wheat farm to a haunted Disney forest?????? Those aren’t even in the same biomes.

Oh, look, it’s Skinner.

So, wait.

Mulder and Scully are just standing there as Skinner SLOWLY walks up like a creature of the mist (illuminated by his sleek horse-powered metal carriage) while the Russians are within yelling distance behind them. Does NO ONE have a sense of urgency??

Skinner’s here against his better judgment and he’s putting his own neck on the line and blah blah blah, heard it before, save it, Skinny, we all knew you’d come, anyway.

Skinner’s AFRAID? Private contractor with Moscow. Classified security directive from the top branch, etc. etc. Gotta put Mulder and Scully back on the unwanted list.

“I thought they were just questioning you guys, why would they try to kill you?”

“You tell us.” Now is not the TIME, Scully.

Mulder and Scully aren’t going with Skinner?????? This is stupid. THIS IS….

Why are they framing this like neither trusts Skinner?????????????????????? Because by all accounts that wouldn’t make sense. At all. But it’s PLOT CONVENIENT, so YOLO.

Skinner being all vague about TLG being buried in Arlington and we all know this is coded language (or can guess), etc. etc.

The exposition, UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

Guys. Why would you prefer to run around in the woods when SKINNER COULD DRIVE YOU WHERE YOU NEED TO GO, AWAY FROM THE RUSSIANS, THEN DROP YOU OFF AND DRIVE AWAY.

I don’t care about the Russians, go away. Mulder had an alien app killswitch that killed their hacking attempts. ‘Kay.

Duo in the cemetery, stomping around.

LANGLY HAS CHRIS CARTER’S BIRTHDAY, TOO. LANGLY AND MULDER SHARE MY BIRTHDAY. In the lament of one of the Testaments (it’s a Biblical reference just for you, Chris): GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME.

Here’s the “Who needs Google when you’ve got Scully?” line... cute. Clever. “Cute” and “clever” can also be interchanged with “convenient.”

Mulder and Scully Scooby-Dooing it up in the graveyard isn’t… bad. To be honest, it’s the most in-character moment shared between the two during the Revival: Scully on her A-game and giving Mulder a run for his money. Mulder’s still a little off, but hopefully we’re getting there.

Mulder finds Deep Throat’s grave, and we have a very not-unnatural-at-all conversation while Mulder rehashes that part of their history, including the stellar line, “I didn’t know his real name until right now” which immediately follows a recounting of him watching the funeral through binoculars from afar. …Yeah, we gathered you wouldn’t have seen his name.

Wait, scratch that.

Mulder would HAVE to know Deep Throat's name because… how else would he know the day Deep Throat was buried?

WAIT.

WAIT, WHAT.

He’d have to have learned the funeral information either from the newspaper or from a database or from TLG; and in combing through said channels of information, he’d have to have discovered Deep Throat’s name to attend his FUNERAL from afar.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh, why can’t this series make sense for five seconds?????????????

Also, you two still have Russian mercenaries on your tail, no rush.

SPEED IT UP, MULDER.

(The exposition, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.)

“Everything we feared came to pass” no it didn’t. IT LITERALLY didn’t.

Wwwhat, creepy old man with long white hair, again? That creeped me out.

OH MY WORD, a QR code medallion.

Oh. My. Word.

They’re getting shot by a zombie? I guess? Guess this one’s not been around long enough to see the undead’s gentler side.

They just killed a guy, who wasn't a zombie nor white-haired guy? I guess? And ran off.

They’re on-the-run but publicly accessing wifi and aren’t even attempting to hideout. (I remember a post somewhere where Tumblr was sympathizing with Skinner losing his last couple bucks to two agents who wasted it on muffins and… yeah.)

I hated the “alien’s butt” line when I first heard of it, and I still hate it now.

There’s a, for lack of a better word, babyfication that the Revival does to Mulder and Scully’s language: “freaking” and “alien’s butt” and “adorbs” that, while possibly charming, make the dissonance between the moments where Mulder and Scully are not in-character more pronounced. In the OG, Mulder used contemporary slang as a tongue-in-cheek tease, working it in to purposefully amuse Scully or intentionally poke at someone else. Here…? That element of his personality is largely missing-- rather, it’s missing at times; which, again, contributes to the jarring, disconnected nature of the writing. It’s a “cost effective” way to replace intelligent, well-constructed banter with “lol” or “yolo” cheap tricks that date themselves incredibly fast.

I’m not a fan, as you can tell.

(“Fox Freaking Mulder” is my most loathed line in canon; so we shall see how that’s handled when I get to it. Oh, boy.)

Langly helped open an x-file on a building back in the 90s, ‘kay.

Scully’s “X-File? As in, the files in our building we can’t get into? Okay” wasn’t too bad, but the pan back to Mulder’s dopey face and the immediate cut after was… jarring, one could say.

Could we at least get a knowing twinkle and eyebrow wiggle from Mulder, a “you know where this is going, Scully” expression or… something? PLEASE?

So many missed opportunities….

Guess they’re sneaking in.

Oh, my, WHY IS SKINNER PULLING A GUN ON THEM.

WHY ARE THEY DOING A MEXICAN STAND-OFF IN THE PARKING GARAGE. WHAT IS ANY OF THIS.

ARE THEY IN A SIMULATION????? IS THIS ALL A WIZARD OF OZ DREAM??????

THEY ATE UP HIS LUNCH MONEY AND CAME BACK FOR MORE AND SKINNER’S HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH THE LEECHES??????????????????????

In the grand scheme of things… you know what, this is bad, I’m not making silly excuses for it.

Skinner wants Mulder to put the gun down, Mulder can’t do that because Skinner seemingly works for the ones who want him and Scully killed, and where was this established???? Where. WHERE. YOU IDIOT.

Skinner’s pause and flat, “I don’t work for them”: same, Skinman, same.

Skinner’s just getting built-up trauma off his chest: his job’s hard, he’s underappreciated, no one understands what he’s going through, there’s so much to DO now; and Mulder and Scully need to know this and appreciate him, for once. (No wonder he wanted them back, he can’t complain to anyone else the same way. Old philes finding each other on new fandom sites and all that.)

Everyone just wants to kill each other “and that includes us.” And… that’s new information… how?

“We need your help, Walter.” When haven’t you. “Even if we don’t trust you.” WHAT IS. THAT. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

To be fair, she was acting as peacemaker between both men. Badly.

Skinner just putting the gun down and stepping forward and asking the question we’re all thinking: “What is this? How did we get here?”

Years and years of plot stupidity. That aside… I don’t know, they’re hungry and need more money, I guess.

None of this makes sense.

Scully calls Skinner from the house. He advises her to surrender.

She and Mulder don’t, and almost get killed, anyway.

Skinner shows up an undetermined amount of time later and just… chats with the duo while Russians are scouting the woods.

Mulder and Scully start to… distrust him despite him unlocking their handcuffs and offering to drive them where they need to go.

He hands them lunch money and makes a cryptic remark on how the world’s changed.

They eat up his lunch money and need to access the files.

Mulder and Scully jumpscare Skinner in the garage and now… no one trusts each other???????

There’s no connecting tissue for them to A. distrust Skinner in the first place; B. to really distrust Skinner, for real, guys; and C. for him to suddenly distrust them.

Mulder and Scully, spies: the episode. I’m losing them the longer the episode goes on.

Why's there odd music at odd times? It got tense for no reason then switched abruptly to Skinner’s sunshiney apartment.

Also, it’s canonically confirmed that Skinner squirreled away some files (if not all) to keep at his home. Weekend reading and all that, I suppose. Whatever floats his lonely boat. Also convenient.

Skinner has really modern taste in home decor…. (Now I need a fic where Scully was housesitting his place in the robot episode. That would be hilariously on-brand-- Mulder’s actions end up setting his boss’s house ablaze.)

When the x-files were reopened, neither agent was told their work was basically free to read. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Mulder asks Skinner. Obvious answer-- this plot point hadn’t been invented yet-- aside, I don’t think Skinner would have been allowed to… I don’t know, make them available TO ANYONE THAT WANTS TO READ THEM just because he uploaded them, hypothetically, to Archive.org. And if he's not allowed, he's probably not going to share that information.

Skinner’s got a secret wild life, and by secret wild life I mean spending his weekends uploading files to the Way Back Machine. And trying to keep his superiors from figuring out it’s him.

Langly’s been wiped from the X-Files. (So. Mulder uploaded files on his friends. …’Kay.) And left a note that “If I’ve been scrubbed, go to her” with an attached pic of a Dr. lady. In the same files that got scrubbed by nefarious people. Who would have seen this attached note, realistically. Stellar writing.

Langly would get involved with someone named Hambly.

“The Bureau’s not in good standing with the White House, these days," Skinner states.

“The FBI finally found out what it’s liked to be looked at as a little spooky.” FINALLY, a decent political quip from Mulder. YES. I’ll take it!

Doctor teacher hambly lady.

Why the scary music? It’s just Mulder and Scully there to interrogate her.

The lady warns them “you should go” then pauses a second before launching into a claim that SHE AND LANGLY COULD LIVE FOREVER, WITH SCIENCE???? ...I don’t think that word means what she thinks it means.

Oh, great, AI Langly is reaching out because his consciousness is trapped in a simulation lie. …Well, snap. From Jump the Shark to Become the Quark. Guess we’re all in Soma now and need to free the brain copy.

This was a quick and convenient dump of information, but I’ve seen worse. (Just because I’ve seen worse doesn’t make this automatically better.)

Langly had a longer lasting relationship canonically than Byers. Let that sink in.

I don’t mind this plot, honestly. I wish it were tighter, or more sensible, or…. Actually, cut the entire graveyard scene, it wasn’t necessary. Have Skinner drive Mulder and Scully back to his place, show them the files, chat about life then vs. now, and then move the plot here. It would give breathing time to better characterize Dr. Hambly’s hesitation or backstory, eliminate a few cracks in the plot, and ease up on the constant location hopping.

I’ve completely lost the essence of Mulder and Scully, though.

The camera cutting to odd angles or focusing on random places in the room is… off putting.

“Maybe he saw Mulder in his dreams”/”Who hasn’t?” is the second quip, possibly third, in the Revival that sounded exactly like something Mulder would say: enough self-deprecation and blatant tease mixed together.

AND IT WAS RUINED by Mulder and Scully smirking then fiddling around and clearing their throats while Dr. Hambly looks back and forth between them. YES, WE GET IT, THEY’RE TOGETHER BUT NOT AND ARE KINDA SHY ABOUT IT, UWU.

It’s the babyfication thingie again: just let the scene exist without unnecessarily hammering it home. I’m a big girl, I can read between the lines.

There are some suspenseful, creepy shots, to be honest.

Why’s the white-haired guy back. What in the world, how’s he always THERE.

Scientist lady’s dead. White-haired guy's dead (again?)

Scully quibbling about Mulder stealing evidence. Scully, you’re ON THE RUN.

Why do Mulder and Scully seem so… detached when witness to death, now? Before, they were professionally distanced around dead bodies and autopsies and crime scenes; but the murder of a victim before their eyes still moved them. I’ve noticed that it doesn’t, at all, in the Revival. That’s… odd; and an aspect of IWTB I also wish the writers had left behind.

“Adorbs”, ugh. I didn’t mind Scully roaring to life and almost shooting a guy when doing so, and Mulder mitigating then diffusing a possible situation. That was… fine.

But. I’m not getting Mulder here, either, sorry. He was THERE at the beginning of the episode, where’d he go? (Questions I ask the void.)

Ahhhhh, Mulder used a computer thingie called “freaking”, got it. That makes his reference earlier when referring to the muffin all right… actually, no, it makes it worse. Because he couldn’t have known he was going to use the “f” technique when he called the muffins “freaking” delicious or whatever. Which means this was just a way for the writer to appear clever by reusing an old word a new way... a.k.a. the writer gave away the magic trick by letting us peak behind the curtain (“We used ‘freaking’ earlier so we could full-circle to the ‘freaking’ technique, isn’t that smart???”).

I feel cheated.

Langly’s the only in-character character in this moment and it’s so. So. jarring. SO jarring. I’m happy for him and I’m mad for myself.

Oh, look, Mulder can do math math. As he should (a truth I’ve held onto since Lazarus.)

Oh, Langly wants this heaven destroyed. Uh, oh. That took a turn.

See, this is why you save the tense music for these moments, it gives an emotional gut punch real power.

He’s arguing this is heaven but only in service to the overlords. ...Welp, can’t argue with that logic.

This is actually a creepy scene. That’s good.

Oh, look, Mulder and Scully are given a stylistic black backdrop as Langly explains his world to them. That’s a cool touch, gotta say. Not very… The X-Files, but if changes must be made, this is how they should be done.

Oh, Gillian’s kids! What a neat cameo.

Anyway.

Essssssssspionage. Essssssspionage. Mulder’s got an essssspionage plan.

Scully pretends to drag Mulder in? As her captive? Um? And... signs in as herself despite both of them being on the run but not anymore but….?

Scully just winked at a whippersnapper and he just… led them to the tunnel. Um. UM. (Young Mulder’s fantasies come to life, I’ll bet.)

UMMMMM. Mulder made an disgusted motion after the young buck took her up on her implication--MULDER YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN HANDCUFFS, THAT SECURITY OFFICER FACING YOU MOST DEFINITELY SAW.

WHAT-- WHAT??????

Wait, I still don't have answers for what happened in the graveyard with the dead guy and--

Hannibal Lecter jokes. “This guy’s, like, Hannibal Lecter level--” WE GET IT, YOU WERE IN THE HANNIBAL SHOW. WE GOT THE BABYFICATION OF THE "LIKE", ARE YOU HAPPY????

And Mulder does a Hannibal impression. Yep, thanks, I’m taking this serious mission so seriously right now, guys.

Wait.

How come Mulder is immediately recognized in Babylon by other FBI agents but Mulder not here despite being heavily favored by an A.D. and being kind of infamous in the Bureau? (Don’t think, just hit play.)

The young buck “Hon”s Scully and she brushes him off with a “Sorry, bro” and CAN SOMEONE GET THIS BABYFICATION AWAY FROM MEEEEEEEE. And also… Scully, you were the one that started this domino effect of implication. You led “bro” on. Bro was just young and believing he was getting unbelievably lucky with a MILF. If he were spiteful, he’d force you to walk back or report you to the front desk. Your brush-off could have been a compromising move, Scully.

I don’t… mind? Mulder waving Scully towards the stairs with a little “mm hmm.” I’m a little more warm to Scully being averse to walking twenty-nine floors than I am the execution of Mulder’s quip, but… I can… kinda… see it? Sure? It’s not out of Mulder’s normal realm of behavior.

They still haven’t recaptured the opener’s “Mulder and Scully” feel, though.

WAIT, no.

I remember these stairs.

You’re telling ME that Scully jumps down a flight of stairs (perhaps two)... unharmed??? In her fifties???? Without anything to cushion her fall???? Without the stretch plausibility of a fancy parkour maneuver???????

Nooooooooooooooooope, no way.

Yeoooouch, that’s gotta hurt.

Mulder nods “no way” as if their lives weren’t in danger then follows her lead and gets up and immediately grabs one of the four guys above him and tosses him… down where Scully went. Down where he needs to go. I know he had no choice, but the probability of any of this being pulled off successfully is less than 50%, gotta be honest.

Ah, Mulder gets caught by the three guys. That’s realistic, I cosign.

Here comes Cheese McRussian.

“Haven’t you heard, FBI Mulder? You’re on our side now.” ENOUGH with the Trump Russia ties, can this DIE, please. I’m so over it.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay. Reel it back. This is still… what year? Wait, is this 2018? Benefit of the doubt: 2017. Yeah, this topic was old by 2018, I’m pretty sure. Right? (Let’s see… one year after Trump’s election, everyone’s still in an uproar, Russia collusion theories flying, Rachel Maddow coverage, the investigation and reports….) Okay, I take it back a bit, the dates check out. …But this is why politics is very tricky to tackle in a show: in hindsight, that insinuation topples half of the episode's angle; and because of that line, this plot quickly becomes dated and a tad ignorant.

Why couldn’t we have just stuck with the jab Mulder made at Skinner’s? That was pretty good. But no, we’ve gotta hammer everything home. And in hammering things home, the art of subtly is lost. Siiiiiiiigh.

Approximately 34 minutes left.

Wait.

FBI building with Russians at the top?

Why were the Russians even going after Mulder’s phone? To stop Langly from contacting him, yes; but after? Trying to track Langly down to silence him? I guess? Why not just terminate him from the program atop their x-file tower? Pull the metaphorical plug? Surely his brain-- amidst how many others?-- isn’t worth the trouble.

Mr. Y? A new villain. Ohhhhhhhhhhh, please.

This is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thirty years ago.

Why’re we doubling down on "CSM is his father"? Who cares?

“You don’t understand,” says creepy lady, “what’s about to happen.”

Philosophy, yadda yadda yadda.

Scully beats up a roaming guard taller than her on heels, yadda yadda yadda.

“Life on this earth… is about to be crushed. Burned to the ground.” Sure.

Guys, Soma did this better. It’s so good, go watch a play through on YouTube. It’s an extraordinary game. (I recommend the Markiplier one: he’s a little over-acty at times-- hadn’t found his tone, yet-- but he got the heart of the story.)

Oh, wait, the evil villain lady’s still yapping. “It’s reason for being is to advance life, not end it.” I literally missed nothing by tuning out, wow.

Mr. Y wants Mulder to kill his "father." Mulder offers a deal (likely to stall for time so Scully can rescue him) in exchange for he and Scully to be uploaded to the mainframe… and I’m not against this idea. It would fit with S11 Mulder's… actually, no, it wouldn’t; because Mulder’s already lived in two false realities (Kill Switch and Amor Fati) and both were abysmal. (Langly quite literally serves as this episode's cautionary tale.) To possibly doom he and Scully rather than let their souls “mate eternal” or rest among the stars with Samantha? Not a wise move; not a Mulder move, either.

(Note from the future: That was the point, a ruse on his part. …Mkay, I accept that.)

The EXPOSITION, UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

“We can take a piece of your mind [through a smartphone] every time you call.” How Alex Jones of you.

Am I… the only one who’s fed up with the Revival's reactionary techno panic? During the original run, tech wasn’t “the boogie man”, it was a tool used by “the boogie men” for their own ends. (Only twice did it become sentient; and even then, it was because the creators gave their machines human willpower and corruption.) Now, it’s become the Almighty they all must bow and cower before.

It’s weird.

"This is a tech age," one might say, "so of course the stories would be focused on out-of-control advancements."

"And it was an age of technological advancement then," I volley back while sinking my bat over and over into the strawman I’ve erected.

Diana Fowley Cheshire Cat Lady is starting to annoy me--

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Mulder says, “I want to believe--” WHY. Stop beating me over the head with his catchphrase, I KNOW IT’S HIS CATCHPHRASE. That used to be used sparingly-- now it’s once every episode, if not more. UUUUUUUUGH.

This tech is the closest Mulder will come to seeing God in this lifetime. I’m not… opposed to that idea.

Mulder taking out a guy in handcuffs. Oh, look, it’s the handcuff joke I see everywhere in gifs. Heh heh heh…. heh. Heh. Sure, Jan.

Mulder’s wrestling with a guy while Scully slowly turns off the machine. LITTLE BIT FASTER THERE, SCULLY.

And why is’t the room FILLED with guards trying to stop Scully, or using Mulder as leverage to stop her????? Aren’t there alert signals tied straight to the machine for monitoring purposes?????????? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Mulder’s sweating, like that touch.

Um. The system turned red, but. Um. Can’t they just... reboot it?

If I'm putting the pieces together rightly: the only thing the bad guys lost were the brain scans. So. Don't think the machines were destroyed....

Mulder’s all beat up and loopy, nice. He’s got his phone back (~convenient~), nice.

Still not himself; but neither is Scully, so it’s a draw, I think.