Last season more or less stunk. I thought the one-off self contained episodes were ok (I liked the one about the were-lizard that most people hated!) but the ones that dealt with the ongoing narrative were pretty bad and the season finale was beyond awful.
Having said that...I'm a sucker for the show so I'll be watching, albeit with rock-bottom expectations.
It’s just crazy to me that Carter can’t figure out this mythos. I’m at the point where I want to go back to the movie, look at everything that came before, and make my own ending to the series to my personal satisfaction in novel form. God knows Carter won’t do it.
Well, just look at what the writers from the X Files have done since the series was over and it is pretty easy to see why Carter can't wrap up the mythos in any satisfying way. For reference, here's a list of people with significant writing credits in the original run, and things they've done since
Frank Spotnitz (man in the high castle) Vince Gilligan (Breaking bad, better call saul) John Shiban (Hell on Wheels) Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24) Morgan & Wong (Final Destination series, Amerigan Horror Story for Wong)
And then, of course, the one offs by Darin Morgan.
Even if some of those shows aren't home runs, you can clearly trace some of the style of the original X Files to these writers. It is no surprise that the more classic horror episodes of the original run can be traced to Morgan and Wong (Home, Die Hand Die Verletzt). Just like it is no surprise that the episodes with the best character work were written by Gilligan (Drive, Pusher). Or that the deep state conspiracy ones were often written by Gordon (Nisei, Fallen Angel).
Meanwhile, Carter has done exactly nothing worthwhile outside of the x files. My expectation for season 11 is that all the mythos episodes will be written by carter and will suck, Wong and Morgan will have solid by unspectacular motw episodes which will be dark and creepy, Darin Morgan will have a funny episode where we will go in looking for expectations to be broken only to still be surprised. Carter was lucky to land a writing room that ranged from "solid but unspectacular" to "all time best" at a time when you could have 5 or 6 myth episodes in a 22 episode season.
Comments
Having said that...I'm a sucker for the show so I'll be watching, albeit with rock-bottom expectations.
Frank Spotnitz (man in the high castle)
Vince Gilligan (Breaking bad, better call saul)
John Shiban (Hell on Wheels)
Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24)
Morgan & Wong (Final Destination series, Amerigan Horror Story for Wong)
And then, of course, the one offs by Darin Morgan.
Even if some of those shows aren't home runs, you can clearly trace some of the style of the original X Files to these writers. It is no surprise that the more classic horror episodes of the original run can be traced to Morgan and Wong (Home, Die Hand Die Verletzt). Just like it is no surprise that the episodes with the best character work were written by Gilligan (Drive, Pusher). Or that the deep state conspiracy ones were often written by Gordon (Nisei, Fallen Angel).
Meanwhile, Carter has done exactly nothing worthwhile outside of the x files. My expectation for season 11 is that all the mythos episodes will be written by carter and will suck, Wong and Morgan will have solid by unspectacular motw episodes which will be dark and creepy, Darin Morgan will have a funny episode where we will go in looking for expectations to be broken only to still be surprised. Carter was lucky to land a writing room that ranged from "solid but unspectacular" to "all time best" at a time when you could have 5 or 6 myth episodes in a 22 episode season.