1006 - "My Struggle" the second

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

Directed by Chris Carter
Written by Chris Carter and a bunch of other people in some kind of nebulous creative relationship that I don't really understand or care about involving story and teleplay credits so yeah, Chris Carter and some people.

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

Lol, did Scully just go from "I'm not sure if this is real" to "this is happening now" in less than 60 seconds?

fidoz · February 2016

Holy Crap! When did Fox Mulder become Jason Bourne?

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

That was hot garbage. Ballsy to run back the "make up nonsense and end in a wtf cliffhanger" play after all these years.

GredalBee · February 2016

That was a big swing and miss. This revival has me worried about Twin Peaks and all other show revivals.

DancesWithWookies · February 2016

This finale is the equivalent of a wet fart.

Ah, I got to say, this hurts, it actually does. I so looking forward to this revival, but I am finally at the final stage of grief: Acceptance.

Anyway, On to Fuller House! I am sure that will be much more entertaining. Whose going to watch with me?

voltage · February 2016

What a turd! So. Mulder has a 30 sec fight scene, and then withers away for the rest of the episode. Scully somehow turns her magic alien DNA into a vaccine, with only the assistance of Agent Einstein, in an hour, courtesy of the scary charity Catholic hospital lab ? CSM is taking vengence on humanity because of global warming ? Miller tracks Mulder w/ a desktop app?

I really felt for Gillian A and David D. It pained me to watch them recite Chris C stilted, obtuse dialogue. Pleae. For the love of Pete don't ever subject us to this madness again.

joepinetree · February 2016

Any reviews of this episode can be summed up by Charlie Brown trying to kick the football while Lucy holds . Its clear why Cris Carter has failed so bad at everything else (the only one of the main x files writers to not have any other significant credits). All I can hope for is that he follows the path of George Lucas and hands it off to someone else.

In any case, here are my stray thoughts watching this episode:

- Why hasn't 23 and me take the opportunity to sponsor this thing?
- Does anyone else think that Cris Carter calls other 90s showrunners trying to pitch reboots? "Hey, David Chase, how about bringing friends back? You could break up Ross and Rachel, and then end the run on a cliffhanger about whether or not they get back together." "Hey, JJ, how about bringing Felicity back, and this time she once again becomes undecided about Ben or Noel, only to end on her telling someone who is not shown she chooses them."
- Did Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny have scheduling issues? Are they back to hating each other? It is incredible how little they interacted with one another these past two episodes, and were not on screen together even when talking to each other during the finale.

DaveyMac · February 2016

I'm starting to feel good about not watching the show beyond the second episode. I just got sidetracked by other things, but the comments on this forum are making it seem like I've actually saved valuable time in not watching. I still plan on catching up with the casts, though, as the first two episodes Jim and A.Ron put out had me trying to stifle laughter on the train.

Elisa · February 2016

Utter crap. This is so sad.

joepinetree · February 2016

DaveyMac said:
I'm starting to feel good about not watching the show beyond the second episode. I just got sidetracked by other things, but the comments on this forum are making it seem like I've actually saved valuable time in not watching. I still plan on catching up with the casts, though, as the first two episodes Jim and A.Ron put out had me trying to stifle laughter on the train.

Were monster was excellent. But of course it wasn't even written as an x files episode.

Clareto · February 2016

Guess I'll just stick to non-Chris Carter Monster of the Week episodes when it presumably comes back. I wish he'd just quit and let Vince Gilligan or someone take over. That would be amazing.

Oh, and does Scully have alien DNA? They didn't make it very clear.

[Deleted User] · February 2016

I've had fun watching the last 6 episodes. I was really hoping a missle shot out onto the bridge at the end just to piss people off.

Reyes, what a dumbass but I guess still good?

I really enjoyed the revival for what was presented. Obviously the cliffhanger was coming when I noticed it was 8:55.

Im curious who CSM was working with. I guess I've wondered who he teamed with after the Syndicate. Maybe they talked about that in S9 and I missed it

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

I remember thinking that @Frakkin T was being pretty damn reactionary when he noped out after the first episode. Now, he looks like a prophetic genius. I have been comparing and contrasting this revival with the 24 revival from last year, which was also a hot mess, but seemed more self aware and entertaining. My score card reads 2 good episodes, 1 okay episode, 1 bad, 2 historically bad. No great episodes.

joepinetree · February 2016

The amazing thing about this run is that it retconned away a bunch of stuff just to make things even more complicated. Like, I get retconning the super soldiers and the bulk of season 8 and 9 to focus on the old syndicate. But retcon it all away to insert yet another layer to the conspiracy? So now instead of just the supersoldiers not fitting into the story, the spaceship in movie 1 makes no sense, the freaking caveman infections makes no sense, etc.

Also, Carter must be really out there into crazy rightwinger land. So the Alex Jones stand in is 100% correct, and the vast conspiracy to eliminate mankind is justifying itself by global warming? On the heels on an episode of "all muslims but one are terrorists" and after the "gay married transgender body snatchers" movie?

Zinzan · February 2016

joepinetree said:
On the heels on an episode of "all muslims but one are terrorists"

I missed that statement.

joepinetree · February 2016

Literally all Muslims shown last episode, except the mother, were terrorists.

joepinetree · February 2016

From the live recording: yes, the CSM is Mulder's father, confirmed through DNA tests.

brewsevelt · February 2016

What a goddamn waste of 6 weeks + the lead up to the series. I had no faith they could right the ship in the final episode and save the season. But I didn't think they could make it substantially worse. This was some real bad TV.

Zinzan · February 2016

joepinetree said:
Literally all Muslims shown last episode, except the mother, were terrorists.

I don't think that takes it into "crazy right winger land". The story involved muslim terrorists. l don't think it would have helped the story to add a bunch of non-terrorist muslim characters.

Were there any non-terrorist Germans in Die Hard?

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with you not liking this 6 episode X-Files season. I thought it was just okay. But I didn't have high hopes on it in the first place, as I thought the mythology was a mess in the last few seasons and the first movie. I haven't seen the second movie.

joepinetree · February 2016

Zinzan said:

joepinetree said:
Literally all Muslims shown last episode, except the mother, were terrorists.
I don't think that takes it into "crazy right winger land". The story involved muslim terrorists. l don't think it would have helped the story to add a bunch of non-terrorist muslim characters.

Were there any non-terrorist Germans in Die Hard?

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with you not liking this 6 episode X-Files season. I thought it was just okay. But I didn't have high hopes on it in the first place, as I thought the mythology was a mess in the last few seasons and the first movie. I haven't seen the second movie.

I am not trying to get into a discussion of how many non-terrorist muslims they should have shown. The point was the pattern, not just one thing.

Alex Jones stand in is 100% right. The real conspiracy is essentially an environmentalist who decides to wipe out humanity to protect the environment, in a conspiracy with the government. The last movie was married gay immigrant couple who abducted women to use their bodies to become transgender. And then the whole "refugees are all terrorists." You can be ok with one or two of these. My point is all of these coming together in such short succession. I mean, if it was a Michael Moore stand in being right, with the main conspiracies being driven by profit hungry businessmen and religious right folks, right after an episode where terrorism is all a front by right wing politicians to grab power, the problem would have been the same.

[Deleted User] · February 2016

@joepinetree When did they dismiss Super Soldiers?

I don't really think they dismissed anything but it's been a while since I have refreshed my memory on S8 & S9 through the series or their wikia page

[Deleted User] · February 2016

I think its funny so many people got offended by a Muslim terrorist plot. TV and Movies always re-use the same "enemy". People are just reaching for stuff to complain about. I do it with TWD all the time lol

joepinetree · February 2016

They dismissed it when they pretended they never existed in both episode 1 and 6 of this revival. To recap the supersoldier plot: at the end of season 7, the aliens come back and reabduct everyone they've ever abducted (except Scully, somehow). At the beginning of season 8, they drop everyone they abducted back on earth, nearly dead. These nearly dead people are shown to be infected with a virus that takes over them and replaces them with an entire new person, who is an indestructible super soldier. And when I say indestructible, I mean literally. They have one metal vertebrae and can regenerate themselves entirely based on just that. The season 9 plot is about how these supersoldiers have infiltrated the government in preparation for a take over, and how they are susceptible to a particular metal. The show ends when Mulder "kills" a supersoldier, and is convinced that everyone is a part of the conspiracy because he knows there is no way to kill a supersoldier. The revival simply ignores all of that completely. Even Mulder and Scully's period on the run as criminals being chased by supersoldiers who have infiltrated the highest levels of government is simply ignored. If that is not dismissing it, I don't know what is.

As for the Muslim stuff, it is not about being offensive. It is about being dumb. First, because an episode that is about how we shouldn't judge people by this or that, everyone they show is actually a terrorist. Second, because of everything else that goes along with it. I mean, do you really think everyone is just reaching to have stuff to complain about, and this entire revival was really just fine? Is it all just one big conspiracy against the x files?

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

Well, to be fair the Muslim terrorist plot line was offensive, too. Now, you can be offensive if you do it in an interesting, novel, or funny way. I flatter myself that I pull it off from time to time. You really get the big :-/ when you are offensive in a trite, cliched kind of way.

Back in '91, a good friend of mine got beat up in Jr. High and called a "sand n----" because America was at war with Iraq at the time and he was Muslim. He was cool to me, despite me being in a weird fucked up Christian cult. Sometimes I'd hitch a ride with his family to the Muslim center and we'd play Mortal Kombat in the rec room. They were all cool, too. Seems like in 2016 we could show a devout Muslim without an explosion in the following scene. When's the last time we saw one in popular media?

You're absolutely fooling yourself if you think that 9/10ths of all devout Christians on television were depicted as abortion clinic bombers people wouldn't be marching in the streets about it. Which is absurd, since it's hard to think of a larger, more vocal, more powerful majority that nevertheless thinks it's constantly under attack like Christians in America. But Muslims are supposed to shrug it off and be like, "oh well, I guess our radical extemists do make for really great villains."

GredalBee · February 2016

Just heard the cast and it's finally over. I hope Jim and A.Ron know we appreciate the coverage. I'm sure it wasn't a ratings monster and Jim seemed like more of a casual fan, so this must have been a huge waste of time. If nothing else we got to commiserate as a little community.

joepinetree · February 2016

A_Ron_Hubbard said:
Well, to be fair the Muslim terrorist plot line was offensive, too. Now, you can be offensive if you do it in an interesting, novel, or funny way. I flatter myself that I pull it off from time to time. You really get the big :-/ when you are offensive in a trite, cliched kind of way.

Back in '91, a good friend of mine got beat up in Jr. High and called a "sand n----" because America was at war with Iraq at the time and he was Muslim. He was cool to me, despite me being in a weird fucked up Christian cult. Sometimes I'd hitch a ride with his family to the Muslim center and we'd play Mortal Kombat in the rec room. They were all cool, too. Seems like in 2016 we could show a devout Muslim without an explosion in the following scene. When's the last time we saw one in popular media?

You're absolutely fooling yourself if you think that 9/10ths of all devout Christians on television were depicted as abortion clinic bombers people wouldn't be marching in the streets about it. Which is absurd, since it's hard to think of a larger, more vocal, more powerful majority that nevertheless thinks it's constantly under attack like Christians in America. But Muslims are supposed to shrug it off and be like, "oh well, I guess our radical extemists do make for really great villains."

Yeah, that is what I mean. The issue wasn't that it was offensive (though it was). But that it was offensive in a shallow, dumb, predictable way to set up some cheap monologue that isn't even supported by the show itself. There is no depth at all to anything portrayed. The Muslims are really all just terrorists (with the exception of the mother), all to set up a "gee, whiz, why can't we all just get along" monologue.

A_Ron_Hubbard · February 2016

GredalBee said:
Just heard the cast and it's finally over. I hope Jim and A.Ron know we appreciate the coverage. I'm sure it wasn't a ratings monster and Jim seemed like more of a casual fan, so this must have been a huge waste of time. If nothing else we got to commiserate as a little community.

In retrospect, maybe. But it was in a pretty favorable part of our schedule and it was kind of fun to tear into that last one. Or as Evita would say, "Don't cry for me GredalBeeEEEEEEEE..., the truth is, always out there."

[Deleted User] · February 2016

I'm in the minority that liked all 9 Seasons, both movies and all 6 episodes. I don't really care to disect these episodes as much as others. I could pick apart any show I have ever watched but I don't care to do that for tge most part. Some of the stuff they did was puzzling but I was having a lot of fun just watching. I didn't set a bar to reach or anything. I just enjoyed the ride.

@joepinetree I think in the 2nd movie they established that if Mulder & Scully helped on the case that they would be clear of any charges. I didn't think it had anything to do with Supersoldiers. I'll have to read up on S8 and S9 soon. Its been a while

joepinetree · February 2016

Because the 2nd movie also was part of the retcon. Because it makes no sense in universe that a conspiracy reaching the highest levels of government that ends up with Mulder being sentenced to death in a military trial would then just pardon him because he kind of helps in a serial murder case, even as Scully, who aided and abetted his escape gets to just practice medicine and live with him. Second movie ignored mytharc completely, other than vague references to Mulder being wanted.

This new season just continued that. But then instead of just setting up a streamlined mytharc, it selectively retconned stuff to make it even more convoluted. It would be like JJ Abrams retconning midichlorians only to set up the amigdala MRI as the true test of force sensitivity.

And it is not about "picking apart." The show is about the conspiracy. You can't just handwave the fact that the current version of it does not fit with almost a decade of things we were shown about the conspiracy. Like, it is one thing to quibble about minor points of zombie mechanics and infection. But if next week the walking dead decided to make it so that zombie weren't actually dead, and were just sick people who could be cured by extra strength penicillin, it would be a big deal.

Similarly, it would be one thing to be quibbling about whether the black oil was the virus itself or just a vehicle for the virus, like frequently happened in seasons 1-7 of the x files. It is another completely to just flip the entire thing on its head and pretend that Mulder was never inside a spaceship full of incubating gray aliens in the north pole. Retconning super soldiers away was a good thing. But it should have been done in the name of making the mytharc less convoluted, not more.

[Deleted User] · February 2016

@joepinetree I just don't see it the same way as you. I understand your issues with the new series but it doesnt bother me at this point in time

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1006 - "My Struggle" the second

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