Paranormal
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The X-Files Thriller “Fallen Angel” Presages Years of Future Television
“Fallen Angel” is a return to form for The X-Files after “Space,” an ambitious misfire from series creator Chris Carter. “Fallen Angel” is a formative episode not only for the series, but for writers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa as well. It continues the series’ stylistic visual development and features Gordon and Gansa in full […] More
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The X-Files’ “Ghost in the Machine” Is a Solid ’90s Cyber Thriller
Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa return for The X-Files S1E7, “Ghost in the Machine.” It’s their first thriller, and the first in a series of cyber thriller episodes of The X-Files—a tradition which will stretch all the way to Season 11 in 2018. “Ghost in the Machine” is a smart piece of work which explores […] More
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The X-Files’ “Conduit” Digs Deep into Mulder’s Motivation
The X-Files digs into Mulder as a character with its fourth episode, “Conduit,” teasing out some of the various threads established before and turning them into searing human drama. The episode serves as our introduction to the writing duo of Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, though this one has significant uncredited help from Chris Carter. […] More
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The X-Files Broadens Its Horizons with “Squeeze”
The third episode of The X-Files, “Squeeze,” completes our introduction to the show. It’s our first standalone episode—termed “Monster-of-the-Week” episodes by fans—our first episode to focus on something other than extraterrestrials, and the first episode written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. Morgan and Wong set the template for standalone episodes, envisioning The X-Files as […] More
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The Truth of “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” — How the Hell Should I Know?
This piece on The X-Files, “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” is available in audiovisual form on YouTube Usually, when you’re watching TV, you can trust that what you’re seeing is real within the world of the show. If there’s a mismatch between how someone is recounting an event and how it is portrayed, we’re prone […] More
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The X-Files: “War of the Coprophages” Grins at Us the Whole Time
“The X-Files: ‘War of the Coprophages’ Grins at Us the Whole Time” is available in audiovisual form on YouTube In its premise, “War of the Coprophages” is perhaps the most terrifying episode of The X-Files of all: What if cockroaches killed people? The episode opens with a man praising the heartiness of the insects—their evolutionary […] More
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Life, Death, and “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”
This piece on The X-Files episode “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” is available in audiovisual form on YouTube Given that it’s an episode of The X-Files, one of the most striking things about “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” is the lack of ambiguity it presents with regard to Bruckman’s (Peter Boyle) psychic abilities. Throughout the episode, he […] More
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The X-Files 30th Anniversary: S1E1 ‘Pilot’ Recap
Aliens. Crime scenes. Government conspiracies. Dramatic finales and goofy parodies. Across all 11 seasons of The X-Files, we’ve seen it all. But where did it all begin? For the 30th anniversary of one of the most popular cult TV shows ever, it’s time to revisit the inception: the Pilot episode. As Perfect Pilots go, The […] More
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Dreaming of Dana Scully
“Dreaming of Dana Scully” is available in audiovisual form on YouTube In the early months of 2021, I began dreaming of Special Agent Dana Scully from The X-Files. Before writing this article, I never thought to compare television or dreams (not even when Twin Peaks fans exploded in speculation about “the dreamer who dreams and […] More
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The X-Files: “Humbug” Celebrates the Weird
“The X-Files: ‘Humbug’ Celebrates the Weird” is available in audiovisual form on YouTube. While he’s credited with the story for the earlier Season 2 episode “Blood,” Darin Morgan’s first official writer credit on The X-Files comes with S2E20, “Humbug.” At this point, it’s hard to imagine the show without his influence, though it was a […] More
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If Krycek Were the Main Character of The X-Files…
Last year I wrote what I believed would be my one and only Krycek essay, into which I poured nearly everything I could possibly deduce about his character. If you haven’t read it (I won’t take it personally, although I assure you it’s good stuff!), I will reiterate the most basic summary of his character: […] More
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in The X-Files, Series
Queering The X-Files
I began this month by pointing out how The X-Files generally encourages us to believe in a human soul, citing the regular appearances of ghosts and other immortal spirits. There is one notable exception that I can think of. In Season 4’s ‘Small Potatoes’, Mulder says: “maybe it’s other people’s reactions to us that make […] More
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