Season Three: "I want to believe"

Overall Rating: 2.79 out of 4 (circa 2003)

This season represented my personal introduction to the X-Files, and for that fact, these episodes will always retain that "soft focus, first time" feeling for me. When I originally saw them, I was naive enough to be enthralled by their open-endedness and lack of real closure. And while that sounds somewhat facetious today, the fact was, by the end of the third season, I had been converted into a regular, confirmed, "put that on my schedule" kind of viewer. Looking back, I think the season's offerings were worth it.

Worst / Best

If I have to pick a worst ep, I'll have to go with Teso Dos Bichos, but I would qualify that — in the overall X-Files world — it was not that horrible an hour. The thing is, among all the episodes offered in this season, it failed to make an equal impression.

Best in a pretty good year? Since I found it hard to choose from among some very interesting mythology eps, I'm going to go with Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose. Great writing based on a great idea, great guest star, interesting interactions and dialogue for everyone, and no monsters in sight except perhaps for the ones that exist deep within each of us that we have to live with on a daily basis. It was both serious and funny in a very "real life" way.

Most Disappointing / Most Surprising

I can't name a most disappointing episode in this season. No episode during this time period was ever "presented" to me beforehand for me to have had any expectations about it, so I was never in the position to be disappointed. (Unfortunately, this category only becomes applicable in later years when — due to my increased fan participation — I began to have expectations that were doused.)

My vote for "most surprising" goes to War of the Coprophages. (It's a Darin Morgan kind of year for me, I guess.) While I never really "got" his other star contribution (Jose Chung), I could relate to this one right away. It was unconventional, a whole lot of fun, and definitely surprising, even from an X-Files point of view.