Season Four: "deceive, inveigle and obfuscate"

Overall Rating: 2.75 out of 4 (circa 2003)

Was this season the jewel in the crown for The X-Files? I don't think we'll ever get any consensus on what is the "best" season for the series but time-wise, this certainly marked the show's heyday. It was the height of coolness to be a Phile, at a time when the show had finally overcome the boundaries of "traditional drama" to be recognized as a verifiable hit, perhaps by even the stuffiest of critics. Above all, I think we got some interesting shows that broke new ground (Home and Small Potatoes) and continued to see trademark "film-making" qualities highlighted during the two-parter sweeps eps.

Worst / Best

Worst ep? This season didn't have a "screamingly bad" episode, in all honesty. El Mundo Gira is obviously my pick but I don't have that strong dislike for it as I do for others that I could mention. The others that were rated at the bottom (Teliko, Sanguinarium) weren't entirely appalling either. The ones that didn't hit the high marks this season (and many did, which says something in itself) were merely less creative, less original. They were not necessarily indicative of bad characterization or poorly chosen story-telling techniques, which have been obvious with other "worst of" picks.

The best? There were many great episodes this season, but my personal pick is also one of my all-time favourites: Paper Hearts. Perhaps the quintessential Mulder story, the X-File in this one was not the possible explanation behind the disappearance of Samantha, but the uncanny link that Mulder has with her potential killer.

Most Disappointing / Most Surprising

This is going to seem like a strange pick, but I'm selecting Synchrony as my most disappointing episode. As I mentioned in my summary for the show, I like time travel stories and have seen some good examples of them. I thought that this episode had the potential to be so much more than what it was, considering how I felt after seeing the opening sequence.

I was basically surprised at every turn with the events of Home, TXF's effort at pushing the envelope with respect to network TV censors. This is the only X-Files episode where after each commercial break, our local affiliate aired a viewer discretion warning. And while I'm not the sort to be easily disturbed by graphic content, I was surprised with what they managed to get away with in this one. However, the subsequent move to ban it from ever being aired again (and I'm not sure if this is still true but it certainly was at one point) was a bit much.