Season Seven: "everything dies"

Overall Rating: 2.73 out of 4 (circa 2003)

Isn't it always the case that when you go back to watch episodes again, some are better than you initially thought them to be and some are just worse? I must admit that the summer of "post season seven" has been quite dark for me... I've encountered more that I've felt are worse rather than better. Combined with the nasty news regarding the possibilities for the upcoming year, quite frankly, I'm ready to leave it all behind. The only thing keeping me on board on a part-time basis this upcoming year is DD's part-time involvement. Otherwise, this fan is on a downward slide from a five year TXF high, let me tell you!

Worst / Best

Okay, so what were the highlights and lowlights of Season Seven? Easy pick for absolute worst is Fight Club but there actually are a few runners-up that - upon completion of that all-important repeat viewing - are almost as aggravating. Orison, Signs & Wonders, First Person Shooter and all things are all considerably harder on the nerves the second time around. (In other words, if I were doing the ratings now, I'd be downgrading the ratings of each of the above by one notch.) And by the way, I'm betting that if you watch Orison together with all things, you might just start wondering if indeed God is talking to Scully... at the very least you'll think that GA likes the idea.

I also encountered several so-so eps that really don't provide any subsequent viewing appeal: Theef, The Amazing Maleeni, and Brand X to name a few.

Best ep? I still have to go with The Goldberg Variation. Out of the three episodes that I gave "excellent" ratings to, GV was the one that had the convincing and interesting x-file component. It was also sweet, touching, and real in terms of characterization. It wasn't edgy in the way that many TXF episodes usually are, but I think the fact that I didn't miss the edginess says a lot. I'm still amazed that one and the same writer put out two such opposing episodes (in terms of quality) in a single season.

Most Disappointing / Most Surprising

Most disappointing ep is a little harder to pin down, because it's not often that I have such high expectations of any specific ep - basically, I just know better than to do that - that I get shattered by the reality of it being the pits. That said, this year's Orison and Closure were both a little disappointing for me. The former for the fact that it was simply not well executed as a follow-up to a very good episode and the latter for the fact that I had hoped for something less elusive and more conclusive. But all told, I was totally disappointed by the lack of believability in First Person Shooter, for all the eye candy appeal of that episode and for all the "talented" writers behind it. (Oh, and for anyone wondering about Fight Club, I wasn't disappointed by that ep, merely disgusted that it got made.)

Most surprising? Hollywood A.D., definitely. I was cringing on the sidelines as news came out that DD had indeed not been kidding when he said that he'd cast Leoni and Shandling in his episode. (And I have nothing against these people, it was just that I thought DD was once again making himself a bullseye target for the masses out there who have severe problems with every breath he takes and every word he utters. I have since come to the conclusion that he probably couldn't care less about those people.) Everything that I heard about the episode - and granted, I tried to hear as little as was possible - prepared me for the worst. And it turned out that I was very pleasantly surprised. Go figure.

Looking Towards S8

I have decided that I am not going to be revisiting any of the season eight episodes. (To be honest, I'm not even sure I have all of the ones that I originally saw still on VHS, so it may be a moot point, given that I don't have the DVDs.) Having gone through season seven and feeling that resistance again, I'm not in a good frame of mind to do a revisitation any justice. Maybe in future. Maybe never. Probably never. Unfortunately, I still think that TXF really got crazy after "I'm pregnant."

I'm not criticizing evolution and desire for change for a series that — to be fair — even CC thought would end after S7. (I have heard in the intervening years that it was FOX that issued an ultimatum for him to continue or it would continue without him.) People are generally resistant to change, but if it's good change, they eventually come around. What happened to The X-Files post S7 was not "good change". I think the creators tried to introduce good change and move forward. In general, John Doggett was a good character. It's just that they were so determined to keep viewers invested in past history (largely by reinventing it) that worlds just ended up colliding and it all turned into a sucking black hole — with emphasis on "sucking". That's my take on it. (Oh and by the way, be warned... I was consistently in an extremely bad mood when I wrote those original S8 reviews.)

For the record, once I get through what I have of S8, I intend to go back and re-watch all of the eps from S1 through S7 and add new commentary.