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We have reached the end of season 1! Twenty-four whole episodes, almost 6 months of writing these reviews. I really have been enjoying this nice, slow, detailed rewatch of The X-Files. When I rewatch shows I tend to just speed binge them; the last time I let myself do a somewhat detailed watch/rewatch of a show was with all of “new” Doctor Who (13 seasons, but shorter seasons) as I tweeted out “out-of-context” quotes from episodes (RIP Twitter, but find them here until Twitter finally dies). But even then I didn’t really let myself digest and think back on every episode, which I am doing here. And it’s been really enjoyable, even when the episodes aren’t exactly great in retrospect.
I hope you’ve been enjoying reading my reviews too, and are ready to do this for another 4 or so years with me 😅
This retrospective should be a shorter, more low-key review. I’m planning to summarize the season, rank all the episodes (picking a best and a worst too), reflect on our main character development, and do a “best of” our flirty coworkers. And then look forward into where the show can/will go from here.
Season Summary
The season started with a very strong pilot episode that, as I stated wayyyyy back in September, I really do think still holds up. And, spoiler, I’m glad they return to that storyline in season 7 (after which the show largely goes downhill…but that’s for 2026). I don’t work in television, but just as a viewer, the pilot episode left me wanting more and I 100% would’ve greenlit the series if I did work at Fox.
As the season progressed, it was interesting to me that we only had four true “alien” episodes: “Pilot”, “Fallen Angel”, “E.B.E.”, and “The Erlenmeyer Flask”. Although, I guess whatever the hell was happening in “Space” was also supposed to be an alien (???) but we try to forget that episode so. 😅 And then both “Deep Throat” and “Conduit” do suggest the involvement of aliens/UFOs/the military using UFOs, but not directly alien related.
But for comparison, we had seven episodes that were some play on the “beyond the grave/cheating death” plotline, including two back-to-back with “Born Again” and “Roland”.
So, season 1 seemed to be much more about the sPoOkY👻 paranormal possibilities, and less about aliens and government conspiracies overall. Some of this was probably due to pressure from executives at Fox thinking they knew what people wanted; remember that “Shapes” was because someone at Fox wanted a traditional “monster” episode, which didn’t play well at least in my opinion. At the very least, I’m sure executives at Fox didn’t want the show going too hard in one direction in the first season; I think Chris Carter and co got a bit more leeway on how the show was structured and what storylines were written even for monster-of-the-week episodes later on.
It will be interesting to see though if any of the other seasons have a pattern for the general “genre” of monster-of-the-week episode. I don’t remember that being the case, but I definitely did not remember there being so many “beyond the grave” type plotlines in this season either.
One thing I did feel this season did very well was carrying the “government conspiracy” theories flowing throughout the season, with the help of Deep Throat. Having him pop up in more non-mythology episodes (“Ghost in the Machine”, “Eve,” and “Young at Heart”) both brought more depth to those episodes and helped the viewers feel more connected to Deep Throat as a character. While we never fully get answers on what Deep Throat’s true job/role in the mysterious “shadow government” was, I think we all do come to trust him. Partly because he isn’t only helping Mulder with the “alien” cases, but wants him to know about some of the other very questionable…experiments the government is conducting and getting away with covering up. Deep Throat really does want Mulder to expose the truth. He may have lied to him sometimes, but only to keep Mulder looking and asking questions (and not being so blindly trusting, damnit Mulder). I’m going to miss Deep Throat (and, tiny spoiler, Mulder will also in the first episode of season two. Sad, lonely, lost man.)
The “alien”/official mythology episodes of this season were also overall quite good. I feel like I remember them getting better, and being strongest in seasons 3-5, though we’ll see if that holds up. Even while the show was still finding its footing and laying the foundation here, I rated all of the mythology episodes at least 7.5/10, so a strong, solid start.
Last summary thing I’ll say is this: The season could’ve, and probably should’ve, been shorter, but most shows seemed longer in the early 90s? Season two has twenty-five episodes! Several of the “monster-of-the-week” episodes definitely just felt like filler, with writers not quite knowing what to do and needing more time for truly new plotlines. When you scroll down to my overall episode ranking, I would’ve been fine with them cutting out the four lowest-ranked episodes, and then trying to develop the storyline and primary villain in “Young at Heart” better to make that a stronger episode.
Best Episode of the Season
Well, I rated two episodes at 10/10 this season: “Ice” and “Beyond the Sea”. They both are really, really strong episodes that stand the test of three decades and that I think will remain ranked as my top episodes of the entire series as this project moves on.
But, as much as I adore “Ice” and the very strong, creepy storyline of that episode, I still have to declare “Beyond the Sea” as the absolute best episode of the season. And one of the best ever episodes of any television show. I don’t want to go on too much about why I love it, or I fear I’ll end up writing another 1000 words about just that episode. Just, the storyline, the acting, the filming, and the directing of that episode, from everyone involved are perfect.
If you are going to watch one episode of the season along with me, please go watch “Beyond the Sea”.
Worst Episode of the Season
The easiest pick: “Gender Bender”. 🤮 I don’t think transphobic propaganda was the intention of the episode, and I can believe that in 1994, the episode might have even been quite progressive just for even being written. But, rewatching it, the episode is full of trash: a sex-changing creature who wants to kill everyone they meet (BAD!), who belongs to a cult who can hypnotize people (BADDDD!!!), who is apparently an alien, so pushing the idea that trans people aren’t “really human”.
Grosssssssssssss and false, and basically the entire talking points of transphobes.
I almost feel bad for rating “Space” at a 2/10, because while it is a very bad and boring episode (and insensitive in its own way to the Challenger disaster), it at least…does not promote transphobic talking points. It is miiiiiiiiles ahead of “Gender Bender”. But, still a bad episode, so I’m not actually going to change that rating. 😉
Season 1 Episode Ranking
Average episode rating for the season was 6.5/10, though that’s pulled down by the two very bad episodes. Removing those two brings us to 6.9/10 for the season. Most common rating given actually was 9/10 😉. Overall I think I did a good job of spreading out my ratings. I look forward to seeing how these ratings continue, and how many truly bad (1/10) episodes we get moving forward.
Beyond the Sea (1.13, rated 10/10)
Ice (1.08, rated 10/10)
The Erlenmeyer Flask (1.24, rated 9.5/10)
Pilot (1.01, rated 9.5/10)
Squeeze (1.03, rated 9/10)
Darkness Falls (1.20, rated 9/10)
E.B.E. (1.17, rated 9/10)
Eve (1.11, rated 8.5/10)
Tooms (1.21, rated 8/10)
Deep Throat (1.02, rated 7.5/10)
Fallen Angel (1.10, rated 7.5/10)
Ghost in the Machine (1.07, rated 6.5/10)
Conduit (1.04, rated 6/10)
Miracle Man (1.18, rated 6/10)
Lazarus (1.15, rated 6/10)
The Jersey Devil (1.05, rated 5.5/10)
Shadows (1.06, rated 5/10)
Fire (1.12, rated 5/10)
Born Again (1.22, rated 4.5/10)
Young at Heart (1.16, rated 4/10)
Roland (1.23, rated 4/10)
Shapes (1.19, rated 3.5/10)
Space (1.09, rated 2/10)
Gender Bender (1.14, rated 1/10)
Character Development: Fox Mulder
Of the two main characters, Mulder certainly had less development. Granted, he started out believing in aliens, government conspiracies, and every weird possibility.
It was definitely good for Mulder to be assigned Scully—he needed someone to question his wild theories and make him collect evidence. Someone who respects the journey and doesn’t just dismiss his wild ideas immediately. He fairly quickly comes to respect Scully’s perspectives and ideas, and they really are excellent partners and investigators (that really, the FBI should be grateful for having).
The one thing that really annoys me about Mulder is his selective paranoia and his willingness to basically just believe anything. Particularly anything that will give him supposed “proof” of alien abductions and UFOs. This was highlighted best in “E.B.E.”, when Mulder knew he was being bugged, and yet scoffed at Deep Throat’s anxiety over someone taking pictures of their meeting. MULDER. My dude. You need to be more paranoid sometimes…
Now, by the end of the season he is less blindly trusting, and I actually think it helps that Deep Throat lied to him in “E.B.E.” Not 100% sure if that was Deep Throat’s intention, but it definitely did Mulder good. Going forward, Mulder needs to question “truths” that are given to him more. The truth is out there Mulder, but they are hidden under layers of lies and half-truths that the government would rather give you first, to keep you happy and away from the real ugly truth.
Character Development: Dana Scully
The major development for Scully actually is somewhat similar to Mulder’s: she moves from trusting the government and military basically without question, to realizing that actually, yes, they are doing some real fucked up shit.
I mean, even moving from “Mulder, they’re NSA”, of course I gave them the name of that little boy who definitely is not an actual threat (episode 4, “Conduit”) to I will 100% shoot this government employee in the face, fuck the government (episode 7, “Ghost in the Machine”) was really strong and solid development for Scully.
Now, Scully does still stick very strongly to her scientific knowledge and background, and even when she directly experiences or sees things that contradict what she knows…she doesn’t quite believe still. In “Lazarus”, she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe that her former boyfriend’s body really had been taken over by another soul, and even in “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” when she tells Mulder she doesn’t know what to believe anymore, she doesn’t immediately go “OMG aliens are real!”
Some of that is frustrating, and it does take an annoyingly long time for Scully to accept the existence of aliens/the conspiracy behind that. Though I will argue she has good reasons for her resistance, as we will see in a few short episodes and then throughout seasons 2-4 in particular.
Overall, for just the first season, I think Scully developed quite nicely from “Mulder, you’re crazy” to being willing at least to listen, and question, and push Mulder to question what the truth is.
They are very strong partners, and I don’t think either of them can uncover the truth alone. Though, unfortunately, they are going to be separated for the next several episodes in season 2 😞
Best of “Our Completely Platonic Coworkers”
We begin already in episode 3, “Squeeze”, with
Mulder being weird AF and just casually grabbing Scully’s necklace to get her attention. You’ve known her for a couple of weeks! Why are you so weird!
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Then in “Beyond the Sea”, Mulder again doesn’t quite know how to interact with people apparently, so his go-to comforting technique is to stroke his coworkers face. Thankfully Scully doesn’t seem to mind, but, my dude. She’s your coworker, not your girlfriend (yet)!
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From “E.B.E.”: Mulder thinks Scully is hot. (Note that Scully had already told her friend that Mulder was cute before Jersey Devil, 12 episodes earlier)
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Casually basically telling your coworker that you would die for them, then handing him the root beer you brought for his stakeout:
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Yes, these two are definitely just coworkers, they’re not already in love with each other… 😂🙃
Cases “Solved”
My official count at the end of the season was 20/24 cases, but that included a couple of “half-solved” cases (“Space”, “Lazarus”, “E.B.E.”, and “The Erlenmeyer Flask”), and I am certain they didn’t try to claim they actually solved those cases in the case reports Scully wrote. Those 4 “half solved” cases were basically me trying to give them credit for getting some of the answers, but not knowing the full story.
Even if we take those 4 cases out, Mulder and Scully are at 18/24 cases solved in their first year working together in the “X-files” unit, for a case closure rate of 75%. Brief googling shows me that most police departments in 2020 managed to solve/close cases on only 50% of homicides sooooooooooo I’d say Mulder and Scully are doing pretty good here at 75%!!!!
You may not like their methods, and certainly not some of the answers they uncover, Skinner and other FBI folk, but you cannot deny that Mulder and Scully are both very strong investigators!
Which is I suppose why neither of them are actually fired. Just reassigned and separated from each other at the moment. 😞
Looking forward
I’m always torn in these reviews between hiding all spoilers and thinking “it’s a 30-year-old show, all the spoilers are already out there”. But still, I won’t reveal the major plotlines of season 2, in case anyone reading this hasn’t watched the show yet. Just a quick summary of where we ended, and where we might go.
We ended season 1 by learning that Skinner has closed the “X-files”, and while Mulder and Scully aren’t being fired, they are being reassigned. Both of them are going to be very lost without each other in the first episodes of season 2. How will they come back together? Will the "X-files” reopen? (….Yes. Hopefully not a big spoiler to say YES. The show continues for another 9 seasons 😅)
Season 2 will bring us new aliens, new government conspiracies, a couple new VERY scary villains in “monster-of-the-week” episodes, and our first true comedic episode of the series (“Humbug”, one of the greats). And we will, of course, get a lot more very blatant flirting between our apparently completely platonic coworkers (Chris Carter is an idiot).
I hope you are also looking forward to season 2 and continuing to read my thoughts. 🙂 First review to come next Sunday, somehow already in MARCH.
Ending this by wishing Dana Scully a belated happy 60th birthday on Friday (23rd February). I hope Mulder got her something nice, and not alien implant earrings 😉
And, as I am writing this at least, happy Twin Peaks day! Make sure you enjoy your coffee and find some excellent pie somewhere this week.