I No Longer Believe

In the mid to late 1990’s you could not find a bigger X Files fan then me. I never missed an episode. It used to be on Friday nights and I would postpone plans to go out until the show was over. I also never answered the phone when the show was on. I didn’t want to miss anything. That was how much of a fan (geek) of the show I was at its zenith.

Those first couple of seasons was an orgasmic treat every week. The stand alone episodes were always first rate drama that were always creepy and suspenseful. Yet you always had Duchovny’s dry humor thrown in there to alleviate the tension. Add the sexual tension between Mulder and Scully and you had dynamite.

Then you had the continuing storyline episodes with the Smoking Man. Truly a great villain, who was mysterious and sinister. Just what was the truth? The show would answer two questions and then ask three more. I kept up with the show through it all hoping that one day, my viewership would get rewarded with some logical conclusion. I mean I didn’t want the show to turn into a soap opera but that was exactly what happened.

The last couple of seasons the show was a shell of its former self. The continuing story line that never seemed to get solved just got old. It got tot the point where I didn’t care anymore. Then they created the ultimate sin in my book, and had Mulder and Scully hook up. That was a big red flag in my book.

What they should have done (something the creators of Lost have figured out) is have an end date in mind, so that they could wrap everything up. Instead they dragged it out to the point of absurdity even going so far to continue the show with out David Duchovny. That just made the show completely and stunningly jump the shark.

I didn’t even bother with the last season. I was so done with it. So, when I heard another movie was being made I had the attitude of who cares. But, I started to read about it and I started getting hooked back in. I read where it was going to be a stand alone film and not focus much on the back story. It was said it was going to go back to the X Files roots, which kind of got my blood pumping again.

The movie got brutal reviews but, I ignored that and headed to the theater anyway this Saturday to peep the film. And I was severely disappointed. The movie had the chance to be good. Sadly, they ruined it with too much time wasted examining the Mulder and Scully relationship and some lame back story about a sick boy Scully was taking care of.

I was getting angrier and angrier as the movie went on. It was just a huge reminder of just how much that show went off the rails the last couple of years. I was hoping for some redemption and instead got a reminder of the late season’s slippage. It is too bad because the show when it was at its best was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It is hard to remember a time when that was, after watching the shitstorm that the film is.

Then Sunday morning I got up and found an old episode on TNT. It was the one with Peter Boyle who was insurance salesman who could see how people were going to die. It was just a great reminder of how great the show could be when it was on. Inside jokes, a paranormal killer and a story that kept you on the edge of your seat. It is very rare when a television show can keep the quality for a long period of time. The X Files certainly did not keep up the quality but for a brief amount of time it was the best show of its kind.