Hearing those opening credits of The X Files reverberating through our sitting room last night was pretty much the equivalent of stepping into a time machine and going all the way back to the nineties, when The X Files was a solid highlight of a pretty tame TV schedule. They didn't mess us around either with any modern day updating of either the theme tune or the credits themselves, with Mulder and Scully's former FBI ID's looking exactly as we had left them.
So what did we all think of this much anticipated return to the phenomenally popular show? Well the jury is currently out but according to reports we have heard stateside, tonight's second episode is a vast improvement.
While last night's episode did satisfy hardcore fans of the show in terms of staying true to its original format, at times it just felt like it was being held back by the show it was over a decade ago. The plot itself raced along at a turbo pace while some of the interactions between Mulder and Scully were just downright cheesy at times. (Scully screaming at Mulder "You want to believe!" Oh please.)
Things kicked off with a reunion between the pair, who are no longer a couple but haven't completely burned their bridges either. Mulder reaches out to Scully after he receives a call from internet journo Ted O'Malley, who spends his time spouting off all sorts of conspiracy theories on his online show about alien invasions and whatnot. Tad is played by Community's (and The Soup's) Joel McHale, who we struggled to really see as anyone other than Jeff Winger the whole time if we're honest, especially when he started making the moves on the lovely Scully.
A meeting with Tad brought in young girl Sveta, who had met Mulder previously as a child after an abduction and claims it to have happened multiple times since, as well as being impregnated by these alien folk. She also can kind of read minds and believe she has alien DNA. Oh X Files, we've missed you so.
After that, we were pretty much hurtled into the episode where we were thrown between some Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes type of alien encounter, a sort-of background story involving a kid with no ears and of course, a gigantic conspiracy theory that Mulder needed to convince Scully was true. So far, so X Files.
Of course, behind every wacky conspiracy theorist, there's a Scully rolling her eyes, so when Mulder brought his latest findings to her there was naturally some scepticism. Good old Fox now believes that everything he did want to believe is not in fact true. That there is no alien abductions these last seventy years and it is in fact humans doing all of it, and they will one day take over the world, well, more importantly, America.
This was when The X Files flung us back into our modern day world where we know information is constantly being hacked, fear mongering is at its highest point, and the simple fact that our ever-growing reliance on technology could one day be turned against it, Judgement Day style.
Advertised
It's quite a lot to take in, but an apt storyline to throw The X Files into the 21st century. Back in the nineties conspiracy theories of aliens and government cover ups were a huge part of the zeitgeist, but the world has since moved on. As Mulder points out at the start of the episode while watching a late night talk show interview with Barack Obama, - his work has now become a joke.
Worries about aliens watching our every move now just seems daft, the really worry comes from those here on good old planet Earth who can know our every movement with the touch of a button, and this is information we willingly give away. Who's to say there isn't some gang of super humans in the world plotting to wipe us all out with the help of alien DNA? We believe you, Mulder. And so does Jim Corr no doubt.
He's close to finding out some truth anyways, as bearded Washington dude told him, who is basically The X Files equivalent to Roy 'it's good but it's not right' Walker. Roswell was a smoke screen he at least confirmed, and we've got five episodes to find out why.
The end of the episode saw abduction girl Sveta killed by.... aliens? The Super Human gang? We don't know WHAT to believe anymore. While Scully discovered that she too had alien DNA and that they needed to "stop these sons of bitches". The final moments then were given to the infamous smoking man, still puffing away, albeit from a tube in his neck, who ominously states; " We have a small problem. They've re-opened The X Files."
While the episode didn't exactly blow us away, by the end of it we were left with a decent enough storyline that has plenty of room to iron itself out over the coming five episodes, as well as a solid dose of that simmering chemistry between Mulder and Scully that put them up there with Ross and Rachel for 'will they/won't they' coupes in the nineties.
The X Files is back, and we really do want to believe it will only get better.
Advertised
Catch the second episode tonight on RTE 2 at 9.55pm.
