Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder are back. Sunday night began a 2-night premiere. There was a feeling of nostalgia when the opening credits rolled with its familiar theme and images that dominated our airwaves for a decade. Warning, spoilers ahead…
The episode opens in 1947 New Mexico with a saucer crash and the military’s arrival. We then fast forward to the present and the reintroduction of Dana Scully who receives a call from Skinner. Skinner needs Mulder and Scully is the best person to track him down.
Much of this first episode was a social commentary on life in America post 9/11 and centered around a talk show host Tad O’Malley (Joel McHale), who channels his inner Bill O’Reilly as a believer of UFOs and government conspiracies regarding extra-terrestrials. He wants to bring in Scully and Mulder to discuss his beliefs and introduces them to a young woman (Annet Mahendru) who believes she’s been abducted and impregnated.
What we end up with part one is a more skeptical Mulder who now believes that the greatest threat to humans aren’t little gray or green aliens but man himself. It is Mulder’s belief that these “alien abductions” are really men under the guise of being ET’s who abduct and inject alien DNA into their victims. Such a person was this young lady. This potential new revelation didn’t completely settle well with me because of all the years I’ve invested in in being a believer along with Mulder. With that said, I am as intrigued as I’ve always been with these characters and their quest for the truth.
A lot goes on in part one and for the most part it felt like old school X-Files between the conspiracy theories, a new Deep Throat for Mulder to converse with and of course the abductee. There is even a great surprise in the final scene, if not slightly silly was the return of a familiar foe… William B. Davis as the Cigarette Smoking Man.
Now onto part two…
As part one served as a reintroduction of our favorite FBI agents, part two got knee deep into what made the X-Files the series it was. Scully and Mulder are very much in there element as they dig deeper into a suicide of a Dr. Sanjay. Of course this would turn out to be only the tip of the iceberg as their investigation leads them to an alien hybrid named Kyle. Kyle turns out to be a man in search of his missing sister. Sound familiar? Because of Kyle’s hybrid status, some very poignant moments follow for both Scully and Mulder as they have separate dreams of their son, William whom they gave up for adoption for his own protection as he too may be a hybrid as well. It is through Scully’s eyes that the feeling of lost is at its most intense.
Kyle murders his father, Dr. Augustus Goldman who happens to treat hybrids by using the same auditory hallucination that drove Dr. Sanjay to commit suicide at the beginning of the episode. Think of this hallucination as a dog whistle for targeted humans. A new mystery unfolds and Scully and Mulder find themselves at the center of it. This may only be a six-episode ride, but after several years off the air and a less than satisfying second feature film, I can confidently say, I still believe that the truth is out there.
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
