Nice reviews. I actually think these episodes aged better than they were received at the time (although I think most fans liked TINH).

The other aspect of trying to retcon Mulder's brain disease into season 7 is that he actually was in the hospital a fair amount of times (Millennium, Signs and Wonders, and others I am sure I am not remembering). Given that Scully is typically pretty involved when Mulder is in the hospital, you'd think she might have…

The Mulder had a fatal disease thing was a terrible retcon for all of the reasons you mention, but also because there is no indication in any of the previous season's episodes that Mulder is anything other than in perfect health. I mean, this could not have been brought up in the episode where his mother died?…

I remember liking that Badlaa at least gave some nod to Scully's emotional state, which we hadn't really seen since Without. I thought it was very in character and in line with what we had seen in the past for her to take on Mulder's characteristics in his absence.

One of the things I love about Requiem is that Mulder and Scully both get what they wanted  but in the wrong way. Mulder gets to really experience "the truth," but he's freaking ABDUCTED. And Scully is pregnant after believing she could never be, but Mulder's missing so she can't enjoy it. I also thought that Mulder…

I love a good bottle episode, but I just don't think we really learned anything new here and the events of the episode weren't interesting or funny enough to sustain it. As always, your recaps are great and it is making me appreciate this episode more. I did buy the fundamental premise of the episode, but as I was…

I actually think the X-File in Hollywood A.D. is interesting, but there is way too much story there for this episode so it is not really developed well and just seems muddled and rushed. Duchovny should have gone the Bad Blood route of keeping the X-File itself very simple so as not to conflict with the parody. (And…

Thanks for clarifying @avclub-884c4beddd8c98bb3b016bdfcc1bcdf8:disqus ! I definitely see your point. I actually don't mind Mulder at all in this episode. I think Duchovny plays this flawed side of Mulder very sympathetically. It doesn't come across to me in all things that he is being purposely manipulative or…

I'm curious as to why you find it more awful to the characters than any other episode. (I'd put some of the events of season 9 in that category.) Like I said upthread, I forgive "all things" somewhat because I can basically get behind the message the episode was trying to convey but I think it's a total mess in…

I also loved when The X-Files was experimental and wanted to love "all things," but it's just … ugh. One of the worst elements to me is the blonde ponytail woman who leads Scully around. She leads Scully into almost getting into a car accident so she can "pay attention"? To crop circle pictures that look like hearts?…

The scene with the officers in FPS is the worst. If I recall, David Duchovny had argued against Mulder doing that knuckle-biting gesture as he felt that it was out of character but Chris Carter wanted to keep it.

That may be true, but I think it still fits because of the traditional idea of Heaven being sort of an effect of organized religion and therefore not necessarily something Mulder would subscribe to.

What I liked about the "walk-ins" is that they really felt to me like a very Mulder thing to believe in. He doesn't believe in God so he can't latch onto the idea that Samantha is in Heaven after she died. But Mulder can accept a "paranormal" explanation for what happens after her death that ultimately has the same…

I actually liked Vince Gilligan's "Je Souhaite" from later this season better than X-COPS and would consider that the last great MOTW.

I guess I see it as pretty linear - she was abducted when the aliens made the Consortium members each choose a family member to give up for hybridization tests. And then she was taken to the facility, cloned, and tested on. And then she ran way and died. I think the "walk-ins" was just a nice way for people who lost…

I guess I see it as pretty linear - she was abducted when the aliens made the Consortium members each choose a family member to give up for hybridization tests. And then she was taken to the facility, cloned, and tested on. And then she ran way and died. I think the "walk-ins" was just a nice way for people who lost…

We'll talk about Closure next week, but I never really saw anything in it that invalidated what we knew happened to Samantha previously in the mythology. She was taken, cloned, etc., but then died years later, which is really the only satisfactory conclusion that arc could have had. I did not really care about…

We'll talk about Closure next week, but I never really saw anything in it that invalidated what we knew happened to Samantha previously in the mythology. She was taken, cloned, etc., but then died years later, which is really the only satisfactory conclusion that arc could have had. I did not really care about…

Agreed! I actually meant that the Rain King was cutesy/cloying and TGV manages to be whimsical without being cutesy, but my sentence was confusing. :)

Agreed! I actually meant that the Rain King was cutesy/cloying and TGV manages to be whimsical without being cutesy, but my sentence was confusing. :)