Or he turns evil like Angelus.

The homophobia thing didn't occur to me until other people brought it up. I don't think that suggesting that link was the intent - I actually think the intent was to humanize the villain, like, his motivation was one of love. This is the type of thing that the show did really well in its glory days, of course, but I…

Yeah, Scully was really disappointing in IWTB in such a weird way. Even Mulder generally seems to have a WTF reaction to her. I said this a couple of weeks ago, but the ironic thing is, if William were a part of their lives, Scully's behavior would have made a lot more sense because it could have been more about her…

Yeah I don't think Anderson/Duchovny would want to do the limited TV run. I always got the sense that they might see it as backsliding, like there was so much talk about making this a film franchise that TV seems second rate. But the TV landscape has changed a lot and maybe they could be convinced…? I would LOVE to…

Yeah, I am also forgiving on finales and BSG's really pained me, much more than HIMYM's. (I liked the LOST finale.) The Starbuck thing and everyone just going along with Lee's dumb idea at the end killed me. The Roslin/Adama ending was nice, though.

Yeah I thought Mulder's line was more spiritual than blatantly religious. The X-Files used visions of the dead that helped guide the characters pretty frequently — going back to Scully in Beyond the Sea and Mulder in The Blessing Way. So Mulder's line at the end was very consistent with everything that had come before.

They should have just put together the conspiracy flashbacks/explanation as some sort of extra that aired in 30 minutes before the finale and gone in a completely different direction with it.

Nice observation. I also think that Vince Gilligan may be especially good at telling the right story and hitting the right tone for his characters. Mulder and Scully were always good people who wanted to do the right thing, hopeful in their own ways, and were respectful and caring for each other. Vince's writing…

I thought the Doggett/Reyes thing was especially weird since 1013 resisted the idea of Mulder/Scully becoming romantic for so long. I guess they just figured it was part of the formula that made the show work, but it was so forced, even when you consider all of the ways they tried to differentiate Doggett/Reyes from…

Yeah, I like this one, too - especially the moment Todd mentions with David Faustino peaking in the window. That visual always stayed with me and of course, Michael Emerson is fantastic.

I remember that he did review the second movie but I can't find it. I think he was kind of lukewarm on it overall. I remember looking forward to his reviews back in the day - same with Paula Graves, Autumn Tysko, Sarah Stegall and others. The snarkiness in his s8/s9 reviews is pretty funny in retrospect — everyone…

Ugh, yeah, that killed me. Having William in the movie would have made Scully's concern about Mulder's investigation in IWTB make more sense, too, if she thought that he'd start neglecting his son to go chase X-Files or put him in danger or whatever.

I know VInce Gilligan has also mentioned in more recent interviews how killing the Lone Gunmen was his biggest regret from the show. Agree with the sentiment that it is a fun episode otherwise and the ending is totally weird and tonally off. I did really like the Morris Fletcher narration at the beginning - fun…

I think "William" is really well done in a lot of ways - the little character moments you mentioned were great and Gillian is really amazing throughout. The Doggett push-up moment was so cute and so much more effective in endearing him to the audience than the "Doggett's a hero too!" lesson from "Scary Monsters."

Totally agree. I loved the desperation in Gillian's performance — she knew it wasn't him, but did want it to be, deep down — even if "Mulder" were fucking with her. This really showed how much everything had gotten to Scully and how she had lost a lot of her internal strength. It makes me really sad for her, but is…

Yeah, I mean, I think this episode makes it clear that there was the perception on 1013's fan side that the fanbase was being willfully obstinate and just didn't like Doggett because he wasn't Mulder (as Todd points out). But the fans WANTED to like the show - there was great reception to episodes like This Is Not…

I totally forgot about Scary Monsters and how they tried to use Leyla Harrison to teach the fans that hey, Doggett is cool too. If I recall correctly, the main fan complaint at the time was not Doggett, but the weird character assassination of both Mulder and Scully that occurred by trying to keep the focus on them…

I always liked the code explanation, but ultimately, it still kills me that they chose to write those emails that way (because I don't think the Frank and Chris were thinking that Mulder and Scully were writing in code). Is that how they really think Mulder and Scully would talk to each other once romantically…

Awkward. Accidentally liked my own comment.

Nice review.