It's definitely one of the silliest, but it's also one of the most melancholy. The ending is so, so affecting, and it presents the startling ethical quandary of having to destroy the world to beat the game.

True. I guess I didn't know how big a span of time "the last few years" covered.

Ah, you're right. I knew it wasn't a Morgan episode, but I'd thought the line came from there regardless. Thanks.

I agree, although most of the would-be prestige series don't end up very acclaimed.

Counterpoints: Mad Men, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire.

I loved the little sideways look she gave as she picked up the cage.

I feel like that "batcrap" line had to be a callback to the "blankety-blank" thing from "Bad Blood"—Scully, you pristine mouth you.

I hereby forgive any complaints I've had about this miniseries. That was just fucking fantastic. At first I was disappointed at how light on Scully screentime the episode was for a Darin Morgan ep, but then I started thinking about how many all-time great eye-rolls she got in, and I'm cool now. Her skepticism has…

I get that, and if I teach it, I'm sure I'll get it some of that response from my students, too. I think I've always appreciated its unflinching cynicism at the likely outcome of civil disobedience, though.

LORDY, yes, he is so bleak. And it's impressive how consistently bleak his work is—with with exception of the short story collection Eight Plus One, I remember pretty much every one of his books ending in the saddest possible way.

I started rereading The Chocolate War yesterday. I'm thinking about teaching it to my students, and I wanted to refamiliarize myself with it before I assigned it for sure. Any Robert Cormier fans out there? He was pretty much the alpha and omega of my reading in tenth grade.

I'd say it holds up better than its reputation suggests. But there is some really rough going in the 7th and 9th seasons (8th season mythology is surprisingly awesome).

Or maybe that's just what the government wants you to think!!!!!

What was the second post-series movie?

Yeah. And he didn't even seem that shook up about it, as he did back in the 5th season or whenever he had his doubting arc. Granted, Mulder has been a very nebulous, borderline insane character for so long that the writers may have completely lost touch with his emotional core.

"Expressionist fractal takeover nightmare" = best description of the series mythology I've ever heard.

Oh my goodness, they kept the original title sequence (or at least something very close to it). If nothing else, that endeared me to this new miniseries. Oh man, is that title sequence so gloriously '90s.

Nobody's mentioned The Piano yet? It's one of my favorites. So strange and beautiful.

Oh yeah, I agree. Garrett is basically a one-note joke—way too one-note to appear as often as he does.

I never minded Britta; for me, Jeff is the character I really don't like, especially in the show's later years. His brand of caustic, ironic humor feels so dated and irritating to me, he's often mean-spirited in a way the show identifies with sincerely (or at least asks us to), and as the show goes on, it becomes…