Because he wasn't interested in diving straight back into television on an identical show after spending 10 years of his life doing it.

Well said. Chris Carter created the whole show, wrote many of its best episode and shepherded it from cult status to global phenomenon. He continued to produce several outstanding episodes even after nine years when everyone else was getting burned out.

True enough. I'd put it about on a level with "Humbug" - good, but not quite the glorious heights of his masterpieces. But don't get me wrong, I still loved it. In fact, watching it for the second time was even more enjoyable since it was free from all the expectations of being a new Darin Morgan episode, which are of…

The script was actually in pre-production just when the show was cancelled. It's virtually identical to what ended up in this episode, only with Mulder and Scully on the case instead of Kolchak.

That line was pretty much Darin Morgan laughing at the absurdity that anyone took it seriously in the first place.

Not so much a nod. It's basically the same script.

That's absurd logic. Chris Carter isn't taking credit for anyone else's work. On the contrary, he's the one who created The X-Files and Millennium, gave a job to his staff writers, and is constantly giving them their dues for the good episodes they wrote in practically every single interview he ever gives. Seriously,…

It made more sense in the Night Stalker script, since then it was the new Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend) talking to someone dressed as the old Carl Kolchak. A funnier gag.

It should be noted that Chris Carter wasn't show-running Millennium in Season 3 — Michael Duggan (and later Chip Johnessen) was. The KISS episode, "Thirteen Years Later," was written by Michael R. Perry. Despite a rocky first quarter, Season 3 actually managed to do a pretty good job of steadying the ship, and got…

Darin Morgan is an indisputable genius and one of my favourite writers, but I can't be the only one who didn't find this up to the level of "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" or "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." It's all good fun, but it didn't have quite as many witty lines or sight gags as Morgan's best work. Maybe…

Agreed. Is this the first time The X-Files hasn't been shot on film? Summer in Vancouver doesn't help, but even the interiors are so brightly lit. Framing seems very tight too, and that hazy oversaturated grade in the fantasy scenes would've been cheesy in the 90s let alone today!

My Struggle never offered one easy explanation for their separation, it only hinted at their various difficulties to be developed further across the series. The episodes work in concert with each other, not in competition.

That line isn't in the episode at all.

Yeah, turns out summer in Vancouver is as bad for the show's atmosphere as LA was. I was longing for a night scene.

Such a shame they lost the original font though.

Since I enjoyed "My Struggle" despite its flaws, I was expecting to love "Founders Mutation" based on advanced reviews. But I didn't. For me, the premiere was the better episode. This one just didn't hang together, and while "My Struggle" at least offered us a new take on the familiar old tropes, "Founders Mutation"…

Super soldiers could easily have been humans using alien tech - in fact that was one of the explanations offered back in S9. Shape shifters could also conceivably be genetically enhanced humans, using alien biotech. Black oil is trickier, but it all depends on what you take at face value. And that's IF this latest…

But that's exactly what the huddled masses said they wanted after IWTB resisted giving it to them. No win scenario.

But who else understands the mythology? I don't think anyone can write those episodes better than Chris Carter. The premiere wasn't perfect, but I don't buy into this idea that it was anything to do with the dialogue. In my book, good dialogue isn't about replicating ordinary speech patterns but about artfully…

A thousand times this. I've never cared for that awful "Josspeak" where everyone is jumping for an ironic one-liner after a round of kickboxing. No one talks like that either. No one talks like Aaron Sorkin's characters or David Milch's, but it doesn't stop them being masterful dialogue writers. I'd take Chris…