Yep, the original plan was for CSM to end up being Samantha's father, leaving Bill Mulder be Fox's father. That's, in part, why Bill chose Samantha to be taken and not Fox, because he knew she wasn't really his daughter (in the movie Well-Manicured Man also explained that Bill Mulder's hope was for Samantha to survive…

I feel the same way about Mulder's return during the second half of season 8. I remember me being like "why did they bring back Mulder? Just to stand around and do nothing? Duchovny still looks like he doesn't want to be there"

Every Season 9 episode should've been named "Nothing Important Happened Today".

You pretty much described why Scully became my favorite character of the show (used to be Mulder originally): it was thanks to Gillian Anderson.

Aliens are conveniently forgotten in MOTW episodes after season 2. ;)

Yeah, I remember that about a Marita/Krycek-led New Syndicate. I would've been so much better than the whole supersoldier/replicant fiasco. There was also meant to be a sort of "Musings of a One-Armed Ratboy" episode giving some insight to Krycek's past, but that didn't happen because Nic Lea was filming some movie…

I was so happy when Requiem was about to air. It was supposed to be the last episode with Mulder (originally my favorite character), but it also meant no more David Duchovny moping and looking miserable to be there.

What's incredible is that "Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" was written by Chris Carter AND David Duchovny, but at the time they were not speaking to each other (Duchovny had sued Carter and FOX), so each wrote their half on their own, and then, Carter kinda merged the whole thing… but not really. That's why that…

What's incredible is that "Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati" was written by Chris Carter AND David Duchovny, but at the time they were not speaking to each other (Duchovny had sued Carter and FOX), so each wrote their half on their own, and then, Carter kinda merged the whole thing… but not really. That's why that…

First Person Shooter is deplorable… and yet, the show somehow managed to sink even lower, later, that same season, with Fight Club.

Considering how uninterested and miserable Duchovny "acted" during the entirety of season 7 (with the unsurprising exception of Hollywood A.D.), maybe keeping Mulder out from "all things" wasn't such a bad idea.

Fight Club, goes without saying, is the absolute worst episode in the entire 201 hours of the show. Some episodes are bad, but have a memorable image (like the "aliens" in El Mundo Gira), or a nice scene between Mulder and Scully, or a gruesome death scene. This episode has nothing, everything is wretched, from the…

Isn't this the episode where Scully says something like "if Mulder were here, he would've made sense of all this"? I remember my reaction when I first watch that episode was "No, Mulder wouldn't be able to make head or tails of this confusing story either".

Good catch! Except Redrum aired before Memento was released in theaters (at least in the US, in the UK it was released a few months before Redrum). It's probable the writers saw a trailer for the movie and ran with it. I always thought it was more of a Twilight Zone-like episode (like most episodes where the agents…

My thoughts exactly. Season 8 is fine (better than 7), but once Mulder comes back, we have to endure Duchovny's "I-don't-want-to-be-here" style of supposed acting. Like suffering that through all season 7 (and most of the 6th), wasn't enough.

Maybe not "Law & Order" with aliens, but CC and the rest of the creative crew made a mistake when they allowed Mulder and Scully become bigger than The Mythology/Conspiracy (season 6).

FOX had renewed the show and it was going to move forward with or without him. In a way, Chris Carter was forced to say he "could make it go forever with other agents". Remember, in interviews back during the 3rd or 4th seasons, he always used to say his plan was to end it all after 5 years, and maybe continue with…