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The X-Files - The Complete Ninth Season Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 38 Reviews)

I Can't Bear To Give It Anything Less
Coming to love The X-Files around Season 7, I was, obviously, somewhat of a latecomer of the sci-fi phenomenon. That doesn't mean I wasn't acquainted with it though. Everyone who wasn't living under a rock in the Nineties at least knew who Mulder and Scully were; the biggest TV icons of their generation. The success of this show was absolutely astronomical on a global scale, with hundreds of millions of devoted viewers every week from America to Japan, and England to Australia. I remember when the show started back in 1993 and I was only six years old. My dad went out on a Monday night with his friends, and my mum stayed in and watched The X-Files on the BBC. My sister and I were tucked up in bed as she watched religiously every week, as did the rest of the nation. At the show's peak, an average of 13 million people were watching this show in the UK alone! That's almost a quarter of the population, and absolutely unprecedented for a US Import.

The show's ratings did, naturally, decline over time and by Season 9 the show was rescheduled to late night showings on BBC 2. Quite a fall from grace and such a terrible decline, right? Wrong. I approached Season 9 of the show with as much caution as I did Season 8, thinking it was going to be a dire season of bad writing, poor casting and boring plots. I was wrong. I admit, I let people's opinions influence me on this one, but those people tend to be the Mulder-philes who couldn't stand to see the show continue without him. Is The X-Files worse without Mulder? Yes. Is it bad altogether? No. Obviously, the show couldn't sustain the level of success it achieved with its first five seasons, because the episodes in there are the stuff of TV legend. Those episodes will still be being shown in 25 years from now.

The X-Files had many fans of the romantic subplot between Mulder and Scully. I was one of them, because they are the perfect on-screen couple. The chemistry between David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson is like electricity, and their love for each other surpasses any other on-screen partnership in my own opinion. But that doesn't mean the show can't continue without it. Sure it would have been better if Duchovny's ego hadn't inflated and he'd decided to stay on for the full nine years, but I think the show managed just fine without him.

The mythology of Season 9 was definitely the weakest of the show's entire run in my opinion. The two-part opener "Nothing Important Happened Today" and "Nothing Important Happened Today II" was satisfying, but I felt they both dragged in places. We're used to action-packed season openers, and after the stunning finale to Season 8, I was expecting the same pace of tension. Lucy Lawless was superb as the Super Soldier, however, and she made this two-parter good on her own. I liked the idea of one Super Soldier hating what she was, and another revelling in it. The next mythology of the season was the two-parter "Provenance" and "Providence," which was a superb addition to the series. These two episodes helped develop the story arc of Scully's baby William further and gave some great reasons as to why a UFO-cult wanted to kidnap the baby - not for evil, but for good. The aforementioned Super Soldiers story arc also helped play a role in these episodes, even if it did confuse viewers somewhat.

"Trust No 1" was one of my personal favourites from Season 9, and I suppose is classed as a mythology episode. In this episode, Scully encounters a woman who claims her baby is special like William. Together they must avoid the Super Soldiers. Scully's every move is being watched by one of these Super Soldiers, which leads to a terrifying climax at a quarry where Scully discovers the only thing that can kill them. The season finale "The Truth" is a satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest programmes in history. This isn't the best season finale I think the show has ever supplied (those accolades belong to "Anasazi" and "Talitha Cumi") but it's a very emotional and nostalgic episode. Mulder is on trial for murder of one of these so-called Super Soldiers in a military base. To get him off the hook, people from the past nine years help in his defence. This is really just an excuse to bring back old faces such as Alex Krycek, Marita Covarrubias, Agent X, Gibson Praise, The Lone Gunmen, Jeffrey Spender, and of course, the legend that is the Cigarette Smoking Man. Deputy Director Kersch and (the sexy) Brad Follmer add to the tension of this season finale. It does drag a bit for the first half an hour, but the desert scenes are amazing viewing and a real sense of the show having come first circle is achieved in my opinion.

In my opinion there are some pretty amazing stand-alone episodes of this season. The first is "Daemonicus," is which Doggett and Reyes investigate Satanic, ritualistic cult-like murders. It's a really scary episode, and very shocking at times. "4D" is a brilliant episode in which a man who can shape-shift between two alternate realities puts Doggett in critical condition. It's up to Reyes to solve the case. "Lord Of The Flies" divides fans, but I thought it was a really funny and light-hearted episode. "John Doe" is a great episode in which Doggett wakes up in the middle of New Mexico not remembering who he is, or how he got there. The only thing he can remember is having a son, which leads him to a man who can steals people's memories. "Hellbound" stands on its own as one of the single greatest episodes in the show's history! Doggett and Reyes investigate several victims who have been skinned alive. The shocking truth revealed near the end is that a group of people from more than 100 years ago are being reborn in different guises. It is their destiny to die through being skinned. It's too complicated to go into precise detail, but it's a very gripping episode.

In "Audrey Pauley," Reyes finds herself in an alternate dimension, in a hospital which is actually a doll's house, while her body lays in a coma after a car crash. It's up to Doggett to find a way to bring her back. "Underneath" is an average episode where a man is haunted by a killer after being released from prison, thirteen years after being wrongly-accused of murder. "Improbable" is a funny episode, starring Burt Reynolds, in which Reyes thinks she can solve a case by numeracy/probability. "Scary Monsters" was a superb episode in my opinion. It was a bit cheesy but it had many twists and turns. "Jump The Shark" was a sad episode as it saw the death of some very important people in the show, and the episode itself wasn't up to much. "William" was a great episode in which Scully realises she must give up her son to protect his life. "Release" is a brilliant episode where Doggett finally catches his son's killer, some nine years after he was abducted. It's an emotional episode and one of the most memorable of the season. The final stand-alone episode of the week is "Sunshine Days," which was a bit of a mixed bag. The agents investigate the death of a man who was hoisted into the air before falling to earth, after entering a strange Brady Bunch-like household. A surreal episode, but rather pleasant.

All in all I enjoyed Season 9 a lot more than I thought I would. Robert Patrick was seriously underrated as John Doggett, and it makes me wonder why he wasn't given a lead-role in the show earlier than Season 8. Many see Annabeth Gish as a wooden actress but she is so much more. She isn't as good as Gillian Anderson (who also outdid herself this season) but I still think she's a loveable actress. I've watched this show religiously for five years, and I really will never tire of it. I adore The X-Files. I always have, and I always will. I'll be watching this show until my old age, and the memories that go along with it will almost be as important as the stories told by Chris Carter in this superb television phenomenon.

Logical Conclusion of the Series
It is good and solid, agents Dogget and Reyes are interesting characters, but of course the show is not the same as the good old times with Scully and Mulder. They keeping appearing here and there directly or indirectly, and of course in the last episode. Four stars, compared to 10 stars I would give to seasons 1-6.

Confession of an One-Time X-Files Snob
When the X-Files first premiered I couldn't wait for each episode to premier. I was hooked on the stories, and fell in love with the characters of Mulder and Scully. I stayed with the series faithfully, saw "Fight the Future", the feature film, on opening night, and loved the way season 7 took up right where the film left off. Then along came season 8 & 9. I have to admit I didn't give it a chance, when I heard that Duchovny was basically gone except for a brief cameo here or there, and that Gillian Anderson's Agent Scully would basically be relegated to second fiddle status.....I gave up on the show without giving Agent's Doggett and Reyes a shot.
Man did I cheat myself out of some really good TV.
I just finished re-watching the entire series on DVD, and watched for the first time seasons 8 & 9. I just couldn't get over how great Robert Patrick was as Agent Doggett. I came to care about Doggett in his brief 2-seasons as much as I cared about Scully and Mulder. With season 9 you get what may be one of the most emotional episodes of the whole series with "Release". By the end of that show, you really come to understand just how much you have come to like John Doggett. Don't be an X-Files snob like I was and avoid these last 2 seasons, they contain all of the elements fans of the show have come to expect and enjoy.

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