Breja: Also, season 7 was much better in one way at least- it did not poorly retcon the previous six. Season 10 basically retcons most of the show, and it makes no damn sense in any way. Season 7 was very uneven, and could get really bad, but even then outside of being too goofy it was harmless story-wise. Except for the season 7 premiere, which was some utter nonsense about ancient aliens and Scully translating bible passages written on a derelict spaceship she finds in africa or something, and it was truly terrible. It was so bad the show pretty much forgot all about it untill season 9, when it all went belly-up anyway.

DaCostaBR: After watching some episodes here and there I tried watching it from the beginning. Concluded that I like the episodes that aren't about aliens, unfortunately 2/3rds of them are about aliens.

Whenever it was about aliens you'd get an interesting conspiracy and some intrigue going on, and then nothing comes of it and the episode just ends. Someone would get bribed, or brainwashed, or evidence would be erased, or whatever and one of them would complain that "It just isn't right! Are they really going to get away with it?" and the other would say "They've gotten away with it this time, but maybe one day the truth will come out..."

And how could it be any different? What are they going to do? Go up on a spaceship and slap some cuffs on the aliens? That'd be ridiculous. By design the conspiracy must go on, so stuff can't be resolved.

The ones that weren't about aliens had better conclusions. Sure, maybe the monster dissolved when it died and no one will ever know the truth, but the problem has been solved and we've reached a satisfying end.

I watched maybe 10 or 15 episodes of the first season when I gave up on it. Maybe it all changes later and it becomes much more cohesive, but I watched one too many episodes that just ended abruptly instead of conclude and feared the rest would be the same.

On top of that, later I've come to understand that I just don't like these types of shows, the ones that aren't fully serialized where each episode feels like a meaningful step in a bigger narrative, nor fully episodic where each episode is a satisfying and self-contained story in its own right. They try to have their cake and eat it too, and by the state of network television clearly a large portion of the public thinks they succeed, but I feel like they bring the worst of both worlds and learned they're just not for me.

DaCostaBR: By design the conspiracy must go on, so stuff can't be resolved.

DaCostaBR: And how could it be any different? What are they going to do? Go up on a spaceship and slap some cuffs on the aliens? That'd be ridiculous. By design the conspiracy must go on, so stuff can't be resolved.

The ones that weren't about aliens had better conclusions. Sure, maybe the monster dissolved when it died and no one will ever know the truth, but the problem has been solved and we've reached a satisfying end.

I watched maybe 10 or 15 episodes of the first season when I gave up on it. Maybe it all changes later and it becomes much more cohesive, but I watched one too many episodes that just ended abruptly instead of conclude and feared the rest would be the same.

PaterAlf: They didn't retcon the whole thing in season 7, but sometime after the first movie (which I like a lot) it became clear that the writers had completely no idea were they were heading with the whole alien conspiracy plot and at that point already a lot of stuff was contrary to things they told in the first few seasons.

F4LL0UT: It's been a few years now since my run through the entire series + movies + The Lone Gunmen, probably too long ago to really be able to comment on anything in detail. From what I recall I generally enjoyed it, even the late seasons with the new main cast, but I guess half-way through the series it became too apparent that when they started the series they had no idea where the main story arc would go or they at least got very much off course from the original plan.

F4LL0UT: The episode where we learn what actually happened to Mulder's sister felt just like a big "fuck you!" by the show's writers.

F4LL0UT: And in the final episode where they tried to wrap everything up I felt kinda cheated, like they gave many things a different sense than it had when it was first written and broadcast. I kept telling myself that I just had not been perceptive enough or something when first watching the main story arc episodes but I felt like some things still didn't add up and were somehow twisted around. Not sure if that's the impression one gets when watching the show a second time.

KasperHviid: Hi Breja, how was that VR themed episode, First person Shooter?

thraxman: I loved the X Files since I first saw it about 15 years ago being repeated, but I can’t help but think they used their best monster first. They never seemed to do any better then the mutant Tooms for the monster of the week. He was really creepy, interesting, in some ways believable (he could bend and stretch but not to the extent of the fantastic four guy) and they deliberately left a huge amount of unanswered questions about him and what little they did reveal were all guesses and assumptions. Why did he have to rip people to pieces and eat their organs? What original caused his mutations? Why did he have to keep hibernating every thirty years and then awake and randomly kill five people? If he was over 100 years old (he looks like he’s in his late twenties) how did he live that long and did he have any kids out there like him? The only guess they made was his mutations did it all but the show didn’t even attempt to explain what was really wrong with him. You had no clue what he was and where he came from and it worked brilliantly.