An Essay about the failure of Season 8
by t h r e a d s
"After eight years, government conspiracies and tacky car chases are getting old. Fast."
For whatever reason, The X-files has failed me this season, and I don't understand why. There have been many notable episodes this in the past year- my personal favorites were "Via Negativa" and "Redrum" (I don't care what people say, I thought "Redrum" was well done.) But it was never about the episodes that left a bad taste in my mouth, I'm sure we can all agree that many were well acted, scripted and written, it was the entire season that made me feel numb all over- and the season finale drove that point home.
No- I am not a "Dipper" or a "NoRomo" or a myriad of other catch phrases that defines my fandom (Though I will be addressing this later on.) I am me- an X-Files fan. My problem with "Existence" is again, not with the episode on a whole, it is the fact that after eight years of loyal service the show goes out with a whimper instead of a bang- and what saddens me is that I know it's was the only way it could work.
Eight years and I am left with a "happy family".
Eight years and now it's Agent Doggett and Reyes who have been lured into the X-Trap.
Eight years and Krycek has been reduced to nothing.
I can already smell the stench of Season 9.
As I look closer, the real reason I think that Season eight left me feeling "hollow" inside is the fact that the show died seasons ago, it's just lucky enough to have a team of talented writers and actors to cover that fact up. To quote the Alien Bounty Hunter from "Herrenvolk"- "Everything Dies", and X-Files is long past burial. The X-Files is like an old pair of slippers- the kind that has been with you forever and shows it. The bottoms are worn thin; they're covered with holes and all-around do more harm than good for your feet. You love them to death, but like all crappy things, they're going to have to go sometime. It kills you to throw them out, but once you try out the new pair you discover that they're really not all that bad. You also know that you'll grow to love and appreciate them like your old ones, until it's time for the new ones to be replaced. And the circle continues. But remember, like all old and worn things, they've won a place in your heart, and you'll never forget them.
More and more I see myself longing for the good old days of X-Files- I'm talking old school, people. The episodes where Mulder and Scully are running around, being chased by mutants and human replicons, and just generally don't know what the hell is going on. We were with them, along for the ride, searching for the truth. Gasping every time we saw a glimpse of an alien spacecraft, smacking our forehead every time Scully tried to use science to explain something. But then something happened that changed everything.
The show got serious.
Scully got cancer, we learn about alien colonization of Earth, and Mulder deepens his search for his sister. No more were we wide-eyed and easily impressed, now we were in it for the long run. Season seven was another major turning point for the show- the point in which The X-Files failed to turn. It never died in season seven, it's been dead for a long time- my prediction is somewhere after season five, or perhaps even sooner? It's not The X-Files anymore. The appeal of the show was that "The Truth is Out There", "Trust No One", "Believe the Lie" and a zillion more catch phrases. It was in the appeal of not knowing that drew the fans in. But now we know, so what's left? Agent Doggett and Reyes are now the x-files, and already I smell the reek of recycled plotlines for them to be used in. It's not their fault that they're doomed for the same fate as Mulder and Scully, it's the fault of the unoriginal world they live in. After eight years, government conspiracies and tacky car chases are getting old. Fast.
Or perhaps I'm just being naïve- maybe it is the writers, or even graver, the fans whose fault lies.
Let's examine the list- we have "Shippers", "NoRomos", "Skippers", "Skampers", "Scullyists", "Mulderists", "Rat Boys", "Doggettists" (I'm sure of it), "Slash", and the newbie- "Dippers". What's even more depressing is that all those catch phrases are only the tip of the X-Files classification system. There are hundreds more like them, and that's the problem. The X-Files has turned into gang warfare. We have the "NoRomos" who pick on the "Shippers" who pick on the "Dippers" who pick on somebody else I'm sure. X-Philes aren't a community anymore, we're segregated and it's hard for everybody to get along. X-Philes have overrun X-Files. The show is about fan service now, and the kiss at the end of "Existence" sealed the deal. Chris Carter doesn't have one body of fandom to please anymore- he has multiple. Now, in order to keep the fans for a season nine, he has to have a little Mulder and Scully moment to please the "Shippers", but not too much to piss off the "NoRomos" and "Dippers", and to hell with the "Rat Boy" fans at the end of the season finale- Krycek is dead so who the hell cares about those people now. The list is endless. Carter has to plug in all this crap to please everybody, and episodes are now sometimes left unsatisfactory and choppy. The only thing I see in the kiss shared by Mulder and Scully at the end of "Existence" was not symbolic to the human spirit, or that if you stick with "it", you'll persevere eventually, the only thing I saw when their lips met was that Chris Carter had sold out, or gave up, or both. At that said, I'm sure Leyla Harrison is spinning in her grave (and I don't mean the character.) It isn't his show anymore; it's the fans' now.
As I look back at what I've written, The X-Files (warning, here comes another bad analogy) has become a sawed-off shotgun. In the early days, it was the regular, long barrel kind. One shot, one kill, very effective. Now it's sawed off. When Carter fires, there's no kill anymore, it just sprays all over the place and loses most of it's effect because now instead of one fan body he has to hit, there are an infinite more he has to worry about- hence the spray, and hence the show losing the effect and appeal it once held.
But no- in the end the blame does not lie with Chris Carter, or the fans. The blame lies on me. I am only one person, one fan. That is all I am. It is my own individual fault that The X-Files has failed me. From the beginning I unconsciously knew that it wouldn't stay good forever, that one day (heaven forbid) it would suck. Suck ass. Yet I eagerly awaited each new episode, clutched a pillow whenever the agents were in danger, screamed at the television when something I didn't like happened, walked around in a daze at the end of each season. I lived, breathed and dreamed The X-Files. I loved that show. Like all lovers, it became a part of me, and me a part of it. But the show is dead now, and I should save myself while is still can. Unfortunately for me, loyalty comes above anything else, and I will stick by it always because it is a part of me, regardless that it has expired. I have experienced the loss of me.
.back.
