Writing Blind: The X-Files S3

Welcome to a feature called "Writing Blind."  In this series, I will be writing about seasons of television that I watched in the past year or so, but failed to write about at the time.  I call it writing blind, because I will be sharing my thoughts months after I have already finished the season.  This is both because I want to write about these seasons, but don't have the time to re-watch them and because it is a challenge to hopefully improve my writing.

Back in the day - you know as early as 20 years ago - TV shows necessarily created a safe haven for viewers.  You can watch this Thursday, skip next week's, and be none the wiser when you turned back in for the next episode.  They needed to not alienate new viewers in order to gain viewership.  So talking about full seasons of any show that was mostly procedural and you could mostly just drop in on an episode without much issue is difficult.  Because the quality varies week-to-week.

Even on a season as consistent as the third season of The X-Files, they still have possibly one of the worst episodes in the series that I've seen in "Hell Money."  To be honest, I don't remember much about that episode except that it was dreadfully boring and terrible.  (It's either that or "Teso dos Bichos" - I don't remember which, but both were just terrible.)  But that just serves to strengthen my point.  How the hell am I supposed to grade a whole season of a show that is designed to allow you to skip episodes.

Now The X-Files is one of the rare shows that rewards people who watch it in order.  It doesn't reward you THAT much.  But it's clear the writers want to maintain some continuity even if it's just in the subtext.  You can only notice that if you watch it in order and probably only if you watch episodes over the course of days and not say the normal TV schedule of a network show.

If there's anything I take away from this season, it's that this is the season where I will re-watch the most episodes.  If I'm being honest, right now at this date, I'm probably watching the entirety of The X-Files and then not returning to it after I finish watching it.  I'll sometimes come back and re-watch maybe 10-20 episodes that I really, really liked.  More than a few will come from this season.

Because this is the season of Darin Morgan.  I read X-File episode reviews/recaps after I watch each episode and the comments always list their favorite writers of the series.  Morgan is almost unanimously the first name that is mentioned.  Sometimes he's listed second, because his episodes comment on the show itself in a mocking tone and none of them are the essence of X-Files.

I'm not in a position to pick a side of the debate on that yet, but I will tell you I will return to every one of his episodes in this season.  "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose," "War of the Coprophages," and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" are all classic X-File episodes.  As a Scully fan first and a Mulder fan second, I like how these episodes usually good-naturedly mock Mulder.  (As a side note: Am I the only one totally not shipping Mulder/Scully.  She's too good for him)  They're also cleverly written, entertaining as hell, and they bring the best out of the two leads.'

This season also features Vince Gilligan's first great script.  Remember when I said Morgan was the first name mentioned on top writers.  Gilligan is the second name.  Sometimes, he's first because his episodes represented the typical X-Files while still being original and spooky.  "Pusher" is that episode.

Another challenging thing about writing about a season for a show like the The X-Files months after I've seen it is that I can't really go into detail about specific episodes.  I'll try to write the fourth season soon, because it's relatively fresh in my mind, but most of these episodes I don't remember from just the title.  Anyway, I think that could work to my advantage because I don't want to go just describing each good or bad episode anyway.

I've seen written that the third season is the best mix of the Mythology and the standalone.  The fourth season comes close, so close I'm not willing to make that determination.  But the third season certainly has the best standalones of any season so far, and probably of the whole series judging by what I've heard about the later seasons.  I mean the four episodes I mention are all standalones and not at all required for the mythology.  (The Morgan episodes somewhat need you to be familar with the standard tropes of X-Files and the Mulder/Scully dynamic so they aren't typical)

I'm going to go by memory that I enjoyed the mythology episodes, because wow do I don't remember any details about any of the mythology episodes in this season.  Like the Indian saying mystical stuff in the first episode and... Mulder and Scully on a boat in one of the best scenes.. and uhhhh.... Yeah, in ten years, I won't remember anything about the mythology probably.  Doesn't matter.  I liked them when I watched them.

In conclusion, The X-Files third season is a model of consistency with only one or two duds in it.  The usual price for consistency is that the show will just re-hash the same formula over and over.  The X-Files changes it up enough to keep it interesting.  Not to mention, it's not only consistent, but has some of the best episodes of the entire series.  I'm not sure if I think season three or season four is better, but I can feel reasonably confident that this season is a solid lock for at least the second best season of the entire series.

Grade - A