I rarely noticed it, but this is the season most commonly referenced as to when David Duchovny stopped giving a shit. I didn't notice it most of the time, not because I'm not particularly enamored of his acting ability, but because he's always been kind of a sleepy, low-key performer. With that said, after having watched season eight, I do appreciate Duchovny a lot more than I did because his absence is felt in the first part of the season so he's clearly doing something right.
The seventh season of The X-Files is a weird season. It's a really weird season. There are episodes of creativity, doing things that somehow hadn't been done before. There are signs that the writers have run out of ideas, lacking enough good ideas to fill a 22-episode season. To be fair, maybe one or two seasons have sustained 22 good ideas as most seasons will have a clunker or two.
Unfortunately, it's a sign of The X-Files exiting their golden age. There's not a single episode in this season that is a classic. If you want to quibble with that, I'll amend it a little: I don't think any of these episodes would make a top ten X-Files list. I'm not saying there aren't good episodes. "En Ami" pairs together Cigarette Smoking Man and Scully for a solo episode of sorts. It works very well. "Hollywood A.D." goes meta and I always enjoy a good meta episode that constantly pokes fun at itself. "The Amazing Maleeni" is elevated by a strong guest performance by Ricky Jay (Deadwood alum). I'm just saying none of these are your all-time greats.
In addition, season seven has some of the worst episodes of the entire series (Season 9 possibly excluded as I have not seen it and I plan to skip most of that season so I'll probably never really know). These are episode titles I knew were bad before I even got to season seven. "First Person Shooter" and "Fight Club" are legitimate competing candidates for worst episode of the series, or at the very least worst episode of the series when it was still good. Duchovny has proved surprisingly adept at both writing and directing (He wrote and directed one of my favorites from this season "Hollywood A.D.") Gillian Anderson... well let's just say there's a reason her only writing and directing credit on IMDB is her writer-director effort "all things."
It's pretty clear, at least until season eight comes along, that they are simply out of ideas. They gave both Anderson and Duchovny their own episodes, they have an admittedly entertaining gimmick episode in "X-Cops," they have what I think is an afterword to the cancelled Millennium show, and they have the most clunkers since season one. While I admitted that Duchovny's absence is felt in season eight, they did need a change and his lessened involvement provided the necessary excuse.
Plus, at this point, the mythology had been well past the point of being interesting. I don't remember much about these mythology episodes except I remember them being a slog to get through. I've always kind of had an issue with the mythology episodes though. Part of it was knowing that it was going nowhere: the heroes almost discover something new, only for it be taken away at the last minute, probably because somebody gets killed. In the back of my mind, I just can't really be invested in those episodes unfortunately.
As always though - for the most part, The X-Files remained mediocre to good for the whole season on the strength of its directing. The directors never let down the script at this point in the show's run. Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, and whoever copied them in the other episodes, had effectively nailed the show's tone. There's a few episodes purposefully straying from that tone, but they tended to at the least direct it as well as it is written on the page and frequently elevating the story. (I wonder if a more experienced director could have improved Anderson's episode; hard not to think so).
So season seven is a victim of a show being in its seventh season. Nearly all shows either don't even make it to its seventh season or they no longer can be called a good show. The X-Files could still be called a good show, it just probably wasn't a great show by this point. Sometimes, making lots of consistently good episodes is enough though. Despite the bad episodes, most of these episodes were solid. That's how I would describe this season: solid.
Grade - B
Unfortunately, it's a sign of The X-Files exiting their golden age. There's not a single episode in this season that is a classic. If you want to quibble with that, I'll amend it a little: I don't think any of these episodes would make a top ten X-Files list. I'm not saying there aren't good episodes. "En Ami" pairs together Cigarette Smoking Man and Scully for a solo episode of sorts. It works very well. "Hollywood A.D." goes meta and I always enjoy a good meta episode that constantly pokes fun at itself. "The Amazing Maleeni" is elevated by a strong guest performance by Ricky Jay (Deadwood alum). I'm just saying none of these are your all-time greats.
In addition, season seven has some of the worst episodes of the entire series (Season 9 possibly excluded as I have not seen it and I plan to skip most of that season so I'll probably never really know). These are episode titles I knew were bad before I even got to season seven. "First Person Shooter" and "Fight Club" are legitimate competing candidates for worst episode of the series, or at the very least worst episode of the series when it was still good. Duchovny has proved surprisingly adept at both writing and directing (He wrote and directed one of my favorites from this season "Hollywood A.D.") Gillian Anderson... well let's just say there's a reason her only writing and directing credit on IMDB is her writer-director effort "all things."
It's pretty clear, at least until season eight comes along, that they are simply out of ideas. They gave both Anderson and Duchovny their own episodes, they have an admittedly entertaining gimmick episode in "X-Cops," they have what I think is an afterword to the cancelled Millennium show, and they have the most clunkers since season one. While I admitted that Duchovny's absence is felt in season eight, they did need a change and his lessened involvement provided the necessary excuse.
Plus, at this point, the mythology had been well past the point of being interesting. I don't remember much about these mythology episodes except I remember them being a slog to get through. I've always kind of had an issue with the mythology episodes though. Part of it was knowing that it was going nowhere: the heroes almost discover something new, only for it be taken away at the last minute, probably because somebody gets killed. In the back of my mind, I just can't really be invested in those episodes unfortunately.
As always though - for the most part, The X-Files remained mediocre to good for the whole season on the strength of its directing. The directors never let down the script at this point in the show's run. Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, and whoever copied them in the other episodes, had effectively nailed the show's tone. There's a few episodes purposefully straying from that tone, but they tended to at the least direct it as well as it is written on the page and frequently elevating the story. (I wonder if a more experienced director could have improved Anderson's episode; hard not to think so).
So season seven is a victim of a show being in its seventh season. Nearly all shows either don't even make it to its seventh season or they no longer can be called a good show. The X-Files could still be called a good show, it just probably wasn't a great show by this point. Sometimes, making lots of consistently good episodes is enough though. Despite the bad episodes, most of these episodes were solid. That's how I would describe this season: solid.
Grade - B
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