Really, Kitan? I enjoyed it.
I thought the Trashman story was typically X-files (in fact, I thought it was reminiscent of the Trash monsters from Arcadia in a way, especially with the Tibetan thought-form thing which reminded me intensely of the conversation Mulder has with that HOA guy) and achieved a decent spook-level when they went down into the zombie-mummy basement place.
I also really loved seeing Scully's mother again! Except BOO! They killed her!!!
Maggie was always a favorite supporting character for me, not only in the way that she supported her daughter, but also in the way she accepted and had a connection with Mulder because of their shared grief over Scully's disappearance and her various medical incidents throughout the series. Maggie was always a strong, maternal figure in a show that was often otherwise lacking that warm presence to it. She always added something to the show to me.
I thought it was really interesting that they brought in a story line about Charlie being estranged from the family since he was never a player in the original series. Had they had more than 6 episodes to work with I got the feeling that they would have brought in Bill Scully and had a confrontation between him and Mulder (let's face it, they never got along) but that it just wasn't in the scope of this episode or this reboot. Too bad, I kind of wanted to see Mulder sucker-punch Bill in his smug fat face.
I enjoyed that Mulder has sort of gone back to his season 5 (albeit short-lived) skepticism in sort of debunking the homeless artist's statement that the Trashman was a Tibetan thought form - I thought that was a nice little nugget to throw in there. Mulder is still a believer but he's learned a thing or two about not immediately believing everything in the years since the show ended.
There were two things I thought were questionable in this episode:
(1) the coin on the necklace. I'm hoping this gets resolved more than it was in this episode because it seemed to have too much of a big deal made of it for it to just go unexplained.
(2) Scully's soliloquy at the end about worrying that she and Mulder treated William like trash. Okay, number one, Mulder was dead at the time of her giving him up for adoption (IIRC) so it's not like he had much of a say in the matter. Not to say that Scully is to "blame" for that decision, but Mulder really didn't have anything to do with it, he wasn't around. Secondly, no one would say that Scully threw William out like trash. Perhaps this is her own guilty conscience talking to her and digging up her regrets but even she should know that giving up William was an incredibly difficult decision.
I did like the part of her scene where she wondered what kinds of questions William had about her and thought that was a bit of a nice homage to people who are adopted and to those mothers who have given up their babies for adoption and maybe come to regret it. It's nice to see that sort of situation addressed on screen because so often what's reinforced is the loving, happy nuclear family and you kind of have to wonder what kind of message that sends to unconventional families.
And even though it was abrupt, I also kind of liked that Scully immediately went back to work. It's what she does: buries her emotions in her job. That felt rather true to her character, even this newer, a little more touchy-feely Scully.
Overall, I thought it was a good, solid episode and felt very X-Filesy.
What about the episode makes you unsure, Kitan?
I thought the Trashman story was typically X-files (in fact, I thought it was reminiscent of the Trash monsters from Arcadia in a way, especially with the Tibetan thought-form thing which reminded me intensely of the conversation Mulder has with that HOA guy) and achieved a decent spook-level when they went down into the zombie-mummy basement place.
I also really loved seeing Scully's mother again! Except BOO! They killed her!!!
Maggie was always a favorite supporting character for me, not only in the way that she supported her daughter, but also in the way she accepted and had a connection with Mulder because of their shared grief over Scully's disappearance and her various medical incidents throughout the series. Maggie was always a strong, maternal figure in a show that was often otherwise lacking that warm presence to it. She always added something to the show to me.I thought it was really interesting that they brought in a story line about Charlie being estranged from the family since he was never a player in the original series. Had they had more than 6 episodes to work with I got the feeling that they would have brought in Bill Scully and had a confrontation between him and Mulder (let's face it, they never got along) but that it just wasn't in the scope of this episode or this reboot. Too bad, I kind of wanted to see Mulder sucker-punch Bill in his smug fat face.
I enjoyed that Mulder has sort of gone back to his season 5 (albeit short-lived) skepticism in sort of debunking the homeless artist's statement that the Trashman was a Tibetan thought form - I thought that was a nice little nugget to throw in there. Mulder is still a believer but he's learned a thing or two about not immediately believing everything in the years since the show ended.
There were two things I thought were questionable in this episode:
(1) the coin on the necklace. I'm hoping this gets resolved more than it was in this episode because it seemed to have too much of a big deal made of it for it to just go unexplained.
(2) Scully's soliloquy at the end about worrying that she and Mulder treated William like trash. Okay, number one, Mulder was dead at the time of her giving him up for adoption (IIRC) so it's not like he had much of a say in the matter. Not to say that Scully is to "blame" for that decision, but Mulder really didn't have anything to do with it, he wasn't around. Secondly, no one would say that Scully threw William out like trash. Perhaps this is her own guilty conscience talking to her and digging up her regrets but even she should know that giving up William was an incredibly difficult decision.
I did like the part of her scene where she wondered what kinds of questions William had about her and thought that was a bit of a nice homage to people who are adopted and to those mothers who have given up their babies for adoption and maybe come to regret it. It's nice to see that sort of situation addressed on screen because so often what's reinforced is the loving, happy nuclear family and you kind of have to wonder what kind of message that sends to unconventional families.
And even though it was abrupt, I also kind of liked that Scully immediately went back to work. It's what she does: buries her emotions in her job. That felt rather true to her character, even this newer, a little more touchy-feely Scully.
Overall, I thought it was a good, solid episode and felt very X-Filesy.
What about the episode makes you unsure, Kitan?
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
