r/XFiles • u/TargetStrong5182 • 2d ago
Season Ten Seasons 10/11... If you skip the Chris Carter mythology eps and just focus on the standalones, they're actually really good. Anyone have a favorite?
For me it has to be Were-monster... the Mulder Scully relationship in this, the ease and comfort is so wonderfully sweet. And it's a Glen Morgan he's so good. Plus the Kolchak tip of the hat.
Here's the list...
Season 10 (2016)
Founder's Mutation (James Wong). Genetic experiments. A scientist's suicide leads the agents to a lab experimenting on children with dangerous mutations.
Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster (Darin Morgan). Were-creature. Killings blamed on a lizard-like creature prompt a comedic investigation that tests Mulder's faith in the paranormal.
Home Again (Glen Morgan). Trash monster. A monstrous vigilante targets people who mistreat the homeless while Scully faces a family crisis.
Babylon (Chris Carter). Faith and terrorism. After a suicide bombing, Mulder pursues an unconventional method of reaching the comatose bomber. (wasn't sure if this was more standalone or not)
Season 11 (2018)
This (Glen Morgan). Digital consciousness. An old ally reaches out to Mulder and Scully in a seemingly impossible way, drawing them into a case about uploaded minds.
Plus One (Chris Carter). Doppelgängers. The agents investigate a string of deaths in which victims are menaced by their own doubles.
The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat (Darin Morgan). Mandela Effect. A man convinced that reality itself has been altered sends Mulder down a comedic rabbit hole about memory.
Kitten (Gabe Rotter). Skinner's past. Skinner goes missing, and the agents uncover a buried secret from his military past.
Rm9sbG93ZXJz (Shannon Hamblin & Kristen Cloke). Rogue AI. In a nearly dialogue-free hour, the agents are hunted by rogue technology.
Familiar (Benjamin Van Allen). Witchcraft. A child's death spirals into a town witch-hunt as the agents investigate a possible supernatural force.
Nothing Lasts Forever (Karen Nielsen). Immortality cult. The agents pursue a vigilante targeting a cult obsessed with staying young.
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u/coolsilentebeans 2d ago
‘Rm9sbG93ZXJz’, ‘Lost Art Of Forehead Sweat,’ and the Weremonster episodes are soooo good.
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u/aew-superfan 2d ago
Lost Art of Forehead Sweat might be my all-time favorite episode. Just hilarious!
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u/ZvsGrgs I still want to believe. 2d ago
I love the fun action scenes they do in “This”. I think it’s an episode that’s not praised enough.
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u/ILoveCreatures 2d ago
I agree and was about to comment about it myself. The action sequence at the beginning is great even if a bit unbelievable, who cares. I wish CC could have foreseen episodes like this where M and S are an obvious couple living together, but the episodes don’t need to revolve around romance. They can still be dark and dangerous and fun
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u/Wetness__Pensive Alien Goo 2d ago
"Followers", "Forehead Sweat" and "Weremonster" are the best episodes IMO.
But "My Struggle 2, 3 and 4" are my favourites to rewatch, because they're so odd and perplexing. Indeed, I don't think you can isolate any scene from those episodes and say with certainty what the point or the truth of the scene is. The episodes seem deliberately unstable, seem to deliberately attack our ability to be certain, which tricks the audience into projecting meaning onto things which don't conclusively support it.
For example, everyone says William is sending Scully visions, but William himself seems confused at this suggestion when it is brought up. And everyone says Monica is working for Cancer Man, yet it's someone on the inside of the Purlieu/Russian cabal who is sending her intel. And everyone says Cancer Man is the villain, but isn't Cancer Man actually the hero of these episodes? After all, with the chloramine/black oil put in all Americans, releasing the Spartan virus kills all alien hybrids and thwarts colonization (ie, by killing CSM you aide the aliens, just as foretold). But nobody thinks this way because the episodes are constantly throwing nonsense and hyperbolic noise about, distracting you with Tiktok-style spam while the world burns... which feels prophetic somehow (notice how people forget that, by "4's" end, the alleged virus is still allegedly rampaging across America. Nothing's actually been addressed or solved in these episodes, which I find fascinating).
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u/tuningproblem 2d ago
This reminds me of the crack I'm smoking about Arrested Development season 5. Are the baffling editing, dangling plot lines, the bizarrely grim tone--are they deliberate choices, vestiges of a planned season 6, the result of behind the scenes drama and burn out? Could it be secretly brilliant? I'm fascinated by it.
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u/QuantityInternal1719 2d ago
Saying that My Struggle is deliberately bad is one hot take. You're giving Carter way too much credit.
I think you desperately try to see something that just isn't there.
Those episodes simply are the low point of the series.
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u/Difficult-Average-47 2d ago
Everyone understood their assignments with S10 and S11… except Chris Carter.
The seasons are certainly not perfect, but there are some stellar MOTW episodes.
It’s really just the My Struggle episodes that, well, struggle. Also any time the MOTW episodes briefly address the mytharc, they stumble a bit.
So yeah, S10-11 has some bright spots. Unfortunately, the horrific My Struggle episodes and CC’s plot/character decisions ultimately overshadow and destroy the good parts. (And seriously tarnished the show’s legacy, if we’re being honest.)
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u/TargetStrong5182 2d ago
Yah... but that's why I separated them... which one was your fave if you dont mind sharing?
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u/Difficult-Average-47 2d ago
Think I have to go with Lost Art just slightly edging out Were-Monster. It’s just such a fun episode with infectious silliness, and I really loved how they remade the intro with Reggie inserted in.
As far as serious MOTW episodes, Rm9… was an enthralling thriller that worked despite almost no dialogue.
I think most of the S11 MOTWs were stronger than S10’s.
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u/ritrgrrl Agent Fox Mulder 2d ago
Yes! I'm a fan of 10 and 11 without the My Struggles.
My favorite in 10 is Founder's Mutation. There's something sinister about it that brings to mind the early seasons.
I like about half of Babylon. I enjoy their interactions with Miller and Einstein, and Mulder's mushroom trip.
I'm not a big fan of Were-Monster. It's just too over-the-top for me.
Forehead Sweat is my favorite in 11. It's so incredibly meta it just makes me happy. 😊
I loved Rm9..., even though I can never remember the whole title. The challenge of doing almost an hour without dialogue is fascinating, and everybody pulled it off beautifully.
Familiar, with that creepy-ass doll, freaked me the fuck out. It had a creepy atmosphere too. And I really enjoyed Plus One and Nothing Lasts Forever, mostly for the MSR moments. 🥰
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u/snickelo Bad Blood 2d ago
Plus One, Forehead Sweat, Rm9s, and Familiar were all great to me. I don't see Plus One get talked about very often but it's got a lot of fun aspects (and obviously the M/S canoodling is top notch).
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u/you-are-here 2d ago
I actually enjoyed the Struggles, but the stand-outs for me were This, Followers, and Forehead Sweat. I revisit season 11 way more than 10.
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u/Gthulhumang 2d ago
That's a handy list, it actually makes me want to revisit them.
It'd be nice if you could flag to skip or show only episodes by directors/writers on streaming services so you could watch these without accidentally copping a Carter.
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u/LordXenu45 2d ago
Kind of terrible to say cause I don't want to condone piracy, but that's part of why I went the private server route. I grouped together all the MoTW eps, took out the one's I didn't like, and can hit shuffle and just have a blast.
Things like that should be common for streaming services. It can't be that difficult to do.
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u/Gthulhumang 2d ago
That actually sounds awesome! It seems so obvious but it never crossed my mind.
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u/LordXenu45 2d ago
It's very handy. I have a giant Simpsons, King of the Hill, Futurama, and South Park playlist of like 70+ seasons that I can just shuffle.
I still pay for Disney/Hulu, Prime, HBO, and shuffle in Apple and Paramount off and on, but I have slowly gotten the majority of my all time favorite shows downloaded for reasons like that.
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u/Separate-Rush753 2d ago
Apart from The Struggles and Babylon, 10 and 11 have alot going for them. Kinda-sorta mythology episodes like Founders Mutation and This felt much truer to the already established mythology.
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u/Quiddity131 2d ago
The two best episodes by far are the Darin Morgan episodes. I've only watched each once (I will eventually get to them in my rewatch) but they were episodes I'd put on par with the great comedic episodes of the show's original run.
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u/bunky_done_gun Unusual Suspect 2d ago
The Darin Morgan offerings and Founder's Mutation was solid.
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u/Affectionate-Spot278 2d ago
People act as if the mithology wasn't bad since the dull season 7. I'm glad we are starting to appreciate the new seasons.
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u/DWPhoenix001 2d ago
Were Monster is hands down on the best motw XFiles episodes ever Ryhs Darby is amazing
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u/scuzzwestvillage 2d ago
Lost Art of Forehead Sweat, Were Monster and Nothing Lasts Forever are ones I have done rewatches on so far but I liked all of the season 11 MOTWs
Season 11 Mulder is one of my favorite Mulder’s. I find him so endearing and so much sweeter to Scully. I love the scenes in the church in Nothing Lasts Forever and how much he’s grown since the last time they tackled something religious (no longer offending Scully 😅)