My Love for The X Files
It’s ironic I am in love with a new flannel shirt at the same time a friend introduced me to Kumail Nanjiani’s The X Files Files podcast. Both flannel and the X Files were hallmarks of my wayward youth, an impassioned 18 year old with pink hair and a search for the truth.
Being introduced to this podcast has launched me into a quiet re-awakening of my initial X Files obsession. Big cheers to Mr Nanjiani for starting this podcast in 2014, and giving me all the detailed talk about this show that I could ever want. (Almost)
As I have been plowing my way through season 1 of the X Files, I find the show really holds up. Despite my boyfriend’s attempts to scoff at the poor 1993 special effects, the character dynamics and storytelling make this series as engaging as it ever was.
Chris Carter and the writing team created a show that both had single episode appeal, “Monster of the Week” episodes that anyone could jump into with prior knowledge of the show as well as a prolonged and deep web of mythology that spanned all six seasons and two movies. We simply do not see this combination in dramatic series as much today.
In an era where binge watching is king, TV series are made to flow seamlessly one into the next, so you sit down to watch a show and 6 hours later come up for air. The X Files has aspects of this, but with plenty of stand alone episodes where you can recalibrate and have the sense of a somewhat tidy wrap up of imprisoned monsters or contained demonic bioluminescence.
My favorite part of this show is, and has always been, the incredibly textured dynamic between the show’s two main characters, Mulder and Scully. David Duchovny (Mulder) and Gillian Anderson (Scully) have incredible chemistry that makes this show electric. In my younger years, where I still held romantic love at the top of all relationship status, I really wanted them to hook up. I’d site episodes where a touch lingered or a creepy shape shifter turned himself into Mulder and they almost kissed. It was, to my admittedly very nerdy flannel clad 18 year old self, tantalizing.
As an adult with a wider view of the world and relationships, I appreciate the layers of their dynamic even more. Rather than romantic love or even familial bonds, their relationship is forged early on in the first season by trust. Mutual respect, friendship, and humor, along with flirty glances and lingering touches are all built on a solid foundation of trust.
As the show goes on and these two FBI agents encounter more and more weird shit, their trust and relationship deepens, because each one of them becomes the ONLY person the other trusts. It’s a complex relationship that keeps us watching because we want to trust them too.
This show has a feminist arc that bears pointing out. Scully is never sexualized during the show, she consistently wears unattractive and frumpy suits, and her position as a doctor and the logical character on the show demands our respect as well as that of her colleagues. While she is clearly an intelligent character and proficient and tough at her job, her feminist attributes don’t feel like they are being shoved down our throat's with the message of “women are strong!”
I had a lot enough of that with the last Avengers movie…
My love for the show doesn't hinder me from seeing where missteps and bad episodes were broadcast in season one. There are some I skip, and probably more I should. But the show has a heart and character in always striving to recapture our imaginations and hearts, and always striving to be better. For each episode I skip, there are four more that I watch, in my flannel pajamas with the lights out, still searching for the truth.
