While the new X-Files miniseries premiere drummed up a lot of hype in the community, it fell a little short of the classic X-Files feel. It was for good reason: catching up on 14 years of history in an hour is no easy feat, and the content of that one episode could have been stretched out to 3 or 4 hours easily. Still, it did an admirable job of grabbing my attention. How did the second episode “Founder’s Mutation” fare? Let’s find out.
SPOILERSÂ INCOMING
We open with a bloodshot eyeball being scanned at a high security firm of some sort. The character’s distress is obvious. Is he sleep deprived? Compromised by Aliens? Is he himself an Alien? It soon becomes clear that he (Dr. Sanjay) is suffering from some sort of auditory distress or hallucination. During a meeting the high pitched screaming drives him (and us!) to the brink of insanity, and he eventually takes his own life after attempting to access classified data. Sounds paranormal to me – who you gonna call?
Scully and Mulder of course! They’re barely on the scene for a minute before Mulder starts to smell something fishy, while Scully is her usual rational yet aloof self. The Department of Defense (you know, some of the baddest guys from the original series) shows up and confiscates a sensitive hard drive citing national security (yeah right), but Mulder manages to snag Dr. Sanjay’s phone to do some unauthorized investigating. At this point, I was so pumped. They absolutely nailed the feel of the original series, and it felt like Mulder and Scully had never left my TV screen. The Mulder-Scully interplay was on point as Scully objected but eventually acquiesced to Mulder’s outside the box techniques.
Mulder uses Sanjay’s frequent contacts to get in touch with Gupta (which means secret, as Scully tells us), who seems to be Dr. Sanjay’s casual hook up. After and awkward misunderstanding in the bathroom involving kneeling and belts, Mulder grills Gupta for information about Sanjay. Turns our Sanjay was worried about “his kids”, and Team Sculder sets out to check Sanjay’s apartment for clues.
While rummaging around, Mulder gets visited by the screeching noise that drove Sanjay to suicide – I thought the time for the classic X-Files one-partner-is-incapacitated-at-an-entirely-too-convenient-moment scene, but instead just cuts short their rummaging. It was this point that I knew The X-Files was truly back, and in prime form. Great restraint shown in the writing here.
The next day in Skinner’s office, the partners get a dressing down about not touching DoD evidence from an evil DoD henchman, which Skinner pretends to go along with. Of course, Mulder made copies, and Skinner endorses their continued investigation into the matter (yay fight-the-power era Skinner!). Back in the old X-Files office (ohhhhh, the memories) Scully is reviewing surveillance footage, and Mulder comes clean about hearing the sounds while Scully is certain there were no sounds, and Mulder cracks jokes about super serious stuff (classic!).
So, we follow the leads to Dr. Goldman – The Founder – who runs a clinic for genetically troubled babies and mothers. Is this sounding familiar? I had a good idea where the episode was going here, but I’m really impressed with how carefully the storyline was woven together with bits from the original series. Kudos to the writers! Mulder’s theorizing about the relation of Goldman to the Alien Hybrid project makes Scully get all defensive about HER baby, asking Mulder “Was I just an incubator?” in an accusatory fashion. Mulder responds in fine fashion: “You’re never JUST anything to me, Scully.” It’s amazing how after so many years, Anderson and Duchovny slide so easily back into the roles that kickstarted their careers. The tension, chemistry, and connection between them is utterly palpable, and harkens back to those moments in the original series where millions of fans were screaming ‘JUST KISS HER ALREADY!’
Mulder claims to have put their child (William) out of his thoughts out of necessity, while Scully thinks of him frequently. Queue a daydream sequence where Scully imagines her life with William in it – the soft focus and warm tone of the scene drives home Scully’s desire for a so-called normal life, which shifts to a darker blue tone when she imagines a nightmare scenario in which William grew into a hybrid being. It’s super impressive visually, and nicely highlights the character traits we perceive in Mulder and Scully – Scully as the would-be mother who wants normality more than anything, and Mulder as the truth seeking workaholic who casts off personal attachment in favour of his perceived quest for truth. More on that later.
A visit to Goldman’s clinic raises the duo’s eyebrows as kids are kept in isolation, and further drives our belief that the Alien Hybrid project is continuing. Some digging reveals that Goldman’s wife may have answers – she’s locked up in a psych ward (wrongfully?). She tells the agents that her children (one of whom is locked up in Dr. Goldman’s lab, the other who she is accused of murdering) have special powers, and that she merely set the child free from her womb. Using time codes on surveillance footage, the agents track down who they think may be that child… looking for his sister.
After another episode of Mulder doing his Mulder-in-pain bit, we capture the now teenaged second child (Kyle) of the Goldman family. Back at Goldman’s lab, Dr. Goldman takes a blood sample from Kyle and introduces him to his sister (Molly). Kyle sees through the ruse and uses special sibling powers to find the real Molly and escape from the lab. In doing so, the pair make Dr. Goldman’s eyes bleed in gloriously gory and X-Files y fashion, and escape into the night with nary a trace. It’s a classic X-Files ‘there are no answers’ ending, and a storyline that kept me glued to the screen. They’ve done a masterful job of bringing the classic X-Files formula into the modern era, and this episode confirms everything I hoped. The X-Files is BACK, and it is damn good.
Of course, the epilogue of the episode is excellent. Mulder pocketed Kyle’s blood sample (here’s hoping it becomes relevant in the future), and we get an absolutely touching daydream scene with Mulder and William. His claims that he has put his son out of mind were clearly not true, as we see Mulder more content than ever before. Duchovny does a great job of casting off the pain and weight of Mulder’s quest in this scene, and the image of the toy rocket taking off is a fantastic way to close an excellent episode.
Here’s hoping that audiences stick with the miniseries throughout its run – signs point to excellence in all facets of filmmaking so far. Want them to bring back The X-Files full time? Tell your friends to watch the show, get excited on social media, and let the powers that be know that we love this show!
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Paul will recap each week’s episode of The X-Files – so stay tuned right here for more. Be sure to also check out our recent recaps of Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and The Flash!