The X-Files (TV Series) This (2018) User Reviews

'Accuse your enemies of that which you're guilty.'

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 4 January 2019]

The way the Season Eleven opener was proceeding along, I thought it would end as a two-parter, but that didn't happen. So the continuity break seemed a bit jarring when this one started up, especially when all of a sudden, the long dead Richard Langley (Dean Haglund), he of the Lone Gunmen, contacts Mulder via his cell phone. What?!?! Even for a series that introduced the bizarre and the unbelievable over the course of prior seasons, this was a bit too much to fathom. Turns out that Langly at one time submitted to a program that uploaded his brain scans to a simulated reality, to come into consciousness once again whenever he died. It took a while, but there you have it.

Along with the disconnect from the prior episode, we also have Fox Mulder mellowing out a bit from the aggressively hostile guy he was in the season opener. Some of the old sardonic humor is back, and he gets a handful of good lines to make him a little more likeable. He has packed on a few pounds over the years though, starting to look more and more like Garry Shandling from that Seventh Season X-Files episode, 'Hollywood A.D.' I couldn't see the resemblance back then but it's becoming clearer and clearer as time goes by.

So we've got a new thread going now with the simulated reality business, and who knows where that's going to lead. The tag line for this show (see my summary line above) didn't seem to have much to do with what happened in it, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It's just getting trickier and trickier to follow it all.

Interesting

[greenwhich · 8/10 · 13 January 2018]

This season is huge an improvement on the last return. And it is Enjoyable.Thank you

However, it has been sped up, its opening episode was a crack attack, it jumped through its settings as quickly as possible, but it might have connected them better, taking that time when laying it out. Sometimes it's like watching a new blockbuster. Not always bad per say, but it must be that simulation where all the kids today have ADHD, and when there's not enough action and the talking hasn't been sped up, apart from Mulder's monotones, episode 1 hmph, wahaa they're bored. The two agents also seem just a little nonchalant and blasie at times, perhaps even slightly bored upon going through the motions.

But all in all it's a watcher, and I'm glad it's back on our screens.

Is Langly Alive?

[Kendich89 · 6/10 · 11 January 2018]

The new X Files seems to be just as big a mess as the American culture has become (even the whole world for that matter), trying to make sense of itself as it goes probing along blindly.

The episode opens with the late Langly trying to make a video contact with Mulder through his phone. A few moment later, Mulder and Scully are ambushed in Mulder's home by three hooded assassins. The agents manage to kill two, but the third makes a run for it. Mulder puts his phone in the oven, trying to decide what to do with it should it turn out to be evidence that could fall in the hands of the wrong people.

Two military Hummers arrive shortly after, insisting that Mulder and Scully surrender. Scully calls Skinner and he advises them to surrender as well. The armed team breaks inside the house, disarming the agents. The commander Al, who is Russian, demands Mulder's phone. They locate the phone as it starts broadcasting Langly again, asking "if he's dead," whilst Mulder uses the element of surprise to snatch one of their guns and make an escape with Scully into the woods. They come across Skinner who's waiting for them. Mulder asks Skinner if Langly is dead, which he confirms with certainty.

Mulder and Scully go to the cemetery where the Lonegunment were supposedly buried in 2002. In the semidarkness they go from gravestone to gravestone, reading the birth and death dates on them, trying to figure out any connection, arriving at the conclusion that the dates have a link to the number of the American presidents. They branch off from Langly's grave into the opposite directions, counting three graves. Mulder comes across Deep Throat's, who's real names is reveled to be Ronald Pakula. Mulder notices that the cross on the DT's gravestone is kind of different from the rest, slides it to one side and they find a memory medallion inside, which can be scanned and played as a video. Upon playing the video later, it reveals the Long Lines Building, which was used as a mass surveillance service from the 1970s to Sept. 11. Later Skinner fills the agents in on the fact that the X Files have been digitized since 2002, upon Muller's lobby over the Files' jurisdiction. A private company had been hired to digitize and upload them Online so they could be accessed by any US intelligence agencies. And guess who the contractor was. Yes, the Russians, there's another contemporary salty reference to the Trump-Putin affair that's been going on.

Mulder and Scully contact Prof. Karah Hamby after finding a clue in a computer folder of the X Files. A theme of immortality emerges, and this time not in the form of alien interference but transhumanism. Prof. Hamby tells them that Langly was involved in a project of immortality. He signed a contract, stating that after his death his brain be scanned and replicated digitally. The fact that Langly is reaching out means that they hadn't been told the whole truth bout life in simulation. At this point I must add that this show has completely lost track and and sense of direction and meaning, probably about to sweep the entire alien stuff under the carpet and pretend it was all a goof. Later Langly does make a contact with Mulder and Scully, assuring them, on one hand, how great it is to be a simulation, be able to "eat" hot dogs and stuff all day, but on the other been restricted and reduced to a fake existance. I wondered what'd happen if someone pull the plug on him, aye? And I mean literally. Actually that's exactly what Langly wants. He insists that Mulder and Scully go to the Long Lines Building and "shut the whole thing down for all of us."

I must confess, though, the episode points out some good philosophical dilemmas concerning digital immortality, cautioning us against another, "more real" danger than the aliens once posed.

This - 1102

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 28 January 2018]

Better than the season premiere, but the show is still missing something. I get that they need to find a way to bring The Lone Gunmen back, but there was not a rational story behind this. It felt like they picked a weird concept (our consciousness can move on with or without us) and ran with it, regardless of whether or not it fit in with the overall theme and history of this show.

Much better than the first episode.

[youngkim3000 · 10/10 · 13 January 2018]

I just want to quickly chime in that it was so much better than the first episode of the season. It had good mystery and a great premise...that a world inside a simulation is possible.

Another Goof!

[birchwood-42395 · 7/10 · 20 February 2018]

It took me three views to finally get the gist of what this episode was supposed to be all about. The shock of seeing Langley supposedly alive after being dissolved by flesh eating gas begs the question. WTF! He then tells the agents, and us how wonderful life (?) is where he is. And just where is that? He watches the Ramones play when he wants, gets laid when he wants and with who he wants and is just having a grand old time. On the other hand, the food is tasteless and he is bored as hell in this alternate universe he is trapped in. OK Mr. Carter, take it from there. While in the garage talking to Skinner, Scully turns to him to ask for help....and calls him Mulder! I swear. Check it out.

I Love it

[daniela_x-96420 · 10/10 · 11 January 2018]

I Love this Episode, it was A Classic X-files Episode

This was a good episode of The X Files

[realdr123 · 9/10 · 14 January 2018]

Overall, this feels like an X Files episode. I like the premise and the idea for bringing Langly back. I thought it was a creative way to bring back a dead X Files character. He's not really dead, but he's not really alive either. He's just in a simulation and somehow finds a way to contact Mulder again.

I also like how that plot line ties into the overall mythology. I'ts creepy to imagine that one could be uploaded into a computer and then, upon death, become a simulation to be completely controlled by evil elites, forever doing their bidding. Some might call that Hell. Although, the episode didn't make it very clear how that would happen. Just that somehow, by using you're cell phone, parts of you would be uploaded, bit by bit, until the time you die when you are resurrected in the form of a computer simulation to be a slave forever to the elites. A scary idea though.

Overall, a good episode. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the next episode.

Why all the negativity?

[ajshorty2 · 8/10 · 13 January 2018]

Admittedly the first episode was off, trying to find their roll again. And I think it's back. Loved the soundtrack...if you can't jump around the moshpit to the Ramones you might as well give up. It charged up the chase scene to the point I couldn't keep the smile off my face. M&S worked it like champs, tucking and rolling, kicking ass. The chemistry seemed to be back! Also loved the actor playing the third assassin..and his final parody of Muldur's alien phone lock was a jewel. Not sure if he'll be back, since he's dead, but could be since he now appears to be in the simulation. Langley was perfect. This episode took me back to the 90's and reminded me why I loved this show. Looking forward to the next....hey ho let's go!

A failed attempt at Black Mirror.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 4/10 · 14 February 2018]

I am stunned to see such positive reviews on an episode which I thought failed on most levels, it just felt so incomprehensible, a few say it was like an episode straight out of the nineties, not the X Files I remember, there was lots of action sure, but no hint of a plot, and these deep conspiracies within conspiracies are becoming a little boring. The last series was so strong, if these first two are an example of what's ahead then I feel bitterly disappointed. The first episode was poor, and this is only marginally better. I will commend Anderson's acting once again, but sadly Duchovny appears not to want to be there. This was an attempt at creating an episode in the style of Charlie Brooker, and simply not hitting the mark, can we have plots in the remaining episodes please!

Chris Carter and Glen Morgan try another Cyberpunk X-file

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 20 January 2018]

Kill Switch was probably one of the finest X-Files episodes. It was a great story, great premise, and the music was uncanny.

But later, when Carter and Gibson tried a redux, "First Person Shooter" didn't work out as well as Kill Switch. I still liked "FPS", but it did not have the elements that made Kill Switch just so good. For instance, Esther Nairn gets the drop on Skully, kidnaps her, then the next thing we see Esther driving this old car. Whose car was that? It was never explained in the episode or in a later episode. Just one of the many crazy things that made it so odd as an X-File. But the lack of any explanation as to why Invisigoth is driving a coolish early 60's car, adds to the weirdness of Kill Switch.

The Gaming environment shown in First Person Shooter, basically s**ked. The premise of "FPS" was similar to Kill Switch, but many things detracted from the plot, especially the "Gaming" thing. Of course, at the time gaming was popular and in it's basic infancy, but the episode did not give us a representation of how Gaming looked in that year. We still had people playing "Doom", and we had "Mech Warrior 2" which was popular to play on a service named "Kali", a precursor to Steam. A little later, we had Quake 3. And don't get me started with Unreal Tournament "Capture the Flag" which was my favorite of the day. Or Doom or Heretic or Descent! All Gaming environments that were complex. An AI was supposed to have hijacked the Gaming Environment in FPS but it didn't work, it was simply not very believable.

Enter "THIS", and we can suspend disbelief more readily. An Old Friend calls Mulder on his Cell, and then it is Shades of Kill Switch. We know from Kill Switch there was an AI, and that Esther Nairn somehow joined with it, and maybe tormented the Lone Gunmen online. We also know, that the "Hardware Node" in Kill Switch which accosted Mulder with "Nurse Nancy" and Fake Skully, which was later "Death From Aboved" by the AI, was not the only hardware node built into a Trailer. The implication is, that this AI had survived, and maybe even Invisigoth did as well, somehow.

These ideas about artificial environments are well represented in "This" episode, which reaches all the way back to Kill Switch and also reaches across to "My Struggle III" and Mr "Y". But there is more going on in this entry, just because we see a few familiar ideas does not mean that "this" episode is just a Kill Switch rehash.

William Gibson wrote Kill Switch, Carter wrote First Person Shooter with William Gibson. One episode became Magic, the other did not. But in "This", Glen Morgan is able to mine story elements from both Kill Switch and First Person Shooter and he made Magic happen a second time. And without Gibson. The X-Files enters it's possible final season with two very strong episodes.

And, any episode that starts and stops with "California Sun" by the Ramones...

A 90's episode in all its glory

[psicoindependiente · 9/10 · 12 January 2018]

• Silly secondary characters: (What's with the guy with "the hair" HAHAHA)
• Plot armor and plot bullet dodging skills.
• Unexplained lack of security in NSA buildings.
• Early days references.
• Sick Matrix plot.

It is a 90's episode. If you expect something else, go watch Black Mirror.

-PD: Mulder reminds me the blue tiny guys in Akira. He looks like shit. -PD: I would marry Scully any day of her life. Word.

Cool episode

[josua_daniele · 10/10 · 18 January 2018]

This episode was really cool! I'm really loving this new season! hope there will be more The X Files episodes in the future!

Is Langly alive or Not?

[mkanderson1 · 10/10 · 21 January 2018]

You'll have to watch the episode to find the answer to that question. This is an action packed episode with a classic X Files storyline streamlined for 2018. Mulder and Scully confront another evil element of the overall evil plan that they were unaware of and it involves Langly, their old friend from the past. This episode definitely seemed more like the old X Files show than the first episode. Looking forward to episode 3.

This is too much.....

[rewowski · 2/10 · 11 January 2018]

I enjoyed previous episode and the 6 pilot episodes - some of the story elements were a bit far fetched (telepathy, Scully as a clairvoyant....) but still thought that it could be overlooked since it actually is not that crucial to the story and characters - but this episode.....oh man....all over the place.... Langly as a virtual digital brain uploaded with other minds to some simulation communicating with Scully and Mulder?

There is only one expression that comes to my mind - WTF????? It is absolutely to much even for the x-files. Was that Matrix? Black Mirror? Valerian? Lynch? Fox and Mulder running from the bullets and dealing with commandos like Norris and Seagal. And it was not even a parody - I can see when a writer/director makes fun of themselves in some episodes, I am able to see the irony - but this time I am left speachless .... I hope it was just a "one time" episode with this uploaded brains simulation "thingy" but it really seemed like they want to make it a part of the main story.

ps. It's true what previous user have said - Mulder and Scully do talk like they have a hangover... :)

Very mysterious episode

[strangecatdog · 10/10 · 7 April 2018]

Very strong opening sequence full of mysteries that will be resolved progressively. It is the kind of episodes I love so much. So entertaining and interesting.

Wow!

[johnkutac · 1/10 · 5 April 2018]

Had hoped for a rebound from Episode 1 but I'm somewhat speechless.

Not sure if it's really this bad or if I just don't care anymore.

The latter would be heartbreaking as man did I use to love this show.

WTF is this???

[foghorn_clj · 1/10 · 7 April 2020]

Episode 1 was woefully rushed and lacking in any real storytelling. This episode is just a cacophony of nonsense.

Scully and Mulder are not even Scully and Mulder in this episode. When did they all of a sudden become martial arts experts??????? And the storyline (if you want to call it that, I certainly wouldn't) was half baked and juvenile. And in an even bigger sin this episode in tonally flat. It's not funny or dramatic.

This episode is like a really bad Magic Mushroom trip. One you never ever EVER want to repeat.

Getting increasingly political

[madman-63862 · 4/10 · 7 October 2022]

The idea that a Russian force would operate on US soil as sanctioned by the "Executive Branch" hasn't aged well. Its an implication that Trump sanctioned the Russians to operate on American soil due to the "Russian Conspiracy" proven to be a hoax. It is a cheap and pandering storyline that is devised by the corrupt and complicit to be fed to the weak and subliminally manifest hatred and division. Hollywood and their leftist puppet masters believe in only one thing and that is the naivety of the American people. Keep politics out of entertainment it only alienates you from the audience. You're not convincing anyone to come over to your point of view. I gave it four stars because I liked seeing Langley even if he somehow aged in a computer simulation.

Season 11 is pure garbage.

[varuna12 · 1/10 · 16 January 2018]

The X-Files season 11 is nothing but pure garbage! A badly compiled semi-flushed residue of excrement in a public toilet facility. What the hell are they thinking? Where is the logic?

the owls are not what they seem

[birkuc · 2/10 · 13 January 2018]

Its like other creators made a brand new serie with the X-Files characters, maybe one of the biggest dissapoint ever...but give one more and bit hopeless chance next week! (+1 point for low "humour")

"Mulder, the gravediggers work at night?"

[filmaxter · 4/10 · 25 November 2018]

OMG, first....please,STOP the music.....

BTW...was Mr Duchovny paid?..he "acts" like a "dont-give-a-f...all the time...."

Maybe he's on medication or something...

Scully sounds like a 70 years old woman..

Skinner is the best until now..always faithful to the character..The smoking man...is very old...so...he has some kind of excuse...

They intraction looks very forced, fake and mechanic...

THE F&%$-FILES

Deadly stupid

[jonathancrossland · 1/10 · 1 January 2021]

Glen Morgan wanted to do an action flick but instead he ruined XFiles.

WTF was that?! Chris Carter died. His double is miserable & boring

[stunt-797-75665 · 1/10 · 11 January 2018]

This episode is not X-files. It's even worse than self-parody. Scully has a voice of a junkie drunkard or has a throat cancer implanted by his son (son of Sun) probably. She should drink less. Mulder looks like he lacks sleep & dies of boredom. Both look like stupid, pure morons reciting meaningless words. Some greyhaired dude is following them for no reasons. They resurrect someone but he's not Christ. Plot doesn't exist and all walking & talking is pointless. They talk about eternal life. What a bull... Ch. Carter died 20 years ago or 25. This is pure boredom and fakery. Stay away from it. Oh, music-you will hate it too!

My 2 Cents....

[charles-boecher · 4/10 · 3 April 2018]

Firstly, sounds like everyone realizes that Gillian Anderson either doesn't remember how to act the part, or doesn't want to. They don't seem to realize how to incorporate new technology into the plot line well, and the music is terrible. I have the X-files box set, ok! I actually worked for the federal government, and I think the original show is great. I'm listening to Days of Our Lives type music in this episode. And.... you seriously had to put into this episode that the Executive Branch is basically in collusion with Russian contractors? Seriously poor taste, and just overall bad! Sorry to David Duchovny, who seems to still be able to play the part. That said, maybe Andrew McCabe is the FBI advisor? Maybe that's why it's so bad? In closing, I'd rather see a different actress if Gillian Anderson can't hack it (Even if she does have throat cancer, like another reviewer implied)