Sky Commander Winky wrote this script!
Let’s get something straight right away. I hate this episode.
But, then, I hate William!
It’s not the baby’s fault. He’s probably as adorable as Scully thinks him.
I hate what he did to my all-time favourite TV character. I hate that he reduced her to, well - dare I say it? - a mother.
I hope you women out there – if there are any who read this blog – don’t misunderstand me.
I have nothing against motherhood. Or fatherhood, for that matter. My wife and I have two of the most beautiful, wonderful, gush gush children imaginable.
Only in the context of the X Files, and specifically, Scully, do I hate the baby.
I am gloriously happy for her as a human being. She had previously lamented her inability to have children in ‘Home’ and ‘Emily’, for instance. As a person, she is blessed by the birth of William.
But, Scully isn’t a person, is she? She’s a character in a TV show. Not just any character, mind, oh no. She’s a rational female character whose job it is to rationalize the actions of an emotional male. And she’s played by the greatest actress of her generation in Gillian Anderson. Chris Carter’s prose writing may be naff, but his courage to pit Gillian Anderson against David Duchovny was pure genius! As was his conception of the show.
So, why, oh why, did he decide that this beautiful, radical, inspirational character should be reduced to little more than a co-star in her own show?
I have been unable to watch Season 11 because, in its advertising, we have Scully say something like, “I need to find my son.” Come on!
No wonder Gillian Anderson has decided that she doesn’t want to do more. Every time that child is involved she, or her character, is reduced. In the same advertising, Scully is, once again, seen lying in a hospital bed. Really? For God’s sake!
It is easy for me to sit here, typing this, looking for relevance in a show that aired fifteen years ago. Could I conceive of the X Files? No, of course I couldn’t. Do I have even an inkling of what goes into producing a top-notch show in its ninth season? No, of course I don’t.
I do know that history teaches that those who linger die by their own humanity.
There is a reason why the best shows last five or six seasons. ‘Babylon 5’, five seasons; ‘Breaking Bad’, five seasons; ‘The Sopranos’, six seasons – and, yes, okay, ‘Mad Men’ seven. With 'Dexter' a prime example of why you should never go for eight seasons.
‘The Prisoner’, one season!
I rest my case!
And, then, 'Trust No 1'?
Really?
If there is one thing that the X Files had made as plain as Mulder’s speedos, it is the need to trust others.
Mulder, that man alone, trusted Scully, the Lone Gunmen, Skinner, Deep Throat, X, and any number of others. If the X Files has anything to say in this divisive world in which we find ourselves, it is that there are always those in whom we can trust. Mulder alone would never have survived as long as he did. And, now, we have to accept that he has just run off and left Scully and the baby?
None of this makes the least bit of sense.
Sky Commander Winky wrote this script!
But, then, I hate William!
It’s not the baby’s fault. He’s probably as adorable as Scully thinks him.
I hate what he did to my all-time favourite TV character. I hate that he reduced her to, well - dare I say it? - a mother.
I hope you women out there – if there are any who read this blog – don’t misunderstand me.
I have nothing against motherhood. Or fatherhood, for that matter. My wife and I have two of the most beautiful, wonderful, gush gush children imaginable.
Only in the context of the X Files, and specifically, Scully, do I hate the baby.
I am gloriously happy for her as a human being. She had previously lamented her inability to have children in ‘Home’ and ‘Emily’, for instance. As a person, she is blessed by the birth of William.
But, Scully isn’t a person, is she? She’s a character in a TV show. Not just any character, mind, oh no. She’s a rational female character whose job it is to rationalize the actions of an emotional male. And she’s played by the greatest actress of her generation in Gillian Anderson. Chris Carter’s prose writing may be naff, but his courage to pit Gillian Anderson against David Duchovny was pure genius! As was his conception of the show.
So, why, oh why, did he decide that this beautiful, radical, inspirational character should be reduced to little more than a co-star in her own show?
I have been unable to watch Season 11 because, in its advertising, we have Scully say something like, “I need to find my son.” Come on!
No wonder Gillian Anderson has decided that she doesn’t want to do more. Every time that child is involved she, or her character, is reduced. In the same advertising, Scully is, once again, seen lying in a hospital bed. Really? For God’s sake!
It is easy for me to sit here, typing this, looking for relevance in a show that aired fifteen years ago. Could I conceive of the X Files? No, of course I couldn’t. Do I have even an inkling of what goes into producing a top-notch show in its ninth season? No, of course I don’t.
I do know that history teaches that those who linger die by their own humanity.
There is a reason why the best shows last five or six seasons. ‘Babylon 5’, five seasons; ‘Breaking Bad’, five seasons; ‘The Sopranos’, six seasons – and, yes, okay, ‘Mad Men’ seven. With 'Dexter' a prime example of why you should never go for eight seasons.
‘The Prisoner’, one season!
I rest my case!
And, then, 'Trust No 1'?
Really?
If there is one thing that the X Files had made as plain as Mulder’s speedos, it is the need to trust others.
Mulder, that man alone, trusted Scully, the Lone Gunmen, Skinner, Deep Throat, X, and any number of others. If the X Files has anything to say in this divisive world in which we find ourselves, it is that there are always those in whom we can trust. Mulder alone would never have survived as long as he did. And, now, we have to accept that he has just run off and left Scully and the baby?
None of this makes the least bit of sense.
Sky Commander Winky wrote this script!
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