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Take Two: THE X-FILES Season 9 (Part 1)

September 7, 2023 by  

THE X-FILES Season 9 (Part 1)

Credit: Fox

On Friday, September 10, 1993, Fox debuted THE X-FILES. Now, ahead of the show’s 30th anniversary, Give Me My Remote is looking back at all 11 seasons (and the two feature films) in a new daily series Take Two.

If you’ve read About Last Night, this will be formatted in a similar way: Each episode will get its own subsection/reaction, though in this case there may be slight spoilers or alluding to what comes ahead in the series. In the event a major spoiler is discussed, there will be a warning to be extra safe. Each Take Two will cover approximately 5 episodes and will wrap up the Friday before the show’s 30th birthday.

(I’ll also note how I’m watching the episodes, because some of the streaming platforms have utilized syndicated cuts of this show.)

Today, we’re starting season 9!

(These were viewed on the original season 9 DVD set—released back in 2004. The episodes are also streaming for free on Freevee or with a Hulu subscription.)

“Nothing Important Happened Today”:

I’ll be blunt: I’ve rewatched season 9 in full at least five times. (I honestly couldn’t say for sure how many, but I’ve done a full series rewatch a few times, plus the initial time it aired and when it came out on DVD.) I could not explain this mythology to you with any confidence if you paid me $10 million right now. (I mean, I’d try. My brain blocks it out, constantly.)

Rewatching this, it’s kind of easy to see why. They had touched on the supersoldiers with Billy, etc., but now we have a whole bunch of new players right after losing Mulder. Rather than focusing on the known entities and the needed shifts, it’s like throwing a hundred things at the wall to see what sticks. And, yeah, it’s a rough premiere.

  • Mulder only had 48 hours with Scully and William? Kill me. (They deserved better and more.)
  • The new credits are really jarring. I know there was an obvious tweak last season because of the cast shift, but it looks so shiny and smooth in season 9. I had, frankly, forgotten they were including fan names from the official message boards, though, so that was a funny reminder.
  • While I understand Doggett’s hurt that Scully won’t tell him what’s going on with Mulder, how has he not realized by now she will do literally anything in her power to protect him for anyone/everything?
  • Loved the tidbit with Monica seeing Mulder’s pencils on the ceiling and a soft version of the show’s theme playing.




“Nothing Important Happened Today II”:

The best part of this arc is the twist at the end that, uh, Kersh might actually be trying to help the good guys?! (Spoiler alert, but that becomes important later.) The show had backed him into a corner with Doggett investigating him, but with the reveal he may have saved Mulder’s life and tipped Doggett off…well, he becomes a murky question mark. 

Realistically, I understand why it made sense to question WTF was going on with William and how human he actually is, but, man, I wish Scully had been able to just enjoy motherhood for a little bit before having to worry her child was a supersoldier. And if you were going to dig into this now, maybe it shouldn’t have been a thing in season 11? Sigh.

  • Shannon decapitating Knowle—before being killed by a hand through her chest—is one of the most gruesome sequences of the series. Absolutely brutal.
  • (And, yes, Lucy Lawless was squandered in this role.)
  • While I appreciate the Kersh of it all, and the fact that Scully helped push Mulder to leave, I don’t know why they played coy with the why of it over two episodes. Just say his life was in danger and his being there threatened Scully and William. Bam, easy. 

“Dæmonicus”:

For as absent as Scully was during large chunks of season 8 due to her pregnancy, seeing her at Quantico is still jarring. Also, did this poor woman get any kind of real maternity leave? She had a very traumatic birth and probably had years of overtime banked. Let this woman spend time with her child.

James Remar is good in this episode, but it also feels…off. On paper, I get why this was a good introduction to the “new” show…it’s grounded enough that Doggett isn’t out of his element, but there’s a weird factor for Reyes. But it feels like some of it might have held more weight (like Kobold’s insistence that Doggett has feelings for Scully and is in Mulder’s shadow) if it was a little further removed from Mulder leaving. (Smart of Kobold to do his research and try to find their weak points, though.)

Also, to be clear, that projectile vomit scene was gross and I yelped. I, seemingly, blocked that out, too.



“4-D”:

Feels weird to say I loved an episode where one main character killed another in the hopes it would set things right with the alternate universe mess they found themselves in. But I love how we’re in Monica’s shoes for a lot, truly unable to grasp what’s going on—how could Doggett be fighting for his life when he was just in her apartment bringing her Polish sausages? (Also, of course I love alternate universe stories.)

But I will say I wish this episode had been placed later in the season. Doggett and Reyes’ cute banter in her apartment—and the deep trauma and grief she went through when deciding to pull the plug and risk it would lead to “her” Doggett returning—would have had more of an impact had we had more than a couple of episodes with them together. (Not to jump ahead, but it’s part of why I love “Audrey Pauley.”)

Even still, it’s a good episode. And centering it around Reyes lets it be a bit more supernatural-y, even though the other Doggett is the first one to suggest maybe one of each of them can exist in each universe.

  • I loved Scully acknowledging she saw her dad as he was dying/in the immediate aftermath. A lovely callback to season 1.
  • I completely laughed that a character was watching DAYS OF OUR LIVES. It’s rare to see that on a non-NBC show.

“Lord of the Flies”:

Holy guest star-palooza. Aaron Paul! Jane Lynch! Samaire Armstrong! 

It’s a perfectly fine episode, and honestly elevated because it’s a weirder thing that’s harder to be explained away by science. But a solid case that could have easily fallen in the earlier seasons.

(But, okay, it would have been really funny if they called Bambi. Instead, we got a creepy expert who insisted that “mothers are women, too.” I need to shower for approximately 907913 years now, thanks.) 



“Trust No 1”:

Back when this first aired in 2002, I remember desperately hoping they had pulled off a stealth David Duchovny return. I didn’t know if it was even feasible, but, man, I was hoping for a brief glimpse of him, somehow.

And while Duchovny isn’t in this hour, Mulder is—both via his emails to Scully and via a very far away glimpse of a man running. For as much as Duchovny really isn’t in season 9, it rarely feels like Mulder is absent between multiple episodes with body doubles for Mulder (this and “NIHT”), and, well, stuff that happens toward the end of the series. It makes his absence less glaring.

It’s a really solid, if wildly twisted/disturbing episode of the show. Of course people would use Scully to get to Mulder. As smart as they are, how they didn’t see through this…well, I guess it also plays into their own desperation to find an excuse to see each other.

Scully being so closely monitored? Good lord. How absolutely violating on every single level. This airing in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 makes it a lot more chilling—and plausible—people of interest would be heavily monitored. But my God, the mysterious dude knew her clothing size. He knew about her and Mulder sleeping together. Every element of Scully’s life gets violated.

  • Look, Mulder/Scully will always be one of my favorite couples of all time, but their emails to each other (now) always make me laugh. “My dearest Dana”? “I remain forever yours”? As I said to a friend, it’s like they’re sending wartime correspondence in the early 1900s. 
  • Man, that episode-opening montage was gorgeous.
  • “I was as surprised as you are.” Sir, have you not watched the 7 seasons that led up to that, or…?
  • (Also, I cannot believe it took a creeper to canonically confirm that Mulder and Scully slept together.)
  • The giddy-nervous joy on Scully’s face when she says Mulder is coming is absolutely perfect and heartbreakingly great acting from Gillian Anderson. As is the equal anguish when she realizes the train that Mulder is on won’t be stopping and they’ll be separated yet again. I hate this separation so much, but there’s at least fantastic acting involved.

What did you think of these THE X-FILES episodes?

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