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Take Two: THE X-FILES Season 6 (Part 3)

August 25, 2023 by  

THE X-FILES Season 6 (Part 3)

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 continuing season 6!

(These were viewed on the original season 6 DVD set—released back in 2002. The episodes are also streaming for free on Freevee or with a Hulu subscription.)

“Tithonus”:

This is a fine episode, but part of the reason it isn’t elevated more is because it’s impossible to not think of “Clyde Bruckman” while watching this. This is considerably more serious than “Clyde,” but you’ve got a man who bonds with Scully and who is hyper-aware of death. (There’s even an allusion to Scully being immortal.) It just can’t live up to “Clyde Bruckman.” So it’s a fine episode, perfectly okay to mindlessly put on.

  • Kersh…King of Passive Aggressive. His disdain for Mulder is funny as hell, though.
  • “Hi, my name is Fox Mulder, we used to sit next to each other at the FBI.” Poor Mulder.
  • “Most people want to live forever.” “Most people are idiots.”
  • Scully works one X-Files case without Mulder and gets shot…

“Two Fathers”:

It’s the first real mythology arc since Mulder and Scully were kicked off the X-Files, but of course they get dragged into things with the return of Cassandra Spender.

There’s a case to be made that this is the most important mythology arc of the entire series, at least for the larger mythology. Yes, there are bigger reveals and more memorable episodes, but in a lot of ways, this is an exposition dump arc, giving answers about the Syndicate and their history; heck, even Cassandra’s first abduction is officially tied to Samantha’s.

Of course, there’s also the official confirmation that Fowley is on the wrong side of the conspiracy, which is expected, but something only the audience knows for now. It’s interesting that it probably is more intriguing for Mulder’s storyline if Fowley is “bad”; it’s arguably more interesting for Scully’s storyline if Fowley is good. I think where they go with it ultimately works, but…alas.

  • “Keeping Fox Mulder down isn’t a job, it’s your dirty work.” Yikes. But true. And CSM once again proving he’ll never win father of the year after slapping Spender multiple times. Eesh. 
  • Mulder playing basketball and flirting with Scully? Yes, please, thanks.




“One Son”:

The show literally and figuratively burns a lot of its core mythology down in the episode, killing the Syndicate members in such a brutal way. The past isn’t exactly buried—there’s still the Samantha of it all to go, plus the aftereffects of what was done to Scully continues on, too—but it’s interesting they took such a big swing at this point in the show.

The episode does show the full scope of how absolutely cruel CSM is. There’s never been any doubt he’s evil, but with the people closest to him, there was an iota of humanity. We’ve seen his care for Teena and even for Mulder. Here, we see CSM claim he didn’t love Cassandra, but he wasn’t trying to hurt her by subjecting her to the torture/tests; he says, rather, he was trying to save her. You can’t help someone by torturing them without their consent. You just can’t.

And then of course there’s the Spender shooting; absolutely cruel he shot his son in cold blood.

Scully had been openly skeptical about Fowley before, but this was her taking a fairly sizable stand to Mulder—they don’t have the X-Files anymore, so her stakes in this are personal. If he won’t even listen to what she thinks is suspicious about his ex, which could seriously compromise their work, there’s nothing left for her anymore. (It becomes moot fast, but still.)

  • Mulder and Scully sneaking peeks at each other while they’re showering together is so funny. They’re not remotely stealth about it. Sure, why not flirt in the midst of a decontamination shower?
  • Speaking of weirdly charged (quasi-)ship moments, Krycek and Marita’s reunion is fantastic. I don’t know how much people actively shipped them, to be fair, but they had a fling and their reunion in the middle of chaos was fun and charged—especially because they had a conversation about the conspiracy falling apart with a frustrated Spender right there, upset he doesn’t know what’s going on.

“Agua Mala”:

Is it funny they did this hurricane-set episode after they moved to LA where it rarely rains? Yes. Is it a good episode? Ehhh. (I did, however, consider jumping ahead in my rewatch to this during the recent hurriquake in Los Angeles. I was good and did not.)

This is akin to “Rain King” in that it’s ridiculous, but it’s just not fun or engaging enough. It’s not terrible, it’s just not in my top 15 episodes of the season.

Also: it’s been over two decades…do you think Scully and Mulder have looked back on their hurricane experience and laughed yet, like Mulder said they would?

“Monday”:

The GROUNDHOG’S DAY trope isn’t the easiest one to pull off on TV—not only is there a short amount of time to establish it, but you have to keep the repeating engaging enough and also be able to condense the original storyline when it comes time to break the cycle—but I love this episode.

Part of it may be that Carrie Hamilton is underrated and great in the hour. You need to instantly buy into her anguish that this has been going on forever before we even are let into this story. You need to buy her helplessness and hopelessness, but still that tiny bit of determination lives on as she tries to convince Mulder and Scully of her plight. If a lesser performer was at the emotional core of it, I don’t know if it would work as well as it does.

  • It is extremely funny that Morris is belatedly causing mayhem for Mulder with that damn waterbed, but, to be a buzzkill for a second: How did Mulder, who is suspicious of everything, not immediately remove that thing and have his place swept for bugs? I’d be freaked out if I got home and discovered my place was cleaned and I suddenly had a very, uh, specific kind of bed. And I’m not even investigating government conspiracies with people constantly out to get me! (Well, as far as I know.)
  • “Cover for me, will you?” “When do I not?”

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

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