My Struggle II

I know I'm not alone in feeling icky after watching "My Struggle". Chris Carter seems to want us to forget all that happened in the first nine seasons: the black oil, purity control, the alien fetus, the alien rebels, the alien bounty hunter, the missing time, the staging, the supersoldiers, etc. Instead, we're led to believe that there was an alien crash in Roswell, but there haven't been aliens on Earth since then and everything else was just faked by the government with the alien technology taken from the Roswell crash. That would have been OK if done in season 1, but in season 10, it's just rewriting the complete story arc.

I was hoping in "My Struggle II", Carter would reveal to us that everything that we had learned in the first nine seasons hadn't been completely rewritten, but alas, he doubled down on it. There's no group of men conspiring with aliens, but just a group of men conspiring among themselves. I'm not going to reveal what the new conspiracy is, as it's revealed in the reviews with spoilers. Suffice it to say that it just doesn't match up with the first nine seasons.

Like so many, I was a fan of the original series although I don't recall following it all the way through to the end of its nine-season run in the 90's. I was very surprised but pleased to see it revived for another short, 6-episode run, helmed by creator Chris Carter and peopled with many characters from yesteryear. I enjoyed that there was no tampering with the title sequence or theme music, unlike say, recent episodes of "Dr Who". But would these shows echo the greatness of the early episodes when the programme was new...?

Looking back over the 6 episodes, I enjoyed it more than I dared hope. The big background story was Cancer Man's nefarious plan to kill off everyone on earth with a deadly alien virus bar a select few, including Scully but not Mulder. The cliff-hanging ending, with Scully trying to find the plague-infected Mulder on a gridlocked highway to administer an antidote only to be interrupted by what seems to be a flying saucer, certainly took me by surprise and I do hope that Carter and Co can write themselves out of this particular corner if they get the chance through another series.

In the preceding episodes there was an enjoyable mix of the serious and the light-hearted, the latter no doubt a nod to the "monsters from outer-space" origins of the show emanating from 1947 onwards. The plumb silly episode with the reverse lizard-man featured a voyeuristic image of Duchovny resplendent on a cheap motel bed in a pair of scarlet trunks I can't easily get out of my head together with another fantasy image of Anderson getting ravished in broad-daylight by the creature in human form. Then there was Mulder's Billy Ray Cyrus meets Saturday Night Fever drug-fuelled romp. I also loved the idea of the mini-me Mulder and Scully younger FBI agents who subsequently pair off with our heroes and who just scream "spin-off series". Amongst the more serious stuff, Scully lost her mother and pursued her given-up-for-adoption love-child with Mulder while the duo also got to interact with a truth-telling if sensationalist TV presenter acting as national whistle-blower.

As for the acting, Duchovny has definitely slowed down, almost to the point of coming across as self-consciously mannered although Anderson was just as she should be, long-suffering, sceptical but trusting of her partner.

The six episodes here were a bit hit and miss, but t'was ever thus. On the whole, I was glad to see the old truth-searching gang back again. Because it's still out there don't you know.

1. Fox can fight! Don't mean to blow this out of all proportion but I watched every episode of the first nine seasons and was known to comment on more than one occasion, gee, you would think that somewhere in FBI training they would have taught this guy to throw a punch? Well Carter (or someone) heard my plea and here we have the only instance I know of where Mulder actually shows some MMA. Loved it.

2. A lot of effort went into this script and the shame is that the effort is not immediately obvious on first viewing. Someone tried not only to tie up loose ends from the first 9 seasons but also incorporated more recent news, like the aluminium dust they are always dropping on our heads, no I am not a conspiracy nut, tests have been done that show this is real.

3. The switch from the semi-comic irony of the earlier episodes to "serious as a heart attack" is a bit sudden. All fans should be treated for whiplash.

4. The underlying gestalt (a problem much bigger than one TV series) is that as a culture, as a society, we have not only lost our belief that our rules want to help us but, worse, most of us subliminally feel they want to hurt us. Scary. And possibly true. Which makes it even scarier.

5. As for a rating, this episode, in spite of the whining of the fans, was entertaining as heck and kept this fan glued. What more do you want? Free pizza?

6. Over 2 dozen IMDb reviews for a single episode? No way this is anything less than a success.

I am speechless to read the highest rated review is a 1 star demolition. I thought this was utterly fantastic, it tied together for me what's been an incredible series. My Struggle II was fast paced, gripping, intelligent, brilliantly acted, and left me for one desperate for more. I loved that Mulder's Nemesis Smoking man made a return, great character. Great special effects once again, it felt like a huge budget blockbuster on times. Mulder and Scully Junior were once again good value, I can understand that die hard fans may not like them much, but I found them quite fun. That ending though, please don't leave us hanging there.

This has left me desperate for more episodes, so come on, another series please. 9/10

After a long hiatus, "The X-Files" returned for its 10th season, reigniting the nostalgia and excitement that made the show a cultural phenomenon. While the revival hasn't been flawless, it successfully captured much of the original's eerie, thought-provoking charm. The season balanced standalone "monster-of-the-week" episodes with overarching mythology, though not always gracefully. This tension came to a head in "My Struggle II," the season's explosive finale, which left fans both intrigued and frustrated. Because while it definitely feels like the culmination of many threads that have been dangling for decades, it can't help itself and goes along with some of the show's most annoying tropes.

The episode dives headfirst into a high-stakes conspiracy involving a global pandemic triggered by alien DNA tampering - a bold and timely concept. At its core, this is classic "X-Files": a world where paranoia is justified, and Mulder and Scully must race against time to expose the truth. The apocalyptic atmosphere is compelling, thanks to Anne Simon, Margaret Fearon, and Chris Carter's ambitious script. The ticking-clock narrative ramps up the tension effectively, delivering some gripping sequences, particularly Scully's desperate quest to synthesize a cure. However, the execution falters under the weight of its lofty ambitions. The shorter six-episode season didn't leave enough room for the complex mythology to develop organically. As a result, the finale's big revelations feel rushed and undercooked, more like a bullet-point checklist than a fully fleshed-out story. The episode attempts to weave together years of convoluted lore, but instead creates a tangled mess where meaningful emotional payoffs are scarce. The return of certain characters is a mixed blessing. Scully's scientific prowess is on full display, making her the true hero of the story, while Mulder's journey feels sidelined. Agent Monica Reyes' unexpected reappearance adds intrigue, though her motivations seem murky at best. Meanwhile, the Cigarette Smoking Man, long thought dead, emerges as the ultimate puppet master. While his return should've been thrilling, his presence feels more like fan service stretched past its expiration date. Perhaps the most divisive element is the jaw-dropping cliffhanger. It's a gutsy move that ensures fans will clamor for more - but also feels like a narrative escape hatch, avoiding definitive closure.

"My Struggle II" is "The X-Files" at its most ambitious and uneven. Its scope is admirable, its ideas intriguing, but its execution falls short of the show's best work. Despite its flaws, the episode - and the season as a whole - rekindles enough of the original spark to remind fans why they fell in love with "The X-Files" in the first place. The truth may still be out there, but the path to finding it could have been much clearer.