The X-Files Season 10 Epis 1-2 Reviews: Are We Truly Alone Or Are We Being Lied To?

Our prayers have been answered. After a 13 year absence, "The X-Files" returns with a six part series. It originally aired in 1993 and ran for nine seasons. Mulder and Scully pick up right where we left them-- trying to uncover a vast alien conspiracy. On a somewhat related note, is it just me or is Gillian Anderson getting more beautiful as she ages? Is the cause alien botox? That's the next case to investigate.

Episode 1 "My Struggle" begins with Mulder quickly going through the past history of the X-Files including the abduction of his sister. Next we see a spaceship crash in New Mexico in 1947. Fox asks "Are we truly alone or are we being lied to?" Cue the iconic title sequence.

Skinner is still working for the government. He calls Scully and tells her to get in touch with Fox. Their relationship ended some time ago. Over the years, Fox has become a recluse. Dana has fared much better. She is still a surgeon and works with children suffering from microsa (without ears). Those children look strangely like aliens.

Tad O'Malley (Joel McHale) is a rich investigative reporter. He takes the Mulder and Scully to rural Virginia to meet a woman named Sveta. Fox interviewed her years ago right after her first abduction. Sveta reveals scars on her stomach. She's been impregnated multiple times by aliens and the babies taken away.

Sveta senses Fox and Dana were a couple and had a child (William) together. She says Fox has been depressed and that caused the end of their relationship. Sveta also recognizes Scully as a fellow abductee.

There are flashbacks to the Roswell incident. Soldiers find an alien crawling out of a spaceship. What do they do? Why, shoot it of course. Stupid humans! The doctor takes the body and leaves. He'll later show up as an old man who encourages Mulder to find the truth.
O'Malley next takes Fox to see a hidden flying saucer. The warp drive is powered by element 115 (ununpentium). This technology has existed for years but big oil and car companies have suppressed it.

Mulder and Tad go on a diatribe about how an elite group plans to take over the world and turn humans into alien hybrids. OK then. It doesnt make a whole lotta sense but whatever. I'll roll with it. Meanwhile Scully retests her and Sveta's blood. The results confirm both have alien DNA in their bodies.

Sveta frantically tries to escape town. She tells the media that Tad made her lie about everything. A spaceship flies over her car on a deserted road. She is blown to smithereens. Elsewhere the hidden spaceship is destroyed by soldiers. Tad's website is taken offline and he's missing. And in the final scene we see the Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM) still smoking through his trach tube. He says "We have a small problem. They've reopened the X-Files." Uh oh.

"Founder's Mutation" begins with Dr Sanjay freaking out at a company called Nugenics. He hears a loud buzzing sound and sees birds gathering outside. He tries to access something on the company's servers and stabs himself in the head with a letter opener.

Mulder steals his phone and contacts someone named Gupta. The guy turns out to be Sanjay's secret boyfriend. Gupta thinks Mulder wants sex. He says "the truth is in IN there" (meaning his penis). Haaa, that's a fun take on the usual "the truth is OUT there" theme.

Scully and Mulder enter Sanjay's apartment. They of course use their trademark flashlights. Why dont they just turn on the lights? I have no idea. There are lots of pictures of children with genetic abnormalities. Fox starts to hear the same high pitched noise as Sanjay. Mulder asserts the children are failed experiments involving alien DNA. The Department of Defense (DOD) is behind the research.

Off they go to see the "founder" (Augustus Goldman) and meet many of the children from Sanjay's pictures. Next they off to see Dr Goldman's wife. She is confined to the hospital for killing her unborn child many years ago. But things are not as they seem. The Goldmans have another child named Molly. She was found at the bottom of a swimming pool breathing in water. Augustus had done something to the child. Mrs Goldman flees but crashes her car. The baby tells her to cut her stomach open. It crawls out and escapes. Those alien babies sure are tough!

Scully and Mulder visit Kyle Gilligan. He's Goldman's other child (ie the alien baby from above) and is looking for his sister Molly. They communicate telepathically. Kyle mentally kills Dr Goldman by making blood spurt out of all his orifices. The kids escape.

Both Dana and Fox have visions of what William would have been like if they had known him.

Favorite Quotes:

"Are we truly alone or are we being lied to?"- Fox Mulder.
"For better or worse, we've moved on with our lives."- Scully. "Yes we have, for better or for worse."- Mulder.
"I'm prepared to blow open the most evil conspiracy the world has ever known."- Tad.
"Testing yourself for alien DNA?"- Tad to Dana.
"I've been misled. We've been misled. What if there is no alien conspiracy. What if everything we've been led to be believe is a lie... Sveta is the key to everything."- Fox to Scully.
"We have a small problem. They've reopened the X-Files."- the Cigarette Smoking Man.
"I'm old school Mulder, pre Google"- Scully.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). "The X-Files" is just getting back into the swing of things. From what I've read, later episodes are much better. The vast government conspiracy is hard to follow (and a bit much to swallow). I still love the show though so am willing to overlook any minor grievances. The truth is still out there...