So....I've been long out of regular X-Files viewership, but I was a big fan of the show, saw every episode more than once, etc. Today I happened to catch a rerun of Blood, and listening to Scully's autopsy report on some victim, it struck me, after being away from TXF for so long, how incredibly cerebral the show was, especially in the earlier seasons. I've heard other shows I've watched described as "smart," but few if any get as straight-up technical on such a regular basis as TXF. And what's great (and somewhat surprising) is that it worked. Apparently, it didn't bore the pants off people to hear Scully go on about analyzing the chemicals in someone's eyeballs. Anyway, just wanted to share that flash of S2 (and, really, all the earlier seasons) love.

I think that Season 2 is the third best season, behind Seasons 4 and 3. Gillian's pregnancy forced this show establish itself.

Watched Fresh Bones last night for the first time (What?? I know.) Wow- is that one creepy episode.

Wow, JB, how'd you manage to miss it for so long? The freakiest thing about it, IMO, is when that freaky guy comes out of Scully's palm. That's plain freaky.

But I like it. For some reason that I can't really put my finger on. Maybe because of the freakiness?

I watched Fresh Bones for the 2nd time tonight, and I'd forgotten how creepy it was. I remembered the kid having been dead all that time, but not the other not-dead and especially not the buried alive scene at the end. Or the Scully palm. Ick, double ick, and then some.

It doesn't take place too long after Irresistible, so I can't imagine that Scully was too keen on yet again being around cemeteries and desecrated bodies.

Kanel- I have no idea!! I watched on and off for the first two (or so) seasons before I became a regular viewer, Fresh Bones must have been one of the "off" weeks.

I like Fresh Bones a lot, except for the kid actor who played Chester. Perhaps he wouldn't have been so bad without that atrocious accent. Still, it's a good ep, and the guy coming out of Scully's hand is a creepiness high point for the series.

COLONY is airing on WGN tonight. I have not seen it in a long time, but I remember liking it a lot.

I caught Fresh Bones too, what interested me was the fact that it dealt with the issue of military officers abusing foreign prisoners nearly a decade before Abu Ghraib.

All that aside I've always found it to be an interesting episode. There's the general creepiness of the episode plus it took place in my home state North Carolina, not to mention a guest appearance of Daniel Benzali.

Did you guys see the new Now or Never t-shirt? I'm so there.

You can never have too many t-shirts...LOVE it!

END GAME is airing on WGN tonight. I love this episode. The ending was divine.

That was on the local Long Island channel last night. I had forgotten what a good episode that was- it made me so nostalgic for young Scully.

Yep, got my mother sucked into "End Game" while I was watching it last night. The funny thing is, she was the kind of parent who forbid me from watching things like The X-Files when I was young. And now whenever I'm watching a rerun she'll hop down on the couch and settle in for the long haul. Ha. She wanted an answer for every little detail (not as hard to provide as I'd expected, it still being season 2) and got all moony-eyed at the ending, of course. She is a fangirl at heart.

What is the ending?!?! I don't remember which episode "End Game" was....

http://xfphotos.fredfarm.com/season2/end_game/cap749.jpg

Alien Bounty Hunter has taken Scully hostage and wants Mulder to trade Samantha for her. He does, on a bridge, but the FBI snipers Mulder brought along to try to shoot ABH in the back of the neck shoot Samantha instead. ABH and Samantha both fall off the bridge. Samantha had left a note for Mulder directing him to a women's clinic, where he finds many more Samantha clones. But ABH sets fire to the clinic and kills the Samanthas. Mulder asks X where he can find ABH. X is pissy but eventually tells him to look in Alaska.

While Mulder and ABH fight in a submarine under the ice (?), Scully begs Skinner to help her find Mulder, and when he refuses, summons X. X is pissy and tight-lipped.
Skinner beats him up in the elevator and gives Scully Mulder's location. Mulder has shot ABH but not fatally, and ABH tries to cut him in half with the submarine. No dice.

When Scully finds him in an emergency room, Mulder's going to die from the green alien blood, but Scully takes over the resecue efforts as she is wont to do and saves him. Mulder wakes up. Scully smiles the above smile. We actually get to see her teeth for the first time when she says, "hey." Mulder says he did not find what he was looking for, but he did find something more important: the faith to keep looking. More smiling from Scully.

Thanks, Crow!

I watched Little Green Men last night and the final scene with Mulder's "I still have you" nearly made me cry.

Also, does anyone else think that early S2 Mulder looks like Alfred E Neuman? This isn't a very good example but if you watch the whole scene it's quite striking.

Could someone explain CSM's and Krycek's roles in SLEEPLESS, please? I don't have the episode in my possession, and it has been many years since I have seen it. I'm reading transcripts, but I need more clarification.

Krycek became Mulder's new partner. Both Mulder and Scully refused to shake his hands. Scully seemed annoyed with him.

What did this episode have to do with the conspiracy?

I love this last exchange. I had forgotten about it until tonight.

Nice catch. Hadn't put that together before. Tho' Scully doesn't shake cos she's wearing surgical gloves.

FEARFUL SYMMETRY is airing tonight. I have absolutely no recollection of this episode. Maybe my local station did not air it. *shrug*

Is it really as bad as people say?

It includes Scully inside an elephant corpse. Other than that, I'd say it was pretty forgettable.

I sort of like the whole "aliens harvesting the animals of the world" thing but can certainly see why people would not like this episode. But, as MOD SUIT pointed out, Scully does climb into an elephant corpse, and that's something you don't see every day:
http://xfphotos.fredfarm.com/season2/fearful_sym/cap190.jpg

My friend called me halfway through the episode, so I did not watch it.

However, I must say that Mulder's hair in this episode was way too spikey. It was funny. Boy, Mulder looked so young in this episode.

I actually really got into this episode, so much so in fact that I found myself crying at the end. I'm a total sap, especially when it comes to animals.

Okay, so I just watched 3 last night. And I gotta say, while it's not as bad as I'd remembered it (first and last viewing: fall of 1994), it was pretty damn mediocre. I did like how sulky Mulder was due to Scully's disappearance (you also forget, in the beginning he turns the calendar to November - she'd been missing for some time!), but I still can't believe he had a one night's stand with that psycho vampire chick. Even if she really was David's girlfriend at the time.

Luckily, One Breath falls right after that on the DVD, and it was the soothing balm to the irritation that 3 had caused. Sigh. That there's a good episode. Although... "Superstars of the Superbowl"?? What, were they out of "All-time Tennis Greats"? At least then she'd have some hot guys to look at...

I lovvvvvvvvve that. Self-destructive behavior in the face of despair over his missing platonic-lover. Bad judgment, sure, but Good Drama! Good Times!

Eh. I could have done without it. But didja notice how 1013 stuck it to shippers when Kristin Kilar says something like, "You lost someone... not a lover, a friend." I was like, he's SO her lover, just not in the widely understood definition of the term, beeatch!

Maybe I've just never liked any of the women Mulder's had relationships with or attractions to. I mean, c'mon: The Fowl One, Kristin, Phoebe, Bambi... I shudder at all of them.

Course, I don't think I ever liked any of Scully's beaus either. Except maybe that boring date guy from JERSEY DEVIL. He was pretty harmless.

Let's face it: M&S are just MFEO. ;)

Sorry... so, topic. Um, how creepy is Donnie Pfaster??

Beyond creepy. Scariest "monster" to have EVER been on that show. Too human for me.

Okay, true story: I used to work at a talent agency that reps Nick Chinlund (Donnie Pfaster, to the uninitiated). I'd have to talk to him on occasion, and he's such the nicest guy ever, but the first time, it creeped me out that I was talking to Donnie Pfaster! Ahh! I told my boss, an agent, about how his guest appearancce on X Files has creeped me out since I first saw it when I was, like 14, and he's like, "You're a grownup now. Get over it." I tried, but no dice. Thankfully I didn't have to talk to him that often. Felt kinda bad for Nick, though, because he's so typecast as the bad guy. Yet he's sooooo good at being bad...

Oh god. I saw him on some lame show over the weekend and I squealed. In horror.

I'm sure he's the nicest guy ever. But oh man. Every time I see him I hear "Do you use shampoo for chemically treated hair?" :cringe:

He played a cute father who asked out Lorelai on Gilmore Girls. Of course, I can't see him as anyone other than Donnie Pfaster, so when Lorelai was flirting with him, I was like, "No!! Run for your life! He'll rip out your fingernails!"

At least you didn't run out of the GAP when he walked in like some people.

I once saw him on some E! thing about Con Air, which apparently he was in (I have not seen it). They interviewed him and he was talking about the movie, you know, and I was like, "Who is that dude? He looks so familiar." He had curly hair and a beard. I thought he was kind of cute. And then I realized it was Donnie Pfaster and I practically passed out in horror.

ROFL!

He sticks with you no matter what he does.

He could cure all diseases and I'd still be hearing "There's nowhere to hide, girly girl" whenever I saw him.

Gaaaah. Horrifying.

About the whole calendar thing in 3 and it showing how long Scully's been missing.

I don't think it's the case that she's been missing for all the months taht Mulder flips through (I think May to November).

I thought that when I first saw it too. But after watching it recently I just think that it's the first time Mulder's been on an X-file since they were shut down the previous May (end of Season 1), and the first time he's been in that office to change the calendar.

That's why the calendar has so many months to skip, not because Scully's been gone that long. Doesn't it come out later that she was missing for about 3 or 4 weeks or so?

I believe she was missing for approximately two months.

They changed the timeline. At first, she had been missing for at least 2 to 3 months. During the cancer arc, they changed it to 3 or 4 weeks.

Dumbasses.

But, to be fair, didn't we think that because of the calendar thing? I think secretsmile's take on that makes a lot of sense. Or maybe they actually said how long she was gone and my defense is moot.

Ugh. Just when I think I know something, turns out 1013 changed it on me.

I want to love them but they make it so hard.

Vince Gilligan and Darin Morgan should've written the whole damn series.

Why would Scully's mother order her a tombstone if it had only been 3 weeks?

Because a tombstone is a great visual.

But, seriously, I'm going with secretsmile's theory.

There has to be suspension of disbelief on that tombstone no matter how long she was missing. It takes Forever to order those things. I agree it was for visual impact, and not very realistic in more ways than one.

According to this timeline, she went missing around August and came back around November.

And the timeline site also points out:



So, maybe he did just like the November photo, especially since he paused at August (unless that's supposed to mean he's thinking of Scully being abducted then - a very viable option):
http://xfphotos.fredfarm.com/season2/3/cap004.jpg
Because since FIRESTARTER has a date stamp of November and is Scully's first case post-abduction and if she was returned in November, that's a helluva fast recovery time.

I give up trying to understand this show. You think I would've learned.

It's like a drug.

Too many questions, not enough sense.

Quit bogarting the bong! Pass it this way.