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The X-Files Season 11 Review

The eleventh season of The X-Files is a big improvement upon its predecessor and it’s actually one of the better seasons overall. It ended the entire show on a somewhat high note.

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“Imagine a government who could literally control the minds

of its citizens by exposing their minds to a poison.

It’s happening. It’s happenin’ right now!“

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While the previous season only had six episodes, this one thankfully returned to the ten-episode format. My Struggle III continues this uninteresting and badly written storyline about Mulder and Scully’s son and it’s just tiresome by this point. This is a solid episode that is about the dangers of artificial intelligence. It’s one of the many thriller-oriented stories here.

Plus One is another intense thriller that is all about doppelgangers. How this franchise hadn’t dealt with this idea before is confounding when it’s perfect for it. The execution here is phenomenal and highly effective while the main character is memorable and well developed. The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat is a silly episode that is more comedic than serious, but it’s one of the most charming episodes in recent X-Files history that benefits from funny Mulder childhood flashbacks and a wonderful ode to the great ‘Twilight Zone’.

Ghouli is a weaker episode about annoying teenagers and whenever the show dealt with the duo’s son in these two seasons, it was bound to be mediocre. Kitten isn’t the best-written episode in terms of the script, though the Monster of the Week approach mostly worked. This installment is particularly important for the intriguing return of Skinner and I was glad to see him back on the show.

Rm9sbG93ZXJz is this odd episode about the dangers of technology and particularly focusing on A.I. in its various forms as we follow Mulder and Scully get monitored and annoyed by countless devices. It’s a solid episode that is obviously thematically important, but it belongs more to something like ‘Black Mirror’ than this show. Familiar is an intense and gory excursion dealing with demons and it’s quite entertaining with a great ending, though this season’s focus on gore was overwhelming.

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Nothing Lasts Forever is terrific. The story ritual killings and consuming organs was quite gory, but effectively executed and very engaging. But the highlight here came toward the end when Mulder and Scully had this amazing, deep conversation that signaled not only his acknowledgement of the importance of faith, but also the end of this entire franchise. It was very moving. My Struggle IV is only memorable for the solid appearance of Cigarette Smoking Man, but otherwise it concluded this Mulder and Scully’s son storyline weakly and I wish to choose the previous installment as the finale to the entire series myself.