I quite liked the episode, and I found their mockery of racists like @Dinner highly amusing - even down to the use of the line "coming over here, taking our jobs". Definitely up for more, and the ratings suggest that will happen.
Haven't watched the miniseries yet, but do they talk at all about why the colonization/invasion never happened in 2012 like it was supposed to?
Sure, I don't mind. It will probably be a while before I get around to watching it anyway. You can put it in spoiler tags. I'm just curious how they explained it away, considering how important it was to the series finale.
I forgot how to do spoiler tags, but basically it was delayed and was sort of a false flag. The aliens were here to help, it's the government that is sinester. I'll leave it at that. You'll get the rest.
Huh. That's... interesting. It is funny how many endings this show has gotten. Originally the show was only supposed to go five seasons. The appropriately title season 5 finale ('The End') was supposed to wrap up the show and lead into the movie. But the show was more popular than they imagined and they got a sixth season. And then they thought they would wrap up the show in season 7. Duchovny wanted out, the Syndicate was dead, and the mystery of Mulder's sister was resolved. So the season 7 finale ('Requiem') was written as both a season finale and a series finale. It tried to bring the show full circle by taking them back to their first case, killing off Cancer Man, and Mulder deciding it was time to give up the quest. But it had a frustrating cliffhanger ending that pretty much demanded a follow up. Mulder abducted and Scully pregnant? The season 8 finale ('Existence') also was a quasi series finale. It reunited Mulder and Scully and left them on a happy note, ready to leave the X-Files to others and live normal lives with their child while Doggett, Reyes, and Skinner continued on with the X-Files. This was probably the best ending for the show. But season 9 came along and said 'fuck you!' to the happy ending. Mulder was gone again and their child became some sort of Messiah. Finally, the show was mercifully put to rest with 'The Truth'. Cancer Man appeared again and was then seemingly killed off again. Didn't we do this 2 seasons ago? But then we got a lackluster movie and now this follow up miniseries which leaves everything unresolved again.
Well, I think it's pretty certain there will be more based on the ratings. I have enjoyed the run, but undoubtedly the mythology episodes were the weakest and I find that disappointing because it was my favourite part of the show in the early days. I think Carter suffers from the same problem as Roddenberry and Lucas. While he is the creator, left to his own devices his output can be very hit or miss and I think he has been the weak link ever since Duchovny left after season 7 as the direction of the later seasons and the second movie were very much coming from him and him only. It's the other talents involved that have helped to raise the material and put a new spin on it when the show has been at it's best. If the show comes back I think he should simply do a rough treatment for the mythology episodes and otherwise leave it to different writers and a different director to put it on screen.
The six episodes were wildly uneven in tone and quality, but none of them felt like classic X-Files. The two myth-arc episodes were total crap. As I watched this last episode, seeing Scully somehow manage to drive her magic SUV down the traffic-clogged highway even though all other vehicles were hopelessly trapped, I simply couldn't believe that this shit was the best they could come up with to try and revive the series. Smoking Man? He's alive after being hit point-blank by a sidewinder missile? Why wasn't he blown into a million pieces? Who rescued him from the desert and took him to a hospital? They bring back Agent Reyes only to reveal she's recycling the Diana Fowley plotline (minus the romance with Mulder). If X-Files does return, Chris Carter needs to be kept away from it. Darrin Morgan, James Wong, Vince Gilligan - these guys were the real creative force behind the show.
Yeah, I'd like more, but just based on the hope that it would get better. And that hope is contingent on Chris Carter taking a back seat to better writing talent. Duchuvney & Anderson have undeniable chemistry that makes them enjoyable to watch no matter how shit the story. That's worth a second chance by itself. Producers would kill for the kind of chemistry those two have and the amount of love fans have for them.