The Scientific Nature of the Whammy | Notorious Notes – Chapter 28

By
Nick Radford

The Scientific Nature of the Whammy

Heads up, I know a lot is going on in the wrestling world right now, especially with the #SpeakingOut movement, but I think right now, it’s important to save that space for the victims to speak and share their stories. I’ll probably have more to say about it in the next blog when people have more time to process and heal, but for now, I want to discuss something a little more lighthearted: the end of the saga that began as #13Seasonsin30days and ended up as #13Seasonsin90Days. This is what we consider The Scientific Nature of the Whammy.

A taste of what 3 months of X-Files looks like.

That’s right, after three long months I have finally finished watching all 11 seasons and 2 movies of The X-Files. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings, as would be expected after spending about 180 hours with something, especially in a condensed span of time. So I’d like to take advantage of this platform that I have been given to vomit my thoughts, feelings, concerns, and considerations to you, my dear reader. Be warned, SPOILERS BELOW!

First, the show overall was entertaining but definitely wavered in quality drastically. Some episodes were absolute masterpieces, while others honestly felt like a complete waste of time.

As with most shows, it really hit its stride around the middle of its run. Once they figured out the dynamic between Mulder and Scully, things really took off. I mostly enjoyed the Monster of the Week episodes, that’s what drew me to the show in the first place. Still, I appreciated the overarching conspiracy/alien story that held everything together – even if sometimes it didn’t really make sense or seemed to come out of nowhere.

The Scientific Nature of the Whammy

I didn’t hate the original finale, and I thought it was fine. It was smart to use a trial setting as a device to recap all the biggest events throughout the show and bring back some key characters. But it definitely would have had more effect on me if Mulder had been around at all during that final season instead of disappearing out of nowhere. That last season definitely felt like a shell of its former self.

I grew to like Agent DoggetT-1000 and what he added to the show, but Agent Reyes felt like nothing more than a stand-in for Sculley and a device to try and recreate that Mulder/Scully magic. I did appreciate that they at least brought Reyes back for the revival seasons, making her feel more vital to the story and giving her some purpose. Seeing her return gave me hope that Doggett would also return for the revival stuff, to which I was sadly disappointed.

Preferred from the Later Seasons

My favorite stuff from the later seasons of the original run is when we got Mulder and Doggett interactions. There was one episode that was pretty much just them together on an offshore oil rig, and it was GREAT – they’re dynamic was perfect. Mulder X Doggett is my OTP. My final note on the “X-Files: The Next Generation” seasons is that I despised how dirty they did my boys, The Lone Gunmen. I understand that their spinoff failed (surprising nobody, these are not leading men), but you didn’t have to kill them, especially offscreen and especially not while Mulder isn’t even around to mourn the loss of his friends. My favorite part of the revival seasons was that we at least got to have some closure between Mulder and Langley, even if it was just a digital recreation (plus the cameos during Mulder’s “mushroom trip”.

The movies were…oof. I liked the first one, just fine. It was a good excuse to blow a bunch of stuff up and really made everything feel bigger and more important. Plus, the image of the giant UFO coming out of the ice at the end is the only thing that stuck with me from when I was tangentially aware of X-Files as a kid and will continue to be burned into my brain. So good. The second movie was atrocious, an absolute waste of time. It felt like a glorified MotW episode and a poorly written one at that.

The Revival Seasons

The whole time I was just waiting for things to “pick up,” and they just never did. “That’s it? Nothing happened,” were my exact words, if I remember correctly. Like, it didn’t tie into the bigger story at large, it didn’t develop the characters at all. This is the first time we’re seeing Mulder and Scully in six years, and THIS is what brings them back? I understand that it was a financial success (and I understand why), but I’m honestly pretty surprised they greenlit a series revival after that thing. It’s best just to forget it even happened.

The Scientific Nature of the Whammy
I want to believe.

Finally, I appreciated what the revival seasons did for the story, and gosh there were some real masterworks in season 10. I liked that we got some “closure” on Scully’s kid, William, but I wasn’t keen on how by the “true” finale, it seemed like they were planning to continue the series by focusing on the kid. He was parkouring around and had all the angsty teen drama of a CW superhero show, so I could totally see it happening to try and corner that market, but it would definitely change the tone too much.

You’d think they would have learned enough from the foray into “The Next Generation” not to venture into “The Next Next Generation,” but who am I? It was weird how ambiguous Mulder and Scully’s relationship was in these revival seasons like I couldn’t tell if they were together or not. It often seemed like they were, but it was never explicitly stated (until the final episode), and they lived in different houses. 

Grateful To Be Complete

Overall, I’m glad I did it. I really liked that show, and this was a good excuse to finally watch it after having it sit on my watchlist for years. I definitely bit off more than I could chew in trying to watch everything in one month, so I’ll probably go back to my original format of #31MoviesIn31Days when October rolls back around. There are so many spooky shows that I want to watch; I just don’t know how to format this challenge for shows without overwhelming myself. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’d love to have a conversation about the show (or how to format this around tv shows), so hit me up in the comments or on social media and let’s discuss. This was The Scientific Nature of the Whammy.

WEAR A MASK!

The world is your burrito!

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