The X-Files: Season Four

The X-Files: Season Four, 1996-1997. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by Kim Manners (8 episodes), Rob Bowman (7), James Charleston (3), R. W. Goodwin (2), James Wong (1), Tucker Gates (1), Michael Lange (1), & Cliff Bole (1). Written by Carter (8 episodes), Frank Spotnitz (7), Howard Gordon (5), Vince Gilligan (5), Glen Morgan (4), John Shiban (4), Wong (3), Valerie Mayhew (1), Vivian Mayhew (1), David Greenwalt (1), & Goodwin (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: F
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: The first third or so of the season is awful. It starts to pick up again, but never gets anywhere near as good as it had been in previous seasons. The main story arc is stalling; those episodes are reduced to little more than bad poetry readings. C

GPA: 1.6/4

The X-Files: Season Three

The X-Files: Season Three, 1995-1996. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by Rob Bowman (8 episodes), Kim Manners (7), David Nutter (4), R. W. Goodwin (2), Carter (1), Tucker Gates (1), & James Charleston (1). Written by Carter (8 episodes), Howard Gordon (4), Frank Spotnitz (4), Darin Morgan (3), Jeffrey Vlaming (2), John Shiban (2), Kim Newton (2), Charles Grant Craig (1), Vince Gilligan (1), & Mat Beck (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: The show's sense of humor is growing rapidly. A few episodes this season are outright silly, and they are brilliant. Meanwhile, the more serious episodes continue to be pretty dumb, especially where the main story arc is concerned. B

GPA: 2.2/4

The X-Files: Season Two

The X-Files: Season Two, 1994-1995. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by Rob Bowman (7 episodes), David Nutter (5), R. W. Goodwin (2), Kim Manners (2), Daniel Sackheim (1), Carter (1), Michael Lange (1), Win Phelps (1), Stephen Surjik (1), Nick Marck (1), James Whitmore, Jr. (1), Michael Vejar (1), & James Contner (1). Written by Carter (7 episodes), Glen Morgan (5), James Wong (5), Howard Gordon (5), Paul Brown (2), Sara B. Charno (2), Frank Spotnitz (2), Chris Ruppenthal (1), Steve De Jarnatt (1), Alex Gansa (1), Darin Morgan (1), & Vince Gilligan (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: Inconsistent. There are some great episodes, and some really awful ones. But even at its worst, it still manages to be entertaining on some level. Even the lack of Scully early in the season is fairly quick and painless. B

GPA: 2.3/4

The X-Files: Season One

The X-Files: Season One, 1993-1994. Two FBI agents investigate spooky cases.

Created by Chris Carter. Directed by David Nutter (6 episodes), Daniel Sackheim (2), Joe Napolitano (2), Jerrold Freedman (2), William Graham (2), Larry Shaw (2), Michael Lange (2), Robert Mandel (1), Harry Longstreet (1), Michael Katleman (1), Fred Gerber (1), Rob Bowman (1), & R.W. Goodwin (1). Written by Carter (9 episodes), Glen Morgan (6), James Wong (6), Howard Gordon (6), Alex Gansa (5), Kenneth Biller (1), Chris Brancato (1), Larry Barber (1), Paul Barber (1), Scott Kaufer (1), Marilyn Osborn (1), & Chris Ruppenthal (1). Starring David Duchovny, & Gillian Anderson.

Concept: Conspiracies and bad science as the foundation for a series. D
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: D
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: Duchovny is terrible. Anderson's performance carries the entire show. Which is actually kind of fitting. C
Music: C
Enjoyment: Despite being apparently written by idiots, and being formulaic and predictable on top of that, I find myself loving this show even more than when I watched it as a kid. It never drags, and even at it's dumbest - and boy howdy is it dumb - it's always entertaining. There's just something about Mulder and Scully that's inexplicably endearing. (I suspect a lot of it is that most of the TV shows I've watched in recent years have had ensemble casts, while the two-character set-up means that every detail and moment in the show is contributing to their characters in some little way. I can see why the pair-of-investigators trope is a thing.) B

GPA: 2.1/4