Pop quiz: What do Vince Gilligan, Bryan Cranston, and Aaron Paul all have in common?
If you said "Breaking Bad", you'd be half correct. The AMC drama about the rise and fall of a cancer-ridden chemistry teacher wrapped up in 2013, with a whopping 16 Primetime Emmy awards. There's even a spinoff, "Better Call Saul", that's currently airing on Mondays at 10/9c. Denying the cultural power of the show would be a fool's errand.
I haven't seen a lick of it. Instead, I'll waste away my days rewatching the show that originally brought Heisenberg and Jesse to Gilligan's attention, "The X-Files". The bastion of counter culture in the 90's, "The X-Files" ran for nine seasons and two movies- there's even a "Resident Evil" knockoff on the Playstation 2 (I'm eagerly awaiting the re-master). Ryan Reynolds, Aaron Paul, Burt Reynolds, Bryan Cranston, Michael Bublé, Peter Boyle, and even Jodie Foster have all guest starred. The writer's room is filled with industry heavyweights, including but not limited to Vince Gilligan, Darin and Glen Morgan, Frank Spotniz, Chris Carter, and the beloved Kim Manners. Even Robert Patrick appears for a season or two (P.S, he's the T-1000. Even the terminator gets a little spooky.) At the height of its appeal, around twenty million people tuned in on Sunday nights. It even spawned a new phrase so often found on Tumblr and other blogs today: to ship, or to desire two characters to end up together.
Really, there's no reason to not watch "The X-Files". The show set an industry standard by asking the questions that no one wanted to ask, from the existence of extraterrestrials to the scientific nature of "the whammy". Fast paced tight dialogue and intense characters took the place of flashy effects and laughtracks that had previously plagued television shows from the eighties. Audiences started gravitating more towards the dramas than the sitcom, which paved the way for things like the previously mentioned "Breaking Bad". The general public in the 90's had a faith in their government that "The X-Files" dared to challenge and attack, creating a sense of paranoia and distrust, the effects of which are still clearly seen today. "Trust no one" became a mantra for a generation.
And despite everything, here I am, thinking not about what the show did but what the show IS. If you asked me to summarize what happens, I couldn't begin to tell you. Are "The X-Files" defined by the ever present quest for truth, despite all the suffering that it brings? Cancer, multiple abductions, murder all rear their ugly heads at points. Perhaps the spirit of the show is found in the monsters and cases our intrepid duo investigate. Things like Donnie Pfaster, the Peacock family, and Eugene Victor Tooms actively haunt my nightmares. Maybe then it's the beautiful partnership and ultimate love story between Dana Scully, a skeptic, and Fox Mulder, a believer, that drives the show to the emotional extremes.
And after nine years of searching, what have we found? What truth has revealed itself to us, as we chase UFOs through cornfields and to the literal ends of the earth?
The truth is, "The X-Files" is about hope. The hope that we can fight the future that's been predetermined by either fate or the shadowy corporate and government leaders that watch over our heads. Despite all the evil and horrible suffering that our agents wade through, goodness, truth, and love will win in the end. The answers, about Gods, aliens, and men will be found, and not through some unknown source. "Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. And that's a place to start. There's the hope." You're right, Scully. We can find the answers that we've been searching for. I couldn't tell you what those answers are, but at this point, does it matter what exactly I believe? I WANT to believe.
The final episode of the revival airs tomorrow night at 8/7c on Fox. I don't want to let go just yet. So far, the new series has been something like a seven out of 10, overall average score. Even if you're not a fan of the original, I'd recommend you'd watch it. I'll be tuning in, dutifully watching and nervously scanning the sky for signs of black helicopters, my eyes barely peeking out under the cover of my tinfoil hat. The truth is out there, folks. There's just one episode left to find it.
