"The X-Files" Recap: "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster"

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Freak of the week. It's a phrase we are all familiar with when it comes to television and I'm quite certain The X-Files was the first television show to coin it since over the course of its now ten seasons...Mulder and Scully have tracked down some wild and crazy monsters, week in and week out, and heck a few of them were even referenced by Mulder during his opening narration in the season premiere. 

It was such an important element of the first nine seasons that I've been wondering as to whether or not the monster hunt would return this season on the show, and considering how the first two episodes returned us to the conspiracy at hand...it seemed as though the freak of the week was going to be nothing more than a thing of a past. But then last night's episode of the show happened, a monster returned and "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" was an absolutely glorious and incredibly impressive little piece of storytelling.

For starters, I loved the twist of Mulder experiencing a mid life career crisis if you will, by having him question whether or not his work was a joke or even worth it anymore. Seeing all the cases that were relevant mysteries fourteen years ago had been debunked or solved over the years without him working The X-Files was a wonderful touch since the world as it stands today, with the help of the internet, has become a place where facts are desired by many and self made Mulders have picked apart so many of the world's mysteries on their own. It seemed that the show was hinting that all that was left for Mulder was the conspiracy and that perhaps he and Scully had already discovered all of the world's creatures that go bump in the night.

Which makes the best part of the episode all the more magical, the discovery of a man sized lizard. I mean, everything that came with the monster last night was absolutely brilliant. After all, it felt like a traditional monster hunt from back in the day on the show, but it ended up with quite the twist. Instead of the usual, man is bitten by a creature and turns into a horrible monster mythos we are used to...it ended up being the opposite. Yes, the creature turned into a human because it was bitten by a man and that whole plot thread works thanks to Rhys Darby and his powerhouse performance as the man-lizard's alter-human-ego Guy Mann. He was just delightful in the role and his reveal of the entire twist to Mulder left my sides hurting from all the laughter.

Let's face it, this was a vintage episode of The X-Files, repurposed and reimagined for modern times. It was lighthearted, hilarious and incredibly well written. The fact that it was in essence, Mulder centric only enhanced it further and some of the best moments of the night came from David Duchovny. I'm especially fond of Fox digging into his smartphone's features to photograph the monster in question and the hilarity that ensued with that. But what matters most is that Mulder was able to discover that the unknown still exists. There are creatures that still roam the darkness, and plenty of mysteries revolving around them still waiting to be solved, and that's all thanks to another wonderful episode of the show, and this one was so damn good, it leaves me a little sad that we are only getting six episodes for season ten. Until next time.

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