I don't know man, I just never really liked the new characters, and while it was interesting to see Scully turn into the Mulder, I just frankly didn't feel like she had the same good chemistry with her new partners as she did with Mulder. Not helped by the fact that Mulder's abduction felt less like "character building" as much as "excuse to leave the show to pursue other interest and go to therapy" which is what it really was. I also just never really liked the whole baby element between the two, but then I also just never liked the idea of the two getting together to begin with. This is largely my issue with X-Files is that it begins as more of a Police Investigation series about the paranormal and eventually it becomes more and more about the characters personal stories and I honestly preferred the professional emotional distance they brought in the early seasons over their more comfortable nature's later. Again, I'm indifferent to characterization as a central story drive if I feel the main narrative is interesting on its own. As time went on, I felt like X-Files became less about the actual X-Files and more just about Scully and Mulder's personal lives and relationships, which kind of turned me off from the show. Even the new season, was off for me cause it felt less like "we're re-opening the X-Files and discovering paranormal activity in the information age!" and more about Mulder and Scully getting back together and sorting through their relationship, which frankly, I felt the second X-Files movie already did a better job doing than the new season did.
Still, it’s not exactly Status Quo is God here. Like, as underwhelming as the reveal was, Mulder’s drive is different after the reveal of his suster’s ultimate date in season seven, and nothing is ever really the same after his abduction. Scully is a full-on Mulder at this point, and not just because she’s trying to make up for the gap he left behind (as was the case in season 8) but because she’s actually decided that after so many episodes she can actually safely believe in aliens and junk now, and would probably be the main believer if it weren’t for the fact that Reyes is almost comically new agey (though I still love her). Her abduction and cancer haven’t been mentioned in a while, since they’ve mostly been overshadowed by Mulder’s own abduction and even Scully’s baby. And then there’s Doggett - even Doggett who’s only here for two seasons had character development as it recently turned out that he’s got an unrequited crush on Scully which is both adorable and tragic because he’s this no-nonsense guy that has his integrity and priorities and that’s precisely why he can’t do anything about it because he knows from the start that Scully loves another and it really puts his character in a totally new light while making sense in the context of the character. This is kinda what I mean - the late seasons really shine where they differ from the source material. Sure, the Super Soldier part of the myth arc is like, incredibly dumb (if still fun to watch), but you can see how far the characters have come from where they were initially - and that includes even the latecomers, who are surprisingly fascinating.
See, and I'm the opposite where I need that major pull of the plot to keep me invested, especially in a mystery story like the X-Files... or Persona 4. Even re-watching the first five seasons awhile ago, it seemed to me like the writer's were already kind of rehashing story elements for Mulder and Scully. I mean he's always having a crisis of faith and she's always slowly losing her skepticism. It doesn't help that after awhile, the episodes that actually gave focus to either Mulder or Scully are some of my least favorite cause again, it just kind of felt like the writer's were stretching the believable aspect of their character growth. I mean Mulder seemed to always discover some new twist to his childhood that connects him to government conspiracy, and Scully is always discovering how much that alien abduction did something to her seasons later. I mean, it got a bit contrived after awhile. None of this helps that while I love Mulder and Scully's chemistry with each other, I'm not as much of a fan of them individually.
I can definitely see that. As much as I enjoy watching the mythology episodes, I can see that overall it’s hot garbage - but it’s my got garbage, you feel me? It is pretty clear they’re making it up as they go along, with stuff like the black oil serving whatever purpose the writers need them to serve at the moment. But I feel that it’s fine, since we’re still getting high stakes and big character development moments in these episodes, and I’m all for it. I actually really like season five and feel that it has the best mythology episodes, even though what you said it’s true - this is where stuff starts getting really complicated and it starts being obvious that they won’t be able to resolve it all in a satisfying manner. But this season we also saw the intriduction of Jeffrey Spender, a brilliant foil to Mulder, Mulder’s crisis of faith, Scully’s budding belief in aliens (and that incredible hypnosis scene where she remembers seeing the alien ship, where Gillian Anderson’s acting really gave me chills). So I think this really goes back to the plot vs characters thing, in the end. I can forgive a series plot that has a big chance of going nowhere as long as it really gives the characters room to grow. At the very least, at least Scully taught us how to make rolling your eyes at all this stupid alien trout in a sexy way
Some people like the whole series, just not the outspoken ones. I can't really judge the later seasons cause by the time I tried to watch some of them I had missed too much to really follow it. On the other hand though, I was kind of getting sick of the Myth Arc by season five. You can only hold a mystery for so long, and the more I felt we delved into it, the more I began to realize we were likely not going to get a satisfying answer. None of this was being helped that anime, and it's tendency to actually tell complete stories was really jiving with me at the time, so I was getting pretty disenfranchised with the American approach of "keep it going until it stops making money". I mean I love X-Files, but I feel like it would have been better served to have a real ending planned that the series worked it's way to.
Okay, I know I’m committing fan heresy but... so far I like season nine. The fiery monster of the week episode was very chilling with some fantastic character scenes that help build the relationships between the main trio, and Agent Doggett was shown from a surprising new angle that just makes me feel for him even more. I can understand why many people don’t hold the later seasons in high regard - the cast changes, the convoluted myth arc, the post 9/11 climate - but overall I am still really enjoying the X-files, and though things have changed (something ends, something begins, as we’re often reminded by the Witcher ), I still feel the core of the show remains. The search for the truth against all odds, with some awesome supernatural elements sprinkled with human drama. So I’m ready to be crucified and called Lucifer because I still love the X-files and it’s not a guilty pleasure
Listening to it right now. It’s very pleasant. And I definitely get that Samurai Champloo vine.
Nujabes is pretty excellent. He was one of the musical contributors to Samurai Champloo's OST. The track I sent you was a collaboration he did with another artist, but they kept adding to it, so the songs cover nearly a decade of work together.
I’ll take a look at work tomorrow, thanks! In general, though my background is in art music, I’m pretty open to anything realky
I don't know how you feel about Hip-Hop/Trip Hop, but I've been listening to a bunch of Nujabes lately, and figured you might appreciate this:
