Every couple of months, I do something that I think many of you out there do. I log online to quickly eyeball the funds in my checking account… see that I’ve dropped 9 bucks on Netflix or Spotify and I remind myself that I need to get more use out of that service.
After reviewing the latest batch of “Recent Release” flicks and realizing that I have no interest in seeing any of those releases… I asked myself “what TV show do you want to binge watch?”
I zeroed in on a few shows from the 90’s that have been recommended to me a number of times.
1.) Oz (on HBO Go) - a show that supposedly broke ground in respect to storytelling, but I have little interest in spending the precious spare time I do have on guys in prison who are reportedly 24/7 rapey.
2.) The West Wing - a show that was written by Senior Sorkin… hailed by a number of my friends and heard a lot about the show when the Newsroom was on because of some recycled Sorkin work. Had Romney won the election, I think I would have seen this show - just so I could slip into a fictional world where the Democrats still control the White House.
3.) X-Files - a show I’ve always wanted to dive into, but because of its popularity when I was in High School, among people I didn’t want to have anything in common with, I opted to not spend any time watching it. A very petty reason… I know, but I’m just wired that way. The show also had (has) an annoying opening credit song/theme, that is pretty inescapable on cable TV, thanks to its success on syndication. But I digress….
I decided to watch X-Files, mainly because of my appreciation of Duchovny on Californication. By admission… I even got around to seeing an X-Files movie on Netflix a number of years ago, while on a Californication binge - just to get my Duchovny fix in.
I forget which of the two movies I saw… I think it was the first one. I don’t really recall the plot… with the exception that there’s some bees and a virus.
Anyways, I watched the pilot… binged may way through the first season and I’m just about done with season 2 and here are some of my observations.
1.) The show is surprisingly good. I’ve never considered myself to be a “sci-fi” guy, but the show seems to work on the fringes of mainstream unexplained phenomenon and it’s not ALIEN heavy as I thought it was going to be. In the first two season, they’ve tackled: Shape Shifters, Vampires, The Jersey Devil (sorta), A Poop Monster, Warewolf, Firestarter, Light Bugs That Spin Crazy Webs and Voodoo.
2.) They’ve also done some self exploration of the CIA FBI… which is pretty interesting, thus making it pretty unrealistic of what the organization is possibly like. Mulder and Scully are in effect, two CIA FBI agents that are asked to look into unexplained cases. They’re consistently battling some internal forces that are out to suppress their work - but remain afloat thanks to internal forces that want Mulder to continue his work in hope of discovering “the TRUTH”.
3.) The relationship between Mulder and Scully has been insanely “professional”. Sexual tension is surprisingly low. In the pilot, we get to see Scully in bra/panties and much to my surprise - under all the 90’s Pant Suit & Coat garb - Scully is rocking a pretty tight little frame. The two spend an obscene amount of time doing steak outs in cars andspend a lot of time in sleepy town motels and neither seems to make any sexual advance on the other person. Mulder has slept with one person in the 40 or so episodes I’ve seen thus far… a vampire chick who burns in house. This is especially shocking, seeing how he plowed thru 40 chicks in 6 episodes of Californication. I sorta detected his man chub for the Jersey Devil (which was more of a She-Human-Bigfoot) and we got to see one of his EX’s (a British Bitch) who was a shitty detective who sorta got Scully jealous. Not mad enough to throw Mulder a handy thru the episode tho’.
On the flip side, we’ve only seen one of Scully’s ex’s - A stiff detective prick, who was way out of his league landing Scully to begin with. The guy ended up getting Chucky’d (the sprit of a killer goes into his body, thru a spell) and killed in one of the show’s unlikeable episodes.
4.) While on the topic of unlikeable… I don’t quite understand why Scully is such a suspect. I mean, I’m a suspect because I’ve never had any unusual experiences: be it UFO sightings or ghosts… but Scully has had 40 or so brushes with shit that falls into either of these categories and she remains skeptical. She got fucking ABDUCTED by Aliens and slipped into an unspecific-prolonged-coma. When she came to… she didn’t remember anything, but I’m pretty sure she knows that she got contacted by aliens. She’s even had the opportunity to see alien like shit under a microscope. I don’t understand how long she can go on being a skeptic. Not for much longer I hope. She seems to be in a cloud all through Season 2… I hope she wakes up soon.
5.) Mulders - Sister…. They don’t talk about it often, but my eyes roll every time this comes up. I’ve been told that this will come up a lot for the next 7 seasons. Lucky Me.
6.) Scully gets Kidnapped a lot. LIKE Princess Toadstool - Lots. In the 2 seasons I’ve seen thus far… she’s been kidnapped like 6 or 8 times? She’s a little bit of a liability in my opinion.
These are the observations I have thus far… I plan to post little updates along the way. Perhaps I’ll recap the seasons after completing them.
Trust No One…
-aCr-
