The X-Files: Season 5

For me personally, nothing has delighted me in 2006 so much as the impending appearance of affordable editions of THE X-FILES. Before summer we should have the entire series available in new slim pack editions that will retail for less than half the cost of the original DVD sets. I have been ranting for ages about those far-too-expensive sets, renting and rerenting discs, refusing to support products that I deemed too expensive, holding out for sets in line with the pricing of other TV series. As they say: good things come to those who wait. Besides, I far prefer slim pack versions of television series.Warning: Spoilers ahead!I'm not sure that a spoiler alert is necessary with a show so well known as THE X-FILES, but, what the hey! Besides, the new low prices could attract new viewers who have been curious about the show but have found the cost of the previous sets prohibitive.What is astonishing in looking back at the first five seasons of THE X-FILES is how amazingly consistent the show was. With most shows you can clearly demarcate the better from the worst seasons, but this show hit the ground running in its first season and never really eased up. Apart from adding touches of comedy in Season Three, the first five seasons are masterpieces of consistency. Over the course of time the show managed to build up a massive back-story, often leaping back a few decades to detail events in the past (including an excellent episode that not only deals with Mulder's father, but pays homage to one of the few shows that could be a precursor to THE X-FILES by guest starring THE NIGHT STALKER's leading man Darren McGavin). There are a number of outstanding stand alone episodes, and several that I personally find scarier than anything in the first four seasons. The great episode "Detour" finds Mulder and Scully lost in a swamp with chameleon-like creatures that can strike almost at will (with more of the flirtation that left fans wondering if there was potential romance in the wings). Another very funny episode in black and white deals with "The Great Mutato," a take off on bad 1950s Sci-fi films. But the best comic episode of the season is easily "Bad Blood," set in Texas with Luke Wilson in a story about vampires, a RASHOMON type story in which we witness the same story first from Scully's and then from Mulder's point of view (the former presenting Luke Wilson as the apex of male attractiveness, while Mulder presents him as a doofus with buck teeth and possibly some idiocy in the family line). On a more serious level there is also an amazing episode with Lily Taylor guest starring as a blind woman who has the ability to see things remotely through the eyes of the man who biologically fathered her.As with the former seasons, the most engrossing parts of the season dealt with ongoing plot lines. Season Four ended with Mulder apparently dead (though who really believed that?) and Scully in desperate shape because of her cancer). After a very, very funny first episode that provided comic relief after the cliffhanger ending of Season Four as well as dealing with both the creation of the Lone Gunmen and Mulder's involvement with the X-Files. The Smoking Man is revealed to be Mulder's father, but then later not to be Mulder's father. Or perhaps Mulder's father, and the father of both his brother and his sister, or perhaps not. Just who Cancer Man fathered is a complex mystery at the end of Season Five. (The CSM's fatherly status is revealed at the end of the series, but Chris Carter admits they were winging things as they went along.) We get endless amounts of increased by increasingly unilluminating details about government conspiracies and plots. This highlights the only real weakness the show ever had: a tendency to pile one mysterious plot element onto another without resolving previous ones, and introducing apparently conflicting plot details, as the Cigarette Smoking Man's role as potential father demonstrates. Unfortunately, subsequent seasons did less to resolve these tensions than to multiply and contradict them.For me the most emotionally powerful episodes of the year and among the most powerful of the entire series was the marvelous two-parter of "A Christmas Carol" andThe season ends with a wonderful episode about a small child with psychic ability who Mulder and Scully (and Mulder's old flame, played by Mimi Rogers), the most intense heightening tease hitherto that Mulder and Scully might have feelings for one another that their professional relationship has forced them to ignore (more in a second), and the reappearance of the Smoking Man who not only steals the child but sets fire to Mulder and Scully's office, destroying the X-Files. The final image of the season consists of an utterly despondent Mulder laying on his couch with a solicitous Scully sadly watching over him. Nonetheless, fans wanting to see something happen between Mulder and Scully were encouraged by the words of the boy who tells Mulder with both Scully and Mimi Rogers's character present that one of the two women was thinking about him, and that he was thinking about one of them, and also by the look of implied emotional devastation (which she typically refuses to express) when Scully walks by a door and sees Mulder and her old flame holding hands. Though the X-Files are ashes, the viewer still feels that Season Six will not only begin with the X-Files being resurrected, but with Mulder and Scully, whom we all assume were thinking of one another, finally being coaxed to break the cold reserve that exists between them.This was the final season filmed in Vancouver and also the shortest of all of the X-FILES seasons. They cut it a bit short in order to create more room for filming the not-very-well received feature length film, THE X-FILES: FIGHT THE FUTURE (which I personally think works better than was acknowledged at the time). In Season Six the show relocated in Hollywood, where it remained for its final four years. Many hardcore fans believe that the move hurt the show, though I personally think the problems with the very gradual slide in quality had to do with long-term story arc strategy, such as not having a master narrative to structure the show after resolving in Season Six the alienation colonization arc that dominated the first five and a half seasons of the show.

This was the last season I saw of X-Files as a kid. I don’t know why I stopped watching it, I guess I just got distracted by other things. Clearly I had no taste, because this is definitely one of my top 3 seasons so far; possibly the best. Here’s a review of the episodes, with synopsizes from Wikipedia & the ones I saw with my aunt marked.*98. Redux: Scully helps Mulder fake his death, but comes under intense scrutiny; Skinner is suspected as the traitor inside the FBI; and Mulder breaks into the Department of Defense in a desperate bid to save Scully, but while doing so he finds himself facing the truth about the aliens he has been chasing. The quality of the last episode doesn’t let up. A+*99. Redux II: While Scully lies on her deathbed; the Smoking Man makes an important decision in helping Mulder. An excellent conclusion. A+*100. Unusual Suspects: The origins of the Lone Gunmen are explored. In 1989, two salesmen and a federal employee join forces when they meet Susanne Modeski, a woman who claims that she is being pursued by her violent ex-boyfriend, an FBI agent named Fox Mulder. A great episode about how Mulder befriended 3 of my favorite characters in this show. A+*101. Detour: On the way to an FBI convention in Florida, Mulder and Scully stop to help in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of three people in the woods, where invisible humanoids lurk. Another great episode with some effective scares & great make-up for the monsters. A+*102. The Post-Modern Prometheus: Mulder and Scully’s investigate a letter from a single mother that leads them to a small town where a modern-day version of Frankenstein's monster lurks, Jerry Springer is an obsession, and Cher plays a significant part. This was a delightfully odd episode. The ending was a bit silly, but the rest was great. A*103. Christmas Carol: Home for the holidays, Scully is haunted by dreams which hint at a strange connection to a murdered woman’s daughter. Pretty good, but not enough Mulder. A-*104. Emily: Scully fights to protect her daughter’s life, while Mulder discovers her true origins. Now this is more like it. With Mulder in the picture, this story becomes excellent. A+*105. Kitsunegari: When 'Pusher' Modell escapes from prison, Mulder and Scully race to catch him before he can take revenge against his favorite target – Agent Mulder. A great follow-up to the Pusher. I do like the original better, but this is still a great episode. A*106. Schizogeny: When a teenager is suspected of murdering his father, Mulder and Scully become convinced that a greater evil may be lurking in the community. Not the best episode, but not the worst. Seriously, why do people think the trees killing people was lame? That’s actually pretty creepy to me because I can see it happening. B+*107. Chinga: Scully takes a vacation to Maine, where she encounters a bizarre case where the victims appear to have inflicted wounds upon themselves – apparently at the behest of a strange young girl. Stephen King contributes a great episode. It wasn’t perfect, but there were some really good scares here. A-*108. Kill Switch: While investigating the strange circumstances of the death of a reclusive computer genius rumored to have been researching artificial intelligence, Mulder and Scully become targets of an unlikely killer capable of the worst kind of torture. This is an excellent episode. A+*109. Bad Blood: While investigating bizarre exsanguinations in Texas, Mulder kills a teenage boy whom he "mistakes" for a vampire. Awaiting a meeting with Skinner, Mulder and Scully attempt to get their stories “straight” by relating to each other their differing versions of what happened during their investigation. Gillian Anderson’s favorite episode is certainly one of mine. A+110. Patient X: Scully forms a bond with Cassandra Spender, a woman who claims to have been abducted by aliens. While Mulder’s disbelief in the alien conspiracy is now questioned, he finds himself with more personal threats at the FBI. The beginning of a great 2 part story. A111. The Red and the Black: With Cassandra Spender missing, and her son Jeffrey angrily attempting to push his way up in the FBI, Mulder has Scully put under hypnosis to learn the truth. The Syndicate, meanwhile, quicken their tests for the alien vaccine, sacrificing their own to do so. A great conclusion. A*112. Travelers: In 1990, a bizarre murder leads young agent Fox Mulder to question a former FBI Agent who investigated one of the first X-Files dating back to the 1950s – a case which may have involved Mulder’s father. Another classic episode, with a really scary monster. A+113. Mind’s Eye: Agents Mulder and Scully investigate a murder that seems to have been committed by a blind woman, but Mulder suspects that her involvement is not what it seems. This is one of the worst episodes. It started off interesting, but it quickly became frustrating. The only good part was the guest appearance of Blu Mankuma, who voiced one character in each show of the Mainframe trilogy (ReBoot, Beast Wars & War Planets). D+*114. All Souls: The unexplained death of a young handicapped girl prompts Father McCue to ask Scully for her help, but her investigation leads her to a mystery she's afraid to understand. A*115. The Pine Bluff Variant: Scully begins to grow suspicious of Mulder, whose increasingly strange behavior suggests he may be serving another agenda. A*116. Folie a Deux: Mulder and Scully encounter a delusional man who believes his boss may be a monster – and is willing to pay any price to prove it. A*117. The End: Investigating the murder of a chess player, Mulder and Scully meet a boy who may be the embodiment of everything in the X-Files. An epic episode to end the season on. A+This was a really good season. There was only one bad episode in the whole bunch, & this had the most epic Myth Arc episodes since the ones in season 2 where Scully was abducted. I’m sorry I stopped watching when I did. Tune in next time X-Philes, when I review the Movie.

HAVING WATCHED THE X FILES FROM SEASON ONE, I COULDNT REMEMBER SEEING EVERY EPISODE UNTIL IT ENDED. I BOUGHT SEASON 5 FOR THE 'DETOUR' AND ONE OR TWO OTHER EPISODES AS I REMEMBER LIKING THOSE. THE OTHERS WERE SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTING AND AFTER CHECKING OUT SEASON 6, I MAY HAVE BOUGHT THE WRONG BOXSET AS THERE ARE EPISODES FROM SEASON 6 WHICH I DO REMEMBER AND DID ENJOY!I STILL LIKE THE X FILES THOUGH ALTHOUGH I THINK THE HUMOUR FROM MULDER AND SCULLY SEEMED A BIT FORCED AS THEY TRY TO SOLVE MORE CASES.NOT BAD, BUT NOT MY FAVOURITE SEASON. I THINK SEASON ONE, TWO, FOUR AND SIX ARE MY FAVES.

Yep , had bought this back in 04 , but has become too delapadated to keep as main DVD and has a missing disc . I love the fifth season as it brings me back many happy memories growing up and possibility and my role model Mulder .A musty buy and great background episodes which are flash back episodes , especially `the unusual suspects `

It was almost a given that season five would not surpass season four in terms of quality, as season four is mine and my mother's favourite season, however, that doesn't mean this season is bad, far from it, it offers some pretty good episodes and was all in all a positive experience.

As with previous series this is a good watch. Some series are better than others but overall they are entertaining and can be watched more than once unlike some Science Fiction series. The actors make a weak storyline watchable.

I used to love watching the X-Files and needed to collect them all, so I can watch them again.