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HERC's Seen Next-to-Last X-FILES!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
X-Files 9.18 FAQ
What’s it called?
“Sunshine Days.”
Who’s responsible?
The episode was written and directed by series vet Vince Gilligan. Gilligan wrote and directed Herc’s very favorite installment of “X-Files,” “Je Souhaite,” which centered around a world-weary, Janeane Garofalo-like djinn.
The genie episode? We hated that one! You have no credibility, Hercules! You're such a girl!!
Thanks for chiming in.
Does Herc think “Sunshine Days” as good as “Je Souhaite”?
It’s in the ballpark. The djinn episode benefitted enromously from its laugh-out-loud hilarious depiction of weak-minded wish-makers. “Sunshine Days,” surprisingly, doesn’t go for a lot of laughs, but it’s solidly plotted and features more than its share of compelling twists and eye-opening weirdness.
What does TV Guide say?
“Reyes' knowledge of ‘The Brady Bunch’ proves valuable as the agents investigate the bizarre death of a man who was snooping in a private home he claimed was the set of the show. Martin: Michael Emerson.
What is TV Guide not telling us?
Maybe the “X-Files” will go out on top after all. Recent episodes like “Improbable,” “Jump the Shark” and “William” left Herc pretty cold, but last’s week’s “Release,” about the mental patient impersonating an FBI whiz, was – like tonight’s installment – nothing to sneeze at.
The big news?
The figure at the center of “Sunshine Days” is don’t-wish-me-into-the-cornfield powerful. When the agents drag him back to FBI HQ, he even levitates Skinner around the room! An expert witness indicates that a year from now Scully “will be in Stockholm accepting the Nobel Prize.” “Do you realize what this means?” asks Skinner toward the end of the episode. “This kind of proof? It ensures that they can’t shut you down. It means the X-Files will go on forever!”
Does this floaty-Skinner stuff turn out to be a dream? Or does everyone lose their memories of these events?
Nope. This episode contains neither dream sequences nor incidents of memory loss.
What’s good?
Aside from virtues already mentioned, the episode offers a weightiness and attention to detail worthy of a much-loved series’ pentultimate episode. The Brady-related casting, set-design and special effects are all first-rate, and will generate many a double-take. Also, it’s nice – because a lot of us have developed a real fondness for Doggett and Reyes – that all three of the show’s leads get to play important roles.
What’s not so good?
Inviso-Text on! The Nobel Prize/X-Files Forever stuff turns out to be a tremendous tease. And the “this changes everything” stuff serves to point out one of the series’ biggest flaws: after nine solid years of nonstop strange, shouldn’t some of the “truth that’s out there” now be public knowledge in the “X-Files” universe?
How does it end, spoiler boy?
Doggett and Reyes do some suspiciously non-regulation hand-holding.
Herc’s rating for “X-Files” 9.18?
***1/2
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
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Just ask Alice :)
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...so it's not universally hated by everyone except Herc... and I'm glad the next-to-last episode is a fun one; I liked it best when they alternated between the fun episodes and the mythology episodes; this season's been too much mythology, and mythology that wasn't really going anywhere interesting at that.
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is great.
and to all those who are just going to put down the x-files, settle down. it's gone in a week. don't you worry.
btw. buffy and angel suck moose cock.
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May 12, 2002 10:28:54 PM CDT
Wha 'bout Tooms, Fluke Boy, Fast Food Cannibal Mutant, Elect
by christopher3
Mulder and Scully have picked up enough paranormal proof to fill an asylum. What's so great about this guy who can manifest the Brady Bunch? If I had that power, I'd manifest Sidney Bristow and her amazing condiment-ready abs.
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The only "wacky" ep since Duchovny's absence to have some good laughs (Doggett muttering "Aw, crap!" when he learned that Scully was watching him on TV) and a surprisingly moving finale. "You're finally getting the hang of this job, John." Good stuff. Last week's ep was rather nice, as well. Even though this final season has been mostly tortuous (with the nadir being that horrendous Burt Reynolds-as-God ep from a few weeks back), these final few installments have been very good, and I'm eager to see how Carter wraps it up with next weeks final episode. [Raises a glass] Farewell, Mulder & Scully...
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Hey, you noticed that, eh? Reminds me of the first thirty episodes of "The Invaders." Thought I would die of frustration at Vincent's total inability to pick up any plausible proof or convince anyone who had any importance. At least the episodes after "The Believers" were introduced were slightly better in this regard.
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1) Nine years of watching Carter weave a labrynth of questions on top of questions on top of questions. Can he even wrap this puppy up satisfactorily in two hours? Will he provide all the answers? Is it even possible by now?
Well, I have no clue. The scary part is that I will probably watch the show next week in a daze. See, I always preferred the "non-conspiracy" episodes. Less hassle.
BUT... Gillian Anderson was on Letterman Friday night. She promised that everything will be answered... every single plotline resolved. Apparently, it's in a courtroom scene. To be fair, Anderson was a little shook up herself that night. Anyone who saw Dave on Friday will know why.
Scary thing is, the X-Files next week is going up again a Cosby reunion on NBC, a two hour Practice on ABC and I think CBS will haul out the three hour Survivor Closer Sunday night too. Plus, I'm pretty sure there's a wrestling PPV next Sunday too. What to do, what to do... read a good book, maybe?
2) David Faustino gets a role in last night's show. I imagine that if asked, he'll announce that he's a lifelong X-Files fan who just wanted in before the show closes shop... and NOT because the good people at FOX wanted to throw him a bone. Rent's due et al. Of course, I'm not really thinking that anyone from the media is on the phone to his agent demanding answers.
Last thing... anyone else wondering if any actor from the Brady Bunch, upon hearing that the set will be used, called Chris Carter looking to play one of the "ghosts"? I'm sure Barry Williams was all over this. -
May 13, 2002 1:20:19 AM CDT
For Sherwood Schwartz the royalty money keeps rolling in forever
by bari umenema
Here's the story, of a man named Sherwood, who had lots of money and it felt so good! And then one day, when X-Files called him, well this was really good! Yeah Sherwood's rich! Yeah Sherwood's rich! He's got lots of dough he's really really rich! Now he's got more, his life is chock galore, with tributes and nostalgia what a whore. Vince Gilligan Island, the Brady Bunch too, Sherwood's got more than you!
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But I don't expect to be wowed. Alias pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the X-Files for me. I deeply suspect that the finale will clear up nothing, and leave everyone superbly unfulfilled. I hope it doesn't, as I did really love this show once, but it's betrayed my trust too many times.
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May 13, 2002 2:36:48 AM CDT
All I want to see in the last eppisode is.................
by mckenziefrenzy
Mulder at the helm of a baddass UFO doing a captain Kirk impersonation and blowing up the alien bounty hunter mother ship...... oh yeah, Ohhh Yeahhhhhhhhhh. BTW, i'm ever so glad to see that there are others not afraid to speak up about the putrecence that is Buffy and Angel........lord knows you can get your ass kicked here at AICN talk back even suggesting that Whedon's excrement may not be the finest pimple lotion ever written.....sigh.
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May 13, 2002 2:50:58 AM CDT
If any of you read the spoilers for the finale, it panders to th
by aurorablue
9 years to see Scully and Mulder in bed.
This not only proves how brainless those fans are but why the show was dumbed down to begin with.
And for you Dogget and Reyes fans, you have my sympathy if the rumors are true.
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May 13, 2002 4:14:21 AM CDT
I've been meaning to watch the last few X-Files episodes bef
by tall_boy
mainly cuz it just doesn't do it for me anymore. Which sucks because I've been catching some season 2-5 repeats over the past few months on Space and they rock. even so, I liked the ads for this episode and meant to watch it but Game 6 is the Leafs Senators series was in the third period at 3-3 so X-Files went right out the window. But dammit, I'm going to watch the finale if only they'll explain what the hell was going on for the last 9 years. . .
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I just watched it again, like, a week ago outta nostaliga. Its a very nice looking flick, it hits all the right beats of an epic X-Files "mythology" episode and finally lays out the conspiracy arc. Sure, stuff that came AFTER it, espically the mess of the mythology arc is suspect, but for my money the flick was the best conspiracy mythology episode they ever did. (not counting some of the best episodes which WEREN'T arc episodes.)
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At its best, it gave us intelligent, thought-provoking & entertaining, well-written stories. Occasionally, very fine guest spots. And David Duchovny. At its worst it was just plain unwatchable. Like most purists who watched from the first ep I have to admit the show suffered irreparable damage in its shift from Vancouver to L.A. I tried to stay with it but it rapidly deterioriated into another lame Hollywood show. Duchovny waited too long to get out. His insecure hanging on to a dying show, like his insecure hanging on to a failed marriage, appears to have significantly harmed his career. Gillian Anderson, while being an attractive and likeable celebrity, did not become an appreciably better actor in the course of the show's long run. Mitch Pileggi, one of the best actors on TV, was wasted more often than not. Chris Carter's spark died out with the movie and now he is just another play-it-safe Hollywood TV producer. For me the X-Files ended with an episode called, logically enough, "The End." I walked clear across Vancouver to join thousands of Vancouverites and did my part as an unpaid extra for Chris Carter on that ep. For me this was the swansong of X-Files. Since then everyone has just gone through their paces, often with evident boredom. Seasons 6 & 7 offered occasionally rays of sunshine with eps like "The Unnatural" and "Hollywood 2000 AD" but these were the stand-out eps that made you realize just how dramatically the calibre of the show had nosedived. I watched little of season 8 and none of season 9. Will I watch the finale? NO. Because it all ended some time ago. Call them sadistic satyrnistic necrophiles, cuz the 1013 crew have been flogging a dead horse for ages.
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Since the decline and fall of The X-Files is what gave me my Talkback name, I thought I'd comment. The X-Files can't win me back because there is not and can no longer be a suspension of disbelief. For me, after season 6 (or maybe 5) it became THE TV SHOW THAT CRIED WOLF. So, even if they finally answer a bunch of questions, and they say that they really mean it this time, I wouldn't believe. As the show would put it: I *DON'T* WANT TO BELIEVE! I don't care enough.
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Why do you work so hard at putting things down? I think you
guys actually watch Buffy and Angel in your parents' basement and flame on them for some kind of self-satisfaction. "Look at me! I'm cool just because I put down popular shows." Grow up assholes. -
Sorry folks, but an interesting premise was killed by a weak second half and some rather obvious plotting. (I picked out why he was fixating Brady Bunch waaaayyyyy before the FBI agents did...) I have to wonder though, if the epsiode's resolution was a subtle jab at fans that after next week, they need to let go of their obsession with what's just a TV show and go out and form actually healthy relationships with real people.
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I don't need to live my life through two characters like the pro romance fans do. And no matter even how Seasons 8 and 9 were pointless, this show started to decline when Chris Carter started pandering to the pro romance faction.
This show was about Mulder's quest for the truth, NOT about Mulder and Scully declaring their undying love.
And I'm grown up thank you.
I have a husband. Some pro romance fans should try living a real life, it would likely cut their battery bill at least in half.
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You're right about one thing, TXF was better than buffy. For the first five seasons; and then they spun gold into crap. It's obvious that you hate Buffy and Angel, so why do you waste your time flaming it? If you think anyone actually cares about what you post, well, sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not that important.
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Six Feet Under is on at the same time... fucking second best show on TV, after the Sopranos... and dont even bother saying why those shows suck... i'll just assume that your income has been hurt by spending too much time on this site to afford HBO, and for those of you who by blind luck have made just enough to get HBO, i'll just assume that you watched the crappiest episode from either series and that means that you hate everything that HBO does. I miss the days when HBO had crap on Sunday so i could actually *watch* x-files. oh well.
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SFU is the reason why I stopped watching XF after having been a loyal fan since its first season. I did, however, tune in to this week's XF and thought it was the best, most gratifying episode in a LONG time. (The one prior to this episode which made me feel the same way was "Brand X" which aired over two seasons ago!) As for the finale, I'm looking forward to it with both trepidation and relief. Trepidation because I'm afraid Chris Carter is going to screw us over one last time, and relief because the series will be over finally. I loved XF like an old friend, but like an old friend with a prolonged illness, it's time for it to RIP.
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Keep working hard and one day you will be able to afford both HBO and a VCR.
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I didn't like or dislike Doggett, but I do think Patrick should get his own series to star in after this. Maybe 1013 and FOX should produce a show tailor-made for him: I suggest a light-hearted detective series, where Patrick gets to play a more "fun" character. Maybe Vince Gilligan could create and be the executive producer for it. Just keep Carter and Spotnitz FAR away from the creative aspects of such a series, and I would definitely watch.
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May 14, 2002 12:49:00 PM CDT
aliencaptive1013, typical stereotyping from a shipper. I have a
by aurorablue
I don't need to get off from two fictional characters like the way some of you do.
I know what real love is. I know what passion is.
Try it sometime. Maybe you'll learn to appreciate good TV shows differently instead of continually perpetuating the stereotype that all male and female TV characters must fall in love.
This is the freaking 21st Century for Gods Sakes. Stop living in the 50s.
Most of you pro romance fans are bored housewives who probably don't communicate with your
husbands. So instead of getting therapy like the most of you need, you fixate on two fictional characters.
This show was perfectly fine until you people started harping on it. I can't wait to see what show you'll all try to destroy next.
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