By its second
season, The X-Files had garnered a loyal fan base, but it wasn't
until midway through the year that it really took off, developing into
"quite a different kind of show than when it started." The first five
episodes suffer the absence of Gillian Anderson, but with her return,
the series took a much darker and more compelling turn.
With the
X-Files department closed on the orders of the assistant director, the
bureau has parted Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian
Anderson). Stuck archiving audio surveillance, Mulder leaps at the
chance to investigate strange phenomenon beneath the bureau's radar. His
disappearance is noted by Scully, who abandons her teaching position in
order to track him down and hopefully prevent his employment from being
terminated. Simply because the FBI's center for abnormal investigations
has been shut down doesn't mean paranormal activities have ceased.
Believing a victim of alien abduction might help shed some light on the
mysterious disappearance of his sister a number of years earlier, Mulder
is horrified when his investigation manages to get Scully abducted. The
suspect is found ranting on a mountaintop, claiming aliens came to take
away Scully in his place.
Mulder
exhausts all of his resources in an attempt to find her, believing the
government is behind the conspiracy rather than extraterrestrial forces.
Most of his work is undermined by the presence of a man without a name,
known only for smoking a particular brand of cigarettes. The more Mulder
discovers about the inner workings of the government, the more dangerous
his work becomes. Then Scully is inexplicably found and brought to a
local hospital, near death. Her recovery and the incidents that follow
lead to the re-opening of the X-Files. Admittedly, I am not as big of a
fan of the mythology episodes (those centering around alien abductions)
as those that stand-alone, and I did feel that the first half dozen
cases suffered a great deal. I found them to be rather mundane and dull,
but my opinion rapidly changed when we hit mid-season. The premise of
aliens and the occasional mutant bug cannot prepare audiences for what
the second half of season two has in store for them, from madmen
mutilating corpses to a Satanic coven to serial murders and cannibalism
in a small country town. There were some genuinely dark and sadistic
moments.
A series that
pushed censors at the time, there are some gruesome elements to be found
in any given episode. Puss-filled boils that explode toxic diseases on
passerby, mutilated , half-decayed corpses, hideous man-eating slugs,
and severed heads with their eyes and lips sewn shut are just a hint of
what lies within. Many of the episodes feature man-eating creatures. One
has a circus freak eating a raw fish; it's implied he cannibalizes a
creature that attempts to eat him. There are less than a handful of mild
profanities, and no sexual content. In "Red Museum," young people are
found stripped down to their underwear and wandering in confusion in the
middle of a field. "Excelsis Dei" has a woman claiming to have been
raped by a supernatural being. The incident is not shown, just the
aftermath (bruising, trauma, discussion of the event), but we do witness
her being tossed onto a bed. There is some innuendo in the "dark" comic
episode "Humbug," and in "3," a vampire seduces a man in a hot tub
before killing him. It's also lightly implied that Mulder has a one
night stand.
Spiritual
beings and the paranormal are heavy in this season. "3" features
vampires. In "Rxcelsis Dei," an old folk's home is inhabited by the
vengeful spirits of former residents, who take revenge on their cruel
caretakers. Lights flicker, objects move, and a man is thrown from a
second story window to his death. In "Aubrey," a woman is either
influenced by genetics or possessed by the spirit of a serial killer to
commit a series of brutal murders. "Irresistible" has a deranged
psychopath removing hair and fingernails from corpses. It's implied he
lures a prostitute to his room and murders her. One of the most sinister
episodes is "Die Hand die Verletzt," which revolves around a Satanic
cult. Sinister happenings include a girl being forced to cut her wrists,
a python swallowing a man whole, and descriptions of hideous sexual
practices on local children. However, as the producer states, it is also
a cautionary tale about dabbling with forces you cannot control, as the
devil turns on his less-than-faithful followers. "Fresh Bones" finds
Scully the victim of voodoo practices, which also endanger the lives of
others and involve depictions of bodies rising from the dead to extract
vengeance on those responsible for their demise.
"The Calusari"
involve a graphic, realistic exorcism to remove a vengeful spirit from
the body of his twin brother. Blood runs down the walls, horrible
guttural screams come from the boy, and several deaths transpire as a
result of his dark mischief. Finally, the creepy "Our Town" implies that
most of the occupants of a small farming community have become cannibals
in order to prevent falling prey to a natural aging process. It sounds
wretched, but it's not if the paranormal is your cup of tea. I would
encourage viewers to be aware of the dark nature of several of the
episodes, but not to avoid the second season, as it contains many
magical moments.
THE
X-FILES:
Mulder
exhausts all of his resources in an attempt to find her, believing the
government is behind the conspiracy rather than extraterrestrial forces.
Most of his work is undermined by the presence of a man without a name,
known only for smoking a particular brand of cigarettes. The more Mulder
discovers about the inner workings of the government, the more dangerous
his work becomes. Then Scully is inexplicably found and brought to a
local hospital, near death. Her recovery and the incidents that follow
lead to the re-opening of the X-Files. Admittedly, I am not as big of a
fan of the mythology episodes (those centering around alien abductions)
as those that stand-alone, and I did feel that the first half dozen
cases suffered a great deal. I found them to be rather mundane and dull,
but my opinion rapidly changed when we hit mid-season. The premise of
aliens and the occasional mutant bug cannot prepare audiences for what
the second half of season two has in store for them, from madmen
mutilating corpses to a Satanic coven to serial murders and cannibalism
in a small country town. There were some genuinely dark and sadistic
moments.
Spiritual
beings and the paranormal are heavy in this season. "3" features
vampires. In "Rxcelsis Dei," an old folk's home is inhabited by the
vengeful spirits of former residents, who take revenge on their cruel
caretakers. Lights flicker, objects move, and a man is thrown from a
second story window to his death. In "Aubrey," a woman is either
influenced by genetics or possessed by the spirit of a serial killer to
commit a series of brutal murders. "Irresistible" has a deranged
psychopath removing hair and fingernails from corpses. It's implied he
lures a prostitute to his room and murders her. One of the most sinister
episodes is "Die Hand die Verletzt," which revolves around a Satanic
cult. Sinister happenings include a girl being forced to cut her wrists,
a python swallowing a man whole, and descriptions of hideous sexual
practices on local children. However, as the producer states, it is also
a cautionary tale about dabbling with forces you cannot control, as the
devil turns on his less-than-faithful followers. "Fresh Bones" finds
Scully the victim of voodoo practices, which also endanger the lives of
others and involve depictions of bodies rising from the dead to extract
vengeance on those responsible for their demise.