Musings

I've been a fan of TXF since the beginning. The reason I started watching the show was that it was filmed here in Vancouver. I can still remember the first time I saw it, and my first impression was that I did not like the people, Mulder and Scully, as people. They were wonderful, complex, irritating characters. Not your usual bland TV characters, but so real they were painful. I wanted to slap them. So I fell in love with the show.Then I began to get caught up in Mulder's quest to find his sister and The Truth. TXF managed to create so much engaging drama around this quest, and CC wasn't afraid to kill characters like Deep Throat in the process. The shock of the first year finale resonates even now.Also, I loved Mulder's sympathy for the strange creatures he encountered on his quest. I didn't have the impression that he wanted to kill them or to have them locked in a laboratory. He just wanted to know and understand them. At least that was my impression at the beginning.But TXF did begin to change, gradually. Mulder's treatment of Krycek was the beginning of this change. Mulder had no actual proof that K committed any of the crimes he was accused of, yet he beat the man, threatened to leave him handcuffed to his car to die, all things he would never have done to any proven criminals he encountered. What happens to the concept of innocent until proven guilty when Krycek's name comes up? What kind of a hero behaves in this mannner? By never truly addressing these issues, CC leaves me with the impression that he approves of Mulder's behaviour. Perhaps he doesn't, but it seems we'll never know, one way or the other. The thing that irritates me most about the whole Krycek story line, is that it was never resolved in any satisfactory manner. We never really learned what makes K tick. We never learned if he did kill Mulder's father. We never learned how and why he got involved with the Consortium. All these mysteries are great for fan fiction. Make up your own Krycek back story, any back story. It will never be contradicted by canon. But in the case of TXF itself, these ommissions are disastrous. Why do we watch shows like TXF? By 'we' I mean the people on these lists and forums who actually give the show some thought, not those who only watch to see the monster of the week and then forget all about it. We watch to learn something about human life, morality, justice, love. And how much have we learned in the end? Well, in my opinion, not nearly as much as we might have, if CC had had a little more courage. Rather than let the characters grow and develop, CC let them die. The real reason K had to die was that he was M's Shadow self, but M died last year. That was a zombie walking around this season. K finally realized this tragic fact, and, having nothing left to live for, committed suicide by cop. We're now left with the image of Zombie Mulder and Housewife Scully with their baby. Next year promises to be lovely, what with Clueless Doggett running around shooting first and asking questions later, much later, if ever. All the wonderful wit of 'Humbug' and the truly scary horror of 'Tooms' are a thing of the past.I hate to compare one show with another. Comparisons are odious. But I can't help myself in this case. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a very different kettle of fish from The X-Files. I realize this, so don't flame me for comparing them. However, I must note the radically different way the shows addressed the issues of personal growth and whether or not someone who has done evil things can be redeemed. Angel. Faith. Anya. Spike. Ring any bells?