Case: Mulder and Scully investigate an alien that is loose in the desert.
Huh? As much as I crush on Fox Mulder, I'm with A.D. Maslin on this one.
When looked at from today's perspective, the title of this episode is deeply ironic. Five seasons and a movie have come before. This is not the beginning of anything. It could have been; it should have been. It was not.
As I re-watched this episode, it occurred to me that TPTB went out of their way to reassure their core viewers that nothing had changed. The show was still going to be the show that they loved, in spite of its new location and in spite of all the story that had come before.
That's a shame because things should change, especially in any long running story. Plots should develop, resolve, and morph into something else. Characters should grow and their world views should evolve. Hit the reset button too many times, force the characters to maintain their old views, and the story begins to lose its intensity.
Scully, for example, should be in a very different place by now. She has just been through an ordeal that nearly killed her, has seen things that should only have changed her, yet the writers have her skeptical side re-emerge in a big way. How is that possible? I understand wanting to keep the skeptic/believer tension going, but with the additions of Fowley and Spender into the mix, the writers had a golden opportunity to shift that dynamic in some very interesting ways.
The problem, of course, is that Fowley and Spender are meant to be villains. Fine, except that they aren't. CSM is scary and I believe that he has the ability to be a real threat to Mulder and Scully. These other two just pale in comparison.
Similarly, Kersh is a clear move to get back to the early days of Skinner. Now that Skinner has, in effect, joined the team, there needed to be someone in charge who was going to enforce the rules and make sure that our duo didn't wander too far off the reservation. The glare he gives the two agents at the end of the episode is fun, but predictable.
This episode has some very strong elements. The monster is truly scary, and what it does it horrific. The return of Gibson Praise is well done. I especially like seeing Scully's maternal side come out when she interacts with him.
As always, it is the dynamic between Mulder and Scully that is the highlight of this episode. I love the scene where Scully tells Mulder he has to trust her. The fact that she needs to say it tells us more about where they are than anything else she could possibly have said.
-- What is clear in this episode is that Fox has invested some real money into the show. The production values are much higher and the caliber of guest stars is on another level altogether.
-- The previously on section contains scenes from both last season's finale and the movie. What's interesting are the choices made. It is clear where the producers were hoping to take this episode.
-- I love the opening shot. Carter was announcing in no uncertain terms that the show had switched to sunnier climes.
-- I'm not sure we can say that the alien bursting through the chest was an homage. That seems to me to be a direct rip-off from Alien.
Final Analysis: Not really a new beginning, but there are plenty of signs that we have entered a new phase of the show.