X Files: Season 7 [DVD]

Season 7 of the X Files is important in many ways, not only because it is the last one with David Duchovny as part of the regular cast but also because it was intended and assumed to be the final series ever. This is particularly evident as many long-running storylines and characters bow out during this season. For many fans, I am certain that they treat this season as the series' last considering the general consensus that the show "jumped the shark" by going on for another two seasons without Mulder. However, whether you agree with this opinion or not, there is plenty to enjoy here.
As a fan of the show, I have to admit that I enjoy the stand-alone horror/sci-fi episodes much more than the alien mythology/government conspiracy two-parters. The season begins well with "The Sixth Extinction" with Scully desperately trying to unlock the secrets of an alien vessel off the coast of Africa in order to save Mulder's life. However, the story continues on in "The Sixth Extinction 2: Amor Fati" which completely discards the alien ship storyline and casts Mulder into a dull virtual reality thread. This not only completely throws the viewer but ruins what might have been otherwise a decent set of episodes. By this time, this whole alien story arc has become so overcomplicated that it is hard to follow. My advice is don't try and rather appreciate the other episodes here. The quest for Mulder's sister finally comes to an end in the intriguing but rather bizarre "Closure" while you may notice a more notable comedy element creeping into many of the episodes particularly towards the end which only serves to make the season finale "Requiem" with Mulder's abduction, the death of the Cigarette Smoking Man and the revelation of Scully's pregnancy that much more shocking. If the series had have ended on this note, it would have been a great finale, leaving the show posing as many questions as it did answer them.

Season highlights include:
HUNGRY - An episode told entirely from the vantage point of a real-life monster working in a fast food restaurant, who just cannot control his hunger for human brains. A really interesting and well-written episode which makes you sympathise for the character as he is pursued by Mulder and Scully.
MILLENNIUM - Chris Carter's other show "Millennium" finally crosses over with "The X Files" as Mulder and Scully try to enlist the help of Frank Black to stop some former members of the Millennium group from being resurrected and fulfilling a dark prophecy about the end of the world in the year 2000.
ORISON - A long overdue sequel to Season 2' "Irresistible", as death fetishist Donnie Pfaster escapes from prison and the memories of Scully's abduction by him come back to haunt her. As disturbing as the original.
THE AMAZING MALEENI - A truly funny episode as the agents investigate the death of a decapitated magician who moments before his death, performed the amazing trick of turning his head a complete 360 degrees.
SIGNS AND WONDERS - Investigating the death of a man who died from repeated snake bites but with no traces of any snakes, Mulder and Scully come to investigate a group of religious fanatics who test their faith through the handling of dangerous snakes only to find that darker forces are at work.
X COPS - "The X Files" done in the style of famous American reality police show "COPS" as the agents investigate a spate of mysterious deaths and attacks by an unknown creature in a rundown, crime-ridden area of Los Angeles.
FIRST PERSON SHOOTER - In a new virtual reality game, one of the players is slain by a female character Maitreya who was not originally in the program, prompting Mulder to try the game for himself and flush out the assailant who by all means, does not exist.
EN AMI - The Cigarette Smoking Man offers Scully a deal to retrieve a disc containing information about a possible miracle cure for all disease but can he be trusted?
HOLLYWOOD A.D - Mulder and Scully visit Hollywood where a film of their exploits on the X Files is being shot, with Garry Shandler and Tea Leoni (David Duchovny's wife in real life) playing them to hilarious results.
REQUIEM - The season finale where the agents return to Bellefleur, Oregon, the site of their first ever X File to find a spate of new abductions are taking place. Meanwhile, the CSM enlists Krycek to find the alien craft hiding in Bellefleur before Mulder and Scully do.

The extras are the usual that you would come to expect from an X Files boxset. The commentaries on certain episodes and the documentary "The Truth About Season 7" are the most interesting although none of them include David Duchonvy or Gillian Anderson talking about their roles or the episodes which I found dissapointing. There are also the usual Special Effects featurettes and the original FOX TV trailers for each episode. A DVD-ROM game based on "First Person Shooter" has been included as well though as yet I have been unable to get it working on my PC!! All in all, however, a strong season of the show that is well worth buying.

This season is much better than many people make out. I think this is because, at the time it aired, fans were beginning to grow tired. I remember not liking it very much, but now I've watched it again, I really do rate it highly.

The writers earnestly tried to prepare for the end of the show, an event which would turn out to be three years away as it happened, but which looked likely even as 'Requiem' aired. As a result, some loose ends are tied up, and not many new questions are raised until the last episode. Still reeling from Two Fathers/One Son in series 6, there is possibly less mythology than any other season. This vacancy gave the show room to play with some new ideas: a story from the monster's perspective in Hungry, a Cops-style fly-on-the-wall documentary in X-Cops, a con-trick caper in The Amazing Maleeni, a genie with three wishes in Je Souhaite. The stand-alone episodes vary in quality a little more than in previous years, but there's some good stuff here.

Favourites:

Rush, Hungry, Sein Und Zeit/Closure, En Ami, all things, Requiem

Episodes I remember not liking, but enjoyed this time round:

Millennium, The Amazing Maleeni, Orison, X-Cops, First Person Shooter, Je Souhaite

Weak points:

Signs & Wonders - you'll see it coming

Fight Club - I can't believe Chris Carter wrote this one thinking it would be one of the last episodes of the show!

This is one of my favourite seasons of 'The X-Files' and it was my first purchase of all the DVD sets because it balances the intellectual and dense extra-terrestrial stories with the quirky tales that the show has always done equally well. With the exception of the first double episode 'The Sixth Extinction' (and no, I don't know what that means either) and perhaps episode 15- 'En Ami' (where the Smoking Man rears his ugly head once more) season seven may not contain as many of the brilliant, all-questions and no-answer stories that made this show such a great success in previous years, but it is a season that possesses in spades some of the strangest, most original, emotional, frightening and funny episodes in the history of the programme. In fact, this season more than any other in my opinion (with perhaps the dubious exception of the show's finale episode 'The Truth') goes a long way to answer some of the many questions it has posed in the past in relation to our FBI abnormality-investigating duo and their government's continual attempts of the cover-up of alien activities. Something that also factored into my decision to purchase this season above all others (I'm somewhat ashamed to say) is the fact that by this point in the mythology of the X-Files the makers were able to bring to life the stories with far superior special-effects, make-up designs and locations than they were capable of utilising in earlier seasons. As a result this season has a great look and shows no signs of age, which I'm sure was aided more than a little by the lovely quality of the DVD picture here.

I don't think there's a single episode in this season that's anything less than absolutely thrilling, each is so distinctive in style and plot that I never felt stories were being repeated or the writers were running short of new ideas seven years into this ground-breaking show. As a fan of 'The X-Files' spin-off series 'Millennium' I was a little disappointed that the producers didn't see fit to award the Frank Black character a double episode to conclude his story, but I couldn't fault the plot or the tone of episode 5- 'Millennium' and it's one of my favourite episodes in season seven. Episode 17- 'All things' (Gillian Anderson's effort as writer and director) is also one of my favourites- the critics hated it and the fans hated it, so I guess I'm in the minority, but I don't care! The pacing and the camera work and the refreshing story make it a highlight of this season for me. And the other big selling point of season seven that must be mentioned is episode 11- 'Closure', which finally (at very long last) offers loyal viewers some explanation of the most important event in the life of Agent Mulder- the abduction of his sister Samantha. It's a solid episode and very touching, and it's the second part of a two-part story that begins with the episode before- 'Sein Und Zeit', both of which are extremely poignant and unpredictable, and share a superb performance by David Duchovny running through them. That only leaves the finale episode 'Requiem', which explores the mystery surrounding Scully's earlier alien abduction, as the other main highlight of the seventh season for me, but that's all I'm going to say about that episode, because I don't want to give too much away- but rest assured- it's an excellent episode.

You might imagine that seven seasons into 'The X-Files' and also since this is David Duchovny's last full season as Agent Fox Mulder that he and Gillian Anderson might be showing signs of being a little jaded with the same old routine, but there're absolutely no signs of any tiredness on their part. Mulder is his usual enthusiastic self for all things paranormal and Scully is still the same cynical and sceptical FBI agent as always (although definitely a little more open-minded to other-worldly possibilities than she was in the very beginning) and the rapport between the two actors is, as always, electric and after six seasons and one feature-length movie it's indisputably the main reason for the show's success. I cannot rate this season highly enough, but 5 stars will have to suffice.

(Moby is used to great effect in this season. 'Play' is a superb album and consequently the episodes that utilise tracks from this record are all the more moving as a result.)