The first few seasons are truly among the best TV ever by far.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120419)

And I am of the opinion that it has always made sense, while being open to interpretation. Even in the later, weaker seasons they never threw something at you that retconned or rendered inchoate the threads that came before. I think Carter always had it in mind that the mythology was ultimately about a conspiracy to cleanse the earth’s population and engineer an elite race that would inherit the globe. They throw misdirects at you like the Syndicate believing an alien colonization is inevitable, but if you pay attention there is reason to believe that was a cover for a more sinister and human-centric plan to use extraterrestrial threats as a pretext for their own goals.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120705)

Samantha died young as a result of the hybrid experiments. Nothing that is revealed conflicts with this. You were duped by the Cigarette Smoking Man.

William was a misstep, I’ll give you that, but he does serve as a sort of savior figure in the show’s Christian subtext.

The Syndicate was burned alive by the Rebels but that doesn’t mean that the Engineering of Super Soldiers just vanished, you idiot. I don’t have to listen to this fucking crap.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120781)

Same with Closure laid over the ’73 collateral logic, and Rohrer/Knowle/magnetite laid over the ashes. Continuity of surface is not the same thing as continuity of structure. You keep mistaking a smooth surface for structural integrity, which, given your gray-alien Baldness, is perhaps less interpretation than projection.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120790)

This guy lays it out pretty convincingly:

https://youtu.be/LYQ0Um9VlhM?is=RMycfylgzXbTy8Fh

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120809)

Part of why the early seasons were so great is because the stakes were so high. CSM absolutely wanted Mulder and Scully dead when they had the tape (the one that Krycek ended up with later on.) If not for Skinner using the Navajo dude to bargain for their safety, they were cooked.

Also I can rewatch the Purity Control episode along like 100x. Fuckin' a the early mytharc stuff is the GOAT.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121379)

The thing about Samantha is that Mulder never actually saw her again. He saw what may have been clones, and that made sense because she was chosen by his father to be “abducted” for the project. It was later revealed that she died during her captivity and experimentation as a pre-teen. Sein und Zeit/Closure was essentially an epilogue to the whole thing and introduced the Walk-Ins for some spiritual “closure”, but she was still dead. People were just angry that they didn’t get some lame “happy” ending imo.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121404)

What is your favorite actual episode? E.B.E. is fucking good, though Erlenmeyer Flask takes Season One for me. I always enjoyed the Piper Maru / Apocrypha two-parter in Season 3.

"Have the bodies destroyed."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121421)

When it comes to the anthology eps, there are too many to list. All of the commonly cited greats are there, but I also love the really dark/nasty/weird ones like The List, Grotesque, Eve, Tithonus, etc etc etc.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121442)

The end of Redux II when Mulder names Section Chief Blevins as the traitor is also fucking incredible. Dude runs to his office and is taken out while in a total fucking panic.

Fuuuuuuck I need to do another rewatch!!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121460)

The show treats mystery as something intellectually and spiritually significant, rather than a lore database or puzzle to be solved. It intentionally leaves the tension between faith, science, and longing for something more unresolved.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50122277)

https://explodingkinetoscope.blogspot.com/2010/11/fox-and-sam-at-end-of-road-x-files-and.html?m=1

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50133684)

In all seriousness, are there any hidden gem shows you recommend? I’m open to pretty much anything 🐶

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120804)

I love all 4 you just mentioned, 180 - Would you JUDGE me as a curator if I admit I prefer TD2 to TD1? I love the McConaughey Harrelson duo of course but that’s what stands out to me in memory, while TD2 is rich beyond compare IMO (I also love noir stuff and I’m from SoCal so that probably adds to it for me) 🤔

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120851)

You don’t even need to watch anything but the Return and maybe season one of Twin Peaks imo. The whole point of The Return was that you can’t go back. It was a meta teardown of the whole idea and basically a Film in its own right.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120861)

Tyty for this description of Return, because it’s never interested me until now but now I’m unironically intrigued (love both seasons of the original show and the FWWM movie FWIW)

Still always lol whenever I reflect on how I was introduced to Kyle Maclachlan, Halle berry, AND Elizabeth Taylor (the flintstones movie of course!) 😹

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50120881)

I am assuming you've watched the dude on YouTube with the 4 hour "I explain Twin Peaks" video. If not, highly worth it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121425)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5901287&forum_id=2,5#50121538)