This is the funniest X-Files episode ever, funnier than even "Bad Blood" and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'". Written by the show's best writer, Darin Morgan, it's a wild and wacky exploration of false memory driven by the stories told by the supposed co-originator of the X-Files, Agent Reggie. Without giving away any spoilers, the final scene with the alien is priceless. Once it starts firing in its second act, it's sublime. Perhaps a bit too precise in its references to Trump, still the core philosophy of truth in the digital age presented by Morgan is worthy of being discussed in university courses. Perhaps I'll do precisely that. The best line comes from Skinner in the final scene.
As some critics have said, the episode is more political than X-Files mythology episodes traditionally have been, but the show was ALWAYS about politics - the first Gulf War and Clinton received multiple references in Seasons 1-9, and then there's the classic "Musings of Cigarette-Smoking Man", which is about the whole political history of Cold War America. So critics, you're not playing fair.
Also, you miss the cutting profundity of Dr. They's dialogue with Mulder, especially the point that in the age of the Internet and portable digital media, hiding the truth is no longer possible: it's definitely out there. But there's so many versions of it out there, and since people are so stuck in their ideologies, the truth no longer matters. Hence Dr. They doesn't have to "silence" Mulder and Scully - he even makes a YouTube video about his machinations.
As some critics have said, the episode is more political than X-Files mythology episodes traditionally have been, but the show was ALWAYS about politics - the first Gulf War and Clinton received multiple references in Seasons 1-9, and then there's the classic "Musings of Cigarette-Smoking Man", which is about the whole political history of Cold War America. So critics, you're not playing fair.
Also, you miss the cutting profundity of Dr. They's dialogue with Mulder, especially the point that in the age of the Internet and portable digital media, hiding the truth is no longer possible: it's definitely out there. But there's so many versions of it out there, and since people are so stuck in their ideologies, the truth no longer matters. Hence Dr. They doesn't have to "silence" Mulder and Scully - he even makes a YouTube video about his machinations.