THE X-FILES Its definitely a skull, Mulder. I can tell because I am a medical doctor.
  • THE X-FILES "It's definitely a skull, Mulder. I can tell because I am a medical doctor."

Yep, it was a definite improvement over Sunday night's episode, "My Struggle," and not JUST because it had a BLOODY BABY HAND REACHING OUT OF ITS MOTHER'S STOMACH!!! (Spoilers below, obviously.)

• Okay, but seriously: Written and directed by longtime X-Files guy James Wong, "Founder's Mutation" was much better than "My Struggle," in no small part because it gets Mulder and Scully back on the beat. I realize now that italicizing that made it sound dirty, but I just meant it like... they're weirdo cops! Back on the weirdo beat! Findin' weirdos! Etc. ANYWAYS, it's nice to see our duo talking about things that aren't aliens this time around, even if those things are people stabbing themselves in the ear and horrible noises that gnaw at your soul and a bunch of kids with genetic abnormalities who live in... in... wait. That was Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

• Yesterday I wrote a bit about the whole how-truthers-are-different-in-2016-than-1993 thing that these new X-Files are wrestling with, and again, this stuff might've been my favorite part of last night's episode. While chatting with Skinner, Muld and Sculls notice there's someone else in the room—some NSA-type dickbag who's making sure a bunch of files stay confidential. "I'm familiar with Edward Snowden," Mulder cracks, looking really pleased with himself, and he should. Because if we're going to talk about the unfounded paranoia that's infected America's right-wingers, we also have to talk about the founded paranoia that's simply part of how we live in 2016. (Everybody else noticed that Mulder had duct tape covering his laptop's camera lens in "My Struggle," right?) Thanks to Snowden, Americans know their government really is spying on us, and really is trying to keep the extent of it secret. If "My Struggle" riffed on the conservative panics of things like national gun registries, "Founder's Mutation" got in a few lines, at least, about the kind of government overreach that's real, authenticated, and not made up by isolationist racists. All this stuff basically plays right into Mulder's worldview, and I think Edward Snowden should be a guest star and help Mulder and Scully solve a high-tech mystery. Perhaps like... oh... I don't know....

• This kind of felt like a few different episodes jammed into one: If I'm remembering right, we've got Ear Stabby Guy, who leads Mulder and Scully to the baby X-Men, who lead them to the Evil Doctor's Wife (BLOODY BABY HAND!), who leads them to the Wonder Twins, who make the Evil Doctor's eyes pop out of his goddamn head! Now that's what I call an X-file! (And yes, I know they weren't twins, but close enough.) All of those elements, though, were kind of rushed; any of them could've worked, in fact, as their own episodes. But I'm not complaining, because after "My Struggle," it was just nice to have an episode that felt like it moved—like there was a chain of events that led to a satisfying conclusion, and gave Mulder and Scully and Skinner and that bloody baby's hand time to do their thing. Plus this one had crazy mutant powers and shit! Sold, X-Files. Sold.