What on earth was this? It tackled a grim, terrifying subject, but also included some of the silliest comedic scenes of the season. It talks about understanding yet deals in predictable stereotypes. And then it just fizzles out.
But it wasn't all bad, so I'll give both sides:
THE GOOD:
The Mulder/Scully doppelgangers: I thought that was a really cute idea. True, the premise ran out of steam after five minutes, but for five minutes I was really enjoying it.
The Trip: I really liked it. Yes, it was incredibly silly and made no sense in the context of the show, but I enjoyed the pure wackiness of it.
THE IFFY:
The Mismatchings: I wouldn't say the idea of the doppelgangers teaming up in cross-sensible matchings was bad, exactly, it's just that it wasn't persuasively accounted for. It didn't make any sense - particularly Einstein's agreeing to the whole thing - but it was cute.
The Who on Earth? Some stuff just wasn't really explained, like the people who tried to take over the investigation and then ran away. It was kind of interesting, but odd.
THE BAD:
The Non-Twist: Like other people here, I thought there would be some twist when we saw the Muslim guy pray and then go into the building with the other Muslim guy. X-Files is a show where things happen you don't expect, but here, exactly what you expected to happen happened.
The Mixed Tone: Terrifying terrorism mixed with silly jokey scenes. Huh?
The Muslim Bashing: While some people see it as pure Islamophobia, the odd thing is there's a lot of lip service given to us all being human. Yet, you don't prove that by just saying it, you prove it by doing something like showing a religious Muslim who's not a terrorist. But that doesn't happen here (I'm not counting the mother, because she isn't shown doing anything religious, she's just a generic concerned mother). I don't think Carter really meant to slam all Muslims, but it's still what he did.
The Endless Prattle: How long did Mulder and Scully philosophize at the end? Five minutes? Five hours? Where they saying anything? I couldn't even focus, it just sounded like gibberish. It went on and on. It had nothing to do with anything in the story, as best I could tell. It's not the first time Carter has descended into this sort of nonsense (there was some in the first episode) but this may be the worst he's ever done.
But it wasn't all bad, so I'll give both sides:
THE GOOD:
The Mulder/Scully doppelgangers: I thought that was a really cute idea. True, the premise ran out of steam after five minutes, but for five minutes I was really enjoying it.
The Trip: I really liked it. Yes, it was incredibly silly and made no sense in the context of the show, but I enjoyed the pure wackiness of it.
THE IFFY:
The Mismatchings: I wouldn't say the idea of the doppelgangers teaming up in cross-sensible matchings was bad, exactly, it's just that it wasn't persuasively accounted for. It didn't make any sense - particularly Einstein's agreeing to the whole thing - but it was cute.
The Who on Earth? Some stuff just wasn't really explained, like the people who tried to take over the investigation and then ran away. It was kind of interesting, but odd.
THE BAD:
The Non-Twist: Like other people here, I thought there would be some twist when we saw the Muslim guy pray and then go into the building with the other Muslim guy. X-Files is a show where things happen you don't expect, but here, exactly what you expected to happen happened.
The Mixed Tone: Terrifying terrorism mixed with silly jokey scenes. Huh?
The Muslim Bashing: While some people see it as pure Islamophobia, the odd thing is there's a lot of lip service given to us all being human. Yet, you don't prove that by just saying it, you prove it by doing something like showing a religious Muslim who's not a terrorist. But that doesn't happen here (I'm not counting the mother, because she isn't shown doing anything religious, she's just a generic concerned mother). I don't think Carter really meant to slam all Muslims, but it's still what he did.
The Endless Prattle: How long did Mulder and Scully philosophize at the end? Five minutes? Five hours? Where they saying anything? I couldn't even focus, it just sounded like gibberish. It went on and on. It had nothing to do with anything in the story, as best I could tell. It's not the first time Carter has descended into this sort of nonsense (there was some in the first episode) but this may be the worst he's ever done.