The X-Cast is covering the eighth season of The X-Files. This is one of my favourite seasons of television ever, in large part because it’s a season that manages to build a convincing narrative and character arc around a very challenging production reality, and in doing so forced the show itself to evolve and change. I’m thrilled to join Kurt North for a discussion of the episode that effectively closes out the second act of the larger season.
There is a solid argument to be made, at least in the context of the original television run of The X-Files, that This is Not Happening is the last truly great episode of The X-Files. The eighth season is unique in the show’s history for having a very clear three-act structure across its twenty-one episodes. This is Not Happening is positioned at the bridge between the second and third acts of the season, marking the return of David Duchovny as Mulder. It is a very elegiac and mournful episode of television, thoughtful and introspective, moving the season confidently into its endgame.
You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.
You might be interested in our reviews of the eighth season of The X-Files:
- Within
- Without
- Patience
- Roadrunners
- Invocation
- Redrum
- Via Negativa
- Surekill
- Salvage
- Badlaa
- The Gift
- Medusa
- Per Manum
- This is Not Happening
- X-tra: The Lone Gunmen – Pilot
- X-tra: The X-Cast – Season 8, Episode 14
- DeadAlive
- Three Words
- Empedocles
- Vienen
- Alone
- Essence
- Existence
Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: david duchovny, death, ending, gillian anderson, kurt north, mulder, reyes, scully, show, the x-cast, the x-files, this is not happening, x-files |
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