sarah blair | the m0vie blog

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 8, Episode 2 (“Without”)

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Darren

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 Sarah L. Blair for a discussion of the second half of the season premiere.

Without is a very meditative piece of television, which is a bold and interesting choice for the second half of a season premiere. It is essentially an episode about absences, about the lack of resolution or even meaningful linear progress. It’s an episode that is about confronting the reality that The X-Files no longer has one of its two leading characters available to it. What does that version of The X-Files look like? Without is essentially a story about wandering through the desert.

You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: Arc, doggett, Fox, mulder, Robert Patrick, sarah blair, scully, season, the x-cast, the x-files, without | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 7, Episode 15 (“En Ami”)

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Darren

The X-Cast is covering the seventh season of The X-Files. It is a season that arrives at an interesting point in the larger arc of the series, with the creative team trying to both prepare for the end of the show without actually committing to it. En Ami is an interesting episode in that regard.

Creditted to actor William B. Davis, En Ami is an episode focusing on the Cigarette-Smoking Man. It is not the first episode to focus on the character, as Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man had aired three seasons earlier. However, like both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, Davis seemed to be taking advantage of the show winding down to put his own authorial stamp on the character that he had played since The Pilot. The result is interesting and contradictory, complicated and compelling. It’s messy, but it’s also fascinating.

You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: bill davis, david duchovny, davis, en ami, gillian anderson, sarah blair, sarah l. blair, the cigarette-smoking man, the x-cast, the x-files, William B. Davis, x-cast | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast – Season 5, Episode 3 (“Unusual Suspects”)

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Darren

Think of it as a prequel podcast for a prequel episode. Before I recorded the podcasts for Redux I and Redux II, I actually joined Sarah Blair on The X-Cast to discuss Unusual Suspects. Appropriately enough, given the episode’s production history, it was the first fifth season podcast that I recorded.

Unusual Suspects is one of my low-key favourite episodes of The X-Files. Gun to my head, whether pressed by a lone gunman or not, it is one of the most underrated episodes in the show’s entire eleven-season run. Notably, it is the only time (barring collaborations on Memento Mori or Emily) that Vince Gilligan takes a proper shot at writing a conspiracy or mythology episode. As such, he gets a chance to put his mark on some of the most coveted toys in The X-Files toy chest. The results are suitably Gilliganian, a story about little men and uncontrollable chaos stemming from the law of unintended consequence.

You can listen to the episode here, or click the link below.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Podcasts!, The X-Files | Tagged: conspiracy theories, Lone Gunmen, sarah blair, the lone gunmen, the x-cast, the x-files, vince gilligan | Leave a comment »

New Podcast! The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch – Episode #82 (Je Souhaite/Requiem)

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Darren

I’m thrilled to be a part of The X-Cast X-Files Podwatch, a daily snippet podcast rewatching the entirety of The X-Files between now and the launch of the new season. It is something of a spin-off of The X-Cast, a great X-Files podcast run by the charming Tony Black. Tony has assembled a fantastic array of guests and hosts to go through The X-Files episode-by-episodes. With the new season announced to be starting in early January, Tony’s doing two episodes of the podcast per day, so buckle up. We’re almost there at this point, now marking the end of the Duchovny era of the show.

My final appearance of the somewhat uneven seventh season reteams me with the fantastic Sarah Blair. We’re discussing the last two episodes of the seventh season, and the last two episodes of the show’s original cast configuration, Je Souhaite and Requiem. Two episodes that could in their own way have served as finales for The X-Files.