Scully would play a minimal role in those stories. Little Green Men, The Host, Blood and Sleepless were all driven by Mulder. Her limited availability in the first run of episodes reduced her to a supporting character in Mulder’s quest. The character of Scully seemed to pose a bit of a problem for the show in the second season as a whole. As soon as Gillian Anderson returned, the series launched right back into monster-of-the-week stories like Firewalker without any real exploration of what had happened to one of our two lead characters. The series wasn’t sure how to write an episode without Scully, resulting in the mess that was 3. In particular, Scully’s absence caused a bit of a challenge for the show. Emasculata demonstrated that the series could venture outside the paranormal for good stories.Īt the same time, there were ideas that didn’t quite work. Colony and End Game suggested a truly epic mythology. Die Hand Die Verletzt and Humbug demonstrated that comedy could work within the confines of the show. Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy forced the team to keep the X-Files closed for the first eight episodes of the year, constructing a rather tight long-form story. However, the series was so popular that it was moved to BBC1 in the middle of the run, with the BBC deciding to air Humbug before Fearful Symmetry on BBC1, as if trying to capitalise on this popularity and to sell The X-Files as popular hit rather than a cult show. In Britain, the BBC had originally consigned The X-Files to a broadcast slot on BBC2, effectively treating the show as a cult property. This growing popularity was even apparent outside the United States. ![]() The show was already producing spin-off novels, reference books and even a comic. More than that, the show was attracting the right sort of fans for Fox – popular among 18-to-49 demographics sought be advertisers. The show climbed from 105th position in the Nielsen ratings up to 63rd. The Erlenmeyer Flask had earned “the highest 18-to-49 rating ever for a Friday night Fox series.” During that season, the ratings climbed dramatically. While The X-Files had not been a huge success during its first season, it had been enough of a success to earn a second season. It allows the production team to do that sort of experimentation so they might find their groove. Not all of these elements worked, but that is the luxury of a second season. There are a lot of points in the second season where it feels like The X-Files is experimenting, trying new things that would ultimately become part of the show’s unique identity. However, there are also quite a few misfires like Fearful Symmetry or Excelsis Dei or 3. Even outside of that, there are classics like One Breath or Humbug or The Host or F. Fresh Bones and Our Town stand out as two of the best monster-of-the-week stories that the show had done by this point in its life-cycle. The season provides a wealth of classic stories. There are exceptional episodes in the second season. However, the second season still feels like it’s a learning curve. It climbed rather dramatically in the ratings, and the show would continue that ascent through to the fifth season in the lead-in to the feature film. ![]() However, the second season had seen the series become a breakout hit. The show had been a sleeper hit in its first season, popular enough to secure a second season on Fox. The first two seasons of The X-Files seem like an attempt to map out the show, to mark the boundaries and do some fine calibration. It’s only once you’ve worked with the cast and had a chance to gauge audience response that it is possible to truly understand a television show. After all, a lot of discussion and planning takes place during development, but all of that is on paper. The first few seasons of a television show are very much about defining the show – figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and what form the show will take. In November, we’ll be looking at the third season. This August (and a little of September), we’re taking a trip back in time to review the second season of The X-Files.
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