Having finished the current seasons of Treme and Doctor Who, and caught up on Mad Men, I have finally decided to crack down and finish The X-Files.
Let&amp;#8217;s face it: No show can possibly make it to an eighth season and still be fresh.&nbsp; The X-Files had a great run &amp;#8212; after a shaky first season, it reached levels of inspired brilliance from seasons two through five.&nbsp; Then, as can be expected, the writers started running out of ideas.
This season, they had to deal with David Duchovny only being around for a handful of episodes &amp;#8212; which forced them to completely retool the show.&nbsp; Some of it worked (Robert Patrick is a great actor, and he brings fresh energy to the role of Agent Doggett), some of it didn&amp;#8217;t.&nbsp; At this point, the most interesting aspects of the ongoing series mythology have either been wrapped up or have been retconned so many times it&amp;#8217;s impossible to keep up.
However, the strength of the show has always been the standalone episodes, and there are some good ones here.&nbsp; As expected, Gillian Anderson is flawless.&nbsp; So, whole I&amp;#8217;m not exactly champing at the bit to watch season nine (and it&amp;#8217;s going to take me a while to warm up to Monica Reyes, the bland chain-smoking psychic agent that they inexplicably threw into the mix), I&amp;#8217;m ready to see the series through to the end.
Rating: B-