What I’m Watching: The X-Files

The X-Files: Season 10, Episode 3 “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” (C+)

It’s looking like this show could do well and will therefore return for another slate of episodes, but if six is all this show gets, I’m not sure we need an hour like this, which reminds me of the installment where Mulder and Scully were a married couples, the Petries, who said that their last name was pronounced like the dish. Part of the episode’s silliness comes from casting Kumail Nanjiani from “Silicon Valley” and “Franklin and Bash” and Rhys Darby from “Flight of the Conchords” as the two featured players of the hour, one who actually turned out to be the killer and the other who was suspected the whole time. This episode was all about the silliness, and that was exemplified most strongly in the recounting Darby’s character gave about how he was transformed from being a were-lizard of sorts into a human rather than the other way around. It’s hard to know what’s real, but the sight of him turning into the were-monster as he shook Mulder’s hand was pretty funny. His retelling of how Scully rushed at him to have sex with him was a bit more ridiculous, but I suppose this show deserves a bit of lightheartedness sometimes, especially as it pokes fun at Mulder’s use of technology, like the rapid-photo app that would work a lot better if he had the camera turned the right way. Now, with this absurdity out of the way, let’s get back to aliens and, more importantly, the saga of government conspiracies that made this show great.