The end of an era

Almost a full year ago, I started watching The X-Files from the beginning. I only watched the show on my Kindle, while walking the treadmill. Back when it all started, a season was 23 or 24 episodes, and there were nine full seasons, plus two theatrical movies. What with traveling, and illnesses here and there, and taking Sundays off, it took me the better part of a year to see them all, in order.

I suppose I should post a spoiler warning or two, but really, if you watched the show at all, you know what happened (and what didn't). And if you never watched the show, you will have clicked away by now.

Yesterday morning, I saw I Want to Believe, the last movie, and last X-Files project (for now, and probably forever). I saw the movie in the theater the day it opened. I was one of 4 people in the place, so I knew then that the franchise was doomed. Even so, I'm surprised at how sad I am to say goodbye, once again, to these characters.

Despite the fact that the last two seasons were downhill all the way, despite the fact that I never warmed to Annabeth Gish as the occasionally psychic investigator (though I liked Robert Patrick just fine as Dogget),  despite the fact that so many of the threads of the mytharc were dropped and never picked up again,

despite the fact that The Lone Gunmen were killed off in a particularly stupid (and useless) manner, I loved that show. Loved it.

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And I am going to miss spending 43 sweaty minutes every morning with pretty pretty Mulder and beautiful beautiful Scully.

There were some clunker episodes (invisible elephants, Middle Eastern mystics who crawl up fat guys' butts, poor dead Samantha as starlight), but there were so many more good ones, and for several seasons, the show itself was pure genius.

These are My Top 10 Favorite X-Files Episodes Ever. How favorite are they? I didn't have to look up any of the episode titles, that's how favorite they are:

10. Rain King

9. Humbug

8.The Unnatural

7.Monday

6. Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose

5. Jose Chung's From Outer Space

4. A Post Modern Prometheus

3. Bad Blood

2. Small Potatoes

1. X-Cops 

You'll note that most of these are Monster of the Week episodes- I never did care much about the mytharc (and therefore wasn't too upset when things weren't neatly wrapped up at the end).

I can't embed this, but you can click for nostalgia's sake...

I believed in these characters, I cared about their lives, and I rooted for Mulder and Scully to see, finally, that they were in love. I doubt I'll do this again, so it really is good-bye this time. Or maybe just farewell- since I want to believe that they're still out there somewhere, bickering, believing and not believing, and chasing aliens.