s Fox kicks off The X-Files' two-part season premiere, it's easy to see that the more things change the more they stay the same. As the season opens, only 48 hours have passed since the events of the season finale. Agent John Doggett (Patrick) has FBI Deputy Director Kersh (James Pickens Jr.) under investigation due to events surrounding the birth of Scully's baby. Unfortunately, it's suddenly an investigation nobody wants.
Doggett discovers that Mulder has vanished, and Scully (Anderson) refuses to answer questions about where he might be. Doggett knows she's protecting her baby and maybe Mulder, but there's something else going on, too. A.D. Skinner (Pileggi) and Agent Monica Reyes (Gish) both warn him to drop the investigation. However, Doggett can't let it go. In the meantime, Reyes' old flame, FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer (Cary Elwes) has given her evidence that contradicts what they all know happened.
However, when a mysterious obituary is left where Reyes will see it, she finds herself drawn into Doggett's investigation. An administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency drowned after his car plunged off a bridge. When another man drowns mysteriously, the two cases become linked. This all leads Doggett to a mysterious woman named Shannon McMahon (Lucy Lawless), who may have answers that lead to a government conspiracy that may somehow involve Scully's baby.
Scully has begun to realize something may just be going on with her "normal" baby. She, too, gets pulled into Doggett's investigation, and the three agents find themselves compelled to keep pushing toward the truth. However, what they find leads to more questions than answers and a conspiracy that may go to the very heart of the FBI itself.
Business as unusual
As The X-Files' ninth season begins, it's back to business as usual as the premiere sets up the mysteries that will undoubtedly drive the rest of the season. The search for Mulder's sister and the search for Mulder give way to the search for the answers behind the birth of Scully's miracle baby. The X-Files producers love a conspiracy and surrounding their main character with people who may or may not be on their side.
Everyone's back except for the missing Mulder and the dead Krycek, including the Lone Gunman, who show up just long enough to lighten things up for a moment. Annabeth Gish joins the cast full-time as the third lead. Her character is the true believer, which is something that was sorely missed when David Duchovny left the cast last year.
Unfortunately, what the series has left are three way-too-serious characters. Mulder always had a funny comment for any occasion, regardless of the subject matter. And no one's come along to replace him, despite the fact that Patrick and Gish are fine actors. In the best years, The X-Files was funny, scary and filled with shadows and dark spaces. Well, the shadows and dark spaces remain, but it's been a long time since it's been funny or scary.
In "Nothing Important Happened Today" the producers are quite clearly trying to bring about a rebirth for the series. The two-parter does give The X-Files direction for the next season, as well as giving the characters a reason to bond and trust each other. The relationship between Scully and Doggett is kind of sweet, and Gish's character brings a freshness to the series that it badly needs.
Unfortunately, the series motto "Trust No One" seems to extend to the show's creators. Mulder's exit was poorly handled last year, and the burning up of the government conspirators, the Cigarette Man's exit and a bullet in the forehead for Krycek don't really answer any questions at all. The answers so far have been inconsistent half-answers and have felt unsatisfying. Maybe a mystery so sweetly developed can never have a conclusive answer. Maybe the series has just gone on too long. Maybe this year The X-Files can get back on track. Maybe.
