The X-Files Review: Familiar (Season 11 Episode 8)
The X-Files tries to recapture its horror roots of old on Season 11 Episode 8, “Familiar.”
I’ll tell you one thing — Tamagotchis were never as scary as Mister Chuckleteeth is. There’s a challenge for you, The X-Files writers: make Tamagotchis scary. Free idea, from me to you. It’d scare millennials more than the current housing market does.
There’s nothing overly special about “Familar.” It’s very much a standard Monster of the Week for The X-Files, sprinkled with a good dose of creepiness to keep you interested just long enough to sigh when the big twist ends up involving infidelity.
(Women have so many reasons to practice witchcraft — did it really have to be the cheating thing? I’d do it just to mess with everyone on those fake psychic TLC shows. But maybe that’s just me.)
It’s hard to try and unpack a whole lot of anything in “Familiar.” It’s not exactly bad, but the waters of it are not exactly deep, either. There’s a monster, there are some dead kids, and there’s Mulder and Scully sort of muddling along with the plot.
In fact, Mulder and Scully don’t really do much of anything in this episode. The roll up to the crime scene and start theorizing based off of admittedly nothing — Scully just guesses the little boy was murdered, and then Mulder (being the good boyfriend that he is) backs her up without a whole lot of solid evidence.
They spend a lot of time ducking in and out of scenes to deliver exposition or to move the plot along while we sit and wonder why the lives of the people in this small town are somehow more interesting than seeing our favorite FBI agents bicker over spontaneous human combustion.
“Familiar” is an episode that would fit nicely in the middle of the show’s early 20-something episode seasons — easily lost amongst far better episodes, perhaps vaguely remembered upon rewatching as one that you never really paid much attention to, but why not let it play while you do something else in the background. It’s just filler.
There is a truly bizarre B-Plot involving a pedophile and police brutality, but I cannot for the life of me tell you what they’re trying to say with it.
There seems to be some kind of commentary on how mob mentalities have taken precedence over the proper carriage of justice and due process, but it’s hard to get on board that point of view when it’s being said about a pedophile.
There’s also the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it message about how law enforcement tends to get away with literal murder, but anything worthwhile being said about it is quickly swept away in favor of everyone chasing around a big ‘ol werewolf.
MULDER: Dear diary, today my heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combustion.
MULDER/SCULLY RELATIONSHIP WATCH
- I have no idea what’s going on with them.
- That’s it, that’s the update.
What did you think of this episode of The X-Files? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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The X-Files airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on FOX.
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Brittany Rae
Brittany is a writer and avid TV blogger hailing the infamous year of 1989. She trained at Vancouver Film School in screenwriting for television and film, and has gone on to become a graphic designer and blogger in her free time. When she’s not watching the Food Network, she’s trying to consume every bit of sci-fi television she can get her hands on (current favorites include The 100, Person of Interest, and Doctor Who). She’s always up for female-led dramas and, of course, a literal interpretation of the phrase “Netflix and chill."
One thought on “The X-Files Review: Familiar (Season 11 Episode 8)”
Brittany “there are some dead kids” — really — This was a classic X-files episode. Yes Standard monster of the week. Scully’s theory was based on a broken kneck. That is not trivial. Mulder was just winging it That was pretty poor. But the Basic story and premise was solid. A few good scares and probably the best episode of this season. OK it was not Emmy award winning but it certainly was better than 2 stars.
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