Uproxx had an opportunity to watch “My Struggle,” the first new episode of The X-Files since 2002 and, while we’re not ready to post our review, there are a few things we’re definitely going to tell you about (without spoiling anything, even though there is plenty we could really spoil). Fans of the show — created by Chris Carter, who writes and directs “My Struggle” — are probably wondering what’s going to be different and what’s going to be the same about our favorite nightmare-inducing show of the ’90s. After seeing it for ourselves, those fans have every reason to be excited for January 24, when the show returns for a six-episode run.
What’s Different:
1. There’s a whole, big internet full of weirdos now
For one thing, it’s 2015. It’s been over a decade since the show ended and seven years since the last movie, X-Files: I Want To Believe. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully had access to the internet and cell phones in the past, but consider how much both of those things have evolved since we last saw them. There was no such thing as a YouTube star back in the day, and in the first episode, one such person is a very important player.
Of course, some names had to be changed to, shades of Law & Order, protect the innocent — or at least comply with trademark restrictions — and The X-Files has created some new sites. I’m not spoiling anything by saying that they’re pretty silly names, but it’s not enough to ruin anything. It’s just kind of a shame that Mulder and Scully don’t exist in the same world as YouTube and Google because Oh the things they could find.
2. Former Agents Mulder and Scully
Neither Mulder nor Scully are agents of the FBI anymore and, as we know, the X-Files were discontinued. In short, they don’t have the government backing them up anymore.
3. Speaking of the government…
I’m treading very lightly here, but by the end of the first episode, you’re going to feel very differently about the government. I won’t say why, but it’s related to a character played by Joel McHale and, in X-Files fashion, it’s explosive.
What’s the Same:
1. Mulder is obsessed, Scully is skeptical.
This, however, comes with the caveat that Scully will believe something if she see enough evidence of the truth, so that is something that should be kept in mind.
2. Aliens, dude!
On the subject of Mulder being obsessed, he says in the very beginning that his obsession with finding the truth about his sister, whom he believes was abducted by aliens, “only grew” since the X-Files was shut down in 2002. That’s one major focus in this first episode and it swells up into a pretty shocking climax that could possibly drive the whole season.
3. Cigarette-Smoking Man is back.
I don’t want to say too much, and we knew he was going to come back from the promos. All I’ll say is that he can still be called Cigarette-Smoking Man.
Bottom line: This is the X-Files you know and love, but because of the advances in technology and communication, there is even more ground it can cover and more ways it can freak us all out.
