The X-Files: Season 8 | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

Audience Reviews

Sebastian L The first half of season 8 is really just The X-Files on life support. It's too easy to give Patrick a hard time for not being Mulder, and it's unfair to his performance. Rather, the problem is that his and Anderson's chemistry is missing and that two uninspired characters is a bad way to lead a series. Things shape up towards the end, but it's still just a shadow of what the show was in its prime. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/14/24 Full Review Andrey V One of the best seasons for me. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/25/23 Full Review tom m Delightful. Interesting. Well done. Entertaining. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Credit where credit's due, the eighth season of The X-Files is nowhere near the dumpster fire I was expecting. Mulder's absence from half the season stung, the dark, humourless tone for the first half really showed just how much levity his and Scully's banter brought to the show, even back in the equally dark fourth season and a majority of the MOTW episodes were unsatisfying and forgettable. Sure enough, my preferred MOTW episode was the one where new character John Doggett (how considerate of Chris Carter that the first thing that happens to him when Scully meets him, upon noticing his badge, is splash a cup of water in his face then, when Mulder returns, have the first thing Fox does to John is shove him back in his seat) and Scully were almost complete no-shows, instead having the protagonist be a one-off character played by Miles Dyson from Terminator 2. Things took a turn for the better once Mulder returned though I was disappointed that the search never really succeeded. The aliens just handed him back to the FBI on a silver platter once they were done with him. At a price, but it wouldn't have been a very dignified send-off if it stuck. Then again, these mythology episodes don't allow the heroes to have any major victories, no matter what the changes to the status quo are, because otherwise we don't get any MOTW episodes. Chris Carter really wants to have his cake and eat it too. At least the consistent positive qualities remained such: the terrific performances, the awesome production values, Mark Snow's amazing score, cinematography from an extremely talented DP and Mulder's wisecracks are quite amusing. Some of Scully's angst about having children (she's pregnant this season) could perhaps come off as misogynistic but I doubt Chris Carter hates women. Of course, I'm not an expert so what do I know what heterosexual women angst about? Seems odd that she, in flashbacks set sometime during Season 4, I'm guessing, would confide in this to Mulder. I can understand her mother but to Mulder? Hmm. Were it not for some events from season 9 I've read about, the final scene would've provided a pretty fitting sendoff for Mulder and Scully as the torch gets passed to two new characters. Doggett has his moments but Reyes seems a bit bland, if friendly. Wasn't the role reversal of "skeptic and believer" one of the main selling points of the show? Wow, this eighth season left me with a ton of conflicting feelings. My review went all over the damn place. Maybe I shouldn't've gone on hiatus after season 6, especially since it lasted longer than expected. Nevertheless, while I believe the eighth season might have been a bad omen that, even without 9/11 pushing conspiracy culture out of the spotlight, The X-Files wasn't going to survive in the 21st-century (Really makes me feel bad for Chris Carter; once one of the biggest names on television but now might as well have been abducted by aliens, given how anytime we actually hear something about him, it's his constant attempts to reanimate the show's corpse...and the one time he tried to do something unrelated to The X-Files, it never made it past the pilot episode due to old habits dying hard, from what I've read) but I was shocked that it wasn't a TV atrocity. The ninth season on the other hand? Guess I'l find out soon enough if I should "be afraid...be very afraid" of the major writing problems. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Tim L The season does what it can without Mulder. The show is still entertaining. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/11/21 Full Review Audience Member I love the cleverness and it's cool Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The X-Files — Season 8

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