Talk:The X-Files/history/Season 2

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Season 2 (1994–1995)

As the series ended its first season, a problem had arisen for the producers: the

autopsies
— one of her usual roles on The X-Files due to her training as a medical doctor.

Flukeman in "The Host", played by future writer Darin Morgan
under prosthetics. The episode, like several others, was inspired by classic sci-fi B-movies.

The beginning of the second season saw an increasingly frustrated and hopeless Mulder, having been reassigned at the FBI to tedious wiretaps. He also had his prior informant taken away and replaced by the far more reluctant and less friendly Mr.

guinea pigs in a cruel government experiment in sleep deprivation). Notably, "Blood" was the first episode whose story credit went to Darin Morgan, the actor who had portrayed Flukeman and the brother of writer/producer Glen Morgan (of the Morgan and Wong writing team). "Sleepless" was the second X-Files episode directed by Rob Bowman
, who would become one of the most prolific X-Files staff members behind the scenes, directing dozens of episodes as well as the 1998 feature film. "Sleepless" introduced Agent
Emmy nominations the following year.[5]

Anderson was not featured at all in the episode "3", but reappeared when Scully mysteriously returned in Morgan and Wong's "One Breath" (directed by R. W. Goodwin), an episode which consistently scores among the highest in fan ratings.[6] Scully's abduction provoked an existential crisis in Mulder. Although the show left it up in the air for years as to who was directly responsible (aliens, the government, or some combination of both), the earlier episode "Sleepless" had foreshadowed the events with the Cigarette Smoking Man's declaration that "every problem has a solution" (referring to Scully). Scully was now seen to be firmly on Mulder's side in the larger conflict, regardless of her original role as a debunker and her continued skepticism towards the paranormal.

After Scully's recovery (and the birth of Anderson's daughter, Piper), Mulder and Scully returned to work on the re-opened X-Files, investigating cases ranging from

Alien Bounty Hunter, as well as the characters Bill (Peter Donat
) and Teena (Rebecca Toolan) Mulder, Fox Mulder's parents. "Die Hand Die Verletzt" was Morgan and Wong's final X-Files script until the fourth season, as they departed to start their own series Space: Above and Beyond, but at the same time there was new involvement behind the scenes. The episode also marked the X-Files directorial debut of Kim Manners, who would stay with the show until its end and direct the largest number of episodes of the series. On "Colony", star David Duchovny collaborated with Chris Carter on the story, the first of Duchovny's involvements in writing for the show. Frank Spotnitz, a new story editor brought on by Chris Carter, wrote "End Game", the second of the two-part episode; Spotnitz would be a producer and writer on The X-Files and other Ten Thirteen projects for years and had a key role in shaping the mythology. The middle of the second season also saw "Irresistible", an episode directed by David Nutter and written by Chris Carter, which Carter later credited as a blueprint for his even darker show Millennium.[8] This was the first non-paranormal episode of The X-Files, dealing with the trauma of investigating Donnie Pfaster, a "death fetishist" (so named instead of "necrophiliac" to get past the FOX censors).[9] A sequel, "Orison", was made in the seventh season.

During its second season, The X Files finished 64th out of 141 shows, a marked improvement from the first season. The ratings were not spectacular, but the series had attracted enough fans to be classified as a "cult hit," particularly by Fox standards. Most importantly it made great gains among the 18-to-49 age demographic sought by advertisers.

Golden Globe Award for best television drama, winning out over several more established series such as ER, Picket Fences and NYPD Blue.[12]

The last weeks of season two brought more changes, beginning what some saw as The X-Files' peak creative period.

ad-libbed scene.[14] Eventual senior writer Vince Gilligan also offered his first episode, the darker sci-fi "Soft Light", guest starring Tony Shalhoub as a remorseful physicist
whose shadow kills people.

Season two ended in May 1995 with "

American Southwest.[16] Outside the U.S., The X-Files was by now one of the most popular shows in the world,[13] and was being broadcast in (approximately) 60 countries.[17]

  1. ^ Gillian Anderson biography. [1]
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference xwr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference RATINGS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. doi:10.2307/432310
    .
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Assortment of unofficial reviews of "One Breath."".
  7. ^ a b c Powers, William F. (1995-09-17). "X-Files: Signs of Intelligent Life — Cult Favorite Gains a Following Among the Masses". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference SALON was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Patterson, Kevin. "X-Files Season 2 reviews".
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference cult was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference xffaq was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Oldenburg, Ann. USA Today, review of Golden Globe Awards. January 23, 1995.
  13. ^ a b Wei, Eugene. "Amazon.com editorial review of Season 3".
  14. ^ Vitaris, Paula (1995). "Making 'Humbug'". Cinefantastique. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Hersey, Eleanor (1998). "Word-healers and code talkers: Native Americans in The X-Files". Journal of Popular Film and Television.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference details was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference CBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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