Not only did it have nothing to do with government conspiracies at all, it was played for laughs. The third episode - which was magnificent - possibly created the most neck snaps as it was a total 180 in tonality. So there was a tonal whiplash involved when the second episode didn't line up with the first (though the second was sort of the most 'traditionally' X-Files of the batch). Which would be fine, basically, if the finale didn't go so big as to make everything feel rushed and the episode feel overly-cramped. But only the first and last episode directly dealt with the new over-arching mythos. Many assumed, because of the episode count, that this return was to be a miniseries. Another thing that worked to cripple this revival a bit was the storytelling format/layout. Especially when McHale's Tad O'Malley was used in the finale to relay all the information - everything we weren't being shown directly - about a global pandemic. As did the idea of a 'mega-popular online conspiracy theorist.' A rather implausible imaginary phenomenon that the show seemed to place way too much stock in. I love McHale, but he felt out of sync here. And while Annet Mahendru's guest star role popped, Joel McHale's never quite fit in right.

There were several issues right off the bat, in the premiere, involving a crooked, off-putting structure, stilted catchphrase-driven dialogue, and a smorgasbord of new conspiracy ideas that didn't quite jell into anything cohesive. But how was the revival? Well? It was okay.

The x files season 10