My rewatch of Post-Modern Prometheus has me in the saw trap because beyond my love of Mulder and Scully, which is eternal, this episode is kind of everything I feel about xfiles in all its ambiguity.
It’s really funny! And a lot of that humor is rooted in classism and ignoring by women’s reproductive choices.
The ending is a beautiful celebration of community and self-fashioning in ways that redeem the “monstrous other” and celebrate queer aesthetics! But that’s only accomplished by pretending there are no consequences to any of that otherized characters’ previous actions.
Also, at its core, most of the horror is visited on the bodies of people who are poor, disabled, and/or female. Which is so realistic for a show about government programs of violence! But also, that’s a way inculcating Mulder from certain types of violence, AND creating a type of violence that Chris Carter can still treat as humorous.
Xfiles is simultaneously so many things at once. And I truly love it. I think this ambiguity is part of what helps it age and also why it could speak to so many viewers at once. But also, it’s why I know these episodes and scripts don’t always love all the fans back.