Be advised: this will go into detail with regards to’concerning’with respect to various plot elements of the episode, and there will be SPOILERS. Trust no one.###Mulder! Scully! Skinner! (to be said in the style of superintendent Chalmers on The Simpsons) Conspiracies! Yes, The X-Files is well and truly back. But is it a happy return in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a beloved old friend? Or is it the awkward feeling of that acquaintance you used to claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate was really entertaining, but now you're just apprehensive they possess’own’nurse n't really moved on and are still talking with regards to’concerning’with respect to the same old stuff?###Unin/with regard to’concerning’regarding tunately, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a lot of this initial episode of the new run, The X-Files falls much more into the latter category. Written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, it doesn't help that My Struggle has a lot of work to do. You've go to re-introduce, or simply introduce the series to those who possess’own’nurse n't seen it in years and new audiences. You've got to catch us all up on what Mulder and Scully possess’own’nurse been doing in the time since we last saw them (2002 in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the TV series, 2008 in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the second movie, I Want to Believe, which we'd probably all rather in/with regard to’concerning’regarding acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure anyway).###The episode kicks off with a quick primer on all things X-Files, narrated by David Duchovny's Fox Mulder. We skip through his obsessions with the paranormal and alien in peculiar , his abducted sister Samantha, his work with the FBI's least wanted department, the X-Files and that pesky doctor/agent astoken ed to debunk his theories, Dana Scully, who ended up becoming his enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gest ally.###While it's certainly fun to see some of the old moments, presented here in photograph in/with regard to’concerning’regarding m, it all feels a little rushed and sloppy, and hardly the most compelling start, aside from possibly a crashing UFO and of course the credits, which are are full-on nostalgia trip because they're exactly the same as the classic series.###From there, we're plunged into the episode proper, which somewhat awkwardly aims in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a blend of flashback (to New Mexico in 1947, according to the familiar typewriter-style chyrons) and the present day, where both of our heroes possess’own’nurse left the FBI: Scully to concentrate on medicine and helping with tough surgeries, and Mulder living off the grid, still consumed with his bitter quest in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the truth.###In the past storyline, we see a young military doctor brought to the crash site to gape at the ship half buried in the ground from its losing fight with gravity. And there are more wonders to unfold through the episode, as he encounters an alien survivor trying to crawl away from the troops that are scouring the zone’district’region . A few bullets later and the extra-terrestrial is an ex-extra-terrestrial, but our doc takes the body to… Well, that is never explored, but we possess’own’nurse to assume he'll run a few tests and then wait in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Voyager 2 to be launched so he can notify the alien's next of kin. More on him (the doctor, not the alien) later.###As in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the main chunk of the episode, Scully and a scruffy, unspossess’own’nurse n Mulder (we're going to assume the "Struggle" of the title is Fox's battle with personal grooming) are contacted by their in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer boss Walter Skinner and brought toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her in Washington D.C., where they're met by right-wing paranoia puppy and internet TV reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue host Tad O'Malley (Community's Joel McHale going in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a smoother, younger version of US cable news blowhard Bill O'Reilly). Tad has an intriguing mystery and a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous budacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure to spend, despite’in spite of’albeit it's not eliminate’remove how running an online conspiracy reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue offers you the resources to fund a plush bulletproof limo and, later, a helicopter to swank with regards to’concerning’with respect to in. He recruits our main pair, explains a lot with regards to’concerning’with respect to what he believes is going on, and brings them to meet Sveta (Annet Mahendru), who has evidence, including a lot of odd’peculiar scars, that she's been abducted multiple times. Falling in to old patterns, Mulder is almost straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice convinced, whereas Scully is much more skeptical. Well, it wouldn't be these two without that dynamic, right?###If you were playing a drinking game based around old catchphrases, you'd probably be in a coma by the end.###The old roles continue as Mulder digs deeper into what Tad has uncovered (including what looks like a stealth bomber crossed with something out of Flight Of The Navigator) that is supposedly an "Alien Replica Vehicle", retro-engineered and used by the government to fool individual into claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate ing aliens are abducting and experimenting on individual , while Scully is tasked with testing Sveta's blood and genes. The ship ties in with Sveta's next revelation: that she believes her abductors weren't aliens at all, but humans, as part of the grander conspiracy. Mulder's re-ignited passion in/with regard to’concerning’regarding finding answers leads him to his old office, long since eliminate’remove ed out, but confusingly left with some of his old posters and those pencils he used to love to fling into the ceiling hanging around. Hasn't the FBI used this space in/with regard to’concerning’regarding something else in the 14 years since he worked there? Or has Skinner, who angrily confronts Mulder, been keeping it safe all these years? It appears he's even been repainting the place after its many tangles with fires and conspiracy-sponsored vandals.###Next up, Mulder meets the latest in a long line of shadowy contacts who, we're told, he's been talking to in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a decade. He's played by Rance Howard, and we quickly learn that he's the doctor from the flashbacks. Essentially he's here to be this series' version of Deep Throat or Mr. X, and we're already apprehensive with regards to’concerning’with respect to his life expectancy. He's still alive in/with regard to’concerning’regarding now, but then there's a callback to that other old X-chestnut, the Mulder speech. Gathering once again with Sveta, Scully and Tad, our talkative in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer agent lays out his BIG THEORY encompassing an even enormous’vast’massive’tremendous ger lie than he's told in the past, the idea that the governmental and corporate elites possess’own’nurse been slowly taking over America and the world through weather manipulation, pharmaceutical tampering and the appeal to rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent ol' human nature through fast food and consumerism.###Scully, thoroughly sick of hearing all this and back in full-on skeptic mode, calls it claptrap and refuses to listen any further. But, later back at the hospital and then at Mulder's, she's ready to believe again thanks to Sveta's medical tests, and her own, which possess’own’nurse come back reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ing token s of manipulated DNA. Yet the dark in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ces ranked against them possess’own’nurse begun to act to eliminate’remove up the evidence, blowing up the high tech alien vehicle, having Sveta recant her stories in the press and in/with regard to’concerning’regarding cing Tad offline. It all just pushes Scully to pick up the cause again, and both agents acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure a call from Skinner. the X-Files are re-opened! Black oil and flashlights in/with regard to’concerning’regarding eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullyone!###Sveta, meanwhile, is one dangling thread with regards to’concerning’with respect to to be categorically’flatly’emphatically tied as an "alien" ship shuts down her car, hovers above her and explodes the vehicle. Is she dead? We don't see her die, but it didn't look rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent .###And eventually’ultimately – one more spoiler alert in/with regard to’concerning’regarding rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent measure – we cut to the back of a intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully familiar head. Yes, despite seemingly being blown to kingdom come himself by a rocket, it's William B. Davis as the Cigarette Smoking Man! "We possess’own’nurse a problem," he says, sucking on a Morley through a tube in his neck. "The X-Files possess’own’nurse been re-opened."###So are we glad with regards to’concerning’with respect to that? As fans, this is intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully much a mixed bag. Sure, it's rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent to possess’own’nurse Mulder and Scully back doing the conspiracy cha-cha-cha, but it all just comes across as a truncated greatest hits of the series, without many of the actual hits. While the mythology episodes, those sweeping mini-epics with regards to’concerning’with respect to alien colonisation, bees, super soldiers, or whatever, started out fun, they ended up mostly frustrating, and that feeling carries over to this retread. How many times do we possess’own’nurse to sit through Mulder and Scully debating conspiracies when both possess’own’nurse seen more than abundant’ample’plentiful evidence to convince any rational person that wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile stuff is happening? This episode in peculiar , with its need to re-introduce eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything, is weighed down with tropes and familiar elements to the point where you wonder what our heroes possess’own’nurse even being doing in the years since the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue 's story left them. There's another conspiracy, one that tries to tie-up many elements of what has come bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e while also largely debunking chunks of it, Mulder meeting knowledgeable but reluctant inin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mants, Scully as the level-headed medical researcher and the occasional bit of alien tech to keep us guessing.###With just six episodes to use in/with regard to’concerning’regarding storylines, and merely’barely two planned as the mythology arc entries, there's an inevitable sense here of squashed and squandered creativity, something we're really hoping doesn't reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue up in the stand-alone reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue s to come bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e Carter returns in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the finale in a few weeks' time. Like Mulder's visit to his old cubbyhole, it might possess’own’nurse been a mistake to try to re-visit this series, no matter how much we as fans and viewers all want to see Mulder and Scully ride again. It's not-so-subtly loaded down with the need to possess’own’nurse pertinent inin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mation in/with regard to’concerning’regarding newbies (if you were playing a drinking game based around old catchphrases, you'd probably be in a coma by the end) and trying to tie-in e grossly thing including 9/11 just feels like overkill. McHale's Tad is fine but bland, and even Howard's inin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mant feels second hand. Mahendru, who has done much better work on other series (peculiar ly ace spy drama The Americans) is largely wasted here except in/with regard to’concerning’regarding one scene with Scully.###So perhaps not the best start, despite some entertainment value. Let's all hope that the other episodes deliver the rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent s.###Read our celebration of all things X-Files here.