So I'm watching X-Files, and so far my experience has been mixed, but every time I see the words "Written by Darin Morgan" I perk up big time. This guy, is the only writer I've ever come across for any show that when I see their name pop up, I just assume they're going to hit it out of the fucking park. When Joss Whedon writes something on Buffy or Angel, I think it's probably great, but that's not the same thing that's going on here. Every episode I've seen from Morgan has been a legit 10/10, a little masterpiece.
His first episode "Humbug" showed up right when I was thinking about quitting the show. It was everything I wanted to see from the show when I heard of it. It was a fast-paced little whodunnit with a colourful cast of characters, and a legitimately scary culprit. It was also weirdly prescient in how it dealt with themes of human idealism and the need for companionship. That performer's final speech about guys like Mulder was weirdly topical despite being written 20 years ago.
Morgan's next episode was "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", and it's this hilarious/sad episode about a guy who can predict the future, but only in the context of someone else's death. Bruckman himself was this incredible one-off character (played by the late great Peter Boyle), and while this episode was a ton of fun, there was this interesting strain of nihilism coursing through it due to the exploration of what it means to see death everywhere. It also had a fun villain with a hidden motivation for his crimes (that gets an amazing payoff in the episode). This was the point where I started to recognize the genius of this writer.
Next episode he wrote was "War of the Coprophages". It was the moment I saw "Written by Darin Morgan", sat back, and relaxed and watch what was by far the funniest episode of the series so far. The premise is goofy as hell, but the characters were fun and memorable, and the characterization of Mulder and Scully was at its best. Gillian Anderson's reading of the simple line "Yeah, sure, OK", never fails to make me laugh, and the scene she says it in also contains a perfect Mulder character moment said perfectly by Duchovny.
The most recent episode of Morgan that I watched was called "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", and it is by far his best episode. I couldn't believe what I saw when it was over, it was as close to a perfect hour of television as one could get. Seriously one of my favourite episodes of any TV show ever. The reason is that it combined all the amazing aspects of his earlier episodes in one. It had the fun cast and mystery of "Humbug", it had the cold beating heart of "Bruckman", and it had the sheer hilarity of "Coprophages". It also takes the ever loving piss out of the shows lame "alien mythology" plotline. It exposes the emptiness of the entire storyline, but it also gut punches you in the end by addressing the emptiness of life as well. Even if you never watched an episode of X-Files before, WATCH THIS EPISODE. It is basically perfect. It will make you laugh, it will make you think, and it actually made me tear up a little with that last monologue.
This is a long ass post, but it's essentially saying this guy is perhaps the greatest television writer of all time... so imagine my disappointment when I find out that this last episode of his I watched was his last one until the season 10 revival. Well, fuck. I was really hoping he'd have 2-3 episodes for every season, however, his work so far in the series basically made sitting through the show 100% worth it. I will sit through rapist ghost storylines, a swarm of killer house cats, space ghosts, and any other piece of shit X-Files story if it means seeing even a little bit of the brilliance displayed in these 4 episodes.
The X-Files is a show that misses a lot more often than it hits, but when it hits, holy shit does it work. Darin Morgan is the main reason why that is, and for one writer to have that much control over whether I detest a story to easily putting it in my "favourite ever" list, well, they would have to be the best wouldn't they?
His first episode "Humbug" showed up right when I was thinking about quitting the show. It was everything I wanted to see from the show when I heard of it. It was a fast-paced little whodunnit with a colourful cast of characters, and a legitimately scary culprit. It was also weirdly prescient in how it dealt with themes of human idealism and the need for companionship. That performer's final speech about guys like Mulder was weirdly topical despite being written 20 years ago.
Morgan's next episode was "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", and it's this hilarious/sad episode about a guy who can predict the future, but only in the context of someone else's death. Bruckman himself was this incredible one-off character (played by the late great Peter Boyle), and while this episode was a ton of fun, there was this interesting strain of nihilism coursing through it due to the exploration of what it means to see death everywhere. It also had a fun villain with a hidden motivation for his crimes (that gets an amazing payoff in the episode). This was the point where I started to recognize the genius of this writer.
Next episode he wrote was "War of the Coprophages". It was the moment I saw "Written by Darin Morgan", sat back, and relaxed and watch what was by far the funniest episode of the series so far. The premise is goofy as hell, but the characters were fun and memorable, and the characterization of Mulder and Scully was at its best. Gillian Anderson's reading of the simple line "Yeah, sure, OK", never fails to make me laugh, and the scene she says it in also contains a perfect Mulder character moment said perfectly by Duchovny.
The most recent episode of Morgan that I watched was called "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", and it is by far his best episode. I couldn't believe what I saw when it was over, it was as close to a perfect hour of television as one could get. Seriously one of my favourite episodes of any TV show ever. The reason is that it combined all the amazing aspects of his earlier episodes in one. It had the fun cast and mystery of "Humbug", it had the cold beating heart of "Bruckman", and it had the sheer hilarity of "Coprophages". It also takes the ever loving piss out of the shows lame "alien mythology" plotline. It exposes the emptiness of the entire storyline, but it also gut punches you in the end by addressing the emptiness of life as well. Even if you never watched an episode of X-Files before, WATCH THIS EPISODE. It is basically perfect. It will make you laugh, it will make you think, and it actually made me tear up a little with that last monologue.
This is a long ass post, but it's essentially saying this guy is perhaps the greatest television writer of all time... so imagine my disappointment when I find out that this last episode of his I watched was his last one until the season 10 revival. Well, fuck. I was really hoping he'd have 2-3 episodes for every season, however, his work so far in the series basically made sitting through the show 100% worth it. I will sit through rapist ghost storylines, a swarm of killer house cats, space ghosts, and any other piece of shit X-Files story if it means seeing even a little bit of the brilliance displayed in these 4 episodes.
The X-Files is a show that misses a lot more often than it hits, but when it hits, holy shit does it work. Darin Morgan is the main reason why that is, and for one writer to have that much control over whether I detest a story to easily putting it in my "favourite ever" list, well, they would have to be the best wouldn't they?
I might actually start watching Millennium since I know he wrote 2 episodes for that show, even though everything about it sounds terrible to me.
