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  • Watching The X-Files again after thirty years: s01e05

    From Beard@21:1/5 to All on Tue Sep 5 11:38:32 2023
    Yesterday night my lovely wife and I watched s01e05 The Jersey Devil.

    The premise was an investigation over an aggressive primitive human or
    humanoid killer, feeding on people in the Atlantic City outskirts; and
    the local authorities trying to suppress investigation of the crimes in
    order not to damage the economy based on tourism and gambling.

    Is this a Monster-of-the-Week already, again? I would say it is.

    We are offered some glimpse into Scully's personal life and her
    half-hearted attempts at dating; she looks clumsy around children, and
    stuffy and unnatural in her pretentious dress dining with a boring
    divorcee. When commenting about Mulder as a possible partner, instead,
    she first defines him as “a jerk”, then quickly corrects herself: No, he
    is not a jerk. But he is too obsessed with his work. (At that point my
    wife agreed, vocally. She also thought that Mulder was too “cute”,
    despite his work obsession, not to be casually courted by women.)

    The episode worked, with no major flaws. The anthropologist character
    brought a smattering of “science” discussing the killer's behaviour and making it easier to predict, which provides a justification for the
    quick succession of events. There is no waiting time in The X-Files:
    narration proceeds quickly with no false steps. As I wrote the previous
    time, “economy of exposition”: no waits, no silence, no dull
    conversations: only either meaningful or quick and witty exchanges.

    One quick unexpected scare made my wife visibly jump -- and she is not
    so easily scared; those moments are fun for me, as part of the shared experience of a couple's viewing.


    At the end I wanted to watch another episode, but instead my wife
    proposed something “modern” instead. That made me feel old before I acknowledged that the series is in fact thirty years old. Scully is
    dressed too conservatively, says my wife. True. The aesthetics have
    changed a lot already. And the narration, I would say.

    And so after The Jersey Devil we watched one Black Mirror episode: the
    first of the second season. Hauntingly painful and beautiful, a true
    work of art. The Jersey Devil, unfortunately, was not. I find this too difficult to openly admit.

    --
    Beard

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  • From Eric Gillespie@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 6 14:37:45 2023
    Hi Beard,

    Please keep these coming! My wife and I have been wanting to
    rewatch for a long time, but just can't find the time.
    Unfortunately, the empty nest is looming in our future, and that
    means we'll have time...

    Yesterday night my lovely wife and I watched s01e05 The Jersey Devil.

    This is the first episode that didn't grab me. Your review of
    this one comes across more positively than your review of
    "Conduit" but I have the opposite opinion of them :)

    At the end I wanted to watch another episode, but instead my wife
    proposed something “modern” instead. That made me feel old before I acknowledged that the series is in fact thirty years old.

    I must say I don't understand this way of looking at it. 1993 is
    really not to be considered "modern" anymore? Some of my
    favorites were already 50 years old in 1993.

    Scully is
    dressed too conservatively, says my wife. True. The aesthetics have
    changed a lot already. And the narration, I would say.

    How does an FBI agent dress today? In 1963? I would say
    dressing conservatively is dressing for the job.

    And so after The Jersey Devil we watched one Black Mirror episode: the
    first of the second season. Hauntingly painful and beautiful, a true
    work of art. The Jersey Devil, unfortunately, was not. I find this too difficult to openly admit.

    Watch it again in 30 years :)

    Thanks!

    --
    Eric Gillespie <*> [email protected]

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  • From Beard@21:1/5 to Eric Gillespie on Wed Sep 6 21:21:29 2023
    Hello Eric. I am happy to know you.

    On 2023-09-06 at 14:37 +0000, Eric Gillespie wrote:

    Please keep these coming! My wife and I have been wanting to
    rewatch for a long time, but just can't find the time.

    Thanks for reading my little reviews. Of course, I will continue.

    Unfortunately, the empty nest is looming in our future, and that
    means we'll have time...

    I hope it will not be too sad.

    I must say I don't understand this way of looking at it. 1993 is
    really not to be considered "modern" anymore? Some of my
    favorites were already 50 years old in 1993.

    Personally it is the same for me. My wife may have a different point of
    view but even that is not particularly the point; the point is that she revealed, clearly, that the show *is* now old even if we dislike the
    idea: we have to acknowledge the differences in aesthetics and in the
    use of the medium, no matter how we love it.

    In fact our reaction to this realisation might be to be more forgiving,
    to justify some flaws as a consequence of its simpler times.

    Scully is
    dressed too conservatively, says my wife. True. The aesthetics have
    changed a lot already. And the narration, I would say.

    How does an FBI agent dress today? In 1963? I would say
    dressing conservatively is dressing for the job.

    Scully's clothes did not look very feminine, she said.

    (On the other hand Scully's evening dress at dinner was comically
    excessive and out of character; but I am not criticising that choice,
    because Scully was *supposed* to look awkward there.)

    And so after The Jersey Devil we watched one Black Mirror episode: the
    first of the second season. Hauntingly painful and beautiful, a true
    work of art. The Jersey Devil, unfortunately, was not. I find this too
    difficult to openly admit.

    Watch it again in 30 years :)

    I will try to remember this.

    --
    Beard

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