TV Review: The X-Files Episode 2, “Founder’s Mutation”

By Jeffery X Martin

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD

Boy, do we do things to screw up our children. Some of that can’t be helped; we’re only human, after all. But what if your child isn’t only human? The second episode of Season Ten of The X-Files, “Founder’s Mutation,” is all about the kids.

Storywise, we’re still dealing with this new conspiracy introduced in the first episode. We know the government is snatching children out of the womb, but we’re not sure why. A suicide at a medical research lab sends Mulder and Scully down a new path to a hospital where special children are being treated. But there’s something creepy about the guy running the joint, a man whose employees refer to him only as “The Founder,” and his experiments don’t seem quite above board.

Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully wonder about their child, William, whom they put up for adoption and then made sure the records were sealed. They don’t know where he is. He doesn’t know who his parents are. There’s a sense of loss for both of them, displayed in a couple of fantasy sequences about how their lives would have been different had they been able to raise William.

Let’s break this episode down, shall we?

The Good

–Mulder being propositioned in a men’s room. For a guy who watches porn like it is his job, one would think he would have seen that one coming.
–Good continuation of the new story, dipping into Monster of the Week territory, but not fully diving in.
–Scully is becoming more frantic during this arc to get to the truth, and it’s fun to watch that character abandon her normal insistence on protocol.

The Bad

–A couple of lines from Mulder, designed to make sure we know that he knows what year it is. “I know who Edward Snowden is,” Mulder says. Thanks, Fox. We do, too. Please continue with the scary stuff.
–What was up with those CGI birds? It looked like Birdemic III outside the Nugenics buildilng.
–I don’t mind Mulder aging, but he’s a bit too wistful around Scully. I’m sentimental as fuck, but even I would tell him to shut up if I were her.

So far, so good, as far as I’m concerned, but we’ve only got four more episodes to wrap this thing up. Sidequests are not a good idea at this point. As long as the next episode stays intently searching for the truth, we should be in for a good ride.

You can read Jeffery X Martin’s recap of Episode One here.