Mulder is contacted by a skittish, weird man who insists that They have the power to alter memories. His theory and his demeanor both equally outlandish, Mulder is ready to dismiss him entirely. And yet this would explain erroneous memories in an intriguing way... why the episode of The Twilight Zone he loved as a kid doesn't seem to exist, why the strange self-separating gelatin Scully remembers from her childhood can't be found anywhere, and why the world seems to remember a non-existent movie starring Sinbad as a genie. Increasing contact with this weird man reveals a conspiracy deep enough and weird enough to keep up with modern times.
Just as Darin Morgan's effort in the last X-Files revival season was the reason to justify doing it, this episode felt like the reward for making it through this season's terrible premiere. It was laugh out loud funny, and repeatedly so. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson again got to show that they've got comic chops this show is rarely able to tap. The series lovingly mocked itself with slapstick (a mirror take from a multi-armed alien), sight gags (child Mulder watching TV with adult Mulder's head), weary comments about whether anyone needs another Twilight Zone/Outer Limits type show, and an extended montage that served up fake opening credits with a new character retroactively inserted into beloved episodes.
Where the episode excelled with subtlety was in bringing the weirdness to Mulder and Scully. As with classic comedy episodes from the show's original run ("Jose Chung's From Outer Space," "Bad Blood"), it was actually the way that an outsider talked about Mulder and Scully that made them and their work seem so ridiculous. They themselves weren't actually behaving that far outside normal. (That "Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster" episode from the previous season was not as pure on this front.) The strange man of this episode, Reggie Something, brings almost all the weirdness (with the hilariously named Dr. They contributing the rest)... though there is a meta-commentary here in that Reggie is just Mulder turned up one or two notches (and They the same for the old character of Deep Throat).
Of course, this wasn't the only commentary the episode was offering, and the bulk of it wasn't subtle. The episode had a lot of fascinating things to say about how the mission statement of The X-Files, the search for the Truth, has taken a punch in the gut in the modern age of truthiness, alternative facts, and bald-faced lying in the face of actual evidence. And as the perfect grace note to it all, the climax of the episode featured an obnoxious alien parroting the words of Donald Trump back at our heroes. Fantastic. And hey, isn't it more fun to blame Donald Trump rather than Chris Carter for why The X-Files isn't as good as it used to be?
In a weird way, this is the second time this season that The X-Files has made me want to stop watching it. The first time was out of frustration and disgust. This time, it's out of an odd satisfaction. This episode could almost serve as a finale for the series. An odd note to end on, some would say, but far more satisfying than what we thought was the actual finale back in 2002. It was entertaining, thoughtful, and actually did tie up things in a bow of sorts. (A screwball, enormous novelty bow, but still...) We'll see if I can muster up the will to keep going once again in this second revival season.
Even if I do, I can't imagine another episode surpassing this one. I give "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" an A. An enthusiastic round of applause for Darin Morgan.
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