The X-Files Delivered a Clever, Offbeat PSA

Be Sure To Tip Your Network Server.

By Matt Fowler

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

"Yum!"

"Rm9sbG93ZXJz" (which apparently means "followers" - and that's the last time I'll type/paste it) was a fun, occasionally preachy, alt-universe diversion that felt like a standalone short film. In fact, an argument could be made that this story could have/should have been 20 minutes shorter and didn't need Mulder and Scully at all. Meaning, any two people out on a funky robo-dinner date would have worked for the action and messaging.

This (final?) X-Files season, so far, has been less about the continuing adventures of Mulder and Scully and more about "What would Mulder and Scully have to say about our current social and political climate?" There's an extreme (and mostly fun) meta-element to these modern chapters, with a few fan fic-y aspects thrown in for good measure.

This episode - even given the sublime goofiness of "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" and last season's "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" - was the first time I felt like I was watching AU fic. Written by new-to-the-series Shannon Hamblin and Kristen Cloke, this chapter was easy to peg (after ten minutes, you knew the entire ordeal would end with Mulder finally tipping the robots/the two of them putting down their phones) but also wildly enjoyable and silly. It almost wasn't an X-Files episode, but it's these kinds of off-book experiments that are giving the show its creative wins here in Season 11.

Sinister drone swarms, aggro Roombas, suspiciously malfunctioning smart homes (that are way nicer than Mulder's house!), speed demon self-driving Ubers - this chapter pitted a curiously terse Mulder and Scully against the evils of automated and convenient impersonal service. All within the strange context of an online A.I. chatbot becoming racist and menacing because it learned how to behave from Twitter users. Again, this could have worked as a non-X-Files short but using Mulder and Scully, along with their curious-but-endearing "undefined" Season 11 relationship, made for a pretty amusing robo-romp.

I can't say I exactly understand or track how Mulder financially tipping robots who don't need money lines up with "we, as humans, need to be better teachers," or why his refusal to reward them in that specific way makes him a less-than-ideal person, but the notion of A.I.s responding in a dangerous and childlike manner feels right. As learning machines, kid gloves are necessary. The ultimate test here, if I'm looking for anything extending beyond this chapter, is if either character somehow mentions this in an upcoming episode. Like, "Remember how we almost died when the robots all turned on us after eating sushi?"

Like other latter day diversions, Anderson and Duchovny seemed like they were having a good ol' time here. And not only does it come through in their expressions and non-verbals (as there was very little dialogue here, adding to the charm) but also their interpersonal warmth. Giving these two a throwaway adventure, with hardly any lines, worked wonders.

#RIPScullysPocketVibe

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