Big Blue Backpack, who is focused on analyzing the storytelling structures of Mystery Box shows, just released a video on the mythology of The X-Files — arguably, the show that set the standard for all the Mystery Box shows that followed.

I was glad to participate in this one as an interviewee! Clips of our discussion are interspersed with his analysis.

Yes, it’s 4 1/2 hours long — but if you don’t want a refresher course on the mythology episodes season by season you can jump to 2 1/2 hours in! This video differs in that it is a fresh perspective: it was made by a new viewer, unburdened by past fan discourse and completely unattached to the show, unlike someone who lived through its airing live.

I recently posted about two other long-form videos on the mythology of The X-Files: it’s as if there is some sort of dialogue going on in mythology interpretations, with video essays now that text-based discussions are out of fashion. I initially created this website just to analyze the mythology 20+ year ago, and it’s amazing to me that a 30+ year old show still motivates people to create such intricate essays.

In-universe Watsonian and holistic interpretations of the mythology, from season 1 all the way to season 11, have to take into account the developments of the revival after a big time gap. There are two main strands:

• The conspiracy, transformed: The aliens are real and intended to colonize, with the Syndicate helping them but each group hiding secrets from the other. After the Syndicate’s destruction, the aliens continued to plan for colonization with the Supersoldiers, but eventually retired. The Cigarette-Smoking Man used his influence and gathered the remains of the Syndicate’s work into his own plan for world domination, involving world depopulation using the Spartan virus, saving a select few thanks to genetic alterations, and William.
• It was us all along: The aliens are real but the colonization story was a lie orchestrated by a group of Elites which included the Cigarette-Smoking Man in order to manipulate everyone. The Syndicate was mislead into doing genetic hybridization experiments in fear of colonization, and were destroyed when they were no longer useful. Every “alien” we saw, the Alien Bounty Hunter and the Supersoldiers, were hybrids. After the Syndicate, the Elites group split into factions, Mr. Y and Erika Price on one side and the CSM on the other. The hybridization experiments led to their ultimate goal, William, who is immortal.

Ironically, both theories interpret by far most of what happened in the show in the same way but are inherently incompatible. And funnily enough, the show’s mythology has such a reputation of being confusing that few fans out of its large audience can say much about all this with great confidence. Although I wrote about all of this in my reviews of My Struggle II and III many years ago already, I will have more to say about this.