X-Files: The Pilot

I had never seen an x-files episode until tonight. I got loaned the first disc of season one, with a charge to "Watch it and Like it". I was promised real science. Well, Sculley did get her undergraduate degree in physics, so there was some hope that she would be the rational one in pursuit of truth. I hoped that this would be an example of two people, one chasing the paranormal and one chasing rationality. And of course I hoped that rationality would win. Alas, at least in The Pilot, my hopes are not realized. It only took about 20 minutes for Sculley to go over to the dark side and become a believer because of a bright light and two mosquito bites. Of course, I will give it a few more episodes, but if I had only ever watched The Pilot, I would suggest that it jumped the shark at that 20 minute mark. I have a sense that the real story is the internal struggle of Sculley to hold on to her rationality in the face of ever present "unexplained phenomena". An excellent series, in my mind, would be if these episodes were all very clever and yet ended with a very clever rational explanation for the mystery. Like I said, of course I will give it a few more episodes.