The true origin of the X-Files is revealed.

Or not, as the case may be.

Like many Darin Morgan episodes, this is likely to be something of a Marmite story – having given my opinion online regarding it, there have been quite a few people who’ve totally agreed that it’s one of the worst ever… and others who (like David Duchovny) think it’s one of the best episodes. I’ve enjoyed a lot of the “out there” episodes over the years of the show – in a season of twenty-plus instalments, they’ve been a welcome distraction from the sometimes overly serious tone of the majority of the show. But they’ve normally had something to say about the show itself, and not descended into quite the levels of inanity that this episode managed.

Perhaps what’s so annoying about it is that underneath the fake Outer Limits / Twilight Zone-esque reconstructions, and the remake of the title sequence mid-episode, there’s a good X-Files story to be made regarding fake news, one that doesn’t require Jim Rockford’s old pal Angel to be made up oddly and then photoshopped into footage of Trump’s inauguration. Yes, Mulder did have a partner before Scully (see the episode Unusual Suspects; yes, he was called Reggie. No he wasn’t this guy… Yes, the Mandela effect (or is the Mengele effect) is something that’s definitely worth an X-File investigation but not done like a bad parody of an X-Files episode. My Struggle Part II (and to a large extent Part III) felt like that as it is. It’s dangerous to parody something that’s doing it to itself.

And what to make of that ending (and the references to Reggie that were in the case files seen in This)? Are we going to get a reveal at the end of this season that the whole thing is a parallel world? Or that the final shot will be Duchovny’s character from Californication waking up having had a weird dream of reliving a past life? Based on this, anything is possible.

Verdict: The potential for a very good episode is lost in over the top antics. 4/10

Paul Simpson