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The X-Files: The Complete Second Season
Season Two of Fox-TV's The X-Files was when it started to gain a ground swell of popularity, and according to many X-philes, some of the best episodes of the series arrived during this time. Starting with the split of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and the closing of the FBI "X-Files" at the end of Season One, the following episodes initially found Scully teaching at Quantico while Mulder was assigned to the mundane detail of electronic surveillance. But before long we are introduced to Mulder's new partner Alex "Ratboy" Krycek (Nicholas Lea), the Alien Bounty Hunter (Brian Thompson), and "X" (Steven Williams), the inscrutable informant who take the place of the fallen "Deep Throat." It was a memorable season, creating many dilemmas that would not be resolved until later, so if you're prepared to fork out the bucks for Fox's 7-DVD set, The X-Files: The Complete Second Season includes such notables as "The Host" (with the creepy Fluke Boy), the two-part abduction arc "Duane Barry" and "Ascension," episodes where we meet both Mulder's and Scully's families ("Colony," "One Breath"), the cliffhanger "Anasazi," and the unforgettable "Humbug," featuring the Jim Rose Freak Show (the first script from Darin Morgan, who played Fluke Boy in "The Host"). And if you really know your X-Files, you know that Gillian Anderson was pregnant during the first part of the season, so for fun you can review those early episodes and debate if series creator Chris Carter did a good job of hiding her impending motherhood. As is standard with Fox's X-Files DVD boxes, the final disc includes various supplements, this time the 15-minute documentary "The Truth about Season Two"; 12 brief segments with Carter, who discusses individual episodes (which can be played individually or sequentially); nine 60-second "Behind the Truth" promos that originally ran on the F/X cable network during the show's syndicated run; three behind-the-scenes clips (including Anderson's insect-eating turn in "Humbug"); four deleted scenes from the season (Did you know the original "X" was a woman? Of course you did); all of the promo spots that ran on Fox during the initial TV run; short clips of the show dubbed into foreign languages for international broadcast; and additional DVD-ROM content. It all comes in a folding DVD digipak that's sure to impress friend, foes, and alien bounty hunters alike.
—JJB
