The X-Files season 11 episode 7 preview: Rm9sbG93ZXJz

Mulder and Scully encounter menacing drones, pervasive surveillance, and unpronounceable episode titles on Rm9sbG93ZXJz, the latest episode of The X-Files

Thank goodness for copy-paste keyboard shortcuts, or everyone would lose it simply over the title of the latest episode of The X-Files. “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” is set to be all about artificial intelligence and, presumably, evil computers who don’t care for human naming conventions.

The X-Files, like many other horror and science fiction shows, can’t help but dip into technological terror every once in a while. It’s fertile ground for scares, to be sure.

Who amongst you really, truly understands how your phone works? How many of you have one of those ever-listening, internet-connected speakers in your home? How quickly have you lost patience when a page loads slowly, perhaps forgetting a time where you would have been grateful for a dial-up connection?

Maybe you’ve experienced a brief, but piercing moment of fear when dealing with technology. Who is listening to you? Who is watching? And once our data is out there, what kind of havoc can it wreak?

This isn’t a screed, however. In the right hands, technology can be a wonderful asset to modern life. A thoughtfully managed app or smart wristband can help you lose weight, for instance. Computer-aided navigation in cars shows you where to go. Sensors in bumpers keep you from yet another fender bender.

Notice the use of “in the right hands”, though. Like anything, bad intention or even simple laziness can make it all go south in short order. It’s hard to tell what’s motivating those creepy machines in the preview for “Rm9sbG93ZXJz”. Could there be another human villain at the heart of this all? Or, will The X-Files go deep into science fiction territory and present us with fully sentient, autonomous artificial intelligence?

The X-Files has tackled similar topics on a few occasions. There’s the very, very silly “First Person Shooter,” where Mulder and Scully get caught up in a kind of virtual reality paintball game. The episode makes a brief, weak stab at feminism of some kind with a murderous female AI.

Suffice to say, the effort falls flat. The oddness of “First Person Shooter” is all the more remarkable considering that cyberpunk masters William Gibson and Tom Maddox wrote the script.

It’s not all bad, though. Season 3’s “Wetwired” gives us an eerily prescient look at fake news and the pitfalls of 24-hour news. Season 5’s “Kill Switch” (also co-written by Gibson) is creepy and fun enough to make it worth the re-watch.

This is all quite a bit of speculation, however. There’s not much to go on based on the episode’s synopsis alone. Mulder and Scully will likely face a threat from some sort of tech, though it’s not clear who or what is managing the effort. Scully seems pretty convinced that they’re being monitored. With that army of drones, how could they not be under some serious surveillance?

Compared to earlier episodes, there’s quite a bit of room for updating. Back in the 1990s and even into the early 2000s, neither agent really had to worry about their phones tracking them.

Nowadays, though, it is so commonplace that it can be hard to muster concern. But will this entry be able to explore that odd tension between the invasiveness and ubiquity of modern technology?

Next: The X-Files season 11: War is a monster-making machine

Or is this going to be the goofy, tone-deaf cry of someone who doesn’t understand how their Wi-Fi router works? It’s a tough line to walk. William Gibson could certainly testify to that, based solely on his own X-Files experience. Hopefully, this latest entry in The X-Files canon will manage that tight-rope act.

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz” will air this Wednesday on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.