The X-Files season 11 episode 9 preview: Nothing Lasts Forever
The X-Files gets gross with a tale about cults and macabre goings on in Nothing Lasts Forever, the next to last episode of The X-Files season 11.
Is The X-Files all about vampires this week? Probably not, or at least not really. Even then, I can still hope that we’ll get something delightfully gross, what with talk of organ theft and macabre cult rituals. When handled correctly, this sort of Gothic Grand Guignol can be interesting. Of course, if someone fumbles the delivery, it’s just nausea-inducing.
The trick, really, is to not hold back. Yes, there are certain hard limits imposed by network TV and, no, you aren’t obligated to like these sorts of stories. But, if you’re going for “human organ theft,” then you need to really go for it. This is not the sort of thing you can successfully do halfway.
Controversy is naturally built into some of the more gory and more boundary-pushing episodes of The X-Files. Home, the second episode of the fourth season, is a near-perfect case study of this concept. It’s plenty gross, especially when we learn about the history of the reclusive Peacock family and their malformed progeny.
The episode is also pretty violent, even for The X-Files, what with live burials and a couple unfortunate and innocent people meeting the business end of a baseball bat. It’s rightfully considered one of the most disturbing episodes of the series.
When gross is good
Yet, if we’re being honest? Home is pretty good. Sure, if you have a delicate constitution, you may want to steer clear. Plus there is plenty of room to wonder if all of that bloody violence is entirely necessary. But it’s just so strange and gross that, ultimately, Home works. The story makes sense and the characters are interesting and generally well-written.
The larger implications of Home are what really make it stand out, however. The episode presents some interesting themes about the outer world encroaching on someone’s cherished enclave, whether it be a modern-day Mayberry or something far darker. When you get down to it, how much of a different is to be found between the two?
A lot of the appeal of Home and other body horror episodes has to do with the sickened fascination of our own bodies. What are these things? Why must our individual body produce so much stuff?
How horrible, to be an intelligent being trapped within a body that must necessarily break, become diseased, and eventually degrade into nothingness. Our fascination with stories of bodies gone wrong is linked to our own. We are afraid that somehow, we will become like the Peacock family or their victims.
Will we get something like this in Nothing Lasts Forever? We might. Or, we could make our way through another humdrum story that weakly draws on dismembered bits and unnerving bodies for mere shock value.
Next: The X-Files season 11: Witches and kids’ shows make strange companions
As always, it’s hard to tell from a blurb and some preview photos. We’ll have to wait until Wednesday to see what director James Wong and writer Karen Nielsen have to say about the subject.