While perusing the DVD selections in the online catalog of the Mid-Hudson Library System a few months ago, I saw that they had Season 5 of the X-Files. It was the only season they had, so on a whim, I requested it. I then promptly forgot about it.

I was something of an X-Files devotee in the mid- to late-Nineties; not to the extent of making angry postings to web boards about how Chris Carter had sold out, or searching out Mulder/Scully fan fiction, but I liked the show pretty well and watched it consistently for seven seasons. I went to see the movie on opening day, and was sad when the series went completely off the rails in the last two seasons. Since then, I haven’t thought much about it, my television attention span having been taken up by Buffy, Alias, etc.

Anyway, back to the present. Granted, the fifth season was not representative of the show’s best work, but I was rather surprised at how not interesting it was. The only episode that has really held my attention so far is “Bad Blood,” wherein Mulder and Scully each tell their own versions of an investigation of apparent vampire attacks in a small Texas town.

Otherwise, it’s mostly been conspiracy-related episodes; the writing on many of them just isn’t that good, and I find myself wondering why I was so into it at the time.