I wasn't the biggest X Files fan while it was on the air, picking up only in the last season (which featured the infamous John Doggett). I got hooked on the show in spite of itself, and enjoyed the re-run episodes that Space would show every night at 10. Wish they'd pick that up again - the classic episode marathon they had back in January was close enough I guess.
For the most part, this season actually felt like a regular season of the X Files. Being a mini-series, I fully expected to be watching a 6-episode story, rather than 6 stand-alone episodes. I think this was smart - it meant that they were better able to stay close to the X Files tone. It was pretty much a "Monster of the Week" peppered with shows that serve to drive the overarching story.
I think the very best episode of the bunch was "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster", which featured Rhys Darby as the titular Were-Monster. I feel like this episode was written particularly to fit Darby's style. Also funny to note that Darby played a werewolf in "What We Do In The Shadows", which is a must-see. Werewolves, not Swear-wolves!
Unquestionably the worst episode was My Struggle II. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the episodes (even though it was a direct sequel to My Struggle). Also, it featured a seemingly pointless re-appearance of Agent Reyes - that didn't really seem to serve any purpose other than to give us a familiar character to deliver plot exposition.
Here's how I'd rank the episodes:
- Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster
- Home Again
- My Struggle
- Babylon
- Founder's Mutation
- My Struggle II
I'd probably switch around Babylon and My Struggle, but Babylon takes a hit for "Agent Einstein". Also, I just looked up Founder's Mutation and realized that the director of this one also directed "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man", an episode I watched recently and really liked. Musings was the better episode.
Other minor notes - both Aaron Douglas and Alessandro Juliani appeared in the season as guest stars, who both starred in Battlestar Galactica.