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The X-Files premiere: 5 big questions about a messy first episode

The first new X-Files episode since 2002 is better than the show's series finale, at least.

The finale — which the writers probably didn't expect would ever be followed by a six-episode miniseries, let alone one set more than a decade later — was a lengthy David Duchovny monologue, an attempt to wrap up the series' ongoing story (or "mythology") about aliens coming to colonize the Earth in 2012. (In case you haven't noticed, they missed the deadline.)

But this first new episode is also kind of a mess. Scripted and directed by series creator Chris Carter, "My Struggle" attempts to catch up new viewers on a lot of X-Files backstory, while simultaneously simplifying the show's outrageously complicated mythology. In the new X-Files universe, aliens (or maybe Russians) crashed at Roswell in 1947, yes, but then the government took their technology to set up all manner of horrifying extralegal experiments, all the while reverse-engineering that alien tech to build its own flying saucers.

Honestly, this is a better reboot of the X-Files mythology than the several attempts the show made during its original run. (The low point involved military experimentation to create so-called "super-soldiers," a term that never stopped sounding stupid.)

The problem is that Carter, who's never been a particularly graceful writer, conveys the new premise through lead-footed exposition, counting on his actors to make it work. There's even a scene where Scully tells Mulder, "You want to believe!" and then Mulder later says, "The truth is out there!" as if Carter was worried we might forget the show's most famous catchphrases.

Fortunately, he's got Duchovny and Gillian Anderson at his disposal, and they're old pros (as you'd expect). Guest stars Joel McHale and Annet Mahendru (Nina from The Americans) struggle more — as you'd also expect. And Carter can still create an arresting visual or two, as when he depicts the sad fate of the alien who crashed at Roswell.

But this new chapter of The X-Files is decidedly a mixed bag — with more duds than hits. Future episodes are better (I've seen three out of the six), but this debut still leaves us with several big questions about the mythology's long-term health.