In the eighth season of The X-Files, Scully was pregnant, Mulder was gone, and Skinner had become a believer. So, understandably, the fans were pissed. About everything. And then, Chris Carter announces that he's bringing a new, full-time character to the show. Special Agent John Jay Doggett. Played brilliantly by the one and only Robert Patrick. We were pissed, and we needed someone to harp on. Robert Patrick had done nothing to offend us, hell, most of us either had no idea who he was, or just recognized him from T2. But, there he was. Mulder was out, and he was in. To us, he had REPLACED Mulder. But really, he hadn't. He was just there, doing his job. What we didn't realize at the time was that we NEEDED him. We needed a change. Not just until Mulder came back, for the rest of the series. We needed new characters to be on OUR side, for once. Plus, if we didn't have the 'new guy', then all season long, it would just be Scully crying over how sad she is now that Mulder's gone. "Oh, woe is me. I'm knocked up and there's no one here to shave my legs when I won't be ale to reach them." It would be that and Skinner insisting "I SAW IT!" all season until Mulder showed up again. So, if we didn't have the 'new guy', we would have stopped watching. Admittidly, yes, some people did stop watching, even with the 'new guy', but they were all rabid shippers and Duchovbots, whom I don't really count as fans, because true loyalty to anything means never giving up and walking away from it. It means giving it a chance, even with change. The show had been kind of, well, gloomy and grey for most of the seventh season. Hell, even in the sixth season, after the movie, it started goin' haywire, because obviously, Chris Carter got some bad pot and it was all downhill from there. The ideas started getting rediculous. The lead actors began taking the helm of the show. Which, yes, made for some entertaining episodes, and high ratings, but in my opinion, the actor acts, and the director directs. With movies, it's different, because it's a whole seperate entity. But TV, no, roles are assigned, roles are played. And Robert did a damn fine job of playing this character. He made no effort to become another Mulder. Luckily, that's not how they wrote Doggett. They wrote him as a completely different guy. Hell, they even look different. But to us, it didn't matter. To us, Doggett was the enemy. The Anti-Christ. The utter essence of evil. So, some of us stopped watching. Some us only watched 'Within' and 'Without'. Some only tuned in when Duchovny's name was in the credits. But then, there was the rest of us. True fans who were willing to give him a chance. And you know what I say to myslef and to all of us who stuck by the show, didn't give up and gave him a fair chance? We rock. We absolutely do. We were able to see past the haze of Duchovny that had been building around the show for the past few seasons. We were able to see Doggett for his own individual character with his own demons, past, values, beliefs and methods. So, in conclusion, if you're even still reading this, (and if you are, go take a walk around the block, you need something better to do with your time) Doggett was needed. VERY needed. And he continued to be needed until the very last episode. And if he's in the movie, he'll be needed even then. If only just for eye candy. ;) ~Juliette~ (and I apoligize if I repeated myself and went a little off topic. And for any spelling errors) |
| My "Why We Needed the 'New Guy' in Season Eight" Rant |