Despite being a big X files fan I never watched EVERY episode from beginning to end. Once Mulder left the show for an extended period, I stopped watching for an extended period. I have been watching each episode now on DVD from start to finish. Now I get to see what happened after I dropped off the series and I find that Season 8 is much better than I expected it to be. In fact it is quite captivating and Doggett is a good character. Having said that, I am weary of the following (1) shape shifters, and (2) a continually suffering Scully complete with melancholic theme music. I am almost weary of (1) UFO cults and (2) Scully rivals (Monica Reyes actually turned out to be intriguing). Problem is...I stopped caring about the mythology once I realized they were going to tack on more questions than answers thus giving the story an obvious "make it up as we go along" kind of feel. Furthermore, the "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING" lament at the end actually made me laugh. At least Scully didn't shake her fists to the heavens while shouting it. I find I no longer care about Mulder and I am more interested in the tidy episodic bits of uncovering the latest phenomenological challenge. The arc has become dreary and repetitive requiring that you still care about Mulder to keep it interesting. The monster of the week episodes despite being less ambitious have a longer shelf life than the arc.