The File Room

This week Michaela reveals a big life change ahead, AI tries to turn Ed's D&D campaign into a business memo, and we discuss 'The Pine Bluff Variant', an episode of The X-Files with more double-agent turns than the last series of The Traitors*.     *or what I'd assume. Paul only made me watch the last episode.

The X-Files abruptly remembers that Scully's daughter died and tries to examine her grief through the prism of a case involving angels, with mixed results. Michaela and Ed try to make sense of it all, while also discussing video stores and spoiling the hell out of the forgotten Robert Pattinson vehicle Remember Me and the novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh, so consider this a...

A major milestone in the UK year has been met with celebrations, meanwhile Ed has joined the Flimsy Wrist Brigade... Is this episode of the X Files a blinder? Did we see too much? 

Like R.E.M., The X-Files is exhuming McCarthy this week in an episode that goes back to the 1950s, an era of paranoia and persecution, when absolute psychopaths ran the American government. Hard to imagine such a thing, right? Michaela and Ed also talk about Ed "Velma-ing" on a late night run.

Michaela is mildly annoyed by holiday admin, Ed is uncomfortable about discussing BDSM and Mulder and Scully complete their Freaky Friday plot line. 

The X-Files tries to grapple seriously with Mulder's loss of faith but he just comes off as really moody, and the show introduces a couple of characters who will be important for the mythology. Elsewhere, Michaela goes under the sea and Ed accidentally steals valor.

This week, Michaela recounts her experience of a precarious mix of sound baths, 100 press-ups, and enough high-octane coffee to power a small city. Meanwhile, Ed discusses the entry to his D&D era and the harsh reality that adult friendship is mostly just planning sessions that never actually happen. Then we get on to discuss this week's episode, the undisputed heavyweight champion of X-Files...

Michaela and Ed convene in CYBERSPACE to discuss the first episode of The X-Files written by acclaimed sci-fi authors William Gibson and Tom Maddox. They discuss the episode's place within Gibson's body of work, how its vision of A.I. looks now versus in 1998, and the many ways that The Matrix managed to make cyberpunk cool.

This week, we dive into the uncanny as the legendary Stephen King takes the helm of The X-Files. Ed puts on his surgical gloves to dissect "Chinga," tracing King’s unmistakable fingerprints across every chilling scene to see how the Master of Horror fares in the basement office. But before we face the doll from hell, we navigate the hazards of the real world. Ed prepares for the high-stakes specta...

There's some prime mid-90s pop cultural ephemera in this episode, but what else? Michaela and Ed try to figure out if there's anything worthwhile in an X-File often cited as one of the worst, and if the very title of the episode itself is a typo.

Ed joins Michaela's girl's night in to discuss this episode, featuring the return of persuasive serial killer, Pusher. They also talk about some exciting recent news.

This week The X-Files follows up a nuanced and touching first half of a two-parter with a second part which is only fitfully either of those things. Michaela and Ed discuss what the show could have done to avoid squandering some real potent material, and whether this episode just exists as an emotional Saw trap for Scully.

Time feels different at Christmas... Michaela and Ed discuss a sound character episode, and try not to look too closely at reality. 

Michaela and Ed get to dig into a very strange and meaty episode this week, one which allows them to discuss the intricacies of black and white cinematography, post-modernism as a school of thought, and Cher.  Content warning: Due to the nature of the storyline in this week's episode, there is some discussion of sexual assault early on, which is marked in the timestamps for this episode if you wan...

Michaela and Ed discuss a tingling sense of deja vu, management workshops, and the uncanny resemblance between Florida and Canada.

The X-Files travels back to 1989 this week to explain how The Lone Gunmen came together, how they met Mulder, and how Mulder only believes in aliens because he got gassed? Michaela and Ed discuss whether the episode is a little too neat for its own goods, and talk about their New Year's resolutions for 2026.

The X-Files resolves some long-running plot threads in this emotionally satisfying episode, and Ed and Michaela talk in generally non-spoiler terms about how the first season of Pluribus turned out.

The X-Files returns from a shocking cliffhanger - is Mulder really dead?!? - with pretty lackluster answers. Michaela and Ed discuss how well the show handles its explanations for Mulder's survival, and wonder if the X-Files missed a golden opportunity to ditch its complicated mythology.

Before they dive into season five of The X-Files, Michaela and Ed fulfill their prerogatives at millennials by talking about The Simpsons on the internet. Specifically, the X-Files/Simpsons crossover episode, The Springfield Files. They also commiserate over both being either sick or just recovering from being sick. Correction: When Ed is talking about visiting York, he mistakenly says that some o...

We've come to the end of another season so Michaela and Ed take a little time to look back on the highs and lows of Season 4 of The X-Files. Thank you all for listening to us in 2025! We hope that you have had a good holiday period and a Happy New Year!

Shocking season finale... but can we buy it? Ed and Michaela try to forget what they know to unpick the storytelling PLUS get your tastebuds ready whilst we discuss Ed's Thanksgiving meal.

Mulder wakes up in a bad situation and has to figure out how he got there, and Michaela and Ed discuss the ways in which different Arnold Schwarzenegger movies emotionally scared them.

Michaela and Ed discuss this episode that is... let's say "clumsy" in its treatment of people with autism.

Michaela and Ed discuss the very nature of horror itself as Walter Skinner finds himself trapped in the web of the Cigarette Smoking Man.

Ed and Michaela discuss Vince Gilligan's homage to Darin Morgan, starring none other than Darin Morgan himself. Heads up about content: if you've watched the episode you know it touches on sexual assault. We'll be discussing that in this episode.