Ep 1. Little Green Men

After solving their last case, Scully and Mulder are back on the X-Files. Season 2 eschews the slow-paced first season in favor of more urgency with the overarching plot of alien invasion. The opening Cut to a space shuttle at a desolate launch pad is thoughtful in conveying the desperation of NASA to understand a mysterious signal apparently broadcasting alien language. Back on earth, Mulder is contacted by a hacker nicknamed "The Thinker" who shares the same signal and urges him to come to Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory. There, Mulder encounters radio astronomer Dr. Heitz Werber who assures him that the signal came from above the Earth's orbit.

Notably, Scully gets a larger role here, and the show positions their dynamic as a Holmes-Watson pair, with Scully's grounding skepticism and Mulder's fantastical leaps leading to a perfect tête-à-tête.

Soon, things get more impressive when the signal suddenly dies while Scully starts to have headaches. Meanwhile, Mulder's radio picks up more signals hinting extraterrestrial origin, which Werber dismisses as natural cosmic noise. The two stories intersect when Mulder and Scully investigate strange activity from US covert operatives in the area, uncovering the US. army's involvement in the shutdown of the Arecibo Observatory. Undeterred, Mulder's dogged determination, and Scully's meticulousness led to a government cover-up of the alien connection to the signal and a growing conspiracy of humans in league with extraterrestrials.

This increased attention to conspiracy, paranoia, and political subtext elevates the episode and the season, making it a more robust and riveting narrative. The episode's end in a botanical garden where Mulder receives a further transmission through a secret device leaves viewers with many questions, setting the stage for a more speculative and edge of seat feel to the series.

Overall, "Little Green Men" is an excellent start to the season- balancing mysteries, conspiracy, and a degree of existentialism that grips the audience. The X-Files maintain its stunning cinematography and production quality to create an overall feeling of absurdity that perfectly fits the show's tone. It sets an ominous feeling for the series and brings a new sense of tension to Scully and Mulder's journey. The episode marks a shift in the series, where the extraterrestrial is no longer just a myth or possibility, rather a reality to which the duo must now grasp. It's a brilliant, atmospheric start to the season, with a great performance by both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.