All the sneaky little alien viruses wandering around are a very good excuse for the perpetual reanimation of dead characters on The X-Files. More than half the main cast has been pronounced dead at one point or another. Mulder is abducted in season seven, only to be returned dead in the following season, freaking everyone out as he wakes up whilst in his coffin. Scully was pronounced brain dead presumably by a trained medical professional, but makes a full recovery. A number of characters are shot pretty much point blank in the face, die from their wounds, and then are miraculously brought back later on in the show's run. At least when it happened to Jeffrey Spender, they at least had the decency to bring him back in the final season horribly disfigured and acknowledged that his brush with death had happened at all. The point is, death on The X-Files lacks a certain sense of permanency. Hell, even The Cigarette Smoking Man died and came back. The aliens must have some weird kind of Lazarus effect going on.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
