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A review by noelrk
Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to the X-Files by Emily VanDerWerff, Zack Handlen
4.0
Handlen and VanDerWerff (full disclosure: I tweet at both, and have for years) have crafted a really lovely book that is essential for both X-philes and, I think, TV historians.
Running throughout the whole volume is an understanding and championing of The X-Files as THE show of the 1990s, and I think both authors make a really strong and compelling case for that. (The revival seasons help to snap this into focus more, which is great.) It's arguably the most valuable contribution that the book makes. It's also great that they're given the opportunity to make that contribution as well.
(Each review also serves as a good jumping off point for classroom use, if you're teaching an episode here or there. It's good supplemental reading in that instance. Assigning the whole book would be mean, unless you're doing a whole course on the show.)
If there's one thing missing, a ridiculous thing to say after 490 pages of reviews, it's a kind of concluding essay at the end to tie up all the various threads VanDerWerff and Handlen spin. Perhaps it's just greedy to want all this tied together in a unified piece, however, but the book feels weirdly unfinished without it.
Running throughout the whole volume is an understanding and championing of The X-Files as THE show of the 1990s, and I think both authors make a really strong and compelling case for that. (The revival seasons help to snap this into focus more, which is great.) It's arguably the most valuable contribution that the book makes. It's also great that they're given the opportunity to make that contribution as well.
(Each review also serves as a good jumping off point for classroom use, if you're teaching an episode here or there. It's good supplemental reading in that instance. Assigning the whole book would be mean, unless you're doing a whole course on the show.)
If there's one thing missing, a ridiculous thing to say after 490 pages of reviews, it's a kind of concluding essay at the end to tie up all the various threads VanDerWerff and Handlen spin. Perhaps it's just greedy to want all this tied together in a unified piece, however, but the book feels weirdly unfinished without it.