http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/08/x-files-glen-morgan-home-again-postmortem

Watching the new X-Files is a little bit of a strange experience. Like, I have to figure that if the X-Files had never been cancelled, and had actually continued on to the current day (like, say, the Simpsons), then the writing staff would have turned over a few times, and there would be some people in their 20s and 30s working on it; and it would have evolved generally. But that’s not what we have — it’s kind of the opposite of a reboot: a show from the 90s, made by the same people who made it in the 90s. Everyone involved has aged and adapted somewhat, but it’s still more like the original show was trapped in amber for 20 years that I’d have guessed.

That doesn’t mean the episodes are bad — I’ve generally enjoyed them, and, though they haven’t always made sense, that was true of the originals, too, which I’d enjoyed — but I find it strange. I wonder if the revived Twin Peaks will be similar.

One thing that is part and parcel of this, which I wish wasn’t, was, uh, well, you know how sometimes you watch an old X-Files episode, and they try to treat some sensitive issue or other, and you think, ‘I suppose I should give them credit for taking that on, and they meant well, but …’? I just watched episode X.4 (‘Home Again’), and I can’t help but feel that the overall message of ‘people shouldn’t treat homeless people as props’ would have worked better if any of the homeless characters had names.

I was confused by Trash Man leaving worms all over the place, too.

Did you know the smiley face was invented in Worcester, Massachusetts?

Mulder and Scully never fought happy trees. Evil mite insects released from a tree, maybe, but not the actual trees.

That was from a bad M. Night movie. Bad. Very bad.

As for this episode, yeah it seemed to be two separate plots that didn’t mesh well. Trying to force a personal crisis onto a Monster of the Week episode rarely works well IMHO. I think maybe “Paper Hearts” was the only one that pulled it off.