The X-Files - Complete Season 8 (2000) (repost)

The eighth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files commenced airing in the United States on November 5, 2000, concluded on May 20, 2001, and consisted of twenty-one episodes. Season eight takes place after Fox Mulder's alien abduction in the seventh season. The story arc for the search of Mulder continues until the second half of the season, when a new arc about Dana Scully's pregnancy is formed. This arc would continue, and end, with the next season. The season explores various themes such as life, death, and belief.

Season eight was received well by critics but got more mixed reviews by fans and viewers, since David Duchovny elected to return only as an intermittent main character, meaning that he appeared in only half of the episodes. Duchovny was initially replaced by Robert Patrick who played new central character John Doggett. Duchovny appeared for only twelve episodes in season eight, and reduced his time on The X-Files dramatically in season 9. "This Is Not Happening" marked the first appearance of Annabeth Gish as Monica Reyes, who would become a main character in season 9 as Doggett's new partner in the X-Files office.

Series creator Chris Carter believed that the series could continue for another ten years with new leads, and the opening credits were accordingly redesigned in both seasons eight and nine. During the airing of season eight, Carter and The X-Files production team created and aired a spinoff titled The Lone Gunmen.

An FBI taskforce is organized to hunt for Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) but Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) suspects the taskforce leader, Special Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick), and instead chooses to search for her lost partner with Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi).




At a remote school in the Arizona desert, Doggett, Scully, Gibson and Skinner – as well as a host of students and agents – do not know who to trust as the bounty hunter works among them; and – in a spaceship close by – Mulder is experimented on.




Having been assigned to the X-Files, John Doggett joins Scully to investigate a series of gruesome murders that appear to be the work of a bat-like creature. This being their first case together, Scully and Doggett find that their investigative techniques are less than similar.




Working alone, Scully pursues a cult that worship a slug-like organism; but in her efforts to save an injured stranger, she discovers she’s in over her head.




Having been kidnapped for ten years, a little boy mysteriously reappears but has not aged one bit. While the case stirs up painful memories for Doggett, suspicion stirs that the boy is not all he seems.




After his wife is murdered, a lawyer friend of Doggett's tries to clear his name of the crime but the days regress backwards.




Doggett and Skinner work to avert the murderous spree of a religious cult leader, while Scully takes time off to deal with the early stages of her pregnancy.




The fatal shooting of a realtor while alone in a cinderblock jail cell has Doggett hoping motive will yield more than method, but they soon learn that there is more to this case than meets the eye.




Doggett and Scully encounter a dead man who is still living – only somewhat changed. What they discover is a man made of metal, enacting vengeance on those he believes created him.




When a mystic smuggles himself out of India, Scully and Doggett give chase as his murderous spree starts terrorising two families in suburban Washington, D.C. But Scully soon comes upon a crisis of faith when she realises how dissimilar her techniques are from Mulder, even as she tries to be the believer.




Doggett comes upon an old case about a professed ‘soul-eater’ that Mulder kept secret from Scully, which he hopes will ultimately prove the truth behind Mulder’s abduction.




A string of bizarre deaths in the tunnels of the Boston subway system sees Doggett join a team of professionals underground to investigate. Meanwhile, Scully has to defy the train authorities above land, who are determined to get the trains up and running within hours.




Scully becomes personally involved when she encounters several women who had no way of naturally conceiving but who claim to have been abducted and impregnated with alien babies.




Doggett calls on another agent, Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), to assist in the Mulder case, but Scully’s fears about finding him come to a head with the sudden recovery of abductees seized at the same time.




Three months after Mulder's funeral, a former abductee awakens from the dead and Scully pins her hopes on resurrecting her partner. Meanwhile, Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) offers Skinner a loathsome deal which he claims can save Mulder's life.




Mulder secretly conducts his own investigation after a man is gunned down on the White House lawn attempting to inform the President of a planned alien invasion. However, he is soon in over his head as he tries to expose further evidence of colonization.




Reyes enlists Mulder’s help investigating a killer's connection to the unsolved murder of Doggett’s son but Mulder soon finds himself clashing with Doggett.




Mulder and Doggett are asked to investigate several deaths aboard an oil rig, but Mulder is convinced the rig is carrying an alien black oil; meanwhile a heavily pregnant Scully attempts to protect Mulder in absentia.




With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is paired with an enthusiastic young agent named Layla Harrison who knows everything about the X-Files, and her apotheosis of Mulder and Scully leads to him learning a thing or two. But when Harrison and Doggett disappear, Mulder defies orders in an attempt to find them.




Mulder, Skinner and Doggett come up against the horrible consequences of the Syndicate’s pact with the aliens, as a hybrid attempts to erase all evidence of the tests – including Scully’s soon-to-be-born baby. The men call on Reyes, and – reluctantly – Alex Krycek to help them.




Mulder, Doggett and Skinner face off with the alien replicants as they desperately try to expose the conspiracy within the FBI. Meanwhile Scully goes into labour in a remote location, but Reyes soon learns they may be no safer there.