The X-Files (TV Series) Nothing Important Happened Today II (2001) User Reviews

"I'm the product of fifty years of military science."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 24 August 2017]

We go from a bee pollen delivery system to contaminating drinking water with chloramine as a more effective way of taking over the planet, but when every new person born becomes a 'super soldier', then what? I have to say, this whole new myth arc seems more convoluted than ever, as we learn that former Bravo Company soldiers Shannon McMahon (Lucy lawless), and Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin) are engineered combat units, well into the seventh stage of advanced bio-engineering to design super soldiers. You have to ask yourself why Agent Doggett was never approached about joining the same experiment when he got out of the military.

If you really pay attention, you can follow what the writers are doing with the intrigue, but the back and forth on the motivations of characters like Shannon McMahon (Lucy Lawless) and Deputy Director Kersh (James Pickens Jr.) are handled in such a way as to string the viewer along so you're constantly kept off balance. And with the indestructible nature of the smart metal alloy involved in the physiology of super soldiers, you know that characters like Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin) and Shannon McMahon can never really be exterminated, so they can conveniently pop up at any time, just like the Alien Bounty Hunter of yore.

Well I'm going along for the ride for the rest of Season Nine, not having gotten beyond Season Seven when this series was originally airing. It's getting a little tedious now, but what the heck. I've invested this much time in watching and reviewing the episodes, it would be a shame to just up and quit.

Just as long as you know where to reach us.

[Muldernscully · 7/10 · 5 November 2007]

Nothing Important Happened Today II is more of the same from the season premiere. It's only the third time that a sequel episode has the same name as the first part episode without any appellations.

The old shaky camera technique is used at the beginning of the episode. I've never cared much for that style. It makes me dizzy. Are they trying to get across the point that someone is standing there with a hand-held camera? Of course not. Then why use it? We see with Reyes with reading glasses for the first time in this episode. She joins Mulder, Scully, and Skinner as a main character who needs reading glasses. It looks like Doggett is the only main character with perfect vision.

It's obvious in this episode why the agents usually wear subdued colors. Reyes wears a red top in this episode and it stands out. I usually don't notice things like that.

I don't have a lot to say on this episode other than it bugs me to see Kersh (apparently) being nice and slipping Doggett the obituary. It's all very confusing to me and I just don't buy Kersh's motives. How much does he know? How deep is he? The X-Files is supposed to be mysterious and not answer all questions, but Kersh and the Super Soldier storyline are just too convoluted and they hurt the show more than they help it. The reason why I still like Nothing Important Happened Today II is that it is fun to watch and has good action. And there you have it.

A somewhat mixed bag, but good overall.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 1 October 2022]

The Lone Gunmen intercept an important call from The Captain of a ship, a ship full of secrets. Agent Doggett is intrigued by the mysterious woman with remarkable attributes.

It's a pretty good episode, it's by no means a classic, but there is definitely something here, there are rumblings, something brewing. We seem to learn things, and are challenged to question what we thought we knew.

It is dramatic, it's maybe a little confusing in parts, but there is definitely something here, worth continuing for, Follmer is interesting.

Super high production values, loved the panoramics and zooms, the explosions looked great, however, one little frustration, they may be guilty of a bit of over styling, Anderson and Gish appear as though they've just stepped out of makeup on every single scene, and Patrcick's makeup is too visible, this was never an issue in the early years, a little overdone.

I can accept Mulder's absence, even though I didn't watch the show at the time, I was aware of the frustrations of Duchovny, and his other project, which I did watch, I'm maybe struggling a bit with Scully's feelings towards Doggett though, they seem to have come out of nowhere.

It's one of the first episodes I come away from feeling all sorts of confusions, but on whole, I liked it, 7/10.

Nothing Important Happened Today... or yesterday...

[Sanpaco13 · 6/10 · 25 October 2008]

This episode gives us the rest of the story behind the EPA conspiracy with the water supply. We learn that the government has been doing test trying to alter women's ova so that their babies will be super babies instead of normal babies. They are planning to put some altered fluoride or some other chemical in the water supply so the unsuspecting public will never know what happened. I have to admit that this is a better way of handling an alien invasion story rather than the mothership arriving and blowing everyone up. I like the scene where Xena Soldier is telling Scully all of this. We get to see the old Scully telling her to cut the crap and not patronize her. I hadn't realized before this moment just how protected Scully has been for the past while that she's been pregnant and she almost seemed to lose her old spunk. But here it is right back again. Um... other than that... the rest of the episode is pretty basic and not too exciting. The best part comes near the end when they run into Adam Baldwin Soldier and Xena Soldier and heads are cut off and then headless bodies stick hands through chests and then giant ocean-liners explode etc. There are some intense moments and the story moves along much better than it did in the first half but watching it this time really felt a little more like a chore than entertainment.

I find the title of this episode doubly ironic. Not in the way that the writer wanted it to be with Kersh's story about King George III and his journal entry on July 4th 1776. No I find it ironic in the fact that it really comes across as literal instead of ironic as it was intended. 6 out of 10.

What do I want to be today?

[pmicocci-18908 · 2/10 · 22 July 2021]

By this point Carter couldn't decide what he wanted X-Files to be: sci-fi about alien technology and aquisitiveness, fantasy/horror about superbeings with superpowers, quasi-religious blend of all the above....

So, the solution must be to throw in bits of The Invaders, T2: Judgement Day, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Xena: Warrior Princess (never hurts a fanboy to have LL running around and swimming naked!), and Rosemary's Baby, for good measure.

Hopefully this mishmosh, and the cutting-edge style of chiaroscuro lighting and, yes, the perpetually jerky camera, will detract from how increasingly ludicrous your storyline has become...

Super-soldiers that seemingly replicate out of nothing - maybe it's drawing minerals from the air...? And they can't be stopped, remember that! Unless it occurs to you to decapitate them...

They're accelerating the mutation program. How? By adding an already common additive to your drinking water! "Chloramine is harmless" (not entirely accurate on several points) - "But what if they alter the molecular structure?"

Alter how? By rearranging the orientation of the atoms within the molecule? This is something already done with some things such as certain foodstuffs and medicines, in the latter case probably to patent a "new and improved" version of a lucrative medicine whose original patent has expired. Many substances can vary structurally while still having the same molecular formula, but how does that turn a widely-used possible carcinogen into a genetic modification tool of world-dominating potential - just get everyone to drink the koolaid, and the Mother Ship will appear!

I believe! ...that I've detected where most of Q's ideas have come from.