Season 1 - 13 episodes (2001)
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Created by: Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
Starring: Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, Zuleikha Robinson, Stephen Snedden
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
Byers, Frohikie, and Langly, the X-Files' Lone Gunmen along with their childish sidekick and patron Jimmy Bond and their master thief frenemy Yves, investigate crimes and conspiracies, often in a silly, comedic and over the top fashion.
Verdict
It's difficult for side characters to take the lead. While the Lone Gunmen were always comic relief in The X-Files, they helped Mulder in his plight which grounded the trio. This show removes the guard rails with bizarre or downright silly conspiracies. I would have liked that more if the show was grounded. Their sidekick Jimmy is little more than a man child and never believable. I wish this wasn't so slapstick, and I can see why it was canceled. I'd prefer the silliness was kept to the conspiracies they chase instead of the show and characters. I want the Lone Gunmen to be as discerning and as skeptical as I am despite the strangeness they encounter.
It depends.
Review
In this spin-off of The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen, composed of Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood), John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), and Richard Langly (Dean Haglund) are private investigators who run a conspiracy theory magazine. They had often helped FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on his investigations.
If you ever wondered what the Lone Gunmen did when they weren't helping
Mulder, this series provides the answer. We previously got their origin story in Season 5 Episode 3 of The
X-files.
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| E3: Tom Braidwood, Stephen Snedden, Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood play Frohike, Jimmy Bond, Langly, Byers |
The first episode has to be inspired by Mission: Impossible as the three break in to a facility in an attempt to steal a micro-chip. They're thwarted by a rival mercenary Yves (Zuleikha Robinson). They have a contentious relationshiop throughout the season though it's driven by the plot more than logic or anything else. Byers stumbles into a conspiracy involving his father that leads to the trio stopping an attack on the World Trade Center. This episode premiered on March 4, 2001. Just six months later the WTC would be attacked in reality.
The X-Files is an easy comparison since this is a spin-off. This is so much sillier, and it doesn't have to be. It could still be fun while grounding the series. Many of the trio's adventures are ridiculous beyond the point of being believable. Jimmy (Stephen Snedden) is pure comic relief, a character that wouldn't function in reality as he seems to have the intelligence of a child.
In the third episode Frohike goes undercover, posing as a long lost son. He wavers between suspecting the woman of being a killer and really liking her as a mother figure. Her actions are vague which only adds to the confusion.
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| E6: Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, Zuleikha Robinson play Frohike, Langly, Byers, Yves Harlow |
I thought episode six was ridiculous with a man from a parallel dimension with a fixation on a stereo salesman and wrestler, but then episode seven introduces an intelligent chimp that contacts The Lone Gunmen. It's a fun episode, but this can be too silly. Jimmy always plays dumb, and the show frequently relies on that kind of shallow humor. Then Frohike is introduced as a former tango champion.
The series was canceled, ending on a cliff hanger where Morris Fletcher appears. There's also a Mulder cameo in the same episode. The trio team up with Fletcher only to be set up. I'm not surprised it was canceled. It's too silly in conjunction with tackling conspiracies that are rarely grounded. Even that would work better if the foundation of the series didn't including their bumbling sidekick Jimmy and a Yves, a spy who wouldn't help them so frequently.
Since the series was canceled, a year later Season 9 Episode 15 of The X-Files concludes the cliffhanger, sending The Lone Gunmen out as heroes.
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