where to start?

The pilot episode of The X-Files introduces themes and motifs that recur and develop throughout the series— alien abduction, implants, hypnosis, time loss, memory loss, government involvement on both a local and larger scale. The episode begins with a disclaimer that serves as a point of validation for the series: "The following story is inspired by actual documented accounts." As this note does not appear again throughout the series, it raises the question of whether later episodes are also to be taken as essentially factual, also inspired by truthful accounts, or whether this applies solely to the series' first episode. This opening note also establishes the show as a serial endeavor, comprised of individual, discrete units, separate investigations into paranormal activity similar to Kolchak: The Nightstalker or The Twilight Zone. For the most part, the first season of the show maintains this aesthetic.

Throughout the first season, the show suggests government involvement in the suppression of evidence of paranormal activity, but the purpose of this cover-up, aside from potential public hysteria is unclear. Even within the pilot episode, the reason for Dr. Nemmen and Detective Miles involvement in the active suppression of the abductions of their children raises questions the show never answers This is also true of Mulder’s investigation of The X-Files. Mulder's initial description of his sister's disappearance as a motivating factor for his investigations into the paranormal is appropriately vague-- her abduction left no evidence of motive or method. Mulder's only memories stem from memories he has recalled through regression hypnosis. Even these memories, while they may suggest alien abduction, are hazy. Mulder's drive stems primarily from an inability to access classified information related to the X-Files, a knowledge that he only has access to the tip of the iceberg. The information that is unavailable to him becomes even more of a motivator than the the little information he can access.

Throughout the series, the show strikes a balance between standalone "Monster of the Week" episodes, and the more overarching, and generally more convoluted "mythology" episodes. The first season makes less of a distinction between the two, laying foundations and giving glimpses into government and military attempts to block access to information, while keeping motivations obscure. Mulder's informant, Deep Throat, without giving Mulder much concrete information, stresses the importance of his persistence, and indicates that the government has been involved the the cover-up of extraterrestrial activity since the 1940s. This establishes an historical precedent, as well as a connection to the well-known Roswell incident, and many other alleged UFO encounters of the 1940s and ‘50s.

At the close of the pilot, when the Cigarette Smoking Man places the implant from Billy Miles into a case of similar implants, it becomes clear that Bellfleur, Oregon is not unique in its experiences. In fact, the series seems to suggest that many instances of abduction revolve around isolated test groups in a single location. It is only later in the series that a bigger picture in terms of patterns of national and worldwide abductions becomes clearer (though never entirely explicable).