The ending of season seven forced us to embark on a new era: one without Mulder, one with two new agents and replacements working alongside Scully, one that left us with questions about his disappearance and with the startling news of Scully's pregnancy. It pretty much dismantled the entire series as we knew it and tried to rebuild against a series imposed deadline.
So Mulder is gone, and season eight was another day. When a main character leaves it's hard to welcome the new kid in town. But, my god,
I loved John Doggett. Choosing Robert Patrick as David Duchovny's replacement was perfect. He has to be given credit where it's due - his character comes in at the last second to tag-along with Scully in finding Mulder - two people he had no real prior investment in. He's a career guy without a family, a skeptical city cop, not built or trained to be investigating paranormal / supernatural phenomena. In a lot of ways, he's like Scully; he's assigned to the X-Files to spy on it for Assistant Director Kursh - someone who's oh so happy to have the department gone and out of the FBI. Doggett took over Scully's role as the skeptic, and Scully tried to think more like Mulder. But Doggett respects and likes Scully. She has the authority and he doesn't try to override or undermine her intelligence. In fact, he's pretty smitten and intrigued by her from beginning.
