Nothing Important Happened Today
"Nothing Important Happened Today" refers to the two premiere episodes of the ninth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files.
The show centers on FBI special agents who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files; this season focuses on the investigations of John Doggett (Robert Patrick), Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson).
The phrase "nothing important happened today" comes from King George III's supposed diary entry on 4 July 1776, the same day that the United States declared Independence from Great Britain.
Carl Wormus, an EPA official, picks up a beautiful woman, Shannon McMahon (Lucy Lawless), in a Baltimore bar.
Later, Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) meets FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer (Cary Elwes) in his office, where he hands her two videotapes from the night Dana Scully's (Gillian Anderson) son was born.
Doggett tries to contact some of his old friends from the Marine Corps to find out what happened to Knowle Rohrer (Adam Baldwin); one of them turns out to be McMahon.
Doggett breaks into McFarland's office with Skinner and finds files on monochloramine, a mutation-inducing chemical, before Follmer arrives.
[1] The naval captain (Ryan Cutrona) delivers a communication to Dr. Nordlinger (Jeff Austin), who orders the vessel returned to its base.
Follmer leaves the water reclamation facility after failing to spot Doggett, who is still underwater; McMahon keeps him alive by passing air from her lungs into his.
Doggett wakes up at his home to find McMahon, who tells him that both she and Knowle Rohrer are invulnerable Super Soldiers developed by a military program.
Doggett calls Scully to his house, and McMahon tells them that the program is to be expanded by adding chloramine to the water supply.
Reyes tries to find out more about McMahon's history and learns that she is a Justice Department employee who had been contacted by Wormus and McFarland in their attempts to expose the plans to contaminate the water supply.
[2] The title "Nothing Important Happened Today" comes from an apocryphal legend that King George III wrote the phrase in his diary on 4 July 1776, the same day that the United States declared Independence from Britain.
Carter called Lawless "hot stuff", saying it was "fun" having a female Super Soldier, something that had never occurred to him or to the show's production crew.
[9] In the first underwater scene, most of which was shot at the water tank at Universal, Lawless had to be seat-belted into a car that was supposed to be submerged thirteen feet.
For the special effects team, one of the hardest parts of the episode was to hide the fact that Lawless was wearing a swimming suit.
Daryl H. Miller of Los Angeles Times wrote positively of the episode, claiming it is "craftily written, solidly acted and moodily photographed".
[18] Rob Lowman from the Los Angeles Daily News said that Carter had been able to "breathe new life" into the series mythology arc, and had a positive view of Lucy Lawless' performance.
Crang, in his book Denying the Truth: Revisiting The X-Files after 9/11, was highly critical of the script, arguing it was difficult "to pinpoint any significant moments that occur during either episode", but he did praise the production team's execution of "some impressive set-pieces.
"[23] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated both episodes one star out of five.
[3][24] In a review of the first part, the two noted that "this isn't quite the dullest season opener to The X-Files [but] this episode […] has all the passion of a wet Monday morning.
