Chris Carter really laid it all out there in titling the second X-Files movie I Want to Believe. Six years after the series ended and a decade after the first movie, X-philes want to believe that their beloved heroes are still relevant, and Carter wants to believe this once-dominant franchise still has legs.

But even the most die-hard of fans couldn’t be blamed for not sticking with the last two seasons of the series. With bland new agents, a largely absent Mulder and little payoff in the way of mythology, I lost my faith. In fact, I don’t even remember how the series ended. So does Carter succeed in reinvigorating the franchise with a stand-alone reboot? Allow me to channel my inner Mulder and Scully … [Warning: spoilers ahead]

The skeptical Scully in me

After weaving a labyrinthine mythology for nine years and failing to pay it off in any meaningful way (take note, J.J. Abrams: this is your future!), it’s not surprising that Carter chose to come back with a stand-alone movie. But in the six years since the series ended, is this really the best he could come up with?

The idea that Mulder and Scully have both moved on from the F.B.I. is intriguing, and seeing Scully working as a surgeon and Mulder holed up as a kind of paranoid nutjob is appropriate and humorous. Naturally, just when he thinks he’s out, Amanda Peet pulls him back in! Sure, I can see the F.B.I. needing Mulder’s help on a case with supernatural elements, but couldn’t this supernatural case be more, well, super?

The plot would have made an unimpressive TV episode; is it wrong to expect more on the big screen? Sure, the previous movie version tried to be all big and monumental, but as it took place during the series, it couldn’t really reveal much. Mulder and Scully didn’t even kiss in it, for Christ’s sake! So as this mediocre monster-of-the-week movie crawled to a close, I was shocked at how routine it all was: just another take on Frankenstein.

The Mulder within still believes

The devil is in the details, Scully (cause it certainly ain’t on the screen.) Yes, the plot is rote and disappointing, but it’s all of the little things that will leave fans swooning. Mulder and Scully are together! They share a bed, and they cuddle while they discuss work, and they still call each other by their last names! It’s like Chris Carter finally read my fanfic and decided to incorporate it into his scripts!

But fan service aside, it’s nice to see an adult movie with actual well-developed characters. Sure, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have the benefit of nine years playing these people, but they fall right back into character and deliver great performances. Their relationship, always as restrained as one of Helena Bonham Carter’s bodices in The Wings of the Dove, is genuine and affecting. Seeing it in jeopardy as Mulder gets pulled back into the search for the truth (which I hear is definitely out there), you can’t help but feel engaged, hoping they can fight their demons—both inner and outer—and preserve what we waited so very long for.

And in the end, when Mulder kisses Scully deeply as the camera pans around them, it all seems worth the wait. And I can’t help but believe all over again.