I didn't really like the first episode all that much. It seemed both rushed and ultimately kind of boring. I think it might've benefited from being a two hour pilot, given it a bit more time to breathe. As it is, Duchovny seemed half asleep, Jeff Winger was largely wasted (I hope he comes back, the character has potential), and I don't like the idea of the whole 'we've been deceived all along!' retcon. I'm guessing it's going to end being one big smoke screen, but on the off chance they're playing it straight, then fuck off Carter for making nine seasons of the show ultimately pointless.
The second episode was better. Duchovny and Anderson felt a bit more comfortable and I liked how the monster-of-the-week plot tied into the mythology stuff. There were some humorous moments, some horrifying stuff, and some action. Basically it hit all of the beats that an X-Files episode should hit. Now just tighten up the writing a bit more.
Also, I'm wondering WHY the government would even reopen the X-Files in the first place? Somebody at the government must've been like 'Hey, remember that thing that caused us so much trouble twenty years ago? Yeah, The X-Files? Yeah, let's reopen that thing.' And why would Mulder and Scully even agree to work for the government again knowing what they know? They know how utterly corrupt, untrustworthy, and compromised it is and after Mulder essentially spends 5 minutes ranting about how it's even worse NOW, why even agree to go back? I think there was an interesting potential idea to show the other side of the coin. Have Joel McHale's character unofficially reopen the X-Files in a private, third party capacity, unaffiliated with the government. He says he wants to show everyone the truth, but there was a potential to show that he could be just as bad as the government; stoking people's fears, playing on their ignorance by selling falsehoods masked as the truth, and benefiting from it monetarily. That would be an interesting angle to take and I'm hoping they do it, because the seeds are there in the first episode for them to do so.
Also, I loved that they kept the original music and title sequence, grainy film and all. I figured they would try to update it or something, but nope. That's like pure, distilled nostalgia dripping right into my brain.