Well, thank goodness this is the episode we get after the disaster of last week’s (which was somehow also extremely boring???) It still feels so jarring and bizarre that that was what we got as the interlude between Scully going missing and getting her back. Like, that’s it? Barely any mention at all, some broody Mulder, and then suddenly in this episode he’s 100% ready to kill people, anyone really, to save Scully? What has he been doing during the several months she was missing?!
That being said, this is a very good episode, especially if you just pretend it happens directly after “Ascension” with no weird vampire cult interlude. I did think it was interesting that the writers were apparently trying to give David Duchovny a “Beyond the Sea” type episode here…because it definitely doesn’t quite hit me that way? There’s just wayyyyyyy too much else going on (in a good way this time!) for the episode to be as purely emotional and beautiful as “Beyond the Sea” was. Plus, I’m sorry, but Gillian Anderson is 10x the actor, especially when it comes to playing emotions. Sorry (not sorry) David.
Regardless, a very strong episode! This episode really is yet another turning point for the show, after the initial foundational turning point of Scully’s abduction. We get a lot of character development here—for Mulder, for Skinner, for the Lone Gunmen, for Mr. “X”, and even for Cigarette Smoking Man (we at least get a little more insight into his character’s possible motivations). And including the Scully family so much was an excellent choice; their hope and faith really plays opposite Mulder’s desperation and defeat here.
Mulder: Revenge and defeat
Throughout almost the entire episode, revenge is what is driving Mulder’s actions. I think because he really does feel so, so guilty about what happened to Scully. As I stated in “Ascension”, Mulder likely does feel that there was no reason at all for Scully to get involved in the Duane Barry case. She was only involved because he asked her to look up information for him (twice, actually, since he’s the one that brought her that metal implant that basically led directly to the kidnapping). Going further, I’m certain Mulder feels guilty that Scully got involved in the “X-files” at all, though, again, that’s not his fault. He didn’t seek her out, she was sent to “spy” on him. And Scully 100% could have done that, but she chooses not to because she sees Mulder’s motivations and how good of an agent he is, and she also wants to find the truth. PLUS, again, Scully really could have walked away once the “X-files” were closed, but she doesn’t let herself or Mulder give up. No way could Mulder have done anything to stop this from happening.
Especially if we again consider that the “Syndicate” would’ve found some other way to abduct (or kill…) her if the Duane Barry situation hadn’t happened. I still firmly believe they happened upon that case by accident and were just delighted to have the fairly easy opportunity to take Scully from Mulder so soon after deciding she was the big problem.
MELISSA SCULLY: You know, Fox—sorry, Mulder... you could spend the rest of your life finding every person who’s responsible and it’s still not going to bring her back. Whoever did this to her has an equal horror coming to them.
It is fascinating to me though that Mulder’s immediate response is revenge. Because Melissa Scully is right, tracking down and killing every single person who might be responsible for Scully’s abduction and coma (and seemingly very likely imminent death) is not going to bring her back. And I genuinely don’t think it’s what Scully would want. Or even what Mulder really wants in this case. But he’s so blinded by defeat and his love for Scully that he’s not thinking clearly.
Scully would’ve wanted Mulder to keep searching for the larger truth. Yes, part of that certainly would’ve included bringing those responsible to justice, but not by killing them without first finding answers and evidence. She wouldn’t have wanted him to give up.
But, the “Syndicate” 100% knew that this was going to be Mulder’s reaction. That losing Scully would cause him to lose his mind and his hope, to feel defeated and like there’s no point in going on. By getting Scully out of the way, they also get Mulder out of their way…and without even needing to kill him!
Although, Mulder does prove them wrong, because he still can’t bring himself to kill the one man he knows is responsible, at least partly, for what happened and is happening to Scully. He is given direct access to Cigarette Smoking Man, but when he realizes that killing him will mean never learning the truth…Mulder can’t bring himself to do it. I think he hates himself for that—he was given this one opportunity for “easy” revenge and justice for Scully, but he isn’t yet so defeated that he gives up on his lifelong search.
He hates himself so much for that choice he makes that he then tries to resign from the FBI…as if that’s going to make up for what happened to Scully?
Thank god for Walter Skinner. I do really love that everyone around Mulder won’t give up on him and his dedication and passion. First Scully, now Skinner, and even Melissa Scully! Thank goodness Mulder has friends to kick some sense into him.
Faith and hope: The Scully Family
MELISSA SCULLY: Why don’t you just drop your cynicism and your paranoia and your defeat. You know, just because it’s positive and good doesn’t make it silly or trite! Why is it so much easier for you to run around trying to get even than just expressing to her how you feel?
The juxtaposition between Mulder’s desperate attempts at revenge and the Scullys’ faith and prayer for Scully’s recovery works really well here. The inclusion of Melissa Scully was an excellent decision (though I am glad they abandoned the idea of having her be a love interest for Mulder…)
I’m also really glad that Margaret and Melissa Scully shut down Mulder’s sudden bizarre desire to go against Scully’s wishes of being kept on life support so that he can “study her”. Again, I do believe that is based on Mulder’s need for revenge and his need to feel like he can do something to save Scully, but it’s not the right decision. Even if what happened to her isn’t 100% “natural”.
It’s important to have faith in science, but also to have faith in Scully and whatever spiritual powers might be out there. The decision to live or die doesn’t and shouldn’t lie in the hands of those who aren’t the ones dying. I will admit I’ve never faced such a decision, and I know that if I ever do, it will inevitably still be devastating and incredibly difficult. But what is most important is to respect those who are (or might be) dying, and to have faith that what happens was meant to happen. As hokey as that might sound.
MARGARET SCULLY: Dana has made our decision. Fox... you and Dana had a friendship built on respect. Now, in the last year, I have lost my husband. And God knows I don’t want to lose my baby girl. But like you, I have always respected her.
Straddling Life and Death
Just briefly here, I really love the use of the boat to symbolize the fact that Scully is currently straddling the line between life and death, and trying so hard to hold on to what is tethering her to life.
Having Scully’s father visit her in the “in between” space was also really touching. Ahab and Starbuck!!! 🥹🥹🥹
WILLIAM SCULLY: I never knew how much I loved my daughter until I could never tell her. At that moment, I would have traded every medal, every commendation, every promotion for... one more second with you. We’ll be together again, Starbuck. But not now. Soon.
Cigarette Smoking Man’s motivations
CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I like you. I like her too. That’s why she was returned to you.
Oh, how I love the direct interaction we finally get between Mulder and CSM here. I mean, it is a bit interesting that this is seemingly the first time Mulder questions the random man who’s always in Skinner’s office smoking cigarettes, but I’m glad he finally realized that he is very suspicious and likely working against Mulder, Scully, and the search for truth.
One of the reasons I think CSM is an incredible vision is that William B. Davis does an excellent job of playing him as 100% believing that he is the one doing the right thing for humanity and the world. Yes, he is clearly the villain in our story, but he also firmly believes that any experiments being done or truth being hidden are being done for the right reasons.
With that being said, though, we do now come to the question: “Why was Scully returned to Mulder?” Because it does seem like it would be easier to never return her and just let Mulder completely lose his mind and himself trying to find out what happened to her. Especially once it became clear to the “Syndicate” that Scully was the primary reason that Mulder continued his investigations earlier this season. He was so close to giving up! How far would Mulder have gone to find Scully before he lost himself? The previous episode (awful as it was) certainly didn’t seem to show he was doing a lot to find her…????
A few possible options here:
The “Syndicate” did feel that not giving Scully back would drive Mulder further into investigations and thus the “truth”. But, returning her and then taking her away again, as almost happens here, would actually completely destroy Mulder. As, again…almost happens here, if it weren’t for Skinner and Melissa Scully coming to the rescue.
Related to above, it’s possible the “Syndicate” did always plan to fully bring Scully back, and not even have her get that close to death. What they planned was what later happens to Scully (no spoilers, but her abduction has a lot of subsequent consequences). They knew that what would really torture Mulder was to seemingly get Scully completely back, but later be forced to grapple with losing her again (OK, minor spoiler) because of what was done to her. And this would also torture Scully, who never even remembers what was done to her after Duane Barry. Now, uh, if this was the plan, I think they vastly underestimate Scully, because while losing Scully (again) might indeed destroy Mulder’s passion, no way is Scully going to go down without a fight for justice and the truth.
Orrrrrr, third possibility, CSM really does care for Mulder and Scully and doesn’t want either of them to die for “the cause”. Very believable, especially in the case of Mulder (for reasons we will later learn). And I think CSM does indeed have a lot of respect for Scully, as he saw how quickly she jumped right into the game, and he also sees how critical she is to Mulder. CSM, probably more than anyone else in the “Syndicate”, really enjoys having both of them as adversaries to work against.
CSM’s full motivations also always remain a bit of a mystery, but he remains a truly incredible villain at least throughout the first five seasons at least. (He gets a bit obnoxious and confusing after that…)
The Lone Gunmen!!!
Bless! I’m so happy we got The Lone Gunmen in this episode, as supportive friends for both Mulder and Scully. It was so cute when Langly offered to have Mulder come hang out with them to pick out scientific inaccuracies in “Earth 2” (a real, very brief show). They’re trying to cheer him up!!! 🥹
Really excellent choice too to have The Lone Gunmen be the ones to analyze Scully’s blood. Mulder 100% didn’t (and shouldn’t!) trust anyone at the FBI to do that, and he doesn’t have Scully to do the scientific analysis for him. I will remain a bit baffled by what exactly is the background of any of The Lone Gunmen—how exactly does Byers seem to understand perfectly the science behind so-called “branched” DNA? Does he have a scientific background, or do these three really just spend all day holed up ready every conspiracy theory out there to stay “ahead” of the government and their newly developing technologies?
Could be a combination of both, honestly. Byers does kind of give me “I have a PhD in biochemistry but was disillusioned by academia” vibes. And I can 100% picture him lecturing Frohike and Langly on all the weird fun stuff he knows and wants to share.
Anyway. Just, again, I really love that we got The Lone Gunmen involved again here. It’s so lovely to see Mulder have friends, and to also see how much these three care about Scully, even though they’ve only met her once. Really, really glad the fans convinced the writers to keep this trio around.
Character Development: Walter Skinner
SKINNER: “I know you feel responsible for Agent Scully, but I will not accept resignation and defeat as self-punishment.”
Two really amazing character developments for A.D. Walter Skinner here.
First, I love that we see Skinner stand up to CSM. The “no smoking please” sign always cracks me up, even if CSM flagrantly ignores that sign.
That first moment is obviously fairly minor. Where Skinner really stands up to/gets back at this mysterious man giving him instructions is when he gives Mulder access to CSM. Even though Mulder doesn’t end up capitalizing on that, it still shows a huge change in Skinner’s own motivations.
From the start, it felt pretty clear that Skinner was different from the other FBI higher ups we had met. Yes, he was stern and definitely thought Mulder was a bit kooky, but he still believed in Mulder as an investigator and wanted to keep him around. Most probably, Skinner had never really seen a reason to question anything the FBI or other government agencies did before he met and got involved with Mulder and Scully. With his background as a soldier, Skinner is used to just going along, pushing the paperwork, and doing as he’s told. Even, yes, when he’s just given mysterious orders by a man who won’t stop smoking cigarettes in his office. Skinner doesn’t even know who CSM is!!!! He didn’t know who Krycek was!!! I give Mulder crap for being too trusting (rightfully so, especially when at other times he’s way too paranoid), but Skinner also definitely didn’t question enough until he too was confronted with the brutal reality of the consequences of his actions and decisions.
I give Skinner a lot of credit for actually so quickly turning around and realizing there is a truth to be fought for. Even if he can’t quite get directly involved in that fight just yet, he’s there to support Mulder (and Scully) in the ways he can. He won’t let Mulder give up.
On that note, I also really appreciated Skinner’s insight into his experience in Vietnam here. It felt particularly important that Skinner wasn’t drafted, but chose to sign up and be sent to Vietnam, because he believed in his country. I firmly believe those same motivations, that same desire, is why Skinner initially just went along with whatever he was told at the FBI, even when those orders were coming from people he doesn’t actually know. It’s not in Skinner’s nature to question what anything means. He’s too afraid of the truth, about himself and about his country, to do the direct questioning himself. But that doesn’t mean he believes the questions shouldn’t be asked—by other people. With his support.
Character Development: “X”
We also get some new character development for Mr. “X” here.
First, further evidence that while in some ways “X” is playing the same role as “Deep Throat” by providing Mulder with information and some access to the truth, they are definitely not the same. Deep Throat was a real father figure to Mulder, and I firmly believe both of them felt that way. Deep Throat really wanted to help Mulder, and Mulder was desperate to please him as well.
“X”, on the other hand, I don’t think really cares about Mulder personally at all. He wants to help expose the truth, and Mulder is an excellent tool to be used to do that “safely”, without getting himself killed. But he’s not going to put his life on the line to save Mulder or Scully.
Another fairly big turning point in the show was watching “X” directly kill someone. I don’t think I’m wrong in saying this is the first time we’ve had one of our “major” characters actually shoot to kill? (I might be. But I don’t think I am)
Watching someone be killed to simultaneously protect and find the truth (protect “X”’s involvement, while also finding the truth about Scully’s condition) feels like a huge turning point in the show. And for Mulder. It’s important for Mulder to realize what might be required in his fight. Especially as he later realizes that he himself can’t do that yet. He can’t bring himself to kill CSM to find some possible justice for Scully. He knows that might be required in the future. But he’s not there yet, and he can’t play the same role “X” does to expose the truth.
Fact check: Branched DNA???
OK, so, the “science”.
The character development and fast paced aspects of this episode are 10/10 for me. But the…science??? to explain what’s wrong with Scully causes the episode to lose a point. Because…what?
I admit I’m not a molecular biologist/geneticist, but I do have scientific training and education, and I have no idea what this “branched DNA” concept is supposed to be? Like…was Scully somehow injected with DNA and it’s somehow just free-floating in her bloodstream still? I mean, the concept of DNA vaccines and genetic engineering to cure cancers and diseases does indeed exist, but those techniques are still very experimental and new today, let alone 30 years ago. AND, those techniques don’t just leave…random DNA floating around in your bloodstream to be detected. The whole point is the DNA is taken up by your cells, which may then produce whatever gene that DNA encodes for.
Also “the biological equivalent of a silicon microchip”???? What does that even meannnnnnnn??? “Junk” DNA isn’t just going to be floating around in your bloodstream!!! And our DNA is already essentially a unique personal identifier (unless you’re an identical twin). Please, writers, explain to me how some secret government group would be using random DNA to track people?!
Now, I will indeed grant that if we are to believe that somehow Scully just has random DNA floating around in her bloodstream, that would be something her immune system would fight against, and it is very believable that whatever was done to Scully wrecked her immune system so that it can’t fight off an unknown, “non-self” biological entity.
And, I will say here that I do appreciate the writers didn’t go too hard into the science, because just with the briefest mention it’s clear the writers didn’t know where they were going with this “branched DNA”. Like, was it just “early 90s, DNA engineering is scary and sounds scary”? We have to make it sound like some experimentation was done on Scully? Though that was already pretty clear from the scenes on the “ship” with Scully, so.
This is still far from the worst science the show does. But still, for me personally the episode would’ve been better if they didn’t include the “branched DNA” plotline at all. Just have The Lone Gunmen say something along the lines of “it looks like her immune system is decimated, she can’t fight off any infections, there’s nothing you can do Mulder”. That’s fine by itself. Don’t need to include weird scary futuristic sounding science. You really don’t need to do that every episode. Scully being taken, mysteriously returned, and somehow miraculously recovering was “spooky” enough for one episode.
The X-Files is a comedy
This is obviously another very serious and very broody episode, but this interaction between Mulder and Melissa Scully will always make me laugh. Mulder is so deadpan with his response 😂
Our “Completely Platonic Coworkers”
Basically this entire episode is Mulder willing to kill almost anyone to get Scully back or at least get revenge for what happened to her if he can’t get her back. So, I’d argue the entire episode goes wayyyyyy beyond “ah, we’re totally just coworkers!”
But here, enjoy a couple of specific cute/heartbreaking/lovely moments:
Mulder is ready to kill some doctors if he doesn’t get answers about Scully!!!!
“I don’t know if my being here... will help bring you back. But I’m here” 🥹🥹🥹
“Don’t call him Fox, Mom! I know I just almost died, but he’s still Mulder!”
Mulder picked up a gift for Scully!
“I had the strength of your beliefs” 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
The 90s™
There’s a cigarette vending machine in the hospital. The hospital!!!!!!
Ah, the 90s…
Goofs/Bloopers/Fun Facts
Again, the only real “goof” I find in this episode is that they give the vaguest explanation of what’s wrong with Scully (branched DNA???) and then there’s no explanation for how she recovers despite that “branched DNA” apparently poisoning her weakened immune system. Now, as always, I would rather the writers don’t try too hard to explain the science, because they usually do a poor job when doing that, so it doesn’t actually end up bothering me too much here. It’s weird and vague and not terribly scientific, but that’s OK. We aren’t really meant to understand what happened to Scully, why she was brought back, or what the future will look like after this. And the defeat that there’s nothing Mulder can do because of this weird “branched DNA” works really well here. So.
Anyway, have a mix of some fun facts:
Gillian Anderson returned to set just two weeks after giving birth. Thankfully the writers let her basically just be attached to wires and such in bed during the episode. She frequently fell asleep in bed between takes, as would be understandable.
First use of Mulder taping the “X” in his window with masking tape to get the attention of his mysterious “helper”. Where did Mulder get the idea that this might work??? 🤔
Cancer Man!!! I might be remembering incorrectly, but I think the writers wanted “Cancer Man” to catch on, but fans had already started referring to him as Cigarette Smoking Man and that stuck instead.
Overall Thoughts/Summary
Episode rating: 9/10. Really solid episode. Strong character development for everyone (I mean, except Scully but she was in a coma for 99% of the episode so). The introduction of Melissa Scully was key to this episode, as she really played off of Mulder’s defeatism and desire for revenge. It was really important to have Scully’s family speaking to the need for faith and hope and respect for Scully. I love that we finally got to see CSM and Mulder interact, and Skinner was so solid in this episode. Really becoming the supportive dad character to Mulder and Scully.
Just, a lot here to move the series along and establish the foundation for a lot of what we will see in the future. It’s not the best episode, hence the “only” 9/10 episode, but I will always really enjoy watching this one. So much to enjoy here.
X-files cases “solved” to date: We’re still at 5/8 for the season (25/32 total). Case definitely wasn’t solved here, and genuinely, spoiler (???) the mystery of Scully’s abduction and what really happened/who was really behind it/etc never gets fully solved. It’s one of the biggest mysteries of the show!
Next week we have another sPoOkY nature story with “Firewalker”—poor Scully goes out into the field almost immediately after her abduction…and poor Gillian also put back out into an intense episode just weeks after giving birth!
I do remember enjoying the episode, though not quite as much as the other two nature-oriented episodes we’ve had, for some…very specific reasons that will come up during that review. We’ll see how that holds up, and how the science in that episode holds up.