Within

Scully and Skinner conduct their own search for Mulder, while the official manhunt begins, headed by Agent John Doggett.

Wow. After last season's emotional finale, there was no let up here. Some wonderful moments, an interesting new character and the new dynamic of Scully and Skinner's relationship made for a poignant, tense and, in places, horrifying episode.

Unfortunately, the monologue introduction made an unwelcome return - but at least it was preceded by Scully's nightmare. Interestingly, her nightmares were not at all reminiscent of her own abduction experience (although the very first one, with the tube in Mulder's mouth, reminded me of her ordeal in the movie) - in fact, those truly horrible scenes of Mulder's torture made Scully having her belly inflated look like a holiday in the Bahamas. They were gory, disturbing and as believable as anything involving alien abduction is going to be.

The shots of Scully at the beginning of the episode, first staring blankly into the mirror as she tried to comprehend the total change in her life over the past day or so, and then walking slowly, disconnectedly into work, alone, were very effective. The music that accompanied these scenes, and recurred throughout the episode, was beautiful - haunting, melodic and tragic, wonderful work by Mark Snow. I'm not sure who coined the phrase, but I've heard it referred to as "Scully's theme."

Scully's morning sickness seemed a little perfunctory, added in to remind us that she's pregnant (in case we'd forgotten since the "previously" section…), but on the other hand it was an easy way for the writers to prompt Scully to call her mother. That phone call was good to see, as Scully tried her best not to let her voice crack - needing her mother's support, but perhaps not wanting her to know how much. I also liked the way the camera panned around Scully's bathroom.

I have to admit to not being quite sure of what Doggett was trying to do in his first meeting with Scully. Telling her about the trust rumours was hardly likely to make her more open to the idea that she didn't know Mulder very well, it was much more probable that she would get defensive. That aside, I don't dislike Doggett - he seems to be a competent agent who knows what he's doing, and I don't think he's out to sabotage the X Files. I did like his reaction to Scully throwing the water in his face - he didn't flinch, he wasn't visibly shocked or embarrassed, he just watched her go, calmly measuring her up (perhaps making a mental note to never again give her any ammunition she can use against him…). The water-throwing itself may have been a little over the top, but given Scully's emotional state at the time I don't think there was too much artistic licence being used.

The revelation about Mulder's brain disease, despite following on from the events of the Biogenesis trilogy, still felt somewhat contrived. The gravestone, although dramatic, somehow didn't have the same impact as Scully's did in One Breath. I doubt there will be any further references made to this illness beyond next week's "conclusion". The return of Gibson Praise, however, could have felt forced (as sometimes happens when mythology episodes try to draw several elements together), but didn't. Still, I didn't find the cliffhanger particularly effective - but after Requiem's excruciating ending, I won't complain too loudly.

Poor old Scully's landlord. It can't be an easy job. If she's not being attacked by a stretchy man or letting a death fetishist make a mess of her apartment, she's pulling a gun on you while you carry out maintenance work.

Finally, a few very short thoughts about the new title sequence. I think it looks good - for the most part. The falling Mulder looks quite silly, and some of the old images look even older next to the new ones, but it's nice to have the ID badges updated.

I'm not quite sure why this is such a short review, given that it was such a good episode. I suppose I was too involved to think objectively while I watched it.

Best Lines

Scully: You give them the truth and they'll hang you with it.

Skinner: They can hang me with a lie too.

Scully: You think by talking in circles I'm just going to get dizzy and blurt it out?

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