There were a lot of things I liked about Lazarus and probably only one thing that I really didn't. Unfortunately, that one thing was a pretty big thing and detracted a lot from the episode's good points. But as I said, there was a lot to enjoy and I shouldn't let one thing spoil that - but I'm finding that pretty hard to do.

The central idea of having a soul come back into the wrong body after a near death experience was sound, but the thing I objected to was the physical nature of many of the indications of what had happened. Take for instance the tattoo that we saw on Dupré's arm which then appeared on Jack Willis'. I can accept that Willis' body contained Dupré's soul or spirit or whatever you want to call it, but why would that cause the tattoo to appear? The same applied to the convulsions of Dupré's body as the defibrillator was used on Willis - the soul is mental and emotional, not physical. If it wasn't for these things, the story could have been nicely ambiguous as to whether Willis really did have Dupré's soul or was just psychotic after hunting the criminal for so long and the trauma of being shot - especially as he began to remember some of his past with Scully at the end. Willis' recorded field notes about getting inside the heads of the villains he was chasing seemed to support Scully's interpretation of events as well. Also, the moment when Willis changed into Dupré - I assumed this was supposed to be a representation of Scully's thoughts rather than what she actually saw, but it didn't work for me because I don't think Scully would really think that Willis had become Dupré in anything more than the schizophrenic sense. And the fading of the tattoo was as pointless as its appearance. The EKG showing the two hearts was never really explained either - how would another soul produce another trace on the graph?

I think that's most of my complaints over with. I don't usually like to start with a negative, but those things were so central to the plot that they really had to come first. Anyway, I liked that Scully was given some more history in this episode. I wondered if she and Willis dated while they were still student and teacher, or not until later. I can't really see Scully being so reckless as to get romantically involved with her instructor, but then not that much has been revealed about her and she was younger then anyway. And it would be very irresponsible, not to mention unprofessional, for Willis to become involved with one of his students. But hey, people do it, and Scully and Willis could have done too.

Willis and Scully's relationship allowed the case to become very personal for Scully, but I liked the way the writers acknowledged this without overdoing it. I thought it was understandable that Scully would get slightly irritated with Mulder - she was worried about her friend's state of mind and Mulder was trying to turn it into an X File. I also liked Scully's assertiveness in the ER when the doctors gave up on Willis, but it was obviously mixed with grave concern for him - her order "Go up to 400 or I'll do it myself" was great. She continued to show her concern for him throughout the episode, as she put it, "as a colleague and as a friend."

The scene where Scully and Willis finally caught up with Lula was quite weird as Willis caressed Lula's face - it was just very bizarre to see an FBI Agent do that to their quarry. I liked the way Scully considered her options for just a moment before putting the handcuffs on as Willis ordered her to - it would be almost unbearable to have your ex-boyfriend crack like that and threaten to "blow you in half." For Scully, the horror of being in a hostage situation must have been compounded by her relationship with her captor, but she still kept her head and tried to make Willis remember some of the times they spent together.

Willis' diabetes was perhaps a little too convenient, but I didn't object to it that much. I did think Lula's comment "Maybe that's why your stomach's hurting so bad" was a bit forced though, and sounded like the kind of dialogue writers put in to heavy-handedly explain something that isn't obvious.

Even though I probably should have seen it coming (I didn't), I liked the twist that it was Lula who had betrayed Dupré to the FBI, and the fact that she just wanted to get rid of him and have the money all to herself. I also liked the falsely raised hopes after the FBI traced the phone call - it was clever of them to use Scully's mobile, but why was it untraceable? I would have thought that there would be some way of locating the phone from its signal. I don't know how, it just sounds like there ought to be. Anyway, analysing the tape of the call was good, I love seeing how law enforcement agencies use technology like that to pick up tiny details about cases. One more comment about phone calls in this episode - when Willis rang Mulder and let him to speak to Scully, Mulder called her Dana, which I assume was supposed to show that his concern went beyond what he'd feel for anyone who was merely a colleague. Which was nice J .

I wanted to hit the agent who mocked Mulder about alien viruses and the Kennedy assassination. Just because Mulder has an interest in (OK, an obsession with) the paranormal doesn't mean he's a moron. He got into the FBI in the first place, didn't he? So that agent should shut up and stop acting like an ignorant child. I guess it goes to show how your reputation can precede you. Still, I loved the way Ruskin stuck up for Mulder with a put-down for the aforementioned ignorant child.

Mulder had two lines I really liked in this episode: firstly, David Duchovny's delivery of "That's a nice story" made me laugh, and secondly, the understated way he said "This one's important to me, so let's do it right" was just right, not sappy but with just enough concern. And a Bible salesman is a great cover for an FBI canvasser.

Scully raised a point which I know I'm going to make a lot in these reviews: she said that she didn't dismiss near death experiences as non-existent because they could be explained scientifically (abnormal brain function, lack of oxygen, that kind of thing). So an apparently supernatural phenomenon may well turn out to be utterly explainable. So, er, tell me Scully, why shouldn't that principal apply to other X Files?

Maybe the personal nature of this case made Scully question her own beliefs. At any rate, she didn't seem sure of her scientific explanation by the end of the episode, asking Mulder "What am I supposed to tell myself?" I liked the fact that Mulder didn't answer. Even though he had his own strong opinions about what had happened he didn't push them at Scully when she was still naturally upset over Willis' death. The stopped watch, though, was a bit unnecessary in my opinion. So it stopped when Willis went into cardiac arrest. So what? It could be a coincidence, or it could be due to a release of energy from dying cells as Dr. Barnes said. Either way, it doesn't seem to have any connection with the swapping of souls.

If I could just get over my one major complaint, I think I'd really like Lazarus.

Mulder: Two men died in that crash room, Scully. One man came back. The question is: which one?

Mulder: How well do you know him?

Scully: We dated, for almost a year. He was my instructor at the Academy.

Mulder: The plot thickens!

Mulder: You believe he's predisposed to this type of psychotic episode?

Scully: I believe it's a long way from saying Jack had a near death experience to saying his body's been inhabited by Warren Dupré.

Scully: Just because someone forgets a birthday doesn't mean that he's been possessed. When I was sitting for my medical boards I forgot my birthday too.

Ruskin: Mulder says he's got something.

Agent: What, an alien virus, or new information on the Kennedy assassination?

Ruskin: Hey, Mulder's alright. Pay attention, you might learn something from the man.

Scully: What does that mean?

Mulder: It means - it means whatever you want it to mean.

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