5X02 - Redux I [REVISITED]

Summary

This was good, but a bit "hit and miss" overall. Of course, no one really spent the summer wondering if Mulder was dead, so the cliff-hanging device was really a non-issue. (By the way, I wasn't part of the on-line community when this originally aired so I knew nothing about the hissy-fit that people threw over CC changing his premise over whether Scully knew that Mulder was alive or not. All so confusing anyway...) While I found the episode nicely paced and gripping, there were also a lot of moments in which I seriously yearned for things to be a little less cryptic. Show me some facts, not layers of obfuscation. But then this was a classic CC mytharc and even back then, I should have known better than to expect anything different.

One card from out of "lots and lots of files"

I'm at a bit of a loss here (since the intervening years and their technological advances have become a big blur in my head), but was there nothing better than cameras with physical wiring that ran back into a nearby apartment available back then? I found the whole "Mulder sees himself being spied on and then runs upstairs to kill the DoD agent" thing a little lame. Lamer still is what this man Ostelhoff was trying to do... burn phone records! Why does he have phone records of himself dialing up someone at the FBI? Just so that he has something to burn in case Mulder bursts into his apartment, I guess.

You'd think that as soon as Mulder was ID'd by Scully that someone would have called Mr. Ostelhoff to find out just what the hell happened. To have Mulder parading around using his (i.e., Ostelhoff's) access card to roam all over the DoD was another bit of insanity that I found hard to believe. Sure, it was great that CSM caught on and was ultimately the one who let Mulder escape (with the cure for Scully's cancer), but until then? Wow.

So all those aliens and super-ovulating women (all conveniently referenced by a handy manual filing system at the Pentagon) are all part of a huge lie to cover up aliens, super-ovulating women and, well... how does that go again? To me, that whole "hoax" thing is still a big load of hooey. (Or bad writing.) Especially that bit about timing the finding of the alien body so that Scully wouldn't be around to autopsy it to find out that it was a hoax...! (So Scully is just the best forensic scientist ever, right?) Come on, people, there are easier ways to do whatever it is what you want to do to these two!

And yes, "why are you sitting in my bedroom in the dark"?

Best or Worst Moment

So what does Mulder want most? "The cure for Scully's cancer?" Nothing so terribly dramatic about this scene between Mulder and Kritschgau but that statement coming from Mulder is quite telling. Balance it with his declaration from the Pilot episode that "nothing else matters" and you have undeniable character growth.

Original Rating: * * *
Revised Rating: * * *