Perhaps the most ironic thing about this episode, which many already consider to be an instant classic, is that it wasn’t even originally written for the revival.  Instead, it was retooled from a script that Morgan wrote for the Night Stalker reboot series that briefly aired some years ago.  Given how much Chris Carter has admitted that the original Kolchak, the Night Stalker series was an inspiration for The X-Files, there is a certain degree of symmetry.  

The episode itself is practically a love letter to the original run, with plenty of nods to the current mindset of the main characters.  Mulder is experiencing a “questioning phase”, having realized that the advent of the internet and better technology has made it so much easier to debunk practically all of the “monsters” that used to be in those filing cabinets.  Meanwhile, Scully is beginning to warm up to the idea of working such cases again.  With Mulder being comically skeptical and Scully wanting to believe a bit, it’s a nice inversion, to say the least.  (Though Scully’s snide comment about Mulder being off his meds spoke to the darkness Mulder has endured in recent years.)


Most of the in-jokes were either nods to Morgan’s own episodes from the original run or tongue-firmly-in-cheek commentary on the very idea of Mulder and Scully still investigating together after all this time.  Morgan’s episodes were always an insightful meta-commentary on the series itself alongside clever deconstruction of the psychology of the two agents.  Adding to the meta is the fact that the killer, Pasha, was played by Kumail Nanjiani, who happens to have a podcast dedicated to reviews of every X-Files episode.  Add the idea of Mulder’s ringtone being the opening theme music, and it’s pure Darin Morgan.

So much of the episode was over-the-top and absurd (again, typical Darin Morgan) that it’s hard to know if the audience is supposed to take any of it seriously.  And yet, with Mulder so disillusioned, why wouldn’t it be a perfect scenario for him to encounter an actual “monster” to put him back on the path he never should have left?  His long conversations with Darby were the perfect tonic to the messages of futility supplied by his own fight with depression and psychosis.


Conceptually, the idea of a creature trapped in a man’s body, instead of the more-familiar inverse, allowed for a sense of perspective that would otherwise get lost.  Mulder is so focused on capturing proof of the existence of such “monsters” that he seldom takes the time to really consider what it must be like for them.  I say “seldom” because he’s had moments of empathy before, to be sure, but it’s not his default.  Giving Darby vices that mirror some of Mulder’s own bad habits was a nice touch.





This short season had a lot of reasons to focus on the scary or the “mythological”, so devoting an entire episode to nothing short of self-referential mockery will no doubt annoy some.  While it is a bit sad to consider that this nostalgic trip is already half-over (and that the episodes are actually airing out of order, which is galling), the need for a comedic romp now seems entirely obvious.


If there is one small nitpick I have for this episode, it’s the fact that Duchovny and Anderson looked like they were on the verge of losing it throughout most of the scenes.  Anderson covered it far better; Duchovny can barely stop himself from breaking into laughter, it seems.  The beginning of the episode is a perfect example; while it can be interpreted as him messing a bit with Scully, it still threatens to break the mood of the piece.  But if one can overlook that aspect, this is a solid outing.