This was a great episode... the filming was excellent. I can't see any nitpicks right off the bat. I guess I should say that I was lead to believe there would be more involved in the Mulder/Scully relationship, given what was seen in the teaser.

I thought it was okay, but Anderson's direction was a little over the top I thought, but nice.

I didn't care much for the plot though, could have used some more depth or something.

When Scully first tries to revive Daniel, I thought she was pressing his left clavicle but in the next shot her hands are lower. My question is this ... why did the nurses let her take charge of zapping him. Granted that the doctor-in-charge is gone for the day and that they know she's a doctor ... still, isn't it hospital protocol to find a resident doctor? Just curious.
Boy, this episode must've tire Gillian being the writer, director and actress. :-) She deserves falling asleep on Mulder in that case.

Amos--I know what you mean by more depth. My favorite eps are ones that involve both Mulder and Scully, where the plot interweaves in a complicated pattern that we never quite figure out (x-files style). "All Things"had depth, but all in one set of shades: light colors and red, all Scully. I would have liked to see some darker balance from Mulder, though it was intriguing to see Scully on her own for once.

I loved the direction. Yes, maybe a little over-the-top--for The X-Files--but still very good. I go for symbolism anyways, so I enjoyed the little details (tick, tick, tick).

All right. I was led to believe that this ep would be about Scully and faith, and it was. However (of course not a real nit, just annoying to *me*), Dana is supposed to be Catholic, at least sort of. I was vastly surprised that she did not once think of prayer. She did when she herself was dying of cancer (Redux). Why not for Daniel?

And my perennial problem with faith on TV: why does Christianity almost always get such short shrift? I guess because it is "exclusive," that is, maintains that Jesus is the only way to God. However, this has not stopped CC from making some eps that deal with Christianity in a positive light (maybe only one: I'm thinking of "Revelations"). So why did Scully's "real" faith not get mentioned in this ep? (unless you count the nuns in the background of the next-to-last scene, which given the symbolism in this ep can hardly be coincidence).

Interesting to watch. I am glad that she and Mulder have *not* yet consummated their relationship. If this must happen at some point (and I'm not saying they aren't a great couple), I hope it waits until the last episode.

A snoozer. Mulder's crop circle investigation sounded more interesting than the plot for this episode.

The danger of car phone use was shown.

Okay, follow me here. When it was "63 hours later" Scully said that it was Saturday. Mulder commented "Thanks for lunch" on his way out. So presumably it is around noon on a Saturday, when we are "63 hours later". Let's back-track. It's 24hrs until noon Friday. 48hrs until noon Thursday. 60 hours makes it midnight Wednesday. So 63 hours before is 9:00 PM on Wednesday night. The opening scene just seems odd happening at 9:00 PM.

And just a note: yes they could have been eating at 1:00, but then that would make it 10:00 PM and doesn't change the awkwardness of the time for the scene.

That is not exactly what I meant by "depth". I meant more along the lines of that the story really thin, with the "stylized" filming over playing the to fill in for the plot, like explosions and fight scenes do in some action movies. It just seemed to me that they glossed over the root of the story so Scully could have her little experience.

Why didn't Mulder go home when Scully fell asleep?

I really liked Anderson's "hip-hop" background music during the slow-motion scenes... the dream segment was really cool, too!

-- Aaron

Because it was Mulder's apartment, wasn't it? It had his fish and his couch.

Nsetzer--

I guess you didn't notice that it actually said "63 Hours Earlier."

That's okay. It's an easy mixtake to make.

I forgot that he even had fish! :) Was it jsut me or did Scully look like (in the teaser) she was putting on her shirt? Or was she jsut prepping herself to leave Mulder's apartment? Somone at one of the Trek BBS' online suggested that maybe Mulder took off Scully's clothes and put her into pajamas like "Smokey" Spender did a few episodes ago. I guess that scene is open to a LOT of interpretations.

I was confused by the beginning. Why was Scully leaving Mulder's apartment? did this ep start with the very end?
Daniel moved to washington and spent ten years pining away for Scully without once picking up the freaking phone and calling her?
hard to believe. I was also confused by the bhuddist stuff, and the woman with the blond ponytail. Was she some sort of spirit guide?
I liked the "over the top" directing style. I liked everything, even though I spent the ep going, "huh?!"
I found I wanted the story fleshed out a little more....for instance, the history of Dana and Daniel...
I was waiting, at the end, for Mulder to snuggle up and fall asleep right there on his couch with her. that would have been nice. (friends can do that, too)
I was looking for all the cool goldfish....where were they? did they die and get replaced by a bunch of tetras?
I need to watch the tape again....

I did like the episode. Not terribly new revelations, but good continuity in that way back in the first season Scully mentioned having been involved with a professor.

But yeah, how come if the guy had been "living only for her" all those years he never once tried to contact her after his divorce?

Interesting scenes chosen for the "vision" when you play them back and slow them down--not only Mulder, but her father, mother, sister, CSM and Emily.

Continuity problem: When Scully sees the woman with the ponytail the last time--who turns out to be Mulder--she is at first standing on the walkway. But then she jumps up from a bench to chase her. Or was that supposed to be one of those surreal moments?

Sarah Perkins: She prayed for Mulder with the Navajo ghosty guy too early this season.

I liked the flying saucer in the fish tank.

Was I the only one who thought ponytail girl was young Scully? I keep waiting for her to turn around and present us with a young Scully.

I thought it might have been Melissa. After all, who better to lead Scully to heart chakras (sp?) then Melissa, the New Ager?

I reminded me of the ponytailed Scully from the Pilot.

Cute Joke:
Mulder's hat: "Stone Hendge(sp?) Rocks"

Amos, did you get a look at blond ponytail woman? she looks much older than you think at first, when you see her face. Can't be a young Scully.
Donna L, your memory and your eye are amazing.
One more thing:
the scene where Scully first finds Daniel in the hospital, and his eyes are closed, he doesn't know she's there, and a tear is trickling down his cheek...that totally choked me up. God, it just makes it even more incredible that he had the gumption to move to washington, but not enough to just make one phone call! What a dork!

Yeah, I disappointingly realized it later on in the episode. I still think meeting your past self on the street would have been an interesting plot point. Coming to grasp with who she is and who she used to be, and such. Oh well.

wow, what a great idea. very "Bridge Across Forever". (By Richard Bach)

as for the goldfish issue: all fancy goldfish present and accounted for, except perhaps, Mulder's black moor.

oops!

I was speaking to a doctor and she tells me that you can't immediately given someone the electric jolt when they flatline - there has to at least be a tiny bit of fibrillation and this is achieved by injecting some adrenalin in the patient and only then can you jolt them to kickstart their heart back into operation. But almost every other show gets is wrong as well.

Does anyone know who did the music on this ep? It kinda sounded like Moby.

Nitpick, nitpick. i realize nobody has mentioned that Scully has mixed up too very different Asian philosophies -- Buddhism and Taoism (or Daoism.) Is it because she's a Catholic, and cannot really distinguish between the two, or is it the fault of Gillian Anderson, as first-time writer?

The new-agey lesbian character, you see, speaks about time in a Taoist way -- about the need to slow down and observe what's happening. The concept of 'chi, energy centers, etc., is pretty much Taoist. I took up Tai Chi once, and the instructor taught us how to center our energies. They got that stuff on the show correct. Even the editing was wonderful, because it's the exact feeling you get about time when you're doing Tai Chi correctly.

The use of the term chakras, however, is more connected with pranic healing. Taoist or not, I am not sure. What was really glaring was the use of the Indian Buddha image. (It's a stereotype, but Buddhas from China are fat and pale and smiling; Buddhas from India and Southeast Asia are usually thin and haggard-looking and gold.)

All in all, it was rather unsettling to watch Scully muddle through it all. I don't like people getting this sort of thing wrong by lumping all things Asian together in some mystical whole.

Speaking of the defillabrators, when Scully grabs them and imediately starts to jolt Daniel's heart, shouldn't there be some kind of gel or lubricant on them? I am so use to seeing people using them, but they squeeze some kind of stuff on each pad, rub them together, and then on the chest of the patient. Scully puts them on Daniel's chest dry. Doesn't that scorch the skin or something?

I also like to say, that I think Anderson's direction was very profound. I have always found to have a hard time identifying with Scully, even though I'm female. I usually can identify with Maulder, despite him being male, for he has a lot of traits and thought process simular to mine. Yet, as this episode played out, I still see Scully's universe as an unattainable point of view, but as the direction and process kept going, and watching Scully go through her 'enlightment', I began to see how she was, do what she does, and regret about her life. It was neat to be able to change the process of how I felt about a character, all in one episode. I was impressed with Gillian Anderson on this. Funny enough, even though I watched the pilot episode when it first was aired, and viewing the series along the way, there have been a lot of episodes I haven't seen, this being one of them. I now kick myself for not having seen this when it originally aired.

I too, wondered at the ponytailed lady that Scully keeps seeing. Though, her being the 'key' to Scully's enlightment and paths, I can understand where she would come into play. But why this particular lady? Or maybe, this could be Scully, if 'enlightnend' and happier, down the road, and this 'older' Scully could be the one guiding the younger one. Then again, when that lady did turn to smile, just as Scully almost hit her with the car, I thought it was a cameo shot of Bo Derek.

Again, with this particular lady, the last time we see her, Scully chases after her again, and 'she' turns out to be Maulder, who even was wearing a beige goat too. I was thinking of doing a mysting on this one. Cause after Scully turns the lady around, and then it's Maulder saying hi to Scully, the camera is staring at Scully, with Maulder's back to it. I was thinking it would be funny that we see Maulder discreetly hide a ponytaired wig into his back pockets.

DonnaL
Continuity problem: When Scully sees the woman with the ponytail the last time--who turns out to be Mulder--she is at first standing on the walkway. But then she jumps up from a bench to chase her. Or was that supposed to be one of those surreal moments?
---I thought it was surreal, does that count? Actually, thank you, cause I thought I was going crazy. I remember that, just before she sees the ponytailed lady for the last time, I thought she was standing, with her arms crossed, cause even though she seemed so lost in thought, I thought it was natural for her to be standing, trying to think. Then she sees the lady, off to her left, and the next scene she was getting up from sitting on a stone bench. I thought, ok, she must have been crossing her arms while sitting, which seems awkward to me. Though, I was sure she was standing in the previous scene.

It's not a lubricant, it's a conductive gel, and yes, she should be putting it on.