They drove for 30 hours and only reached Pennsylvania?! I could practically drive across the country in that amount of time.

I also find it hard to believe anyone could be tired enough to sleep through having someone carry you up stairs, undress and then dress you, etc.

Looks like Scully missed the "first light of day" by at least an hour or two. Good thing the ultra-suspicious scientist waited around for her.

Boy, Spender moves fast! He shot the shooter and made it back to the house before Scully in a motor boat!

Pretty Good Episode.

I've got be the first to say it, I loved the Scully celevage shot.

I like the improved look for the Lone Gunmen.

And boy oh, boy can CSM pick out a dress.

So CSM got a blank disc too?

Tech Note: The CDs appeared to be 60mb miniCDs stored in Zip Disc cases, anyone think that.

Also my computer doesn't bring up a "reading CD" screen when I access the CD-ROMs.

Oh, I forgot. Mulder and Scully have taken up residence in L.A. lately so I guess 30 hours would be about right...

Oh My God!!! C.G.B. is a 'Shipper!!!!

And why did he throw the disk in the water at the end? Has he decided to just die? Has he saved himself and wants to cover up his involvement? Was he afraid of what the New Consortium would do? (Is there a New Consortium, or just a few renegade friends of Mr. Spender?)

Woo-hoo, conspiracy back in action. I knew the moment Spender handed her back that CD that he did the old switcheroo. How could Scully not have thought that? She should've just shown him and never let go ... better yet just said she didn't get it and see what he had to say. After all, it was agreed that she would have it right? Which was why she went in the first place.
Boy, Scully is too trusting ... she didn't bring a gun? And I guess in the dress that Spender got, she had nowhere to hide the gun.
If Mulder and Scully took up residence in L.A., how come Mulder's apartment looks the same. And how could he meet with Spinner so quickly. The locations stated FBI HQ and G-land, Virginia right? So, I guess they're suppose to still be in the East Coast.
I guess Spender wanted no one to have the cure-all ... but throwing it into the water doesn't destroy it. I guess since he's the only one (excluding us viewers) who knows where the real CD is, he can come back to it later if and when he needs it. He could just report to whoever he reports to now that he didn't get it from Scully. The shooter's dead so no one can say to the contrary.
For an ultra-suspicious scientist, why didn't he get a bullet-proof vest? Or at least chosen a less open space secluded meeting place.
Wonder how Scully would feel next time she sees CSM after being duped this way?

Scully didn't have to dial an outside access code to call CSM. She only dialed 7 numbers (and they sounded like 555-1030). But then when she dialed for the reverse lookup, she dialed an internal extension. If can do that, you usually need to dial an outside access code.

Scully's apartment has changed from when we've seen it before. I don't recall there being a hallway outside her door.

When Mulder was leaving his message, and CSM was there, the inside of her apartment looked a heck of a lot bigger than it has in the past.

Frohike's toupee looks really fake, but I guess that's in character for him.

-12-

Great line: "So now you're not only a cold-blooded killer, you're a pop psychologist."
--Scully to CSM, after his impromptu analysis of her relationship to "powerful men."

So exactly what form does this affection for Scully that CSM professes take? Does he look rather fondly on her, more as an older relation, or is he in love with her? Or was all that just part of his little ploy? [Privately, I agree with Scully--there was something else haunting him. Perhaps it was that, or perhaps it was the decision whether to keep the disk when he got it. Whether we'll ever find out. . . who knows?]

What kind of silly computer do the Lone Gunmen use that takes two minutes to read the disk and see that it is empty? My puny iMac can figure that out in less time than that.

The end explains why they didn't use him, but I was expecting Krycheck to be the stalker.

Must have been a good episode. I can't think of any nits!

All in all, good performances and a strong storyline. I didn't know they could even write good Conspiracy episodes any more. And kudos to William B. Davis for returning Cancerman to his evil, evil roots, with a small redemption piece thrown in for good measure.

Ah, here we go: did Mulder find anything on his trip to DARPA?

Cabbagehead: When Mulder says that he got his e-mail from somewhere within DARPA, Scull helpfully explains that means the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, so we might not become confused by the acronym later on. Thanks for explaining the obvious to Mulder on our behalf, Dana.

and they were using win9x+ so it should have shown the loading screen also depending on how blank the disc is it wouldn't open a window (totally blank, no CDFS structure) and give an error or formated with zero files on it(CDFS structure) it would show the empty window.

Great line: "So now you're not only a cold-blooded killer, you're a pop psychologist."
--Scully to CSM, after his impromtu analysis of her relationship to powerful men.

So what form exactly does this affection that CSM professes for Scully take? Is he just fond of her, like an older relation, or is he in love with her? Or was all this just a part of his little ploy?
[I must agree with Scully that he seemed to mean what he said. He was certainly haunted by something, though whether it is the above affection or the decision to keep or get rid of the disk, we will probably never know.]

The gas price at that remote filling station seemed a little too low. Also, it was convenient for Scullly that there was a mail box at the gas station.

How was that guy able to retrieve Scully's letter to Mulder from the mail box?

Mail Fraud.

correction to my last post:

..it SHOULDN'T have shown the loading screen, and also depending...

For an FBI agent, Scully is not very adept at detecting someone following her. THis is two episodes in a row where she had someone following her for many hours. Last week Peetie followed her up to the cabin and this week CSM's henchman for the whole trip(although since he was in cahoots with CSM he probably knew where they were going, but he still had to be relatively close the whole time).

Did anyone else notice that the writer of the episode was William B. Davis? Explains a lot of CSM's actions.

Hans: A little low? Gas Prices? The prices on the
sign said that Regular Unleaded was 1.49! That's
only like 2 cents different from Harrisburg, PA
(where I live). Seems very current to me!

-- Aaron

Was the killer stalking Scully in previous episodes? He seemed really familiar.

What was with the photography in the first 15 min. or so? Top of heads missing, & actors half out of the frame. Now there's arty photography, but that wasn't it. I kept saying *Move the camera, move the camera!*

[BEGIN OFF-TOPIC RANT]

Aaron Nadler, I officially hate you and the entire East Coast. Here in Oregon we're at $1.69 at the cheap stations.

[END]

Rick: yes, and I meant to metion it and forgot. It showed he really has some insight into the character he plays, don't you think? Better than some of the other writers. (I just can't get over the goofy holy CSM thing they did in the season premiere.)

If someone was intercepting Scully's e-mail with Cobra, couldn't they have done it in such a way as to leave no trace of "her" responses, as well? Wouldn't the forged responses have been actually easier to hide than Cobra's e-mail? It seems backwards.

[BEGIN OFF-TOPIC RANT]

Aaron Nadler, I officially hate you and the entire East Coast. Here in Oregon we're
at $1.69 at the cheap stations.

yea well here in Ontario it costs 75 cents a litre! I believe that there are 4.5 litres to a gallon so that works out to $3.38 per gallon . Even with the exchange we are paying way more then you are.

::And why did he throw the disk in the water at the end? Has he decided to just die? Has he saved himself and wants to cover up his involvement? Was he afraid of what the New Consortium would do? ::Robbinson

::I guess Spender wanted no one to have the cure-all ... but throwing it into the water doesn't destroy it. I guess since he's the only one (excluding us viewers) who knows where the real CD is, he can come back to it later if and when he needs it. He could just report to whoever he reports to now that he didn't get it from Scully. The shooter's dead so no one can say to the contrary.:: SWong

My take on it is that he used it to cure himself. And then, based on his talks with Scully, he weighed sharing it with the world (and giving up the life & death power he now holds with the back-of-the-neck-cancer-cure technology) and keeping his power. It was a close call (i.e. Scully DID read him correctly), but he reverted to type and threw it away. We won't be seeing that disc or its technology again. Excellent episode.

Maybe I missed something somewhere, but how do we know him being sick wasn't part of his ruse to begin with? didn't he have cancer a couple of seasons ago and was cured by Jeremiah Smith?

That was lung cancer. In this episode he has a form of brain cancer. I also like to note that unless there is some from of birth rate control accompanying this immortality formula I'd rather not have it widely available or even not at all.

The parents of the little boy object to medical intervention on religious grounds. What religion did they claim? The only one I can thing of is Christian Scientist but they would not have a crucifix on the table. Catholics believe God put doctors and medicine on this earth for us to use.

Interesting question here: Does CSM still have telepathy? Or perhaps it was lost in the bad side FX to his operation/cure?

Wow! I knew that gas prices were high, but I had no idea they were so high around you folks! What I meant was the prices listed on the sign ($1.49) were very accurate for Pennsylvania (where CSM and Scully were staying). Since prices here (at last check) was $1.52, I think that the creators managed to show an incredible intuition of rising prices back in February, or whenever this episode was filmed.

Sorry to have upset the rest of the country (and continent), but our gas prices (before this crazy, crazy rise) were around $1.15 - $1.20.

-- Aaron

Could CSM be part of the Millennium Group? After all, wouldn't a group that can unleash plagues be AGAINST a "cure for all disease"?

The following is from Wrapped in Plastic magazine #45 (Feb. 2000) by John Pierce (page 19):

"As for the Millennium crossover issue, evidently most XF fans didn't follow the other show on a regular basis. Millennium had a really elaborate mythology, in which the world was threatened by an imminent apocalypse unrelated to that in XF. Moreover, the Millennium Group was as powerful in its world as the Elders in XF; in the second season finale, it had apparently set off an earthquake and a major plague. While the latter was scaled down to almost nothing in the third season, the implication remained that the Group had all the power it needed to bring off an apocalypse. But in the XF crossover, most of the Group has disappeared, and all this one holdout can come up with is a corporal's guard of zombies - not exactly Night of the Living Dead! As for the Morley cigarette and Jose Chung, those teases had been contradicted by an episode in which 'Kill Switch' is playing on somebody's TV set. Perhaps Millennium was taking place in a parallel universe in which Chung also lived and Morleys were a brand. In any case, this was not a crossover that 'had to be'."

This theory would also take care of the XF/Homicide nit. There would be two universes - In the Homicide universe, XF is a fictional show. In the XF universe, there happens to exist a Homicide character (perhaps based on the "real" one from the other universe). Well, so much for linking XF to other shows (i.e. XF to Homicide to St. Elsewhere to Cheers).

Since I was NOT a regular viewer of Millennium, are Pierce's comments valid? Maybe, Chris Carter should have concluded the UFO storyline and then incorporated Millennium's "mythology" into XF. I always thought Millennium had untapped potential (similar to another spin-off - Star Trek Voyager).

One of the better shows this season.
The one big nit I noticed was CSM getting back to the wharf so fast.
And what happened to the microchip-alien connection? Maybe it is a great cure-all, but doesn't it catalogue you for the alien Big Brothers?

Great line: (in response to the super saying they liked having an FBI agent in the building)
Mulder: Do you know how many people have been killed in there?

My take on CSM throwing the CD away--
I think he did have this big crush on Scully and involving her in the pick up was his way to see if she would show any sign of ever returning his affections. So when she didn't warm up to him, life was not worth living. But... it is really hard to believe anything the CSM does or says.

And what was the purpose of the brain surgery? It didn't seem to benefit him any. Or was he supposed to be reading Scully's mind?

I agree, DonnaL, that was a great line, but how many people have actually been killed in her apartment? I can't think of anyone who was actually killed in her apartment. I think a better line would have been something like "do you know how many intruders have been in there?" As a resident in that building, I wouldn't feel too safe with all the comings and goings of pyschos.

She shot Donnie Pfaster in her apartment.

Wasn't Melissa shot in her apartment?

DonnaL: actually, this whole thing clears something up for me. Scully had one chip in the back of her head, removed it, and gained cancer. Let's call this Alienchip. All those MUFO women also had Alienchip, and when they removed them, they all got cancer and died.

Cancerman gave Mulder access to a second kind of chip, Elderchip. Elderchip seems to be based on similar technology, but it is at the very least a cure for Scully's cancer.

Alienchip tracks your movements for the we-were-just-kidding-not-really-invading-after-all aliens. Lord knows what evil the Elderchip does.

Man, typing this out I see fifteen different holes in that logic. I leave it them as an exercise for the reader. Starting with, "If the Elders could create the chip, what did Cancerman need with the disk?" (A. The Elders are no more.)

::Cancerman gave Mulder access to a second kind of chip, Elderchip. Elderchip seems to be based on similar technology, but it is at the very least a cure for Scully's cancer. Alienchip tracks your movements for the we-were-just-kidding-not-really-invading-after-all aliens. Lord knows what evil the Elderchip does. . .
If the Elders could create the chip, what did Cancerman need with the disk? (A. The Elders are no more.):: MarkMorgan

Actually, I see no need to hypothesize the existence of a 2nd "Elderchip." The use of the chip in this episode is entirely consistant with the use in the previous eps (I think!) - i.e. if it's in your neck you don't die of cancer. Presumedly, the chip CSM used on the kid has the will-we-ever-see-them-again-alien-tracking device in it as well.

As to why CSM needed the disk- as far as we know, the chip only stops CANCER- not the brain inflamation that CSM was suffering from.

Also, think of the expense account that Spender has! He can rent an office building, staff it, and then leave it after he throws away the disk!..Nice money.

After trying to read the disk (for about
a minute, sheesh :), the hacker got a "Volume
is mpty message. Personaly, I would've done
a manual sector by sector scan before giving up,
knowing the possibility that the disk could
be corrupt, erased, or formatted for a
different OS. (the latter would normaly produce
an error message though).

After trying to read the disk (for about
a minute, sheesh :), the hacker got a "Volume
is mpty message. Personaly, I would've done
a manual sector by sector scan before giving up,
knowing the possibility that the disk could
be corrupt, erased, or formatted for a
different OS. (the latter would normaly produce
an error message though).

I've just seen this and I'm still flabbergasted by the Scully cleavage shots - why did director Rob Bowman feel it necessary to flaunt them so much?

Presumably the boy's parents know that he's cured because he's been to a doctor and gone through lots of tests. So is that doctor in cahoots with CSM's lot? Otherwise why wouldn't s/he have noticed the chip in the boy's neck?

I found it strange that the parents left the boy downstairs alone overnight. Even if all the protesters had gone home, it wouldn't have taken much for some to sneak back and try to abduct him.

I wonder if William B Davis deliberately wrote in the cleavage shots or whether that was the director's decision?!

I too kept waiting for some further explanation of how CSM got Scully out of her clothes without her noticing. She seemed to accept his explanation far too easily - surely you'd need to be much more than just tired and delirious in order not to notice!

len: My take on it is that he used it to cure himself.
That's what I thought happened too but, and I'm sure I'm the last to know this, he didn't use it at all.

So that surgery to remove part of Mulder's brain and put it in CSM's didn't work and is killing him? Tough luck pal. This religious family will let their son undergo medical tests to find out exactly what's wrong but not actually get treated? That doesn't make sense. Should doctors not be involved at all?