Good episode. Lot's of interesting stuff. Robert Patrick's looking to make a fine character. One thing that bothered me is what exactly happened to Gibson's friend. She just seemed to vanish or something.

Is it common practice for FBI vehicles to have no license plates? Lots of the cars I saw around the school had none.

So, somebody who looks exactly like an FBI Special Agent chokes another FBI agent in a crowded room, and nobody notices until a few other people barge in and call attention to it? What, was everyone else there watching "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire"?

Dumb question of the episode: "Agent, can you breathe?" Scully asks a man lying on the ground, audibly wheezing for air.

Is it common procedure for hospital personnel to leave a patient's glasses on? Maybe so, but it just seemed odd for Gibson to be wearing them in bed.

How I know I could be an FBI agent: I could tell, one whole commercial break before Scully could, that that was a helicopter. :-)

The second time Mulder screams "Scully!"(the longer shot), his lips don't move. Okay, it could have been a ventriloquist alien bounty hunter mimicking his voice, but that's not the way I'd bet. Even on "The X-Files".

This episode was good, but not at the level of earlier seasons. I don't know; I just can't hold interest in the show very well. The dialogue is less tight than in years past, and the music seems overdone at best, annoying at worst.

Anyway, they STILL haven't explained how Gibson ended up at a school for the deaf or why he was there.

How did Gibson and his friend manage to get a couch into a hole in the ground in the middle of the desert? And who built Gibson's hideout in the first place?

I kept thinking that Doggett should've asked some agents to stay on the cliff edge and stand watch over Mulder's body. Of course, he didn't think the body would get up and walk away but there were enough agents don't you think? Oh well ...

I'm always reminded to bring lots of water when I hike in the desert ... Scully hikes back and forth without water ... wow. And she's got good sense of direction I must say ... getting back to the school at dark. Maybe it was just close by then eh.

And what was she thinking going alone searching for Mulder after Skinner takes Gibson to the hospital? Shouting his name would definitely lessen her chance 'coz kidnappers (even aliens) would probably hide and gag him eh?

Like you, Shane, I kept thinking that Scully should've known it was a chopper light immediately. I guess she is operating on emotions than logic right now.

So many agents and no one could surround the Scully-Bounty-Hunter. And they see one of their own being killed and they're slow to react? I can understand not wanting to draw their weapons in front of the kids but I really think they could've caught the Bounty Hunter if they acted faster. But probably like Scully said "are they your men?"; the agents answer to a different boss. Doggett asks them to call for help and the 2 agents are still standing by the door.

Oh boy, a ship with clones of the Bounty Hunter, no wonder he seems so indestructible.

Hmm, nice effect with the spaceship with barrier looking out to the chopper. But does the ship move to avoid objects ... I was thinking that if the chopper turned a little longer, it might have touched the shield and Scully would've found Mulder and the ship. But that would make for a very short season.

Did Mulder see Scully as we did when she was leaving on the chopper which prompted him to call out her name? Or did he just sense her proximity?

This was in the previous episode and this one - no saguaros in what's supposedly Arizona. Saguaros are everywhere in Arizona!

How did the Bounty Hunter get Scully's clothes or exact replicas of Scully's clothes when he morphed into her?

Oh yeah, speaking of Gibson's hideout, just how lucky is Scully to be standing on top of it? It had sand and probably rocks on it the first time ... and how'd that happen assuming Gibson's friend just went through?

Also, once Scully kills the bounty hunter posing as Skinner, isn't the green fluid toxic? I seem to remember from a Christmas Carol that the green fluid was toxic to humans. I was surprised that she could breathe without irritation, or were her injuries blanking out any toxicity?

I'm actually starting to like Agent Doggett; at least he has the grace to look a bit abashed that he's Scully's new 'partner'. And he's compassionate, I like that too, Scully's going to need that.

Great line: "I don't like pointing a gun at pregnant women any more than I like them pointing one at me!" --A.D. Skinner

Shirlyn Wong, I'm sure you're right about why Scully didn't recognize the chopper. The how of Mulder's dissappearence (coupled with the pregnancy?) is playing havoc with her sense of logic. She has to be a believer, of sorts, to get anything done around Dogget, and yet her logical scientific self still can't accept everything. -- The monologue was interesting in that respect. I could hear it coming much better out of Mulder's mouth, and yet that's the place Scully is in right now, forced to consider "flights of fancy" as the only way of finding her beloved partner.

My hypothesis concerning Mulder calling out Scully's name has to do with the fact that she keeps having those dreams about him. I think they are somehow linked now, whether because of Scully's implant, or her child (?!), or some other reason. So he can feel when she's nearby, and she keeps dreaming about him (as does Gibson Praise). I don't see any reason, also, why the second scream has to be vocal. If his lips aren't moving, I assume it's an internal cry. Just my $0.02.

TRUST NO ONE. This is going to be an interesting season.

Was there a way to close the door to the kids' hideout? Was there lighting in there? Scully (like an idiot) left the door open. And it was a bit contrived that she could find it . . . how dumb was this girl, to leave her bike out in the desert? Helloooo . .. .

I have to agree . . . calling a name out in the middle of the desert is a sure fire way NOT to find someone.

Aw, CC, you jerk, you made me a liar. I said last season I'd heard Doggett wouldn't be Scully's partner and here he is, assigned to the X-Files . . . grrr.

As a side note, I am predicting a whole new internet controversy over Scully's love life as of now . . . I'm expecting to see the Scully/Doggett shippers, the Scully/Mulder shippers, the no-romance-for-Scully-whatsoever people . . .

I am glad we'll get to see some good interaction between Scully and Doggett. One thing about the last two eps I haven't really liked is the whole Scully-Skinner versus Doggett-Kersh dynamic; hopefully we'll see more interaction between Scully and Doggett by themselves. I thought those scenes were some of the best in the episode.

The camera shot at the end was beautiful, the whole wraparound angle. Several of the other camera shots, bringing Scully and Doggett into and out of focus were also good.

For some reason, Scully and Skinner pointing guns at each other felt rather forced, and I got deja vu remembering - I think it was "Paper Clip"? The one where Scully, Mulder, and Skinner were all pointing guns at each other. yell at me if I got that wrong.

Kersh, as usual, is getting on my nerves.

Doggett saw a lot in this episode . . . hopefully he can retain his skepticism after all that. I gotta say though, I'm a hardcore, if recent fan of the show, and some of the stuff Scully's been saying has made me burst out laughing ... ("why does no one believe in alien abductions?" gee whiz, I dunno, Squirrell. You tell me!) I really hope they don't turn this into a rehash of the first season, with Doggett being Scully and Scully being Mulder. I want them to make it different.

Okay, gotta go. I hope this season starts getting even better!

Another sloppy, derivative episode, only enlivened by Robert Patrick's John Doggett. This guy is an interesting character that reminds me of Joel McCrea's character in "Foreign Correspondent"--a man who may not know what's what, but knows that something's up, and fights for it.

There are some easy ways to short-circuit Doggett:

*Making him change his mind way too early.
*Revealing him to be a mole.
*Either getting too nasty with Scully or too chummy with her way too early.

There are some easy ways to short-circuit Doggett:

*Making him change his mind way too early. ::MikeC

How can he NOT change his mind?? He's pretty much seen proof positive of a shapeshifting alien. Gibson Praise's telepathic ability should be documented. I'm sure h'l see a lot more soon.

Truth. But, realistically, Doggett should not be in the next two episodes, either--

(a). best of buds with Scully
(b). immediately believing in aliens and shapeshifters

In short, it's like the Mulder/Scully relationship of season one.

I still don't see how Scully pieces together the alien bounty hunter angle so quickly. And aside from "Colony/End Game", is there any real evidence that the chap was an alien bounty hunter?

At one point Doggett says, "I may not have known Mulder very well."

Is he saying that he has met Mulder at one point, and if so, when?

How did the Bounty Hunter get Scully's clothes or exact replicas of Scully's clothes when he morphed into her?

There are many times in this episode where the ABH morphs into someone and then has their clothes on. You can actually see it happen when he morphs from mulder into that teacher guy.

Poor Scully. She has to chase a girl on a bike while wearing dark clothes, in a desert, with her pumps on. No wonder she's sweaty when she finds Gibson's place.

We also see glasses dissapear as the ABH changes from Skinner to his regular appearence. I imagine that cloths should't be that difficult.

How come everyone in the room wasn't knocked out/burned by the posonous gas that is emitted when an alien's gren blood is exposed to air?

Also, what was happening in that last scene? Did we see a bunch of guys who looked like the ABH? or what? Is the implication that that ALL the rebel aliens (b/c that's what the ABH is from, right?) look like the ABH?

And why would they WANT to stretch Mulder's face? Are they investigating new face lift techniques?

They're trying to make him look like Arch Hall, Jr.

I think the ABH is from the aliens vs. the rebels.
Why wasn't everyone in the room knocked out/burned by the poisonous gas
In the episode where Mulder thought his sister came back but she ended up being a clone, after they brought her up from the lake she melted and no one was affected by that. If that isn't a satisfying explanation, maybe all of the gas that the alien let out had already been diluded into the air enough that it didn't affect them. Or maybe it only works if the alien is alive.

I agree that the ABH works for the Alien masters. But I believe it's been established (or at least implied) that he is a member of the servant race of shapeshifters who are currently rebelling against the alien masters. It appears that he is not taking partin this rebellion.

The fact that we now see a bunch of him (that IS what we see?) - is that perhaps the base state of the servant race?

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And why would they WANT to stretch Mulder's face? Are they investigating new face lift techniques?

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Just a note re: Scully and the helicopter light in this episode. I stick to my previous explanation, since we nitpickers do not deal in reality, but I thought I must also call attention to something else.

Does anyone remember the helicopter light that Mulder and Duane Barry mistake for a UFO up on Skyland Mountain ("Acension")? If that was not deliberately paralleled in this episode, I do not deserve to be a fan of the show. Nice linking touch between the two agents re: each other's abductions.

Just a question: When Scully discovers that a shape-shifting alien bounty hunter is around, trying to find gibson, she does not think of some password given to real agents. Then they would have found the ABH quickly, without the so-often-repeated scene of scully and skinner pointing guns at each other (in one of the earlier episodes, mulder and scully had a secret handshake at the end of the episode). A password would be the first thing I would be thinking of if a shapeshifter is around...