As someone who has definitely wondered why Skinner has remained the Asst. Director for over a decade, I liked that we got some of his backstory here. But I felt like this episode kind of dismissed the actual trauma of Vietnam soldiers and replaced it with a poorly presented conspiracy about weaponized gas. It was generally lacking a little.
And it always comes back to chem trails doesn't it.
An okay episode full of Skinner backstory, with Mulder and Scully once again incapacitating a suspect without ensuring that the person is fully incapacitated, which once again leads to that not-completely-incapacitated person causing further trouble that could have been avoided. It's almost becoming a meme for this season at this point. Beyond that, this one was heavy on the conspiracy stuff -- even by its own standards -- and we learn that you can fall on a spike in a deep pit, have it go through your entire torso, and get by with some rubbing alcohol and a gauze pad later on. Who knew? Heh. Oh, yeah, and there was Kersh! Who hasn't changed in the slightest in 18 years or so. Good times.
I always enjoy seeing more of Haley Joel Osment as an adult (Future Man and Alpha House being other appearances I enjoyed), though the episode wasn't that good.
Ok episode up to the point where they brought in chemtrails. That`s where it gets ridicolous.
oh gee, now I see why superintendent Chalmers is always yelling at Skinner..
Skinnerrrrrr!?
Shout by whitsbrainVIP 5BlockedParent2023-08-23T12:37:27Z
It's a Skinner origin story! And…it's really ordinary. I would have rather had the MK-NAOMI conspiracy explored than some cornball attempt to make the Skinner/Mulder/Scully relationship good again. This seems like it was written by an obsessed fan that needed all their favorite characters to get along.
Secondary characters in this episode: none