Skinner: (voiceover) Every minute of every day we choose. Who we are. Who we forgive. Who we defend and protect. To choose a side or to walk the line. To play the middle. To straddle the fence between what is and what should be. This was the course I chose. Trying to find the delicate balance of interests that can never exist. Choosing by not choosing. Defending a center which cannot hold. So death chose for me.
Written by: John Shiban
Directed by: Daniel Sackheim
Original Air Date: January 17th, 1999
Principal Setting: Washington, D.C.
Episode Summary:
Skinner comes down with a mysterious condition that puts him on the verge of death. An unknown voice on the phone tells Skinner that he has 24 hours to live. Mulder and Scully rush to find a cure for his condition. His impending death is somehow linked to S.R. 819, a Senate resolution that will supply money and medical supplies to the World Health Organization.
Personal Commentary:
This episode is the third and final Skinner centered episode and it’s my favorite of the three. The opening scene finds him on a hospital bed, as his veins pulse out of his skin. First time viewers must of thought that he died since it’s so hard to see the writers get him out of this impending doom. Spoiler…he does thankfully survive and the reason he does is very interestingly linked with medical supplies and experimental nano bots. Sounds like a Transformers movie to me.
I also really liked the interaction with Skinner and Scully at the end where he regrets not helping them more and seeing his life’s purpose be for nothing. He now has a renewed sense of direction to help the agents, and not continue to hinder him with shady deals with Cigarette Smoking Man. It really displays his loyalty after these last three horrible acts on Skinner in hopes to pull him away from Mulder and Scully, he still is determined to help them from CSM and Krycek more than ever.
Episode Grade: B
Favorite Scene:
Fun Facts:
- Mitch Pileggi, who had boxed competitively in college, went for refresher courses at the Goosen Gym in Los Angeles. So he can speak German and is a boxer. This guy does it all!
- Final appearance of Senator Matheson.
- Although done in an X Files way, the main thrust of the plot is based on DOA (Dead on Arrival), a film originally made in 1950 with Edmund O’Brien, then remade less successfully in 1988 with Dennis Quaid. In both films, a man discovers he has been incurably poisoned and only has a short length of time to discover who has effectively murdered him. Sadly, as they didn’t have Scully to try to find a cure, or Skinner’s tormentor pulling the plug, they actually are DOA.
- At least you didn’t get your ear bitten off. A reference to the infamous Mike Tyson/Evander Holyfield fight, when Tyson bit off part of Holyfield’s ear. Both the nurse and the doctor treating Skinner make reference to it.
- On the last scene, when Skinner talks with Krycek inside his car, Krycek uses his left hand to shut down his device. By this time on the series, Krycek only has his right arm, since the left was amputed.
Faces You May Recognize:
Not really any actor that stands out in this one, besides maybe Kenneth Tigar as Dr. Plant.
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