Cigarette Smoking Man: Men can never be free… because they are weak, corrupt, worthless and restless. The people believe in authority. They’ve grown tired of waiting for miracle and mystery. Science is their religion. No greater explanation exists for them.

Written by: Chris Carter

Directed by: R.W. Goodwin

Original Air Date: May 17th, 1996

Principal Setting: Washington D.C, Quonochontaug, Rhode Island, and Arlington, Virginia

Episode Summary:

The agents hear of a shooting that has occurred in a fast food restaurant, although when they arrive everyone involved has been healed by a mysterious man. The man placed his hand over all the wounds of the victims who were shot and miraculously healed them. He also has the ability to change his appearance at will and Scully discovers there are duplicates of him all across the US.

Meanwhile the Cigarette Smoking Man is up to his usual shenanigans as he desperately wants to track down the shape shifting man and also wants something from Mulder’s mother that she doesn’t want to give him. We discover that CSM has known her since Mulder was born and hint on them even having an affair together. After their encounter, Mulder finds out his mother has suffered a stroke. It turns out that CSM is not the only one looking to kill the shape shifting man as the alien bounty hunter makes a reappearance.

Personal Commentary:

This episode isn’t quite as good as a myth arc finale as last season, but it still opens up a new chapter of the shape shifting hybrids that was hinted at in the beginning of the Season 3. The dialogue has a very Chris Carter vibe, especially when the CSM is talking with the capture shape shifting man. When you hear deep, cryptic dialogue like, “We appease their conscience. Anyone who can appease a man’s conscience can take his freedom away from him”, you know it came from the mind of Chris Carter. This episode makes you beg the question, is the CSM Mulder’s biological father? (gross!). Also, a very good fight scene between Mulder and Mr. X is a big highlight of action in an otherwise slow paced, dialogue heavy episode.

Overall a pretty great myth arc episode with a cliffhanger begging you to watch the next episode. Thank goodness we don’t have to wait months to find out what happens next.

Episode Grade: B

Favorite Scene:

Fun Facts:

• Talitha is an uncommon feminine name meaning “little girl” in Aramaic, given in reference to the Biblical story in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus Christ was said to have resurrected a dead child with the words “Talitha cumi” or “Talitha kum” or “Talitha koum,” meaning “Little girl, I say to you, arise!
• The reference to the Cigarette Smoking Man water-skiing is an inside joke, since William B. Davis is a champion water-skier.

Faces You May Recognize:

Not really any stand out actors that are recognizable outside the regulars.

Scully: I was so sure, Mulder. I saw things and I heard things, and… it was just like the world was turned upside-down. Everybody was out to get me.

Mulder: Now you know how I feel most of the time.

Written by: Mat Beck

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: May 10th, 1996

Principal Setting: Braddock Heights, Maryland and Washington D.C.

Episode Summary:

A series of bizarre murders committed by a man who thinks he sees Lladoslav Mirikovic, the violent Bosnian leader, on all the faces he sees. Mulder and Scully conclude that several people in the quiet neighborhood have been affected somehow and Mulder hypothesizes that the TV signals are being altered with subliminal messaging in some way. He discovers a device in the cable connections after seeing a suspicious cable man working on a cable box. The Lone Gunman confirm that there is additional information being transmitted along with the normal TV broadcast. He concludes that the signal creates a paranoia that preys on their deepest fears.

Meanwhile, Scully is watching all the tapes of the murderer unknowingly being brainwashed as well, creating a paranoia that Mulder is in cahoots with the Cigarette Smoking Man as she sees in him in his car passing him a video tape and smiling. She quickly thinks Mulder is behind all the terrible things that have happened to her, including her sister’s murder and abduction. It’s all up to Mulder and Scully’s mother to bring her back to her logical self and bring these experiments to an end.

Personal Commentary:

The best part of this episode is seeing what would happen if Scully became like Mulder to the extreme. Seeing her paranoid, losing her usual logical reasoning, causes you to also feel paranoid that Mulder really could be involved with the conspiracy with CSM. It makes it really difficult to distinguish what is reality and what is occurring through the eyes of Scully’s paranoia since she is always the level headed one.

This one has a similar theme to the Season 2 episode “Blood”, but this one is much more interesting due to the fact that TV is a plausible way to slip through subliminal messaging and it’s always interesting when Scully acts outside her rigid, scientific personality.

Episode Grade: B

Featured Video:

Fun Facts:

• The name of the man shot in the hammock was John Gilnitz. The name is a combination of three of the staff writers (John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, and Frank Spotnitz). The name appears again in future episodes Leonard Betts, Christmas Carol, Dreamland II, and Theef.
• Scully’s motel room and the Lone Gunmen’s office were constructed within a studio sound stage.

Faces You May Recognize:

No real recognizable characters besides the regular cast.

Mulder: Why did you name your dog Queequeg?

Scully: It was the name of the harpoonist in Moby Dick. My father used to read to me from Moby Dick when I was a little girl, I called him Ahab and he called me Starbuck. So I named my dog Queequeg. It’s funny, I just realized something.

Mulder: It’s a bizarre name for a dog, huh?

Scully: No, how much you’re like Ahab. You’re so consumed by your personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or mysteries, everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.

Mulder: Scully, are you coming on to me?

Scully: It’s the truth or a white whale. What difference does it make? I mean, both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead along with everyone else you bring with you. You know Mulder, you are Ahab.

Written by: Kim Newton

Directed by: Kim Manners

Original Air Date: May 3rd, 1996

Principal Setting: Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia

Episode Summary:

Scully and Mulder take on a case in Georgia when there are reports of people disappearing around a local lake. Scully isn’t sure why Mulder thinks this is an X-file case until she see’s a highway sign of the town’s version of the Loch Ness monster named Big Blue. The last victim was a local park ranger, but Scully thinks it’s still nonsense and not worthy of her time. The killings continue and Mulder believes there is something very real out there, whether it be Big Blue or some other creature. Scully begins to believe there is some creature in the lake when the “monster” affects her in a very personal way. Poor Queequeg.

Personal Commentary:

What I appreciated most about this episode is that we never really get to see the creature that is really killing these people until the very end. It takes the perspective of the monster a lot like what they do in Friday the 13th and Jaws. The scene on the rock is one of the best Scully and Mulder moments as she confronts Mulder on why he is so obsessed with chasing after the unknown and what it will really fulfill if he ever does find the truth. It’s a very good smoke and mirrors episode.

Episode Grade: B

Favorite Scene:

Fun Facts:

• Scully’s dog is named Queequeg after the fictional character in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by American author Herman Melville. The chief harpooner aboard the Pequod, Queequeg is the first principal character encountered by the narrator, Ishmael. This episode displays many elements in common with Moby-Dick, particularly the obsession with a large, evasive aquatic animal. Also, in the novel, Queequeq was a cannibal which explains the correlation when the dog was eating his owner in “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”.
• Scully tells Mulder she named her dog after a character in “Moby Dick”. She then starts comparing Mulder to Captain Ahab. In 2011, Gillian Anderson (Scully) plays the part of Elizabeth, the wife of Ahab in the TV presentation of “Moby Dick”.
• The name of the lake, Heuvelmans Lake, is a tribute to famed sea-monster researcher Bernard Heuvelmans.
• The quick glimpse of Big Blue in the last scene was created at the last minute by the visual effects department after a rubber version proved unconvincing.
• The scene on the rock involved roughly 10 pages of dialogue, which is a ton for a weekly TV series, according to director Kim Manners.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Chris Ellis is famous for playing in Catch Me If You Can, Armeggedon, and The Dark Knight Rises.

Scully: Business must be booming.

Mulder: I think you mean ‘banging’.

Written by: David Duchovny & Howard Gordon

Directed by: James Charleston

Original Air Date: April 26th, 1996

Principal Setting: Washington, D.C.

Episode Summary:

With his marriage falling apart and his wife wanting him to sign divorce papers, a depressed Walter Skinner meets an attractive blonde woman, Carina Sayles, at a hotel bar and decides to sleep with her. He has a night terror that in the throes of passion and sees an image of an older woman. He immediately wakes up and finds Carina lying dead with a broken neck.

Scully and Mulder do a separate investigation from the FBI to attempt to clear their boss’ name, but the problem is Skinner isn’t sure he didn’t kill the woman and avoids their questioning. When they learn that their boss has been having nightmares, Mulder theorizes Skinner is being harrassed by a succubus, a legendary old woman who takes the soul out of a man. Some in the FBI move to have him be relieved of his job as Assistant Director, and it becomes apparent that someone is trying to set him up by attacking every aspect of his life.

Personal Commentary:

This was a unique episode since it’s the first to have a story centered on Skinner, as well as not really being an X-File to solve but rather a man trying to get rid of his demons – or in this case a succubus. A lot is revealed about his character as we get to meet his wife that he is struggling to hold his marriage together, learn he fought in Vietnam and the fact he is haunted by a succubus (spoiler…which turns out to be his wife’s projection) – something that is never brought up before or after this episode.

A nice, solid stand alone episode that won’t be on anyone’s top ten list, although has great character building. Skinner is still the tough around the edges man as he won’t tell Mulder the truth at the end, so maybe he really didn’t change a whole lot from this experience.

Episode Grade: B-

Favorite Scene:

No favorite scene and not really another good video to put here. All the succubus videos on You Tube were really weird and inappropriate.

Fun Facts:

• When Skinner talks about his past in Vietnam, he says he was “no choir boy; (he) inhaled.” This is a reference to Bill Clinton’s answer, when asked, that he tried marijuana once in college, but he swore he didn’t inhale.
• In Sanskrit, “avatar” means the incarnation of a deity.
• Carina Sayles was the succubus’ first victim. A “qarinah” in Arabic is a succubus. In Italian, Carina means “pretty”, thus making a double reference.
• The episode marks the first for Director James Charleston, who would become a regular director for the series.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Amanda Tapping is most famous for playing Major Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1.

Jose Chung: Still, as a storyteller, I’m fascinated how a person’s sense of consciousness can be… so transformed by nothing more magical than listening to words. Mere words.

---

Jose Chung: Then there are those who care not about extraterrestrials, searching for meaning in other human beings. Rare or lucky are those who find it. For although we may not be alone in the universe, in our own separate ways on this planet, we are all… alone.

Written by: Darin Morgan

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: April 12th, 1996

Principal Setting: Klas County, Washington

Episode Summary:

Distinguished author Jose Chung is writing a book about the claimed alien abduction of a young couple that was coincidently investigated by Mulder and Scully. With Mulder unavailable, Chung interviews Scully to get the full truth so he can write one of the first non-fiction science fiction stories. The story is that Chrissy and Harold were out on a date driving when suddenly their car turns off in the middle of nowhere. From that point on however, none of the stories of all involved align to one another and what really happened begins to be muddled depending on who the agents interview. Everything leads to several possible conclusions on whether or not the alien abduction even happened at all.

Personal Commentary:

The fun thing about this episode is that you can look at it a different way and feel different reactions every time you see it. The first time you watch it you may think “WTF” or “What the heck is going on?” (I didn’t like this episode the first time I saw it). The second time you may try to pick out the deeper meanings and attempt to figure it all out. Then the third and subsequent viewings you may just think everyone’s story is unreliable so nothing really matters and just go along for the humorous ride.

Unlike the previous Darin Morgan written episode, “War of the Coprophages”, this one has so many deep meanings and intricacies woven into the plot. The most apparent theme is everyone has their own perspectives of what they believe to be reality. Everyone in the episode has a different story whether that be due to having different views on what is real and what is fake or due to the government actually manipulating their memories.

Without giving away too much, another theme is the the government’s role in hiding the existence, or lack there of, of extraterrestrial life. Who were the Men in Black? Were they part of a secret government agency or were they actually aliens? The government cover up is a big theme of the X-Files and this episode really makes you think how far the government will go to cover up the truth about aliens or really any conspiracy theory.

I could go on and on about different themes, which makes this one so fun to talk about with someone because everyone will extrapolate something different. I really like a quote I heard from Darren Mooney analyzing this episode that sums up everything really well, “Like reality truth is ultimately unique to each individual. Perhaps we spend too much time looking up at the stars and not enough time focusing on what is right in front of us.”

If you really liked this episode I would strongly recommend listening to the two The X-Files Files podcast episodes. They unpack so much stuff I never thought about and it made me appreciate the episode even more – the one with the writer Darin Morgan is fantastic (Listen Here) and one with Dan Harmon (creator of the show Community) (Listen Here)

Episode Grade: A

Featured Videos:

Behind the Scenes:

Since this ep has an Alex Trebek cameo, here’s David Duchovny killing it on Jeopordy:

The X-Files Abridged:

Fun Facts:

• At the end of the episode, when we hear Jose Chung narrating part of his book “From Outer Space,” he refers to agent Mulder as “Renard Muldrake.” “Renard” is French for “fox.”
• Johnny Cash (the original “Man in Black”) was briefly considered for the role of the Man in Black that ultimately was portrayed by Alex Trebek.
• The alien Lord Kinbote was meant to be an homage to stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. The suited performer was filmed in a way to make the alien’s movements look a little like stop-motion.
• In the scene in the diner when Mulder is interviewing Lt. Jack Schaefer the pilot is sculpting his mashed potatoes into a flat topped hill shape. This is a reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), a film about alien abductions.
• Mulder spends one scene in a diner eating more than his fair share of pie. This is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the character FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) from David Duchovny’s previous “spooky” series, Twin Peaks (1990). Cooper went to the quiet mountain town to solve the death of Laura Palmer and had a taste for pie. Duchovny guest-starred on that as a cross-dressing DEA agent.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Not only has Jesse Ventura been mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, he has also played in Schwarzenegger action films Predator and The Running Man. He started as WCW wrestler Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura.

• The other Man in Black you’ll recognize is Alex Trebek, Jeopardy’s host for 31 years.

Mulder: What about the guard seeing three figures that seemed to vanish without a trace?

Scully: So now we’re chasing ghosts?

Mulder: Who you gonna call? Ghosts or ancestral spirits have been central to Chinese spiritual life for centuries.

Scully: So you’re saying that the ancestral spirits pushed Johnny Lo into the oven and turned on the gas?

Mulder: Well that would sure teach him to respect his elders, wouldn’t it?

Written by: Jeffrey Vlaming

Directed by: Tucker Gates

Original Air Date: March 29th, 1996

Principal Setting: San Francisco, California (Chinatown)

Episode Summary:

Scully and Mulder investigate a murder in San Francisco Chinatown of a man who was burned alive in a funeral parlor crematorium. After Scully’s autopsy she notices he was missing several vital organs including an eye and kidney. She automatically assumes that the man was selling his organs for the highest bidder.

The agents work alongside a local Chinese speaking detective, Glen Chao, and receive a lead when they find tiles of hell money, fake currency that is used as a symbolic offering, at a Chinese man’s apartment. His daughter is sick and he desperately needs the money to pay for the medical bills. It all leads to a deadly game among newly arrived immigrants in need of money, but the game odds are high ending up offering little in return than the taking of bodily organs and sometimes death.

Personal Commentary:

This episode was kind of “meh” for me. It was intriguing to learn that Hell Money is actually a real under ground game that is played in Asian countries and people will risk losing bodily organs for a chance to win money that has almost the same odds as the lottery is crazy to me. Nothing really stood out to keep the case intriguing, and it’s a back to back episode where Scully and Mulder are kind of along for the ride to solve the crime.

I liked BD Wong’s portrayal of the cop, but it would have been better if he was actually telling Mulder and Scully the truth of not being involved in the Hell Money game. He could have been a more redeeming character, however he had to fall under the stereotype of yet another crooked cop that let’s the bad guy go free at the end.

The men in masks added a little eeriness to the episode to make it more enjoyable. I wish it would have gone into the purpose and history of those guys more, but can’t explain everything in 45 minutes I guess.

Episode Grade: C-

Featured Video:

Fun Facts:

• The scene where a frog bursts out of a cadaver’s chest was created by using molds to create a fake human torso that was then placed over an actor.
• The vases and tiles used were created entirely by the production department.
• Dialog for Michael Yama (Hsin) and Lucy Liu had to be dubbed over in post production since Yama spoke Japanese and Liu spoke Mandarin while filming. To speak the Cantonese the script called for, each actor worked with a vocal coach until it sounded right.

Faces You May Recognize:

• BD Wong is famous for playing in Law & Order: SVU and Dr. Henry Wu in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World.

• The young daughter played by Lucy Liu is famous for playing in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Lucky Number Sleven, Charlies Angels, and the CBS hit TV show Elementary.

• James Hong has played in countless movies and TV shows, most famously playing Hannibal Chew in Blade Runner, David Lo Pan in Big Trouble in Little China, and Mr. Ping in the animated Kung Fu Panda.

Mulder: Modell psyched the guy out. He put the whammy on him.

Scully: Please explain to me the scientific nature of the “whammy.”

Mulder: I don’t know, maybe, maybe it’s some mental aspect of some eastern martial art. You know, the temporary suppression of the brain’s chemistry, produced by a specific timbre or cadence in Modell’s voice. His voice seems to be the key.

Written by: Vince Gilligan

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: February 23rd, 1996

Principal Setting: Loudoun County, Virginia

Episode Summary:

Scully and Mulder take on a case of a series of deaths that all appear to be ruled suicides. In all these supposed suicides a man named Robert Patrick Motell is present, and the police finally apprehend him. Although when they transfer him to the station, the car Motell is in crashes into a semi truck as if the driver was willed to crash into it. Mulder comes to believe that Modell has a special ability to convince people to commit suicide by hypnotizing them with his voice. It turns out Modell wants to be caught. The chase and his gift is the only thing keeping him alive and bringing him significance. It all comes down to a dangerous battle of wits between Modell and Mulder.

Personal Commentary:

Robert Wisden casting is perfect as he plays a crazy Modell willing his victims to kill themselves. The reason on how and why he has this ability is a bit of a stretch, but his captivating character pulls you in and makes you forget about the implausibilities. Mulder follows his bread crumbs perfectly, and it seems Modell has found his match, which causes him to be even more obsessed with Mulder.

There are also some great Shipper moments as you see the concern on Scully’s face as Mulder walks into Modell’s game and the quick intimate handhold at the climax.

Overall, one of the better stand alone episodes of the series mainly due to Wisden’s performance and the thrilling Russian roulette end scene in the hospital.

Episode Grade: B+

Favorite Scene:

The Russian roulette scene is so tense and one of the best stand alone scenes in the entire series. This is the only video I could find so apologize for the bad framing.

Fun Facts:

• At 35:56, a close-up of the dead technician on the video feed shows it’s the actor Doug Hutchison, who played the ever-sinister Eugene Victor Tooms.
• In the teaser, Pusher looks amused at a magazine discussing Flukeman, the monster of episode “The Host”, of second season, with a drawing of it on the cover page.
• Dave Grohl, the leader of Foo Fighters and ex drummer of Nirvana, makes a cameo in this episode. He appears behind Modell when he is walking to the metal detectors in the FBI headquarters.
• At one point during the episode, Mulder and Scully identify a phone number the Pusher had called to be a golf driving range and pro-shop, to which Scully quips, “So he’s a killer and a golfer”, to which Mulder replies, “Rings a bell, huh?”. This is a non-too-subtle reference to O.J. Simpson, alleged murderer and avid golfer.

Faces You May Recognize:

• You may not recognize Robert Wisden if you’re not a sci-fan fan. His main roles have been playing Major Bert Samuels in Stargate SG-1, as well as playing Richard Nixon in Watchmen. He reminds me of a young Jack Nicholson with some of the mannerisms he makes.

• Roger R. Cross makes another appearance in an episode where he takes on a bigger role as the swat lieutenant. He is famous for playing in X-Men 2 and 24.

Scully: I think the dead are speaking to us, Mulder, demanding justice. Maybe that man was right. Maybe we bury the dead alive.

Written by: Frank Spotnitz & Chris Carter

Directed by: Kim Manners

Original Air Date: February 16th, 1996

Principal Setting: Washington, D.C and Black Crow, North Dakota

Episode Summary:

With AD Skinner in the hospital recovering after being shot in the stomach by one of the Syndicate hit men, Scully and Mulder various leads to track down the shooter. Scully meets with a retired naval officer, a friend of her father in the Navy, and learns that this isn’t the first outbreak of men suffering radiation burns while investigating that area of the ocean. She begins to fear for Skinner’s life as he is transferred to another hospital for no reason.

Meanwhile, Mulder discovers the location of the UFO in North Dakota, an abandoned missile silo site, although the Cigarette Smoking Man stops them after they search only one of the many empty silos. While Mulder pursues the leads on the UFO to no avail, Scully continues to investigate her sister’s murder and learns that the gun to her was the same that was used to shoot Skinner. The climax of this fantastic two-parter concludes at the silo where we learn the purpose for Krycek and the black oilean.

Personal Commentary:

I really appreciated that this is not just a great beginning of a fantastic myth arc, but more of Scully’s struggle to find the truth about her sister’s murder. Scully gets closure in bringing her sister’s killer to justice, but Mulder is only met with another closed door by the Syndicate. We learn more of the intentions they have for Krycek, which concludes with a very tragic fate for him that brings you pity, even after all the atrocities he has committed.

This is a very meaningful character driven conclusion that strengthens the fatherly/boss relationship of Skinner and the agents, as well as closes Scully’s search for her sister’s killer, although at the same time opening up a whole new can of worms of discovering the Syndicate’s purpose for the black oil.

Episode Grade: A-

Favorite Scene:

I love seeing the passion in this scene as Scully chases down her sister’s killer.

Fun Facts:

• Nicholas Lea was fitted with a mask with tubes for the scene where the alien black oil leaves his body. Lea said filming the scene was horrible, and the scene ended up having to be filmed again a few days later.
• “Foo fighters” is the name given to UFO’s observed by US Navy and US Air Corps pilots/air crew during WWII. The band The Foo Fighters named their band from these UFO’s.
• The effect of the black oil in the eyes was created by an oily substance being applied to water, then the footage was digitally inserted into shots.

Faces You May Recognize:

The usual suspects of characters in myth arc episodes that we’ve seen before – Krycek, Well-Manicured Man, and the Cigarette Smoking Man.

Scully: I’m just constantly amazed by you… you’re working down here in the basement, sifting through files and transmissions that any other agent would just throw away in the garbage.

Mulder: Well that’s why I’m in the basement, Scully.

Scully: You’re in the basement because they’re afraid of you, of your relentlessness and because they know that they could drop you in the middle of the desert, and tell you the truth is out there, and you’d ask them for a shovel!

Mulder: Is that what you think of me?

Scully: Well, maybe not a shovel. Maybe a backhoe.

Written by: Frank Spotnitz & Chris Carter

Directed by: Rob Bowman

Original Air Date: February 9th, 1996

Principal Setting: San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Washington, D.C.; Hong Kong

Episode Summary:

Scully and Mulder investigate a strange case of a French salvage ship crew who discover a crashed “plane” on the bottom of the ocean, and all but one of the crew who came in contact with the aircraft has suffered severe radiation burns. The diver also has a weird black oil fill his eyes as he gets back on this ship. It sparks Mulder’s interest as the ship was working at the coordinates of the location he believes is the site of a crashed UFO.

After they interview the sole survivor on the ship, he leads Mulder to Hong Kong where he has a nice meet and greet with Krycek, who he believes murdered his father. The black oil entity (or I like to call it “oilean”) is transferring itself from one person to the next to take control to do its bidding.

Meanwhile, Scully is upset that the police have shut down the investigation of her sister’s murder. AD Skinner assures her it’s due to lack of evidence and leads, but she begins to believe someone is covering up the evidence and doesn’t want to find the killer. Skinner keeps her hopes up telling her he will pursue but is strongly warned off by the representatives of the Syndicate.

Personal Commentary:

This is the beginning of the black oil that is weaved throughout the rest of the myth arc story line. If you’re unaware of the oilean, you may just think this is a monster-of-the-week episode, but when we see Krycek we know it’s a new chapter in the mythology.

I like that Scully has her own journey to find the truth about her sister’s murder and she somewhat switches roles to take action, as Mulder is the one investigating the facts to learn more about the radiation burned victims. Overall, a great start of another myth arc chapter that only gets better in the second half.

Episode Grade: B+

Featured Video:

Fun Facts:

• The flashback to the mutiny on the submarine features an uncredited (and very young) Michael Buble. I had to re-watch the black and white scene again to believe it, but he’s really there.

• The is the first episode featuring the Black Oil.
• “Piper Maru”, is named for Gillian Anderson’s daughter Piper Anderson.

• According to the coordinates given in the very beginning, the opening scene takes place about 600 miles north of Hawaii.
• The teaser was filmed in a water tank using a replica P-51 Mustang plane designed by the art director.

Faces You May Recognize:

• Who would of thought Michael Buble would be in an X-Files episode? He plays one of the submarine sailors, and if you’re not looking for him you’ll miss it.