This episode marks the re-disappearance of Mulder after David Duchovny decided to take his toys and go home. It's also the point when I began warming up to the Doggett and Reyes characters.
You see, originally John Doggett was written as a hard-nosed, old school cop who doesn't buy any of the supernatural theories of his predecessor, Mulder. That concept clashed in a big way with Scully's original character foundation, and most of the episodes featuring these two entailed a lot of unnecessary exposition and backtracking. (I swear, if I hear one more Scully monologue about an alien virus that attacked her body, I'm going to vomit.) Reyes seemed to be a fluffy, spineless, "Sensitive" that only managed to get in the way up to this point.
BUT....With Mulder out of the way, and Scully's baby in jeopardy, Doggett and Reyes are left with no choice but to be pro-active and face the impending dangers on their own. They're actually given breathing room to flesh out their characters instincts better.
Trust me. I'm a die-hard fan of the X-Files, and initially, I felt that the latter two seasons were totally useless. However, after seeing these installments over and over again in reruns, they've found a soft spot in my heart. I almost wished that Doggett and Reyes had their own spin-off show, instead of the X-Files producers running this series aground.
It's definitely worth a look.
You see, originally John Doggett was written as a hard-nosed, old school cop who doesn't buy any of the supernatural theories of his predecessor, Mulder. That concept clashed in a big way with Scully's original character foundation, and most of the episodes featuring these two entailed a lot of unnecessary exposition and backtracking. (I swear, if I hear one more Scully monologue about an alien virus that attacked her body, I'm going to vomit.) Reyes seemed to be a fluffy, spineless, "Sensitive" that only managed to get in the way up to this point.
BUT....With Mulder out of the way, and Scully's baby in jeopardy, Doggett and Reyes are left with no choice but to be pro-active and face the impending dangers on their own. They're actually given breathing room to flesh out their characters instincts better.
Trust me. I'm a die-hard fan of the X-Files, and initially, I felt that the latter two seasons were totally useless. However, after seeing these installments over and over again in reruns, they've found a soft spot in my heart. I almost wished that Doggett and Reyes had their own spin-off show, instead of the X-Files producers running this series aground.
It's definitely worth a look.