If the previous episode of this show proved anything, it's that this show is at its best when Mulder and Scully are together. While the previous episode had a lot of shortcomings, many of which can be summed down to lackluster writing, the main reason is that it was solely dependent on David Duchovny to lead the show. He has been leading it for the majority of the season, but Scully has always had some kind of importance to his actions. I actually didn't know when she was going to come back and if we were going to spend multiple episodes only with Mulder doing things the two of them should be doing together. However, the writers must have had the same thoughts as I did because they didn't waste any time getting the character back into the action. This episode went into production a few days after Anderson had given birth to her daughter, so most of it is still spent from the perspective of Mulder while we see Scully hanging on to life from a coma. It was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong - arguably the two best writers the show has - and is another great addition to the "X-Files" mythology. This show is a perfect example of how to take an unforeseen situation and turn it into something that actually works for your show as the relationship and co-dependency of Mulder and Scully has been perfectly explored in these last few episodes, providing some seriously great and very emotional television hours.
The dynamic between the two has really been missed, and while they don't get a lot of time to spar with each other in this, the writers introduce a new character in the form of Scully's sister who gets a few opportunities to have those scenes with Mulder, almost as if filling a void that was left behind after Scully left and waiting for her to come back. It was great to see that on screen, even if it didn't come from the source we were expecting, it was a nice way of telling us what we have been missing.
The episode is a very interesting exploration of life and death. Most of the episode has Scully in a limbo between the two, and the episode itself starts out with a beautiful story about Scully as a child first discovering what death is. This show has always been great for providing visual storytelling over the easy exposition dumbs and this episode really goes a step further, providing us with some of the show's most beautiful visuals so far and a very haunting depiction of the state between life and death, filled with sorrow, yet also a lot of hope.
There's no doubt that the mythology of this show is one of the most interesting, yet also one of the hardest to follow. This episode potentially revealed a lot of things about the people that Mulder and Scully work for. The conspiracy is getting deeper and deeper and that is arguably what we really like to see, but it's also getting to a very dangerous territory. If any show is able to keep it interesting, it's this; but I could get a little scared for the show's inevitable time to make everything clear, which isn't exactly looking like it's possible currently.
We've also seen Duchovny get a lot of chances to shine in these last few episodes, and he has been the shining light of the season, even in episodes that weren't all that good. He gives his best performance to date in this episode, beautifully portraying a man on the brink of doing something he'll regret in order to protect the person he cares the most about. It's a beautiful performance and it's placed so well against Anderson who, still in her limited screen time, manages to give an emotional high in a moment that we all waited for.
"One Breath" is another instant classic episode that features some of the show's most emotional highs up to this point and phenomenal lead performances. There's a lot of mythology being dumped on us, but as long as it's interesting, we're willing to stick with it, so let's just hope that they'll be able to deliver on it.
The dynamic between the two has really been missed, and while they don't get a lot of time to spar with each other in this, the writers introduce a new character in the form of Scully's sister who gets a few opportunities to have those scenes with Mulder, almost as if filling a void that was left behind after Scully left and waiting for her to come back. It was great to see that on screen, even if it didn't come from the source we were expecting, it was a nice way of telling us what we have been missing.
The episode is a very interesting exploration of life and death. Most of the episode has Scully in a limbo between the two, and the episode itself starts out with a beautiful story about Scully as a child first discovering what death is. This show has always been great for providing visual storytelling over the easy exposition dumbs and this episode really goes a step further, providing us with some of the show's most beautiful visuals so far and a very haunting depiction of the state between life and death, filled with sorrow, yet also a lot of hope.
There's no doubt that the mythology of this show is one of the most interesting, yet also one of the hardest to follow. This episode potentially revealed a lot of things about the people that Mulder and Scully work for. The conspiracy is getting deeper and deeper and that is arguably what we really like to see, but it's also getting to a very dangerous territory. If any show is able to keep it interesting, it's this; but I could get a little scared for the show's inevitable time to make everything clear, which isn't exactly looking like it's possible currently.
We've also seen Duchovny get a lot of chances to shine in these last few episodes, and he has been the shining light of the season, even in episodes that weren't all that good. He gives his best performance to date in this episode, beautifully portraying a man on the brink of doing something he'll regret in order to protect the person he cares the most about. It's a beautiful performance and it's placed so well against Anderson who, still in her limited screen time, manages to give an emotional high in a moment that we all waited for.
"One Breath" is another instant classic episode that features some of the show's most emotional highs up to this point and phenomenal lead performances. There's a lot of mythology being dumped on us, but as long as it's interesting, we're willing to stick with it, so let's just hope that they'll be able to deliver on it.