All Things

An episode written by Gillian Anderson, in which she plays herself rather than Scully, which barely features Mulder, which is about a long lost love interest we have never heard of. This isn't even an episode of the X-Files, it's just some some hospital soap opera.

This guy we are supposed to care about means nothing to us, and the writing is all over the place. It was very difficult to follow and all a bit pointless.

The Taoism/Buddhism connection was also completely out of character considering Scully's strong history of Christianity in the show. Again, it was added because Gillian Anderson was interested in it. I think it's an interesting topic and I'm sure the writers could have come up with a real plot for it but it had no place in this episode, which itself has no bearing on the wider show. Just immediately forgotten as the silliness it is. Season 7 really is where The X-Files jumped the shark repeatedly.

The one saving grace of this episode is that it's better than the comedy/musical episode that David Duchovny directs two episodes later.