This episode was a very solid standalone episode which will be remembered best for its disturbing imagery. Right off the bat, the opening scene has you pretty creep-ed out. It's a standard episodic hook, but a well executed one. From there, the plot and a lot of the twists are pretty standard, but the visual storytelling and the characters are so compelling here that you get wrapped up in it and forget to critique it. Some of the shots from this episode won't be leaving me soon. Especially the final shots of the second last scene. Real nightmare fuel. The ending to this final sequence cut off in a way that felt slightly anti- climatic, but it was used for a good moment of humour.
The only really weak link in the episode is the scene that explains some of what happened between Mulder and Scully in the time gap. What should have been a heart-wrenching story left me grinding my teeth in disappointment at how stale it seemed. The actors also didn't seem to really be in it. I just wish it had been executed a little better, since it is such blatant foreshadowing to a twist in future mythology episodes. In the end, it's just one scene that felt a little out of whack in an otherwise masterfully balanced episode. Written and directed by X-files alumni James Wong, this is in my opinion better than "My Struggle", an excellent episode.
