The word "Avatar" has undergone some pop-culture upgrades since this episode aired 20+ years ago: These days it can refer to your online presence, last airbenders or the extremely profitable movie about skinny blue aliens. We’ll have to see in what context The X-Files uses it. Whoever arranged series' air dates was pretty shrewd, you can’t follow "Jose Chung’s From Outer Space" with just your run-of-the-mill story, so we get to enjoy a Skinner ep. Of course, Walter isn’t going to be that entertained. His wife of 17 years is divorcing him, but he’s not quite ready to sign the papers. (Does that make this an episode of The Ex-Files?) Instead, he goes to a bar and hooks up with Amanda Tapping, soon to be famous for all things Stargate. Afterward Skinner has a nightmare about an old lady. He wakes to a living nightmare because his transitional person is dead in his hotel bed.
Fox meets with the local detective investigating the homicide. Walter, who claims to be suffering from memory loss, leaves with the police. Mulder ignores Skinner's suggestion that he not get involved. Scully goes to the coroner’s office and concurs with the official report of the cause of death. Fox learns the victim, Carina Sayles, was a former legal secretary who moonlighted as a prostitute. When Dana turns off the light to leave, she observes glow-in-the-dark residue around Carina’s mouth and nose. Sculder interview her employer, madam Lorraine Kelleher, who claims Walter hired Carina for the night. Scully’s ready to write him off, but Mulder -- of course -- intends to dig deeper. Skinner gets released but won't tell Sculder why he refuses to take a polygraph to prove his innocence. But he is clearly surprised to learn Carina was a lady of the evening. Walter then sees the old woman on the police station steps wearing a red coat and hood. He runs to her, but finds his soon-to-be ex-wife Sharon instead.
Skinner walks away and Sharon admits to Sculder they’ve been separated for eight months. Fox says he doesn’t think Walter committed murder. The agents get called back to their office and meet with Agent Bonnecaze, who is in charge of Walter's FBI inquest. He tells Sculder to cease and desist their investigation. Mulder is suspicious. Yes, really. Dana learns Skinner has been receiving treatment at a sleep disorder clinic because of his recurring dream about the old woman. She thinks Walter may have accidentally killed Carina in his sleep thinking he was defending himself from the old lady. Mulder jumps on board with this theory and goes one step further, he thinks a succubus has targeted Skinner. Scully finally gets around to telling Fox about the residue around the victim’s mouth and nose, but by the time she takes Mulder back to the body, it’s gone. Of course, the sample she sent to the lab no longer exists. You dropped the ball on that one, Dana.
Sharon visits Skinner at his “new” apartment and tries to talk to him, but he still won’t open up to her. Maybe he thinks of her as the succubus, they do wear the same red coat. The wedding picture of the Skinners taken 17 years earlier actually looks like an authentic photo, not one of those fake, hastily assembled shots. Walter falls asleep, but abruptly wakes to the old lady’s shrieks. Police arrive because Sharon was run off the road. Of course, they think Skinner's involved. Fox updates Walter about Sharon’s condition and Skinner’s frustration is apparent. What doesn’t make sense is why he wouldn't go to Mulder about what was happening to him. If anyone is an expert on investigating the unknown, then it’s Fox. Walter admits the first time he saw the old woman was when he almost died while serving in Vietnam, but he thought she was a hallucination. Cancer Man quietly watches Skinner confide in Mulder. Sculder look at Skinner’s car and the damage is consistent with the vehicle who hit Sharon’s car. But Mulder goes one step further and removes the air bag. The lab starts analyzing the bag to recreate the face that hit it.
Scully attends Walter's professional conduct hearing, and even though they initially wait for Mulder, the panel chooses to start without him. Dana dodges the question of whether she believes in paranormal phenomena and hides behind science. Seriously, after three years and all of these cases, she still can’t admit when she sees something inexplicable? Agent Bonnecaze cuts off Scully and dismisses her. Mulder finally arrives and learns Skinner was fired. He thinks this is an elaborate plot to weaken the X-Files unit. Fox shows Dana the pixelated photo of the man who face-planted in the airbag. Mulder does bring up a good point, someone did just try to kill Skinner very recently (S3E15: Piper Maru). Sculder learn the madam is dead. They use Lorraine's former employee Judy Fairly to set up a meeting with the man who hired Carina. Too bad he and his partner are watching them make the call.
Walter finally opens up to Sharon in the hospital. Too bad she’s still unconscious. Skinner sees the old lady in the bed instead of his wife and takes her hand. She talks through Sharon so Walter can understand her. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the bad guy overpowers Scully and tries to shoot Judy, but Skinner arrives and kills his tormenter. Guess we know what the old woman told him. The next morning, Dana gives their report to the reinstated Assistant Director, but lets him know they haven’t identified the killer. Walter doubts they ever will. Mulder wants to know -- off the record -- how Skinner knew to go to the hotel, but he still won’t spill the beans. At least Sculder get a thank you. After they leave his office Walter takes his wedding band out of his drawer and puts it back on, which actually mars the ep a teeny bit. Since the agents claimed to not even know Skinner was married, if Walter ever wore his ring in the office, then Sculder need to work on their observational skills. And I’m still not sure how the title "Avatar" relates to the episode.
Sestra Professional:
The one-night stand sure showed us where the "Skin" in Skinner's name comes from. At this point in the series, we didn't have an incredible amount of insight into Walter's character. This episode might not be one of the ones X-Philes return to time and again, but it gives Mitch Pileggi an opportunity to do a lot more than reflect upon the whereabouts of his agents.
It's a nifty plot device too -- a dalliance spun through the world of the supernatural and expounding upon Skinner's history as a veteran. Sculder's concern for their boss reminds us that he's someone to be rooted for and not some faceless bureaucrat trying to deter them from their work seemingly at every turn.David Duchovny and Howard Gordon worked up this story, and I give much credit to our lead actor for wanting to bring Skinner -- and Pileggi, in turn -- to the forefront. It's a move that gives viewers a whole other look at the landscape. Giving Walter some humanity ensures we don't always have to take everything Mulder and Scully say and do as 100 percent in the right. They can survive their mistakes with him around.
But Duchovny admitted in the official third-season episode guide that his motives weren't completely altruistic. "Actually, I conceived the idea trying to give myself a break. ... As it turned out, It was a very heavy episode for me. ... It was nice for Mitch, and I think he deserved a nice episode after two years. He did a great job."
Truth is, we don't know very much about him: But I think we should open an X-File on why Dana changed her opinion a couple times over the course of the same conversation with Fox. She started with "It just doesn't seem like him," segued to "I think the lack of discretion is the least of his sins" and capped off with the ol' dead-prostitute-in-his-bed evidence.The trouble with the episode -- in addition to the non-explanation of title "Avatar" -- is that it gets a little convoluted while trying to cover a lot of ground between the prostitute, the succubus, the wife, a madam, another hooker and the party ultimately responsible for the frame job. We do ultimately discover Skinner's old lady -- the phantom, not the wife -- is a good succubus, but her methods leave a little something to be desired. Not until late in the game does she actually pass on information in a more direct manner. (By the way, according to the official third-season episode guide, "Avatar" is Sanskrit for "descent to Earth of a deity in human or animal form.")
He's doing everything he shouldn't be doing: While the agents indeed should get taken down a peg for not realizing their boss was married, I do understand why Walter might not have confided in Mulder about his visitations. First of all, he never really is positive he's seen what he thinks he's seen, and secondly, because he's sketched out as a veteran so affected by what he's seen and done that he never even told his own wife any of the gory details.
Thank goodness we have Fox around to take certain leaps. Dana delivers news on their boss' REM sleep disorder -- I'm not so sure she should have been able to get that information from his doctor -- and Mulder immediately goes right to succubus determined to wipe out any woman competing for his affection. Wouldn't Sharon have been a goner long before now if that was the case? I guess there were no other supernatural options, like the ghost of someone he may have accidentally killed in the service of his country, for example. I can get behind Scully seeing something that Mulder doesn't get to, although she perhaps should have gotten photographic evidence of the glowing around the mouth. Dropped the ball indeed. Speaking of convoluted, what exactly did that have to do with the outcome of the episode?
I was a dead man: I can't give Pileggi "Guest Star of the Week" kudos, since he's a regular, but he does get a chance to flex his acting muscles beyond tightening his jaw line. His scenes with David Duchovny and Walter's comatose wife (Jennifer Hetrick) deliver exactly what X-Philes need from the assistant director at this point in the series. Doesn't matter how perplexing this particular episode turns out to be, we're now invested in him and eager to see shows that give him to more to do.Writer/producer Vince Gilligan explained it best in The Complete X-Files. "Skinner was meant to be a bad guy, and yet Mitch is such such a good actor they thought to themselves, 'Let's not take this character in the direction we thought we were going to take him in."
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