Sestra Amateur:
Sorry folks, this episode has nothing to do with State Road 819 in Mount Pleasant Township, Pennsylvania, so I hope you didn’t get your hopes up. State Road was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the title.
Assistant Director Walter Skinner is dying in D. C. General Hospital. His visibly veiny body is pulsating and he flatlines while trying to tell the doctor something. She chooses to let him die. Man, I’ll bet that upset a lot of fans during the first run. But let’s go back a day to see how poor Walter got to this point.
There’s some heavy-handed narration post credits, but since it’s Skinner’s voice, I’ll allow it. Walter experiences some hallucinations while boxing in a gym. After getting knocked out, he wakes up in a hospital and take a cryptic robo-voiced phone call telling him he has 24 hours to live. Just like Dennis Quaid in D.O.A.! Maybe he’ll find a nice Meg Ryan-type to glue to his hand so they can run around town together trying to solve the mystery. Skinner has a very noticeable bruise on his ribs and assumes it’s from the boxing. It ain’t.
Later that night, Walter goes back to the office. Mulder sees something is not quite right with his former boss and calls Dr. Scully to the scene. Sculder question Skinner to determine whether he may have been poisoned and he recalls a gloved man in the FBI building asking Walter for the time. They review the surveillance footage and Dana recognizes the possible assailant as Dr. Kenneth Orgel, a well-known physicist.
Skinner and Mulder (Skinder?) visit Orgel and he tries to blow them off. They force their way inside, but get shot at by men holding the doctor hostage. Unfortunately, the kidnappers have Orgel … and diplomatic plates. Luckily, Fox catches one of the men, but whatever is killing Walter has progressed to the blue veiny stage. Mulder drags the kidnapper back to Skinner, who learns the man is Tunisian attaché Alexander Lazreg. He has diplomatic papers.
Meanwhile, Scully obtains Walter’s untested blood samples from Dr. Plant and notices something is off. Turns out there is pure carbon in Skinner’s blood, and something unidentifiable is multiplying. Fox combs through Orgel’s files trying to find something, anything. He sees a recent picture of the doctor with Senator Richard Matheson. Long time, no see, Senator -- specifically Season 3, Episode 9 ("Nisei"). Turns out, S.R. 819 is a Senate Resolution funding bill for the World Health Organization. Matheson explains this to Mulder, then promptly throws him out of his mansion. Our tax dollars at work…
Skinner enters the Embassy Row garage and finds the car which took Orgel. Lazreg is there, decides 24 hours is too long for Walter to live and shoots at him. He misses. A weakened Skinner goes after the Tunisian, who gets mowed down by an unknown driver/hero/murderer. (Sestra Pro knows who it is.) Dana continues analyzing Walter’s blood and realizes the carbon is creating a matrix that eventually will cause a heart attack. They learn Skinner is being taken to D.C. General, where surgeons are about to amputate his arms due to the “extreme vascular event." Scully and Plant (Scant?) arrive in time to prevent the surgery.
Fox tears apart Walter's office trying to find information on S.R. 819, which he does, in plain sight, on his secretary’s desk. Turns out, the fate of the bill depends on the results of Skinner’s security check review and Dr. Orgel’s analysis. Mulder thinks Orgel intended to tell Skinner there was a violation of export laws involving new technology, which means the doctor didn’t poison Walter.
Robo-voice calls Skinner’s cell phone again and Fox searches the hospital for the source. Mulder spots a long-haired man who runs from him. The suspect drives away, crashes the car in the hospital garage and still manages to elude Fox. (I know who he is now, but since the story proceeds like we’re not supposed to know yet, let’s just play along.) The next morning, the long-haired man calls Matheson to warn him the bill is in danger and claims he will tell the senator where to find Orgel.
Mulder's crime scene tech goes above and beyond the call of duty to develop evidence that leads him directly to the suspect’s hideout in an old power plant. Senator Matheson finds poor Dr. Orgel at the plant. He’s been afflicted with Walter Skinner Syndrome. The long-haired bearded man watches from above and increases Orgel’s pain level until it kills him. (Boy, Palm Pilots had a lot of sinister uses back in 1999 -- threatening robo calls, torture devices…)
Back in the hospital, Skinner is in deathbed confession mode and regretting his life choices. Scully touches his hand and Walter remembers the long-haired man being at FBI headquarters, the gym and the hospital. He recalls that it's the same man ran over the Tunisian. Dana checks the surveillance tapes while Fox arrives at the power plant and confronts Matheson about the nanotechnology inside Skinner. The senator claims to be a victim in this scenario. (Hey, if he wants to be a victim, let’s just inject him with some of that tech.) So we’re back where the episode began. Walter Skinner is declared dead, but the Palm Pilot Bandit brings him back to life. You can clearly see his face now. It’s Alex Krycek!
Three weeks later, Skinner is back at work. Sculder are “epiloguing” their way through the last few minutes of the episode and show him pictures of the long-haired man. Walter claims not to recognize him. Mulder says their suspect did everything to save Skinner’s life. Walter then effectively ends the investigation and redirects them back to A.D. Kersh for their regular assignments. (At least the 24 hours of overtime pay will come in handy for our heroes.) Skinner later finds Krycek in his car. Alex claims he can kill Walter at any time. Clearly he’s keeping Skinner on a very short leash. Sestra Pro probably doesn’t care, she’s just glad to have Alex back. And no more voiceovers! Everybody wins.
Sestra Professional:
This is the episode I remember watching the most during the original series run. How can this be in a non-Sculder-centric show? Well, this was before texting and instant messaging. Not long into "S.R. 819," my friend called me on the phone. "It's Krycek, it's Krycek!" Jenna exclaimed. "I know! I know!" I yelled back. After meeting Nicholas Lea the previous April at The X-Files Expo near Miami, we were bonafide Ratgirls. So we were pretty much on the phone every commercial break during this one. To this day, it's still a thrill for me to watch this one.
John Shiban's script does owe a lot to D.O.A. It reminds me more of the 1950 film in which Edmond O'Brien is trying to solve his murder before he dies than the Dennis Quaid remake in 1988. Maybe that's why no one got glued to anyone else's hand.
Stevie Wonder would see that one coming: Speaking of appendages, bet that line about Skinner not having his ear bitten off goes right over the heads of the next wave of X-Files fans who picked up the show years later. No need to Google, those are references to Mike Tyson chomping down on part of Evander Holyfield's hearing orifice in 1997.
It's tough to bid director Daniel Sackheim farewell with the last of his five episodes for he imbued it with a lot of visual style. The flashback sequences utilize a whirling camera which juxtaposes well with Skinner's blurry vision sequences and the little glimpses we get of Krycek. In the latter's case, bits and pieces are strewn throughout the episode. And maybe you don't see him the first or second or third time, but by the fourth or fifth, you probably do. But if you still haven't focused in on him, Alex's voice on the phone call probably clues you in before you see the silhouette shot at the phone booth.
It's ... in ... you: We haven't seen a lot of Skinner this year, he didn't even have that much to do in Fight the Future, so it's a treat to have him back as the focal point, particularly for more dramatic purposes. His function in "Triangle" was primarily for comedic purposes. This is one of the best representations of Walter we get during the series run. He's down for the count, quite literally, but he's very determined to figure this out. He goes so far as to say he'd put a gun to the head of the man who may have poisoned him.
But there still is a lot of opportunity for Scully and Mulder to limber up in their trademark styles. Dana can spot a renowned physicist with relative ease, but more importantly, recognizes Walter doesn't need his arms amputated because the problem is in his blood. (By the way, if she missed a couple of lights on the way to D.C. General, Skinner would have been armless by the time she arrived.) If only O'Brien or Quaid had her kind of help. And Mulder gets to be as paranoid as ever, get shot at a bunch of times and propose theories that turn out to be true.
If I die now, I die in vain: Actually, it would be lots of veins. Skinner's apology to Scully about playing it safe and not taking Sculder's side enough is touching in a nicely played scene between Mitch Pileggi and Gillian Anderson. Dana lets Walter off the hook for being their ally many times over. So that makes it all the more heartbreaking when Skinner sort of reneges on the promise of those words days later -- not only declining to identify Krycek but preventing Mulder from continuing the investigation.
It's a fine swing for the series, though. Since Skinner is considered an ally for Sculder, the only way to swing him loose to heighten dramatic tension is through some sort of threat by the conspiracy. Rather than blackmail him through another person, his own life remains at stake. Now Alex can flip his nanobot switch at any time. He should have Walter at his beck and call. I'll wait until a later date to complain that the show didn't utilize this potential to the utmost of its ability.
The nanobots are a neat little plot device. It's intriguing and slightly scary that their existence was tied into the idea of medical technology, and how easily something like that could slip through political legislation.
Metabots: Shiban's original idea was for Mulder to get infected, but show creator Chris Carter knew fans wouldn't believe he was in that much danger, so they decided on Skinner. ... In the official episode guide, the writer deemed neither of the movies to be particularly good, he just utilized the plot twist they both hinged on. ... Pileggi enjoyed the storyline, but not so much the makeup involved. "It looked good, but it was a real pain to deal with," he said in The Complete X-Files. "After a couple episodes of that, I went to them and I said, 'Can we please resolve this nano thing?'" ... Pileggi did not have a stunt double for the boxing sequences, according to the episode guide. ... Remember "Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful?" That's another reference that might be lost to first-time viewers. It was an advertising slogan for Pantene hair care products a couple of decades ago.
Guest star of the week: I'm giving it to Krycek's "Jesus wig." Between you and me, Sestra Am privately made fun of the "high-end" wig, but I thought the Jesus Christ Hair Superstar disguise suited the episode perfectly. The Sestras joked about it a couple of times with Lea at conventions, saying he should include photos of him in the long-haired man's getup among those available for signing. I found one on my own, though, and Nick autographed it at a later con.
Sestra Amateur:
It’s Valentine’s Day in Kansas and Sheila Fontaine, played by Saturday Night Live’s Victoria Jackson, has told the whole town about her engagement to Daryl Mootz, played by 1980s B-movie staple Clayton Rohner. Daryl insults her and leaves in a huff. Sheila cries which seems to cause rain (and hail) in drought-ridden Kroner. Drinking and driving while listening to The Carpenters, Daryl crashes his car and gets pelted with ice from above. I wonder if it was also a Monday.
Fast forward six months. Sculder arrive in the tiny, dry town to a welcoming committee consisting only of the Mayor, played by Dirk Blocker (Blaylak!) and a baton twirler. Mayor Gilmore thinks Daryl intentionally causes droughts so he can charge people for the rain. The agents go to the Rain King, Inc. office to speak with King Mootz. His secretary, Cindy, can’t defend him enough to the Feds, but provides our investigators with a client list (the up side of saying “please”).
At the local TV station, Sculder finds Sheila, weatherman Holman Hardt -- and amusingly enough -- Mulder and Scully’s American Gothic doppelgangers. Hardt clearly doubts Daryl’s ability to bring the rain, but Mootz has mastered his dog-and-pony act for the desperate residents of a nearby drought-stricken town. You know, his “rain dance" reminds me of Elaine on Seinfeld. While Scully is in typical skeptic mode, the thunder rolls, the lightning crashes and the heavens open, drenching our intrepid heroes.
Meanwhile, Holman, who is clearly in love with Sheila, doesn’t understand why she still pines for Daryl, who was such a tool to her. Maybe she’ll find true love before the end credits. Later that night, Mulder watches as the wind picks up a cow … and drops it through the roof of his motel room. Now Sculder have to share a room because the motel is booked for the high school reunion.
Hardt thinks a twister caused the cowtastrophe. Sheila confesses to Sculder that the cow’s death is her fault. She thinks she inadvertently created weather-related disasters at her senior prom and on her wedding day. Sheila explains how Daryl’s accident during the hail storm caused the loss of his leg. A local medic reveals Mootz crashed because he drove fast and drunk.
Fox thinks Holman is the one pulling the strings. Makes a lot of sense, considering how long Hardt has loved Sheila and despised Daryl. Sheila calls Hardt, but admits she likes Mulder. Better buy an umbrella, Fox. The next morning, Mulder confronts Holman, who claims he can’t control his powers. Sculder can't leave because of ill-timed fog, and in fact, Hardt is so desperate to win Sheila he asks Fox for dating advice. (The blind leading the blind indeed.) Holman talks to Sheila -- now claiming to be in love with Fox -- which causes a thunderstorm.
Daryl, who thinks Sheila is the rainmaker, goes to the station and tries to punch Mulder, who easily subdues the drunk King Mootz. Sheila rewards Fox with a juicy kiss … right in front of Holman and Dana. And now there’s a hurricane-like storm heading their way. But the show must go on, or in this case, the 20th high school reunion.
Sculder sway while Hardt finally reveals he’s in love with Sheila. She runs to the bathroom, where Dana tries to explain Fox’s theory. Daryl comes in from out of the rain – taking full credit, of course – and tries to hit Mulder with a crutch, but the “king” only manages to subdue himself this time. Sheila kisses Holman and everything ends up fine. In fact, everyone kisses but Mulder and Scully, although the last time they tried that (in the 1998 movie ) Dana almost died, so it’s better they play it safe. You know, I really could have summed up this episode with one paragraph, but where's the fun in that?
Sestra Professional:
Last time, we pored over "Terms of Endearment" (Season 6, Episode 7), which I didn't like as much then as I do now. So this week, it's the polar opposite." I thought "The Rain King" was a lot of fun in the day. It's cutesy overload now.
If one episode alone epitomized "X-Files Lite" -- the moniker attributed by fans to Season 6 during the original run that still holds on today -- it would have to be this one. It really is the frothiest of X-Files concoctions. Yeah, it's kinda fun, but it's like eating a cupcake after having cake. It's a little bit of a sugar overload and you might hate yourself later. I think I got a cavity just watching it.
We've had a bunch of Saturday Night Live alumni in guest roles this season -- Michael McKean, Nora Dunn and now Victoria Jackson -- and, for all their talents, that didn't exactly alleviate the comedy categorization. Taking note of them in the credits signaled once again we weren't going to be taking things very seriously.
If I'd have known you were bringing the missus... Season 6 makes a lot of references to domesticity for Mulder and Scully, and that's continuously and clunkily driven home in this ep. With a large portion of the legions of fans wanting to see more of Fox and Dana's personal relationship and the show holding the blatant romantic context to the alternate reality of "Triangle," I can tell you from personal experience shippers were tickled by these kind of allusions.
Speaking of S6E3, it too made reference to The Wizard of Oz. I know there's a limited number of stories that can be told in the world, but twice in a five-show span? I am willing to give writer Jeffrey Bell -- the first of his five scripts for the series -- credit for the cow crashing in on Mulder at the hotel. That certainly was unexpected. And Bell's basic concept has merit. I like the characters of Sheila and Holman and even get a kick out of Daryl (obviously with his good leg). There's even some depth penciled in for Mootz's assistant Cindy. It's just the wishy-washy piecing together of these ingredients that make me repeatedly roll my eyes.
Director Kim Manners, as usual, finds a way to do something completely unique even in these environs. Daryl's car crash was, well, impactful and when "The King" does his dopey dance and rain falls down on our heroes, we almost feel like we should take shelter as well. In the official episode guide, Manners expressed regret about one thing, though. He said after the cow crashes through Mulder's room, Fox should have quipped, "Got milk?" Gotta agree with that. The best line of the episode isn't in the ep.
Despite Jackson's inherent affability, Sheila is too much of a dumb-blonde poster girl. There's a guy who treats you badly and that's the one you want to be with while there's a sensitive string bean you've known forever pining away for you? Some women just don't have taste in men. She's got taste in chocolates, though.
I do not gaze at Scully: Even more ludicrous was Sheila's instantaneous crush on Fox. He did get more action from her than he has with Dana. Although maybe Sestra Am might be right, Fight the Future's almost-kiss was pretty hazardous to her health. But topping that nonsense was Mulder giving Holman romantic advice. Fox is brilliant about everything in the world -- except that. And Scully compounds the issue by playing Dear Abby. We've gone way too far off the diving board.
There might be something to be said for Dana's comment that "the person who is just a friend becomes the only person you can see yourself with" theory. Because ultimately this reasoning becomes my rationale for why the only person who should be with Mulder or Scully is the other. I wish I could appreciate it more being voiced in this episode, but I detest being hit over the head with it.
Guest star of the week: Clayton Rohner played a completely different kind of character than he did in '80s movies like April Fool's Day and Just One of the Guys. Back then, he was a charming -- if often geeky -- everyman. Here he was a snake oil salesman. If I find any saving grace at all to this one, it's because of him.
Sestra Amateur:
Bruce Campbell – known to most as Brisco County, Sam Axe, Evil Dead’s Ash, and star of some of the best bad movies you’ve ever seen – guest stars on this week’s episode. He’s trying to play the straight man in an overly dramatic scene in which he and his wife, Laura Weinsider – played by Lisa Jane Persky – learn their unborn child may not be normal. Wayne Weinsider seems like the caring husband as he puts “Poopydoo” (worst term of endearment ever!) to bed and gives her warm milk and … medication? A sleeping pill? We’ll find out soon enough.
Poor Laura dreams of fire and a demon at the foot of her bed who forcibly removes the horned baby from her belly. Fortunately, she bites him on the neck. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream. Wayne’s hands and Laura’s nightgown are covered in blood. Fortunately, Laura’s brother is a local deputy sheriff who doesn’t know what to do with the case, so he contacts the X-files. Unfortunately, it’s Jeffrey Spender’s unit now – remember? He placates Deputy Stevens then “files” the report in the shredder. Fortunately, Mulder is a garbage picker who pieces the report back together and contacts the deputy.
Fox meets with the Weinsiders, listens to Laura’s description of her “dream” and learns the results of the sonogram. Mulder already suspects Wayne is being less than truthful and calls Scully, who is at the Department of Agriculture conducting boring background checks. She’s livid because Fox is shirking his assigned responsibility, but he has an original, albeit laughable, defense: “Scully, this is a classic case of demon fetal harvest!” Mulder wants Dana to look at the baby’s sonogram photo and review the medical reports. Too bad Wayne is listening to Fox's conversation on the baby monitor. Um, how is he able to hear Scully’s side too? It’s not like Mulder was using the speaker phone.
Later that night, Rosemary – I mean Laura – is looking for Wayne, who is burning leaves outside. He has a great defense – “It was in the job jar!” – and burns the fetus in the outside furnace while crying fake Vaseline tears. (Don’t get me wrong, Wayne is clearly devastated, but the crying makeup they used for Bruce was pretty lame.)
The next morning, Dana phones Fox with her analysis. She thinks Laura intentionally caused a late-term abortion by consuming mandrake (the pill Wayne gave her before bed) because the baby was deformed. Mulder still suspects Weinsider, which is clear when he doodles horns on Wayne's photograph while talking with Scully. Weinsider goes home to see his wife, “Poopydoo” … but it’s a different home and a different pregnant wife. This one is Betsy Monroe, played by Grace Phillips, whose hypnotic blue eyes rival only movie actress Meg Foster’s.
Wayne returns to the Weinsider house where Fox, Deputy Stevens and local officers are combing the area for evidence. Mulder baits Wayne with some devilish comments. Wayne pulls Laura aside and claims he found his wife holding their baby and chanting while in a trance. He claims he burned Wayne Jr.’s body to protect her. The deputies find the remains in the furnace and Laura begins to believe she had something to do with the baby’s death. So the wife goes to jail and Weinsider thinks he is free to try again with his next baby mama.
Too bad Fox's on his tail when Wayne goes to pick up Betsy for her sonogram. (At least Weinsider has cool driving music, "I’m Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage.) Wayne tries to throw Mulder off the trail by seeing one of his clients. Did you know phlebotomy is a skill requirement for insurance agents? Yeah, I don’t buy it either. The client notices some lumps on the back of Weinsider's neck but doesn’t say anything. Wayne solves his Fox problem by complaining to assistant director Kersh, who calls Dana, who calls Mulder. This gives Weinsider a chance to get away from Fox.
Later that night, Wayne meets Laura at the Roanoke County Jail. She sees the bite mark on Wayne’s neck and now knows what he is. Wayne regrettably sucks the life out of Laura. He tells Mulder and police she died in his arms, but Fox clearly isn’t buying it. Paramedics manage to bring Laura back, which stuns Wayne. When he finally makes it back to Betsy, she shows him their baby’s sonogram picture and tells him about the visible bone growths. She doesn’t seem as upset by it as Laura was, but Wayne is clearly disappointed and prepares to do to Betsy what he did to Laura.
Scully finally finds her way to Mulder whose background check -- see, Kersh? He’s doing his job -- of Wayne Weinsider shows three other fake names for the “horned demon who sucks the souls of the innocent.” (My personal favorite is Bud Hasselhoff.) Local police use subterranean mapping equipment in the yard of one of Wayne’s former homes and find the remains of a horned fetus. Fox tells Deputy Stevens to put an APB out on Weinsider, who just gave Betsy some spiked warm milk. She didn’t finish it though, so when Demon Wayne tries to take the fetus, Betsy fights back.
Sculder head toward Wayne’s second residence, but find Betsy driving Wayne’s car. (You know he’s going to be mad that she got blood all over his seats.). She claims Weinsider took her baby, so the agents head to her house and find Wayne outside with a shovel. He says he’s digging up the baby and tries to explain how Betsy is different, but his brother-in-law shoots him three times before Weinsider can finish.
Post-surgery, the hospital staff puts Wayne’s bed next to comatose Laura’s. (Whose brilliant idea was that?!) He transfers his essence (spirit, soul, whatever) to Laura’s body then dies. Dana, who is back at the crime scene digging up baby remains, cannot find Betsy’s baby. Fox arrives and convinces her she won’t because Betsy played everyone. She wanted a demon baby and now she has one. So good job there, Wayne. Too bad they didn’t follow up this episode during the reboot so we could see where the demon baby is now. At least Betsy was able to clean the blood off the car seats. And as much as I love the Garbage song, it’s not put to accurate use in this episode because Betsy is clearly happy and there’s not a drop of rain in sight.
Sestra Professional:
"Terms of Endearment" had never been a favorite episode of mine, but it's one of those rare times when I like something more in retrospect than I did during original run. The initial issue might have been Bruce Campbell playing the everyman. I might have been expecting something more out of a guest star of this ilk. Spoiler alert: He won't even be snagging Guest Star of the Week kudos. But I do come around on this casting choice.
I just want it to be normal: There is a lot to be said for Campbell's portrayal of Wayne. Before we even get into the opening credits, we understand Weinsider is feeling some kind of ultimate disappointment about the malformed baby. It's not exactly what we think it is at first, but the internal blow he's taken is certainly palpable.
Since we've had a few lighter-of-spirit episodes by this time in Season 6, I guess it was time for a true monster-of-the-week offering. They sure went whole hog on this one. There's an unfortunate aftereffect, though. Wayne's transformation into a nightmare fire devil, the fetus with horns and that demonic exchange of breath thing all seem kind of cartoonish. Even director Rob Bowman couldn't avoid that.
What's more effective -- albeit something of a ripoff -- was writer David Amann's pilferage from both Rosemary's Baby and Hitchcock. The first was more obvious. The latter, remember how twice Wayne dubiously carries a glass of milk up a staircase to his wife? That mirrored the action in Hitchcock's Suspicion when Cary Grant brought poisoned milk to Joan Fontaine, complete with the strategically placed illumination of the liquid to point out that something's off with it.
I just wanted what everyone wants: Ultimately this just a character study of Wayne. Campbell portrays him as genuinely sad about what he's going through. He's another one of those X-Files villains who does abominable things, but we can at least understand if not side with him. Wayne's apparently been trying to have a healthy, normal baby for a long time, and the demon's love for Laura does seem genuine -- even if he says the same things to Betsy that he says to her.
There are some choice Mulder moments in the episode -- he gets to tail and antagonize his suspect. And even if his quips aren't as sharp as they usually are, it's fun to see him have the upper hand more than he generally does in the mythology episodes. Of course, he figures out Wayne's dealio, even if he doesn't quite gauge Betsy's until it's too late.
Ultimately that leaves Scully almost completely bereft in this one. Let's see, she gets to do their actual assignment, examine fetus corpses, get chewed out (off camera) by the boss, read research and ride in the car. This is not character growth by any stretch of the imagination.
Even Spender seems to have more to do than Dana does here. Then again, he's developed something a dream cushy job. All he has to do is take reports and then shred them. I wish they would flesh him out a little, it's so easy to write Jeffrey off right now.
Speaking of thankless roles, Persky really grounds the character of Laura, first when Wayne tells her she harmed her own baby while she was in a trance, and then when she admits to her brother that she didn't know what she was doing. It's easy to understand that the devil actually fell for her amidst his legions of victims.
Betsy isn't like Laura: We quickly see things aren't the same with Betsy, even before we know what she's up to. This wife seems to have more spine -- bony or not -- than Laura did, even before she puts the kibosh on his fiery transformation. And two thumbs way up for possibly the best twist of the entire series. For all the ham-fisted throwaway lines like the potential insurance customer telling her children, "Slow down monsters," the saving Grace winds up being that Laura wanted the exact opposite of Wayne. Well except for taking off in his car, which apparently only has one CD in it. By the way, I don't think she needed rain specifically, it's just the idea of what's misery to us is happiness to her.
Monster mash meta: Campbell auditioned for the role of Season 8-9 lead John Doggett, saying on Twitter that he read for the part on the same day as Robert Patrick (who got the gig) and Lou Diamond Phillips. ... Credit Chris Carter with the ultimate revelation. Amann came up with the reverse Rosemary's Baby concept, but according to the official episode guide, the show creator was the one who said "What if the second woman wants the exact opposite of what the guy wanted?" ... Chris Owens noted in the episode guide he started getting recognized for playing Spender around this time. "One day, somebody actually waved his finger at me and just said, 'Paper shredder!'"
Guest star of the week: Sorry, Bruce and Lisa Jane. You did fleshed out your respective characters really well. But Grace Phillips stole the spotlight as Laura, a woman with power and determination. It was a helluva twist that saved the ep and her fiendish portrayal fueled that.
Sorry folks, this episode has nothing to do with State Road 819 in Mount Pleasant Township, Pennsylvania, so I hope you didn’t get your hopes up. State Road was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the title. 
There’s some heavy-handed narration post credits, but since it’s Skinner’s voice, I’ll allow it. Walter experiences some hallucinations while boxing in a gym. After getting knocked out, he wakes up in a hospital and take a cryptic robo-voiced phone call telling him he has 24 hours to live. Just like Dennis Quaid in D.O.A.! Maybe he’ll find a nice Meg Ryan-type to glue to his hand so they can run around town together trying to solve the mystery. Skinner has a very noticeable bruise on his ribs and assumes it’s from the boxing. It ain’t.
Skinner and Mulder (Skinder?) visit Orgel and he tries to blow them off. They force their way inside, but get shot at by men holding the doctor hostage. Unfortunately, the kidnappers have Orgel … and diplomatic plates. Luckily, Fox catches one of the men, but whatever is killing Walter has progressed to the blue veiny stage. Mulder drags the kidnapper back to Skinner, who learns the man is Tunisian attaché Alexander Lazreg. He has diplomatic papers.
Skinner enters the Embassy Row garage and finds the car which took Orgel. Lazreg is there, decides 24 hours is too long for Walter to live and shoots at him. He misses. A weakened Skinner goes after the Tunisian, who gets mowed down by an unknown driver/hero/murderer. (Sestra Pro knows who it is.) Dana continues analyzing Walter’s blood and realizes the carbon is creating a matrix that eventually will cause a heart attack. They learn Skinner is being taken to D.C. General, where surgeons are about to amputate his arms due to the “extreme vascular event." Scully and Plant (Scant?) arrive in time to prevent the surgery.
Robo-voice calls Skinner’s cell phone again and Fox searches the hospital for the source. Mulder spots a long-haired man who runs from him. The suspect drives away, crashes the car in the hospital garage and still manages to elude Fox. (I know who he is now, but since the story proceeds like we’re not supposed to know yet, let’s just play along.) The next morning, the long-haired man calls Matheson to warn him the bill is in danger and claims he will tell the senator where to find Orgel. 
Three weeks later, Skinner is back at work. Sculder are “epiloguing” their way through the last few minutes of the episode and show him pictures of the long-haired man. Walter claims not to recognize him. Mulder says their suspect did everything to save Skinner’s life. Walter then effectively ends the investigation and redirects them back to A.D. Kersh for their regular assignments. (At least the 24 hours of overtime pay will come in handy for our heroes.) Skinner later finds Krycek in his car. Alex claims he can kill Walter at any time. Clearly he’s keeping Skinner on a very short leash. Sestra Pro probably doesn’t care, she’s just glad to have Alex back. And no more voiceovers! Everybody wins.
John Shiban's script does owe a lot to D.O.A. It reminds me more of the 1950 film in which Edmond O'Brien is trying to solve his murder before he dies than the Dennis Quaid remake in 1988. Maybe that's why no one got glued to anyone else's hand.
It's ... in ... you: We haven't seen a lot of Skinner this year, he didn't even have that much to do in Fight the Future, so it's a treat to have him back as the focal point, particularly for more dramatic purposes. His function in "Triangle" was primarily for comedic purposes. This is one of the best representations of Walter we get during the series run. He's down for the count, quite literally, but he's very determined to figure this out. He goes so far as to say he'd put a gun to the head of the man who may have poisoned him.
If I die now, I die in vain: Actually, it would be lots of veins. Skinner's apology to Scully about playing it safe and not taking Sculder's side enough is touching in a nicely played scene between Mitch Pileggi and Gillian Anderson. Dana lets Walter off the hook for being their ally many times over. So that makes it all the more heartbreaking when Skinner sort of reneges on the promise of those words days later -- not only declining to identify Krycek but preventing Mulder from continuing the investigation.
Guest star of the week: I'm giving it to Krycek's "Jesus wig." Between you and me, Sestra Am privately made fun of the "high-end" wig, but I thought the Jesus Christ Hair Superstar disguise suited the episode perfectly. The Sestras joked about it a couple of times with Lea at conventions, saying he should include photos of him in the long-haired man's getup among those available for signing. I found one on my own, though, and Nick autographed it at a later con.
