Note: This review was written after watching most of the episodes
"Conduit" is an episode, which is connected to aliens but serves more as a stand-alone story. It is named after central character Kevin Morris, who is believed to be the "conduit" between Earth and outer space, after his sister Ruby mysteriously disappeared at night and is believed to have been abducted by aliens.
This episode marks the first time, when Mulder is actively searching for his sister Samantha. But because Mulder already explained the story about her disappearance in "Pilot", the scene between Blevins and Scully loses a bit of impact. In my opinion, the scene could have been more powerful if both the audience and Scully had no prior knowledge of her. On the other hand, it was nice to see Blevins again, considering that first season wasn't particularly fond of recurring characters.
In my opinion, this episode isn't very innovative because the plot is very similar to "Deep Throat". Someone is abducted, Mulder is desperate to unveil the truth, certain people in town are obsessed with aliens, Scully is in total disbelief and some shady characters hinder the agents' investigation.
My biggest grip of this episode is that it really lacked resolution at the end of episode. Apart from the beginning, there was no "strange light" that would signify the alien presence in the forest and Ruby just appeared on the ground. The same goes for Kevin, who was supposed to be the conduit. Was he wandering in the forest because he sensed that Ruby returned? The TV series apparently abandoned the "human conduit" idea because no other episode featured a similar character. Nevertheless, the ending is a very typical one, when the characters are silenced by government agents and Mulder and Scully are again left completely in the dark.
On more positive note, the atmosphere is again really intense and thriller-like, such as when NSA agents storm into Scully's room at night or when Mulder and Scully are having a conversation in the library with the girl they cannot see. And David Duchovny's performance was really great as we see Mulder's vulnerable side for the first time. An exceptional scene was the one, when he interrogates Tessa, a girl who was jealous of Ruby and was there on the night of her disappearance. Mulder almost loses his temper, figures out that she killed Ruby's boyfriend and nearly accuses her of murdering Ruby. This scene shows us, how far is Mulder willing to go when it goes for uncovering the truth.
While I have several grips about the episode, I can understand all those things if I consider that the episode is more focused on Mulder's personality. While slightly worse than "Deep Throat" and "Pilot", the episode is still an intense experience and my final verdict is 7/10.
"Conduit" is an episode, which is connected to aliens but serves more as a stand-alone story. It is named after central character Kevin Morris, who is believed to be the "conduit" between Earth and outer space, after his sister Ruby mysteriously disappeared at night and is believed to have been abducted by aliens.
This episode marks the first time, when Mulder is actively searching for his sister Samantha. But because Mulder already explained the story about her disappearance in "Pilot", the scene between Blevins and Scully loses a bit of impact. In my opinion, the scene could have been more powerful if both the audience and Scully had no prior knowledge of her. On the other hand, it was nice to see Blevins again, considering that first season wasn't particularly fond of recurring characters.
In my opinion, this episode isn't very innovative because the plot is very similar to "Deep Throat". Someone is abducted, Mulder is desperate to unveil the truth, certain people in town are obsessed with aliens, Scully is in total disbelief and some shady characters hinder the agents' investigation.
My biggest grip of this episode is that it really lacked resolution at the end of episode. Apart from the beginning, there was no "strange light" that would signify the alien presence in the forest and Ruby just appeared on the ground. The same goes for Kevin, who was supposed to be the conduit. Was he wandering in the forest because he sensed that Ruby returned? The TV series apparently abandoned the "human conduit" idea because no other episode featured a similar character. Nevertheless, the ending is a very typical one, when the characters are silenced by government agents and Mulder and Scully are again left completely in the dark.
On more positive note, the atmosphere is again really intense and thriller-like, such as when NSA agents storm into Scully's room at night or when Mulder and Scully are having a conversation in the library with the girl they cannot see. And David Duchovny's performance was really great as we see Mulder's vulnerable side for the first time. An exceptional scene was the one, when he interrogates Tessa, a girl who was jealous of Ruby and was there on the night of her disappearance. Mulder almost loses his temper, figures out that she killed Ruby's boyfriend and nearly accuses her of murdering Ruby. This scene shows us, how far is Mulder willing to go when it goes for uncovering the truth.
While I have several grips about the episode, I can understand all those things if I consider that the episode is more focused on Mulder's personality. While slightly worse than "Deep Throat" and "Pilot", the episode is still an intense experience and my final verdict is 7/10.