Mulder never ceases to amaze me, but it's not always very credible. Like in this episode - without too much time having passed from the prior episode, he makes a prodigious mental leap of faith that the Black Oil entity is now in Krycek (Nicholas Lea). How did he even become aware of the Black Oil? Last we saw, Krycek was driving with Mulder holding him hostage for the digital tape and they crash while pursued by goons sent by the Smoking Man (William B. Davis). I didn't note any connecting thread that might have suggested Mulder knew the Black Oil was a player in control of Krycek.
What I did like here was the 1953 flashback with Captain Sanford relating the mutiny aboard his submarine, orchestrated by Johanssen. It included Mulder's father as a young FBI agent along with Smoking Man (William B. Davis) characteristically stating that "You can trust all of us". The roots of Smoking Man's deception go so far back you have to wonder what kind of kid he was growing up.
Mulder makes his way to the site of a salvaged UFO as this story winds down, and just as he's on the verge of making a huge discovery, Smoking Man butts in to set up another roadblock. You know, with a hundred ninety nine missile silos on site, and all of them cemented over as part of a prior era's nuclear deal, you have to wonder how Scully and Mulder found the right one on the first try! They didn't even break a sweat.
This one comes to an end with one of the more ominous closing scenes in the series thus far. Apparently the Black Oil having achieved whatever it's mission was supposed to be, it disengages from Krycek in a terrifying scene in which he oozes the stuff out of his eyes, nose and throat. What's even more chilling is that his anguished pleas for help emanate from behind the door of his new home in Vault #1013. I doubt if it's anything he ever signed up for.
What I did like here was the 1953 flashback with Captain Sanford relating the mutiny aboard his submarine, orchestrated by Johanssen. It included Mulder's father as a young FBI agent along with Smoking Man (William B. Davis) characteristically stating that "You can trust all of us". The roots of Smoking Man's deception go so far back you have to wonder what kind of kid he was growing up.
Mulder makes his way to the site of a salvaged UFO as this story winds down, and just as he's on the verge of making a huge discovery, Smoking Man butts in to set up another roadblock. You know, with a hundred ninety nine missile silos on site, and all of them cemented over as part of a prior era's nuclear deal, you have to wonder how Scully and Mulder found the right one on the first try! They didn't even break a sweat.
This one comes to an end with one of the more ominous closing scenes in the series thus far. Apparently the Black Oil having achieved whatever it's mission was supposed to be, it disengages from Krycek in a terrifying scene in which he oozes the stuff out of his eyes, nose and throat. What's even more chilling is that his anguished pleas for help emanate from behind the door of his new home in Vault #1013. I doubt if it's anything he ever signed up for.