S01.E16: Young at Heart

[HalcyonDays]

Episode synopsis: A criminal believed to have died in prison years earlier wages a vendetta against Mulder. Written by: Scott Kaufer and Chris Carter. Directed by: Michael Lange.

 

[supposebly]

Poor Mulder. Losing 2 ex-partners in one season. This one was nice and decent.

 

How did Barnett get into Scully's apartment?

 

That actor who played young Barnett was terrible.

 

I do like the insight into Mulder's life before the X-files. He must have been quite the annoying protege.

 

Loved Henderson. They should have made her recurring. She and Mulder had a nice rapport.

[joelene]

Watched this the other day. I used to like this one a lot but it doesn't hold up too well on rewatch. It's kinda fun only because you don't watch it often so it's easy to forget things.

Poor Mulder. Losing 2 ex-partners in one season. This one was nice and decent.

And he died so easily! Seriously, Barnett chokes him for about five seconds and he's dead. I suppose he could have crushed his throat or something? No crush sound effect, though.

Does everyone of M&S former colleagues die except that jerk from Squeeze? There's this one, the jerk in Ghost In The Machine, Scully's ex in Lazarus, Scully's protege or whatever she was in Soft Light, The Fowl One... Oh yeah, Phoebe lives too. That's one each for them.

How did Barnett get into Scully's apartment?

With the loudest door squeak in the history of door squeaks. Seriously, Scully typing away on her PC after Barnett has killed Mulder's friend, she hears the door squeak and just goes, meh whatever. Probably just the wind. Lucky for her Barnett's so clumsy he makes another noise five seconds later. I mostly wonder how he left her apartment. We see him exit a door/enter another room(?) when Scully is visited by Dr. Salamander Hand. It's not like he's leaving her place, unless she has two entrances? Are there regular sized apartments with two entrances? It's not like she lives in a palace.

Loved Henderson. They should have made her recurring. She and Mulder had a nice rapport.

She was great. Too bad they didn't investigate any other cases where they needed a handwriting expert.

[Taryn74]

Had some paperwork-y type stuff to do today so I had YAH playing in the background while I worked.  I was pleasantly surprised, I remember pretty much hating this one before (maybe because Flashback Barnett is such a nasty creep) but I actually enjoyed it this time.

 

I'm a little surprised that Mulder, and especially Scully, were almost pleasant with Dr. Ridley when they were questioning him.  The kind of experimentation he was doing is not the sort of thing they usually let slide.

 

So there's a prisoner who's out and has promised revenge on you by targeting your friends and acquaintances, and while you're on the phone with your former colleague he suddenly stops talking and you hear a lot of banging, and all you do is sit there and yell his name into the phone over and over?  Smart, Mulder.

 

Forgot to mention that I, too, LOVED Henderson.  I would have liked to have seen her pop up from time to time, like Pendrell did.  (Not die trying to carry Mulder a drink, though.)

Edited February 9, 2015 by Taryn74

[SparklesBitch]

Loved Henderson. They should have made her recurring. She and Mulder had a nice rapport.

 

THIS. Just watching this episode on my re-watch now, and had totally forgotten her. She was fun!

 

"Written by someone sitting down...now I'm just showing off."

 

Hee!

 

Also, as others said, poor Mulder is cursed....everyone who worked with him in the past ends up dead. Reggie at least seemed to be a decent guy.

 

I liked the little moment near the beginning where Mulder is shooting down Scully's thoughts on the note and death certificate and she's all "he planned to get you, didn't he?"

 

Mulder looks pissed that she knows more about the situation than he was willing to share. She's got the good sense to look abashed for all of five seconds before explaining she was off talking to Reggie. She tries her best to make him feel better and he's just not having it and I don't know why it makes me smile so hard, but it does. She cares that Mulder's hurting even though they still barely know each other at this point. Ahh, feels. =)

 

Shallow: The shot of Mulder and Scully walking down the prison hall with Barnett's friend.....the height difference between DD and GA always makes me smile. Can't help it.

 

Also....stop the world. It looks like there's a second desk back there in "Scully's area", with a desk lamp, computer and everything. M&S are in their office looking at old pictures of Barnett. Mulder loads his clip in his gun and says he's not waiting for Barnett to send him another valentine. The phone rings, Scully goes to answer it, and as she walks toward the camera, there definitely a desk back there behind her. So, did TPTB have it removed later so the desk thing could become a sticking point? Was it there from the beginning of the season? Huh. Spooky. =)

 

A few last thoughts:

 

1. Scully's curtains are hideous.

2. Young Barnett really is awful. Yeesh. 

3. As a scientist myself, I can see why Scully stuck around with the X-Files in the beginning. Putting all things Mulder aside, trying to figure out the scientific basis for all of the weird stuff she kept seeing, if there was one at all, would have been riveting. Watching all these old episodes again has me nerding it up right alongside her! I mean, I know that it's all obviously made up for TV, but one can't help but think if any of this was true... And hey, some things they mention are real, such as Progeria, which is fascinating all by itself. Scientists like nothing better than a puzzle, after all. I just love how intrigued she is by Ridley's research even though what he's doing is against research ethics because it's a very real reaction, in my opinion.

4. Mulder's wink at scared!Scully. So cute!

[cleo]

This is the first ep that really spooked me. I think it was the creepy music, which ironically didn't really fit the story. It was like creepy exorcist kind of music.