Review of The X-Files, Season 10 Episode 4, by Dan Bullock – February 2016
Home Again sees the return of Glen Morgan to writing and directing duties and becomes, unquestionably, a thoughtful plot that powerfully reminds us of Scully and Mulder’s relationship, their history, and more importantly it made me believe again in their past. The revival has tried to pack in as much as viably possible and here we get to relive their connection, which in turn gives a better, more intense, display of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny’s acting talent.
The opening scenes offer us a glimpse of the ‘cleansing’ of homeless people from the streets by the local law enforcement. The dark, dirty streets are shrouded in the unknown and although these acts, in themselves, are somewhat extreme, it doesn’t excessively shock as I’m sure we’re all aware this happens in real life but we often pretend not to notice. The build-up here is to introduce ‘The Trash Man’, a Golem-like creation who’s left behind by a garbage truck to enact some form of vengeance, which is something we’ll learn about as the episode progresses and is brought to life by ‘Trash Man’ ripping apart the person who’s been trying to ‘wash away’ the homeless.
Despite this being a leading narrative, Home Again is really about Mulder and Scully and the outcome of giving their child, William, away. Looking over this as a whole, and because a few people have mentioned their reactions, to have the characters being exactly the same as the past would be inane and, more so, somewhat disrespectful to their history. Fox and Dana obviously have the same types of views in their lives but now they’re older, more reflective, and more effected by the things that have occurred to them both. Age has bred tiredness, in both a physical and mental sense and this episode sets out to highlight the weight of time.
What compounds these changes in life is when Scully receives news that her mother is ill and is now in a coma, she breaks away from Mulder and the investigation into the Trash Man and – quite rightly – off to support a hopeful recovery. It’ll turn out that there will be no recovery. It’ll become a heart-breaking storyline as Scully realises she can’t say goodbye to her Mother as she’d wish, that her family cannot even be there. It’s a juxtaposition of her and Mulder’s child and her dysfunctional relationship with her family. But more than all this, it’ll reveal the overall truth that in turmoil Mulder is always there for her. They’re forever linked inextricably in this life.
Home Again is a poignant return to the X-Files universe and especially effective after the more joyful, humourous Were-Monster adventure. It shows us their history and why they’re different people to who they used to be. It wouldn’t make sense if they were the same and this gives more depth. If we look back to that underlying X-Files mythology, it reminds us that some of the more unforgettable outings were the unexpected ones where we explored both their literal and metaphorical relationships with life and the monsters in the shadows. An idea can be stronger than any reality, an idea or the best intentions can become the biggest mistakes but will our leads learn from this and do something for the better? We’ll hopefully learn all this in the remaining two episodes.
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