Veteran X-Files writer Glen Morgan presents a poignant yet disturbing case in this week's episode.
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After Mulder and Scully’s antics with a were-lizard last week, this week’s episode graces our screens with a solemn yet gruesome instalment for The X-Files revival.
‘Home Again’ brings back the overarching plot-thread of Mulder and Scully’s son – much like ‘Founder’s Mutation – whilst also exploring the streets of Philadelphia, where a monster dwelling in a mysterious garbage truck, named The Band-Aid Nosed Man, is ripping people apart, limb from limb.
X-Files veteran Glen Morgan is able to combine the crazy yet wonderful X-Files narrative we’re used to seeing in the original series with a side-plot that is truly heartbreaking. Morgan writes Mulder and Scully as they truly should be, something that Carter seems to be struggling with through his episodes. The pair are supposedly ‘estranged’ due to Mulder’s newly diagnosed depression, but it’s clear here that they will never be apart from each other for long.
Mulder is there in a heartbeat when Scully’s mother ends up in the ICU due to a heart attack, helping her cope with the inevitable and foreboding notion that death is about to take her mother. He does all that he can to be there for Scully and is by her side as he always has been. It’s a truly heartwrenching and emotional sequence, where Duchovny and Anderson’s acting abilities, along with their incredible chemistry together, really help to pull it off.
The main narrative of ‘Home Again’ follows the Band-Aid Nosed Man and the man who created him, an underground artist who goes by the name of the Trash Man (Tim Armstrong). He claims that the Band-Aid Nosed Man is of his creation. This monster is one of his sculptures that has been brought to life through a Buddhist monk ability to transfer consciousness into objects. The Trash Man goes onto describe his process of bringing art into the word, in turn leading Scully to deal with her grief towards her mother and her remorse for giving William up for adoption. From the beginning of the revival, it’s clear Mulder and Scully have a hole in their beings for their son, and ‘Home Again’ cements this absence truly.
Morgan ultimately brings back one of the signature narrative devices of the original show, being able to juxtapose a monster-of-the-week line with an emotional loss between both Mulder and Scully. With only two episodes left of the revival, one can only hope that some sort of reunion is on the cards between Mulder, Scully and their son. They deserve some vein of happiness, they’ve been through too much to fail at filling void that they’ve had since the end of the original run.
The X-Files airs on Mondays at 9pm on Channel 5.
