One Breath
- Episode aired Nov 11, 1994
- TV-14
- 45m
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
Scully's comatose body is discovered at a local hospital and her life is hanging in the balance. When Mr. X shows Mulder the high price he'd have to pay if he truly wants justice for Scully,... Read allScully's comatose body is discovered at a local hospital and her life is hanging in the balance. When Mr. X shows Mulder the high price he'd have to pay if he truly wants justice for Scully, Mulder must choose between hope and revenge.Scully's comatose body is discovered at a local hospital and her life is hanging in the balance. When Mr. X shows Mulder the high price he'd have to pay if he truly wants justice for Scully, Mulder must choose between hope and revenge.
Don S. Davis
- Captain William Scully
- (as Don Davis)
Michael Ryan
- Overcoat Man
- (as Ryan Michael)
Joshua Murray
- Young William 'Bill' Scully Jr.
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDavid Duchovny was so amazed by the fantastic performance of Gillian Anderson in Beyond the Sea (1994), showing Scully's feelings about losing her father, that he asked the writers for an episode with emotions like that for him. The result was One Breath, in which Mulder displays his feelings for losing Scully.
- GoofsAgent Mulder signs his resignation, but his signature is totally different from the signature on his badge in the intro.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The X-Files: Home Again (2016)
Featured review
Hmm... mixed feelings.
One Breath the Limerick:
Scully returns but asleep
And causes her mother to weep
A man steals her blood
Mulder and X say he's mud
And Mulder's guilt almost leads him to defeat
When I first watched this episode I remember feeling a little betrayed and I hadn't really liked it as an episode since until now. I think a lot of the reason behind this is that I feel like there just weren't enough answers given or even enough new questions asked about the mythology. This is the first episode with Scully back after being in abducted and all that she really does the whole episode is sleep and sit in a boat and stare. This story is really about Agent Mulder. Because he feels responsible for what happened to Agent Scully he tries to suppress his guilt and anger by trying to find the members of the syndicate who are responsible and make them pay so that he won't have to face his own guilt that he is feeling.
I think what has kept me from giving this episode a higher rating in the past is that there really isn't anything much more than character and story development in this episode. No aliens or monsters or paranormal unless you count the two scenes with G. Owens R.N. the guardian angel. However I do think that the story development and dramatic elements were quite well presented and lately have grown to appreciate these elements a lot more.
After rewatching this there are a lot of things that I overlooked that have heightened my opinion of the episode. I love the scenes with Agent Scully's sister Melissa where she calls Mulder by his first name. Interesting how so many of the women in Mulder's lives tended to be as "spooky" as him but he ended up with the only one that wasn't. The confrontation between Mulder and X in the hospital garage was also great. The scene with Skinner telling Mulder about being in the Vietnam war was a wonderfully acted scene on Mitch Pileggi's part and I think this led into using him as a more main character other than occasional guest star. I also have always liked the way that David Duchovny does his crying scenes and the one in this episode was great. I felt that I could understand how he felt because I have had similar break down moments. Finally, I love the confrontation of Mulder and the Cigarette Smoking Man in his apartment. I love how Mulder completely owns him yelling "Shut up! Tonight I'm asking the questions!" and then slaps the cigarette out of his pompous mouth. The look on CSM's face at that moment is priceless. And then right after that CSM is able to completely manipulate Mulder by calling him on his own guilt for what happened to Scully. This just shows how good CSM is at manipulating people into doing what he wants them to do. What a great bad guy!
All in all after viewing this with a more open mind I have realized that even though I didn't like this episode on first view it really does have some wonderful moments that are very important to the mythology. Unfortunately I think the episode is just presented wrong. I have to give this episode an 7 out of 10.
Scully returns but asleep
And causes her mother to weep
A man steals her blood
Mulder and X say he's mud
And Mulder's guilt almost leads him to defeat
When I first watched this episode I remember feeling a little betrayed and I hadn't really liked it as an episode since until now. I think a lot of the reason behind this is that I feel like there just weren't enough answers given or even enough new questions asked about the mythology. This is the first episode with Scully back after being in abducted and all that she really does the whole episode is sleep and sit in a boat and stare. This story is really about Agent Mulder. Because he feels responsible for what happened to Agent Scully he tries to suppress his guilt and anger by trying to find the members of the syndicate who are responsible and make them pay so that he won't have to face his own guilt that he is feeling.
I think what has kept me from giving this episode a higher rating in the past is that there really isn't anything much more than character and story development in this episode. No aliens or monsters or paranormal unless you count the two scenes with G. Owens R.N. the guardian angel. However I do think that the story development and dramatic elements were quite well presented and lately have grown to appreciate these elements a lot more.
After rewatching this there are a lot of things that I overlooked that have heightened my opinion of the episode. I love the scenes with Agent Scully's sister Melissa where she calls Mulder by his first name. Interesting how so many of the women in Mulder's lives tended to be as "spooky" as him but he ended up with the only one that wasn't. The confrontation between Mulder and X in the hospital garage was also great. The scene with Skinner telling Mulder about being in the Vietnam war was a wonderfully acted scene on Mitch Pileggi's part and I think this led into using him as a more main character other than occasional guest star. I also have always liked the way that David Duchovny does his crying scenes and the one in this episode was great. I felt that I could understand how he felt because I have had similar break down moments. Finally, I love the confrontation of Mulder and the Cigarette Smoking Man in his apartment. I love how Mulder completely owns him yelling "Shut up! Tonight I'm asking the questions!" and then slaps the cigarette out of his pompous mouth. The look on CSM's face at that moment is priceless. And then right after that CSM is able to completely manipulate Mulder by calling him on his own guilt for what happened to Scully. This just shows how good CSM is at manipulating people into doing what he wants them to do. What a great bad guy!
All in all after viewing this with a more open mind I have realized that even though I didn't like this episode on first view it really does have some wonderful moments that are very important to the mythology. Unfortunately I think the episode is just presented wrong. I have to give this episode an 7 out of 10.
helpful•2213
- Sanpaco13
- Mar 5, 2007
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