Sometimes the best episodes leave me with the fewest notes with which to write these reviews. This is because I get so wrapped up in the story I forget to observe more closely. Gethsemane is one those episodes. The episode grabs your attention right away when Scully is apparently identifying the body of Agent Mulder. The story then goes back in time and shows Scully recounting those events to some FBI committee. We are introduced to Michael Kritschgau, a federal Department of Defense employee who manages to cast doubt on Mulder's belief on the existence of extra-terrestrial beings. The revelations given by Kritschgau prove to be a turning point in the series for most of the next season. The one gripe I have with this episode is that six men have just been murdered on a mountainside, but the alien hasn't been stolen! The man Mulder is with smiles. Well, at least the important thing is still here. They then take off to perform the autopsy on the supposed alien. How insensitive of Mulder and the other two men! I know they weren't friends with these men, but come on! Other than that, I found the red/orange feel to the FBI committee interesting. I thought Mulder showed some genuine tears, and the scene transition from his face to Scully's was interesting. I don't know why, but it was cool. If you did not have any spoilers when first seeing it, then this cliffhanger has got to be the most powerful of the series, thinking that Mulder has just committed suicide. Gethsemane, like its name implies, shows us Mulder's sufferings as he realizes that everything he has believed in is a lie.
Review of Gethsemane
