A lot of people know how it feels to be in a situation that has such an impact on your life that you want to somehow commemorate it. It may be as a reminder of how good a time you had in your happiest moments alive, or something that constantly tells you not to make the same mistakes again and learn from them. However, it's rare that the things you do to commemorate it actually ends up trying to kill you or tell you to kill others. I know a lot of people who got a tattoo as a reactionary thing, but never anyone who was then inspired to go and kill someone because of it. However, since it is "The X-Files," it would be reasonable to suggest that such a thing could happen and would be the basis of an episode, and maybe even one written by series veterans Glen Morgan and James Wong. And this is an episode that continues to give a little more focus to Scully and work on her character, giving David Duchovny a backseat, in a story that is directly influenced by things she learned about herself earlier, which might have given her impulses to explore a new side.
Apparently, this episode was originally supposed to air before the "Leonard Betts" episode, which would have been a fatal mistake. It would have definitely put a lid on Scully's motivations here, and it would have made her feel very out-of-character. However, with that decision in place, the cancer reveal in the previous episode primarily serves as the basis for her more human approach this time, which is a perfect way to give us some of Scully's darker impulses and it provides a nice clean pallet for a character who has been very by-the-books so far, and gives her some edge.
It also provides some of Gillian Anderson's most interesting work as this character in a while. She has some very good emotional moments in the previous episodes, but she is given an onslaught of those moments here, in particular a scene where she gets a tattoo, which may have actually been the most emotionally resonant moment of the episode. She's a great actress and can do a lot more than what she's allowed to on the show, so it's nice to see that they're giving her a good trajectory like this, allowing for more emotions to finally emanate from her.
The episode was originally supposed to be directed by Quentin Tarantino, but Rob Bowman ended up helming it, and he gives the show some much-needed flare in an episode that is darker in terms of its lighting than usual, but also has some very impressive cinematography, utilizing long shots that often take us between many different rooms and up and down apartment stairs, really giving us a rollercoaster ride through the filmmaking. It's nice to see show switch up the style sometimes and give us these interesting rides instead of doing the same old, same old for every single episode.
"Never Again" is a great Scully-centric episode that wonderfully works off of the development that she went through last episode and Anderson truly shines through. It's a darker depiction of the character, but it's one that truly shows her as a real human being and not as the classic suit-wearing agent that we've been following.
Apparently, this episode was originally supposed to air before the "Leonard Betts" episode, which would have been a fatal mistake. It would have definitely put a lid on Scully's motivations here, and it would have made her feel very out-of-character. However, with that decision in place, the cancer reveal in the previous episode primarily serves as the basis for her more human approach this time, which is a perfect way to give us some of Scully's darker impulses and it provides a nice clean pallet for a character who has been very by-the-books so far, and gives her some edge.
It also provides some of Gillian Anderson's most interesting work as this character in a while. She has some very good emotional moments in the previous episodes, but she is given an onslaught of those moments here, in particular a scene where she gets a tattoo, which may have actually been the most emotionally resonant moment of the episode. She's a great actress and can do a lot more than what she's allowed to on the show, so it's nice to see that they're giving her a good trajectory like this, allowing for more emotions to finally emanate from her.
The episode was originally supposed to be directed by Quentin Tarantino, but Rob Bowman ended up helming it, and he gives the show some much-needed flare in an episode that is darker in terms of its lighting than usual, but also has some very impressive cinematography, utilizing long shots that often take us between many different rooms and up and down apartment stairs, really giving us a rollercoaster ride through the filmmaking. It's nice to see show switch up the style sometimes and give us these interesting rides instead of doing the same old, same old for every single episode.
"Never Again" is a great Scully-centric episode that wonderfully works off of the development that she went through last episode and Anderson truly shines through. It's a darker depiction of the character, but it's one that truly shows her as a real human being and not as the classic suit-wearing agent that we've been following.