‘The X-Files’ season 10, episode 4 review: Gillian Anderson shines in heartbreaking ‘Home Again’
Only a show like “The X-Files” can pull this off. One week ago, they were giving us the incredibly silly “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster,” a case involving Rhys Darby playing a monster who, occasionally, turned into a man and worked at a cell-phone store.
For Monday night’s “Home Again,” Scully had to cope with losing her mother Margaret, while at the same time also being given a very cold reminder of her own child with Mulder, the one she gave away for adoption in order to protect them. Those scenes with Scully desperately trying to give her mother a phone conversation from her estranged son Charlie were heartbreaking, and some of the best work Gillian Anderson has ever done. Also, it was heartbreaking to see her have to go back to work.
By the end of the episode, Scully figured out why her mother wanted to speak with Charlie: She wanted to ensure that he was okay, part of the responsibility of being a parent. Even though she couldn’t see him, she just wanted to know. That was the same message Margaret wanted to pass along to her before she died about William, which led to Scully’s painful admission in the closing minutes: She will never get the answers that she seeks much in the way Mulder might.
The only main issue that we had with the episode was that it feels almost like Chris Carter and the writers had two different things that they wanted to do: Tell something sentimental about Scully, and then a case that unfolded after Cutler’s murder. They had only six episodes, so they decided to throw both of them in here at the same time. It was just in seeing what Scully was going through, we didn’t really need the freakiness this week. Save that for more Were-Monsters. Grade: B+.
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