Last week's episode of the X-Files was quirky, comical and crazy. There was a lot of introspection done by Mulder. This week, there seems to be a flip, and it's Scully who is forced to think about her life in this episode, entitled "Home Again." It is most definitely more serious than last week, and this may have been the purpose of switching the order to avoid following up such a serious episode with silliness.
This X-Files opens up with a clean-up of homeless people going on. A sign that says,"You are responsible," is hung on the post, and then it gets sprayed away with all the homeless people in West Philly they are spraying. Joseph Cutler, one of the guys responsible for the homeless clean-up returns to his office. There is a shot of a soda can shaking on the ground outside. A garbage truck pulls up and leaves. Out of the darkness appears a guy. Cut to Cutler in his office talking on his phone. Mysterious guy with strange- looking, bare feet comes in and rips his arms out of the sockets, puts them in the back of the garbage truck and climbs in with them.
Aaron Dross called the Bureau. Scully and Mulder were called because "they handle the creepy cases." Mulder inserts his usual droll humor by commenting that the head was put in the wrong receptacle.
While checking out the scene, Scully gets a call, that first appears to her as "William," but then turns out to be her brother William(Bill) Scully Jr. He is letting her know that her mom is in the ICU after a heart attack. When she gets there, the nurse tells her that she was awake asking for Charlie before she fell into a coma. Scully tells the nurse that Charlie is her mother's estranged son.
Meanwhile, Mulder is looking for "The Bandaid Nose Man," who speaks for the homeless. After this monster takes a victim, a large artistic tag appears on the side of the building.When Mulder goes back to investigate, he looks up at the building where the art first appeared, and now it is gone.
Mulder finds a bandaid on the bottom of his shoe, and takes it for investigation at the lab. They can find no organic or inorganic material on the bandaid.
Two men have taken the mural down and are making plans to sell it- commenting that they will get rich on the backs of the homeless. The cart with the mural starts wiggling, and one guy goes to check it out. His buddy comes to find him. He finds him alright- dead with a black plastic bag on him. This guy is then torn apart with blood flying everywhere- splattering on the mural they were going to sell. As blood spatters, we find the signature, "Trash Man"
Back at the bedside of her mother, Scully finds a quarter on a necklace in her mother's belongings, with no apparent rhyme or reason to it. Scully is informed that her mother has changed her wishes to be kept on life support, so they proceed to extubate her.
Another victim, who tried to portray herself as having the best interest for the homeless, but just didn't want them to be near her school, well, she gets trash compacted in her house with her Keurig cups by the monster,while Petula Clark's "DownTown" plays in a sort of humorous, but creepy scene.
In an attempt to awaken her mom, Scully gets her brother Charlie on the phone. Her mother awakens after hearing his voice- long enough to look at Mulder, and say,"My son's name is William, too!" and she promptly dies. Her last words were about their child that they gave away. Scully is wondering why she said that.
Scully is ready to get right back into work. They follow the clues, which led them to following a kid to an abandoned building. They get him to lead them down to the TrashMan. Turning on their flashlights(which makes the glowing 'X' as their beams cross), they go on the hunt for TrashMan. They don't find a monster, but instead an artist who willed his art- a "tulpa" into existence. As TrashMan talks, Scully has flashbacks to their son, William, and how they gave him up. "You are responsible," says Scully(remember the sign at the beginning?). There begins the connection, as she sees how she feels responsible for the baby they created.
The three of them attempt to go save Landry, who is moving the homeless to an old hospital. They get there too late. He smells the stench and sees the ooze that's being dropped at all the murder scenes. He tries to escape the creature, but the bad guy has to get his comeuppance. Scully, Mulder and TrashMan arrive just in time to notice that the monster has just vanished.
Closing out the show, Scully gets to deeply reflect with Mulder about what she has realized- why her mom asked for Charlie- because she felt responsible for him, and that's why she mentioned William.
"I want to believe," she starts, "I need to believe that we didn't treat him like trash."
Two more episodes left in this miniseries. Is it leaving you thirsty for more? Will Scully and Mulder find their son and get the answers they are longing for? Leave your comments below!
