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The further we move from the events of the season opener the easier it becomes to slip into the familiar confines of the X-Files everyday cases (if astral projection can be thought of as a familiar confine). Sure, some of us miss the excitement around the conspiracy related episodes, but those will be back soon enough. In the meantime if we consider episodes such as "The Walk" on their own merits we find a good X-File well told.
I know that I have mentioned this before (that never stops me from
mentioning it again
For those Scully naysayers who insist on whining the tired old refrains of "why is she always so skeptical?" or "she never changes" this episode highlights the subtle shift we have seen in her character. The old Dana Scully was concerned about putting off local authorities - the new Scully has barely concealed disdain for the military at this point (despite being raised in a military family herself) to the point of actually saying "whatever" to a captain. The old Scully would argue with Mulder over his conspiracy theories - the new Scully offers up her own about the government's use of biological weapons in the gulf war. This shift in approach highlights the change/growth in her character.
If I have a complaint about this episode it would probably be that it seemed to run out of steam a bit at the end (despite all the steam on the screen). I even felt like they were stretching shots to fill the episode time when the time could have been better spent (for instance giving us a few more clues on just what Mulder was doing with all his little dental X-rays).
The Mulder/Scully interaction has always been one of my personal favorite things about the show, and I couldn't help but laugh that now they're passing notes to each other. (Apparently they haven't yet perfected the raised eyebrow combination that means "post traumatic stress syndrome" in their silent communication repertoire). They even have shorthand versions of their arguments now (which they do have down to looks for the most part). Now Scully only needs to whisper "Mulder" and we hear her whole speech resounding in the room between them.
-Fun time for the makeup folks. What a way to try to kill yourself - boiling. That was a tactical error.
-Thank God they worked the bugs in. This is apparently the new theme for the X-Files in season 3. I guess season 2's amphibians/reptile theme is now passe'.
-I thought the glowing flag behind the general was a really cool visual effect.
-The black actor in the beginning was a "Shadows" retread.
Autumn
"Not as worked up as I'm gonna be"