"The X-Files" Recap: "Home Again"

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Horror is always at its best when it gives life to the most mundane parts of our day and makes them chilling and creepy. I say that because we've all been there after seeing the right kind of scary movie or television episode. You know what I'm talking about, where you go to do something simple later on and instantly recall that eerie moment you saw on screen and feel a shiver run down your spine. 

One show that's always been solid at making that happen is The X-Files and this week's episode, "Home Again" decided it was high time to give us something routine to fear once again, while at the same time...taking us deep into Scully's mind and emotions in powerful fashion. In fact, the contrast of this episode took me off guard in a good way to be honest...but I was not expecting a mix of horror and genuine emotion but as always the show managed to deliver on both fronts in what turned out to be another freak of the week episode. 

This go round the scares came in impressive fashion from a being known as The Band-Aid Nose Man. While that name may make you snicker at its over-the-top-ness, his presentation was in no way as hilarious as his name. This creature was a defender of the homeless and well...as gross as they come. He reeked of garbage and oozed green goo but what matters...is that he was terrifying. He always arrived by way of a garbage truck, appearing from the back of it and what was equally more impressive was the fact he could tear his victims in half with a flick of his wrist. Every single moment this guy was on screen was handled in creepy fashion as he appeared from the shadows of darkness to avenge people who cannot fight back and he was at his core a vintage X-Files monster. I love the fact he more or less is a product of imagination willed to life and I love the fact we never quite know if he is gone for good or not. 

But as I mentioned before there was an emotional side to the story as well by way of Scully and the surprising storyline of her mother's death. This was a well done piece of storytelling as we watched Dana do her best to be the anchor for her family, and herself really as her mother's health slipped away following a major heart attack, and well, I was quite surprised to see the unflappable Scully be broken down by this event. I don't mean that in a bad way, losing a loved one is a horrible thing, but to see Scully demand to go back to work, and to see how this moment begins to put her life and her choices into perspective was powerful stuff. Kudos to Gillian Anderson for delivering an incredible performance along the way, but one has to wonder now...is Mulder and Scully's son William going to reappear on the show? 

After all this is the second time now that their estranged son has taken center stage and those little moments where Scully saw "William" on her phone before realizing it was someone else, and her long talk with Mulder makes me wonder now if their son is going to pop up in the season finale in a couple of weeks as the conspiracy brews in the background of the story. Either way, I really did enjoy this episode. It's not the strongest that season ten has offered up to us, but my gut is telling me the Scully storyline was super important and while it may not have advanced the conspiracy storyline, it sure was a lot of fun seeing a creepy as hell monster return to the show's center stage and I know that from now on, I'll never hear the song "Downtown" the same ever again, or trust seeing a garbage truck driving around in the middle of the night. Until next time.

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