Scully sets out to retrieve her kidnapped baby from the cult which has abducted him, while Monica tries to ascertain whose side to play on at the FBI.

I would dearly like to rate this episode higher, but I can't bring myself to do it. Okay, so things are now a little clearer on how everything fits together, but other things are more confused. I'm with them on the fact that somehow the super-soldiers are actually aliens, but I'm not sure how killing Mulder will help things. Surely one man alone can't stop an invasion? And if Scully's child is destined to be the aliens' leader, why are they so desperate to get their hands on him now? Surely it'll be years before he grows up and can be of any use. More importantly, weren't there super-soldiers clustered round Scully when she gave birth? Surely they could have taken her child then.

We're still left with a lot of questions by the end of this. Where did the alien ship go? How long before Scully's baby is threatened again? When did most of the cast get religion, and how do Reyes, Scully, Follmer and Skinner all manage to find each other time and time again in a gigantic hospital?

We're also given a new and slightly troubling piece of information: that a voice was talking to Doggett while he was in his coma and was trying to tell him something. With all the metaphysical nonsense already running through this episode, it seems to be heading towards Scully having a final confrontation with God, who is really an alien and is after her baby so that he can take over the world. Haven't we gone a little far with this now, Mr Carter?

There's not enough action in this story; instead there's a little too much chasing about, crying and general failed attempts to acquire Scully's baby. The Lone Gunmen are made to look supremely inept, which does them a disservice, and a new Cancer Man is introduced. It's a shame that he's so obvious really, because in the first half of the story he said nothing and was constantly around. The fact that he's played by Alan Dale, aka Jim from Neighbours also makes him stick out like a sore thumb. Still, he does he a nicely sinister air about him, and I like the way the Kersh/Follmer question is finally answered at the end of the episode when we viewers find out which of the two we can trust and which we can't. I have high hopes for the season finale; I'm hoping it provides some closure, though, which I'm not entirely convinced it will. Still, we'll see...

***

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