Within: Off the Top of My Head (SPOILERS) What I liked: - The teaser. Creepy, yucky, and nice to get the continuity with the hospital scene from the end of "Requiem." - Scully staring at herself in the mirror before going in to work. Just by the look on her face, GA radiated an incredible combination of anguish and determination. - I liked her walking down the hall at the FBI on her way to Mulder's office, too -- God, is that woman strong -- except that I wish whomever dresses GA as Scully would button one more button on her blouses. - Scully's first meeting with Doggett. I was scared there for a second that she was buying that crap, but I loved her "theory" and loved how she told Doggett to go to hell without saying the words. Yay Scully! - Scully falling asleep on Mulder's bed, clutching his shirt. But you knew I would like that, right? It could have only been better if she had held it up to her face, trying to smell Mulder on the shirt. But maybe that's just me. - Skinner wanting to stand firm and not sell out Mulder. Tonight I love this man. Just don't let me down the rest of the season, Walter. - Scully staring at that headstone, trying her damnedest to sort out everything that's been thrown at her. It's amazing what GA did in this ep without words. - Was it my imagination, or did Gibson have a hairless scar going across the top of his head? Nice continuity there. - Can I possibly say enough about GA's performance in this ep? No, I didn't think I can. What I didn't like: - The cross around Scully's neck. You've probably already heard me rant about this in other posts. There's no doubt in my mind that Mulder was wearing that cross at the end of "Requiem." No amount of posturing by CC/1013 will convince me otherwise. - Doggett's accent. What the hell *is* that? There were moments when it sounded like a bad attempt at Brooklynese. ::shudders:: - Skinner's first scene with the Gunmen. It came across to me as stilted and overacted. - Lack of hair continuity. I liked that Scully had bedhead when she woke up in Mulder's apartment, but during her conversation with Doggett her hair magically smoothed out, then got mussed again. - The whole "whoops I should have had a V8" realization that Gibson might be involved. Apparently he's been in this school in Arizona for a while -- a child that disappeared while in the custody of the FBI -- and his name never came up on anybody's radar before now? - Speaking of the Gibson Praise angle, why wasn't Doggett wondering where the hell that Gibson file came from that was slipped under his door? - The roomful of agents laughing at Mulder's conclusions in the Gibson Praise case was definitely overdone. And didn't Doggett have access to tests that Diana Fowley did that showed evidence that Gibson could read minds? I guess it wouldn't do to show that another agent had been thinking along the same lines as Mulder. What's got me puzzled: - Why didn't Scully go to Oregon, where Mulder was last seen? Or if she did, why wasn't it mentioned? - Scully referring to the basement office as "Mulder's office." Hey, 1013, could you please show us *Scully's* office if she does, in fact, have one of her own? - So Doggett had already gone through Mulder's apartment before Scully got there. Wouldn't he have needed a warrant for that kind of thing? I guess professional courtesy really has gone out the window. - How did Doggett have Mulder's notes on Gibson Praise if supposedly all of the Gibson Praise files had been stolen? - What route did someone have in mind in having a DC-to-Raleigh roundtrip take 375 miles? According to mapquest.com, it's about 260 miles each way. - Why is Teena Mulder buried in Raleigh? And why is the name of her ex-husband, who was buried in Boston, on the same stone? - Did Doggett really follow those footprints without getting backup? Etc.: - The new opening. Hmmm. I cringed at RP's photo, as I expected. I keep telling myself that, for the place his character is supposed to have, he's supposed to be prominent in the credits. ::sigh:: But I don't have to like it. I sorta wish they had kept the old photos of Mulder and Scully so the change wouldn't be quite so dramatic. And the "falling Mulder"... I'm not sure what I think of that. Now that I think about it, I realize that watching Mulder fall like that reminds me of something I saw in a Dilbert book. Maybe that's what's bugging me -- I don't really want to think of Mulder as a dorky guy with a tie that won't stay down. - The verdict is still out on Doggett for me. I thought Robert Patrick was trying too hard in some spots, but the character seemed OK for what it's trying to achieve. I don't think I'll ever like him 1/1,000th as much as I adore Mulder, but I suppose it's some kind of a victory that I got to the end of the ep without despising him. - Whatever DD is being paid, it ain't enough for what he went through in the torture scenes. - I was very pleased with this ep until the Gibson Praise business started. I hope that part of the plot is handled more satisfactorily next week. The teaser looked promising, so I ended the ep in a positive frame of mind.