"Hellbound"

"I always said there's three kinds of people in the world- them who make things happen, them who watch things happen, and them who wonder what happened."
Originally Aired 1/27/02

The X-Files has encountered cases of reincarnation and past lives before, in Season 1's "Born Again" and Season 4's "The Field Where I Died." In this instance, the reincarnation plays out in a cycle, with everyone living and dying in the same loop. It's a pretty grim tale, continuing the recent trend of darker stories, which began with the eighth season.

When I had previously watched these Season 9 episodes, which is going on ten years now, as much as I liked the Doggett character, I hated his partnership with Reyes. It seemed unnecessary having 3 leads on the show, with Scully being their unofficial partner, and even worse is it seemed to shove Skinner further to the sidelines. What I appreciate now with a different perspective is that it has made a few of these episodes a little more intriguing. Doggett and Reyes actually put in solid investigating work, whereas Mulder would often leap to the source of the paranormal activity upon arriving on the crime. Adding more suspense to this story is that it appears that ex-cons attending a focus group are killing each other, so anyone could be the murderer. The skinned alive victims bump up the creep factor just a little bit further, putting this one in "classic" X-Files territory, as it does feel like a return to the early days of the series with their special effects and make-up work being outstanding.

The presence of law enforcement is a callback to the early days as well. Scully paying a visit to the retired detective from a similar series of murders, evokes the feeling from the Tooms murders in "Squeeze." They also twist the concept of Mulder and Scully's typical interactions with law enforcement by making this guy, Detective Van Allen, the actual murderer. Usually for Mulder and Scully, they'd just end up being an ignorant bumpkin for who hates their presence in the investigation.

I can't say this makes me like the character of Reyes more than I previously did, but I do like the use of her in these Season 9 episodes. I have the same feelings toward this week's episode, as "Hellbound" is a little better than my memory had led me to believe. It's not among the best episodes the series has to offer, but it is good enough for Season 9, and I'm ok with that.