While not the most riveting episode to date, this was one of the more solid ones. It contained nothing over(t)ly embarrassing and it (strongly) relayed a message without being too heavy-handed. It was ambiguous and open-ended, yet had a satisfying conclusion. It was also sad. This is the type of story where you wish you could step into the story and talk to a character. It may be that what transpired in this yarn could've been avoided. The antagonist of this episode was behaving poorly, but they were also a victim. It was straight-forward, yet layered. Well done, for The X-Files. It did lean into a fantastical "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" vibe. A strong 6 to low 7.
A Vietnam war vet can make himself invisible. He goes on a revenge killing spree of military officers. Scully, Mulder and Skinner are assigned to protect them. Thought this was pretty dull.
Secondary characters in this episode: None
I like how this episode was woven together. It starts off with a bit of the climax, cuts to the intro theme, then shows the events leading up to that said climax. It also features the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall too.
Shout by WardVIP 8BlockedParentSpoilers2023-11-06T16:15:07Z
The episode is good and deals with serious subject matter, and should of got a better rating from me, if it wasn't for the utterly nonsensical ability of the villain.
They establish nothing supernatural is going on here, and the reason the guy can literally vanish from sight even though he's right in front of you, is because of some "trickery" that he learned from the Vietnam soldiers because they were good at hiding.
Utterly dumb idea. One of the most nonsensical abilities in the show.
All you had to do was establish some sort of idea of the Vietnamese doing experiments on soldiers. Or a Japanese enclave of Unit 451. That's how easy it is off the top of my head in seconds to turn a nonsensical episode into one that makes full sense and is interesting.
Ugh.