What jasay said. This is a great non-shipper shipper episode. Really nails the M&S connection without all the cutesy "ooh, they might kiss!" stuff of, say, Small Potatoes (though I love SP) or the Millenium crossover.

…With an adorable pomeranian named Queequeg.

All right, it's next week.
Where's the Folie a Deux breakdown? I was all excited for that shit.

Actually, yeah. I remember watching this and thinking, "man, there's no pretty way out of this, is there?" And there isn't. Truthfully, I kind of felt like this was one of those poking-Scully-with-a-stick episodes. But a lovely write-up, Todd; makes me think I should watch it again and reconsider.

Also, the fact that Artie delivers the entire tirade while he's wearing that goofy fishing cap with the extra-long bill just adds to the genius.

I was at an internetless point in my life when season 5 originally aired, and I don't even remember the wedding ring - maybe I missed this episode first time around - but when I rewatched this series last year, I thought maybe this was a plant to lend more weight to Mimi Rogers' character at the end of the season. …

The 90s.
Looks like I'm going to be a lone voice, here, but I love Set the Twilight Reeling and Ecstasy. Yes, both are uneven. But what a bitchin guitar tone. That fucking distorted, growling bass that opens Ecstasy is just gorgeous. Riptide, The Adventurer, HookyWooky. Paranoia Key of E, Mad, Ecstasy, Modern…

When I was in my late teens, I heard Walk on the Wild Side in a Shoney's in Alabama. I still haven't fully recovered.

Bob Quine is the best guitar player to come out of that whole NYC punk scene, and I'll stand on Tom Verlaine's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

I love this one, too. Stupid Man. Fucking excellent.

The Truth!!
I'm with you on being bugged when Mulder talks about "The Truth" like it's a cheeseburger or an anvil or a pair of socks or something.

At this point in the series, it makes sense that, after having his wide-eyed belief trounced and still being treated like the fringe element, he'd be kind of a tool. But, yeah, he treats Scully like a total dick, and on Skyland Mountain, too. Maybe he's still mad about Luke Wilson.

Maybe I'm the only one, here, but when I rewatched these last year, I remember thinking that Mulder's brief conversion to "non-believer", especially in these episodes, was, well, believable. Because it wasn't so much that he suddenly tore down his "I Want to Believe" poster and put in for a transfer back to violent…

What do they call that little typewritten tagline at the bottom of the screen? I can't remember, but I love when Scully and Mulder are arguing over the name of the hotel and it gets deleted and rewritten. Such a great touch.

I thought this had something to do with Blade Runner.

…But, yeah, compared to, say, Leonard Betts, not that gross. Still. Some pretty gruesome ideas at play, there.

The Home hype started back in the day, when it was the first XF episode to come with a "viewer discretion" warning. The cold open originally had the sound of a crying baby, basically presenting that the brothers were burying the baby alive. The idea of burying an infant alive so disturbed people that, whenever it…

Having worked in the medical profession, I find it hard to believe that any legitimate doctor would "prescribe" heroin. Some opiate-based painkillers, maybe, but unchecked heroin use sounds pretty doubtful. As for Crohn's, from what I've read, part of Cobain's anguish came from the fact that no one could correctly…

Teena? Oh, for Pete's sake. She's clearly a "Nancy" or a "Frances."

Schizogeny is so bad I forgot it existed.