By Kaylynn Kasandra
I liked seeing a glimpse into the of history Skinner in this episode. It was interesting to see his first exposure to what would be considered an X-file. It isn’t surprising at all to see that Skinner would once again put himself at risk because of a personal connection. I was sad to see that in all the trauma Skinner experienced during his time in Vietnam it seemed the worst was because of his best friend. What wasn’t surprising to me was to see that said friend was driven to insanity by an experimental war gas.
We have spoken before on the show about some of the conspiracies our government may be behind. One of the main themes of these conspiracies seems to be mind control. It would make sense that if the government wanted to perfect such a thing it would be best tested in a warzone. It is a little easier for them to justify experimenting on our enemies than our own citizens I’m sure. And as government property, soldiers who have been caught in the crossfire are then easily controlled.
Having been such a young age when Skinner enlisted, it was easy for him to get a sour taste in his mouth towards the government from this. And it seems that’s exactly what happened. I’m just glad that he made a vow to himself to make it right rather than letting it drive him crazy. And what better way to fix things than to infiltrate the government by working for one of its agencies? It’s quite smart. It seems that we all have our hidden motivation behind what really pushes us. It’s just a shame that Skinner’s loyalties are what are preventing him from moving up in the FBI.
I just can’t believe that Skinner’s friend had unwittingly made his hometown a target. It seemed as though his time being used as an experiment at the government mental hospital wasn’t enough. He, along with the veterans that had been at the same facility, didn’t have the best outcome to life. Perhaps being so vocal about the gas and what it had caused them to see wasn’t the best move for them. It’s easy to say that the widespread panic in the town over-seeing monsters was actually mass hysteria stemming from shared paranoia. Little did the town folk know they were actually being gassed themselves.
Skinner killed the only guy who was actually onto the gassing too. Not a great move. It’s hard for me to say if he did that on purpose or not. Part of me still doesn’t want to trust Skinner. It would be so easy to pretend to be blind to the government’s control over the town. I wouldn’t be surprised if the smoking man had something to do with that too. And as we have seen, they have been canoodling so... Like I said, it’s hard for me to fully trust Skinner. If he wants to play Mulder and Scully in the long run he would want them to trust he is their one true ally in the FBI, wouldn’t he? I mean shoot; If the smoking man has a big plan involving the demise of Mulder who better to get close enough to make it happen? It’s clear that Scully wants to trust him. And you can’t blame her, they all have a long history.
I’m just hoping I’m wrong about this and Skinner is a good guy and isn’t playing both sides. I guess I’ll have to wait to see.
Written by Kaylynn Kasandra. Awkward hippie who enjoys helping people, creating things, reading, sci-fi, fantasy, and Thor. Find more from her at http://www.youtube.com/c/tiedyesmurf