For every aspect that failed in the first episode, this one succeeds. The script is better, the plot is more engaging, the characters feel like themselves. There's actual effort here and it pays off big time.
The plot is fairly straight-forward, as Mulder and Scully find themselves under siege and forced on the run, but it gradually becomes more complex as the episode progresses. There is a shadowy group of people involved, but it somehow manages to feel fresh. You'd think after the syndicate, that this wouldn't work anymore, but the episode managed to pull it off.
While this is largely a stand alone, it does make some subtle nods to the show's ongoing plot. The impending apocalypse is a factor to an extent. We also have the return of Langly..sort of. Even Deep Throat gets a mention. It was a nice touch, as I was a big fan of that character. It would have been awesome to see him appear in a similar capacity, but just the mention was appreciated.
Langly's return was pretty well done. They didn't have to back pedal or really retcon anything, which really helped. It's not even really a poltergeist situation either. I won't go too deep into spoilers, but I will say that Ross does bring up the concept on an episode of "Friends". On top of that, the scrambled "voice messages" did add a sort of creepy air to the episode. Mulder and Scully are nonchalant about it (I suppose after all they've seen, it makes sense that they'd shrug it off) but I think it would be rather unnerving.
Where the last episode had Mulder and Scully going through the motions, this episode actually puts them to good use. We get to see some impressive fights and shoot outs and the two exchange some pretty entertaining banter. The muffin bit was kind of classic. It doesn't all land, hearing Mulder refer to Scully as "adorbs" seemed a bit forced, but when you hear why he thought as such, it helps salvage the line a little.
Erika Price, while only appearing in one scene, made a pretty solid impression. She has some gravitas and her pitch to Mulder was one of the highlights of the episode. A part of me isn't sure what else could be done with her, but it seems like she could be a good successor to smoking man. While he's, sadly, over-stayed his welcome; she has a new feel that could bring new energy to the show. She also benefits from having a clear objective. Like most of the more complex villains, she believes her actions are in the right, so the show can play with that if they decide to go further with this.
All in all, the episode was well balanced and quite a bit of fun. It never dragged and it felt like a return to form for the franchise. It managed to strike a balance between telling a small, character driven story, while also touching on some of the bigger, global elements that the show's plot has tried to tackle. It does a much better job of adding scope than any of the "struggles". Hopefully, the season is able to take the momentum from this and run with it. I'm all for more episodes that are as well put together as this one.
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