Imagine living in a place forever encompassed by darkness and gloom. It could be the setting of any X-File - it's also the world a blind person lives in. Only the blind person in this X-File's world wasn't always so dim. Sometimes things got a little clearer for her, and she got to escape from the dark void she had known all her life. Unfortunately, her release from blindness proved less than liberating. It would have been unpleasant for anyone, unless, of course, you like looking through the eyes of serial killer.

First things first - thank you Tim Minear! This episode was awesome! In my opinion, it was one of the best stand alone X-Files of season five. I wasn't really sure what to expect from 'ol Timmy, since the sole extent of his work we've seen is his partial credit on "Kitsunegari." I was delighted and surprised to view the results of his first solo effort. "Mind's Eye" was witty, suspenseful, and original. The dialogue was good, and remained that way throughout the entire episode. Some X-Files start out interesting, and then go downhill after about fifteen minutes, but such was not the case in "Mind's Eye." It had me hooked the entire hour. Sure, Mr. Minear might have thrown in one too many corny OJ Simpson jokes ("Somewhere, Marsha Clark is weeping"), but the overall result was a classic, great X-File.

Another thing that made this a outstanding X-File was the character development. Scully didn't have too much time onscreen, spending most of the episode in the role of Watson, but "Mind's Eye" proved especially fruitful for Mulder's growth. He really seemed back to his old self again - interested in his work, witty, and more importantly, a believer. Such a switch from "Patient 'X'", only three episodes ago! He even scoffed at the notion of being a skeptic when the detective referred to him as such. In Marty, Mulder found a case he was finally able to sink his teeth into, putting both his old profiling skills and long unused fraternal capacity to work. As with Lucy in "Oubliette", I think Marty in some ways represented Samantha to Mulder. His efforts to help her may have been in part an effort to help a sister he never really got to know. Whatever his reasons behind the compassion he felt for Marty, though, I'm glad it was there. It allowed Mulder to grow, and let David Duchovny show us that he still cares about his role, giving us one of his most heart-felt performances of the season.

"I've been called a lot of things. Skeptical, however, is not one of them. *scoff* Skeptical..."

Marty was a fascinating character. This is because the actress who played her, Lili Taylor, made her real, and made her interesting. A character is simply a set of lines and actions on a script. It is up to the actor to bring them to life. This is one of the main things I'll miss when the show moves down to Los Angeles - good acting, but with unknown faces. That element of the show is what makes it seem so believable, instilling a sense of authenticity in what is most often a fantastic plot. Vancouver has been able to provide that. It's also provided great locations for The X-Files, from spooky forests to downtown locales to coastal villas. The mood of the show is directly proportional to these locations. The crew that pulls this all off every week is also based in Vancouver. Things like the subtle use of lighting seen in "Mind's Eye" have been perfected by the Vancouver crew. I don't know if a new crew in LA will be able to do this, but I do know one thing. Next year, The X-Files won't be the same show that premiered in 1993. It will change, it has to, it just remains to be seen whether that change will be good or bad, red or black.

"Let me guess. Your killer is OJ Simpson."

As I said before, I thought the dialogue in this episode was superb. One of the things I like best about The X-Files is its excellence in quick, witty, and interesting back and forth between its characters. Tim Minear managed to throw in many little ironic turns of phrase throughout the episode, such as having Marty, a blind woman reply "I'm all ears." Plot is also a big factor in this show. "Mind's Eye" had both of these things, with great acting and effects to boot. It also raised some interesting questions relating to law and personal ethics. What is classified as self-defense? Can a person be convicted of murder even if they know the person they killed most likely would have tried to kill them? I also wonder if it was worth it for Marty to get "unhooked" from her father's visions if that meant going to jail. Surprisingly, it did seem to be worth it for her. It makes you wonder what her life had been like up to that point, though, if a life in jail was better than a life of seeing through someone else's eyes.

Alas, everything was not perfect. I had a few qualms with parts of this episode. First and foremost I felt it definitely lacked in Mulder/Scully interaction. Scully was barely in this episode at all. Can't the writers find a way to give both Mulder and Scully equal roles? This season we've had Mulder episodes, and Scully episodes, but very rarely have we had an episode that utilized both. I think that's very short-sighted, since one of the main reasons behind the success of this show is the chemistry between its two main characters. And if they're not together, how will we ever get that? There were also a few other plot discrepancies that raised my eyebrow in the course of this episode. What are the chances that Scully, after searching the bathroom for about five minutes, would find a glove that an entire police force who turned the bathroom "upside down and inside out" missed? And all this while talking on a cellular phone! Another thing that struck me as odd is that no one thought to check Marty's background until about three-quarters of the way into the show. Weren't they curious as to what she had been doing all her life, and was her history was? I can't believe Mulder didn't think to do this earlier. He is after all a trained psychological profiler. What'd he spend all his time in Oxford doing? Oh right. Phoebe.

I was also very surprised to see Marty recognize herself so quickly when seeing herself through her father's eyes. I suppose she could have deduced it after a few minutes (a woman in a parking lot being hauled around by policemen...that must be me!), but her reaction was instantaneous. I found that odd for a woman who'd never seen her reflection in a mirror. It does raise an interesting question, though - does everyone have an image of themselves stored subconsciously somewhere in the brain? Maybe everyone has a mind's eye. One last grievance - this episode had a tad too much blood in it for my liking. Blood all over the bathroom, blood in the slides, blood in the dumpster... *shudder* Good thing my name isn't Ed Funsch! Then I might have been a little more agitated by this continual show of carnage. ;-)

"I will personally guarantee your safety."

I don't know about you, but to me, this line is as good as a death sentence. Needless to say, I was quite worried when the detective said this to to Marty. That, coupled with the sad music and sinking feeling I got when Marty said "I can end this" led me to believe this episode would have a tragic ending. You can thus imagine my relief when my fears were wrong, and we got a happy, heart-warming ending for once...well, sort of. Yes, Marty had to go to jail, but at least she had rid herself of her father's visions. If nothing else, she had found peace at last. And that's all anyone can want.

"I'd never seen the ocean before. Now, when I close my eyes, that's all I see."