Directed by Michael Katleman. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong.

RATING:  **1/2

A pair of crooks attack Lauren Kyte (Lisa Waltz) at an ATM machine, and within a couple of hours, their corpses are located on a fire escape of an abandoned building. An autopsy reveals that the throats of the two men have been crushed, seemingly from the inside, and both have a high level of electrostatic charge. Mulder tells Scully that psychokinetic manipulation may be responsible. After seeing the two men confront Lauren on the ATM's security camera, the agents meet the woman, who denies knowing either man. Immediately after talking with her, Mulder and Scully's car starts by itself and reverses into another car. Turns out the two dead men were members of a terrorist group, and it appears they were both killed by the protective spirit of Lauren's deceased boss, but she's still very much in danger.

The first episode in the series to deal with ghostly matters, 'Shadows' isn't bad but never really fires. It's not surprisingly considering that scripters Wong and Morgan intended it to be rather blah, not appreciating the network's demands placed on them to deliver a poltergeist story. The story is a touch too obvious and unbelievable from the get go. There's a pair of mysterious government operatives (Veena Sood and Deryl Hayes) that are annoyingly tight lipped and serve no purpose other than letting the audience know that this must be a high stakes case. Waltz is sympathetic enough as Lauren, but veteran actor Barry Primus is forgettable as her second boss, who's supposed to be the big heavy. Director Katleman deserves credit however for putting together some sharp set pieces (though the pre-credits sequence is bland), most notably a dynamite third act in which two more Lauren attackers are harshly dealt with by the supernatural entity; The FX, cinematography, editing and directing are all tip-top. It's moments like this that keep 'Shadows' from falling flat.

Directed by Jerrold Freedman. Written by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon.

RATING: **1/2

Mulder runs into former partner Jerry Lamana (Wayne Duvall), who tells him about a fresh case: the CEO of the Eurisko World company, Benjamin Drake, was killed in his office, electrocuted. Lamana's requests Mulder's assistance for his own personal reasons, and Mulder is well aware of them. Nevertheless, he agrees to investigate. Mulder and Scully go to the Euriska headquarters, and immediately become temporarily trapped in the elevator. Soon they learn that Drake was about to terminate the building's ultra-high tech computer program, the Central Operating System, and while the death is blamed on the systems developer, Steven Wilczek (Rob LaBelle)...but Mulder believes that his technological creation is behind the crime.

Another adequate installment thats engaging enough yet not especially memorable. The cold, sterile mechanical environment where most of the story takes place is convincing, and the don't-trust-technology scenario works well, despite that it's been done many times. This episode reminds one of the made for TV movie The Tower starring Paul Reiser, which used a very similar premise. Duvall's turn as Lamana pretty much does what Donal Logue did several weeks earlier in 'Squeeze', as both men quickly show themselves to be opportunistic jerks at the expense of their friendships with either of the leads. Deep Throat's second appearance of the season is even more throw-away than the first, and does seem a little tacked on. There's not a lot of activity here until the last ten minutes when Mulder and Scully invade the building to shut down the COS and the latter faces considerable peril, and ends with a 2001 tribute.

Howard Gordon on 'Ghost In The Machine': "It really isn't as bad as I made it out to be, although it's certainly not my favorite. Ironically, the night after it reran, I was coming into work, and on NPR, there was a discussion of artificial intelligence. The expert was citing 'Ghost In The Machine', so I thought, 'Well, if some professor of artificial intelligence sat down and watched it and actually referred to it admiringly, it can't be all bad!' "

Directed by David Nutter. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong.

RATING: ***1/2

The Arctic Ice Core Project in Alaska has erupted in violence, and everyone has been killed. Mulder and Scully view a video tape in which two of the project workers pull guns on each other, and oddly calm, shoot. The mass killings occurred following the project drilling to a world record depth a week earlier. Wanting to know what went down there, Mulder and Scully hook up with geology professor Dr. Denny Murphy (Steve Hynter), toxicologist Dr. Nancy Da Silva (Felicity Huffman), physician Dr. Hodge (Xander Berkeley) and pilot Bear (Jeff Kober), and together travel to the site. Soon after they arrive, they discover a strange, single-celled worm-like creature that quickly infects Bear and causes him to turn hostile. It's established that the worm creatures get under peoples skins, and are able to influence their actions, yet at the same time they at odds with others of their kind. When it appears as if another of the group has been invaded by the worm, suspicion then falls on Mulder.

Here's a rarity for any TV show or movie...a blatant rip-off that's damn good. Make no mistake, 'Ice' does steal the premise and smaller plot points from John W. Campbell's novel Who Goes There?, and it's two screen adaptations...The Thing From Another World, and especially, John Carpenter's The Thing (Oddly enough, Carpenter's flick screened on TV the night I rewatched this episode). Granted, Carter and company would probably say their show was 'inspired' by those projects, not 'ripped off'. But it doesn't matter either way. What they've put together is one of the season highlights. From the memorable 'We're not who we are' opening to the nail biting finale, this one doesn't falter.

Most of the credit must go to director Nutter, who generates plenty of suspense and delivers a strong atmosphere of mistrust amongst the characters. This is Nutter's first job on the series, and he would go on to helm some other stunners, most notably 'Tooms', 'Beyond The Sea' and 'Clyde Bruckmans Final Repose'. There's several thrilling standoffs, the best of which is between Mulder and Scully themselves. The guest cast is intriguing, and of a high quality, including Seinfeld's recurring Hynter, Terminator 2's Berkeley, China Beach's Kober and Huffman, who went on to do terrific work in Aaron Sorkin's marvelous, highbrow comedy SportsNight. Although this is intense show, there is still room for a few comic moments involving Hynter...though Mulder gets the biggest laugh with an erection joke (!). The worm FX are extremely creepy and effective, and there's a (un)healthy supply of blood on display.

James Wong on 'Ice': "Our shows were going over budget and we needed to do a show that was more contained. There was an article in a science magazine that said they were drilling down in Greenland to get to the ice cores. We thought, 'That's perfect. What if we do that?' Because it's the FBI, we decided to set it in Alaska to get jurisdiction." 

Directed by William Graham. Written by Chris Carter.

RATING: **

Our heroes are contacted by Michelle Genero (Susanna Thompson), a technician for NASA, who believes that someone may be attempting to sabotage the latest space shuttle launch. Mulder is excited by this case as he's been a fan of the space program all his life, and a fan of Colonel Martin Belt (Ed Lauter), a former astronaut who's running mission control. Despite the potential danger, the shuttle launch still goes as planned. But soon after take off, the crew finds themselves in grave danger, and those back on Earth must scrabble to find a way to bring them back down. But what's truly responsible for the mayhem could be a mysterious space entity that resides inside Belt after his an aborted space walk back in the 70s.

'Space' is a real mixed bag, juggling good ideas with some dull patches and hokeyness. The most surprising thing is how little Mulder and Scully get to do. They spend a good deal of the show basically just sitting on the sidelines watching all the NASA folks do their thing. Then again, it does make sense considering where they are. Scully is pretty much irrelevant throughout, although Mulder has some good material has shows his enthusiasm for space exploration and his childhood hero worship of Belt. Veteran character actor Lauter (whose appeared in such movies as Cujo, Leaving Las Vegas and Thirteen Days, and a cool unbilled cameo as the police boss in True Romance) brings his usual sternness to Belt and Thompson is likeable as his coworker/lover. The script incorporates real life events...such as that creepy face on Mars photo that gained fame in the early 90s. It also uses the Challenger disaster as part of the back story...which doesn't really sit right with me. The ghostly space creature is never really convincing, nor does it ever make sense. Plus near the end, Mulder, Scully, Michelle and two paramedics witness the creature possessing Belt, yet only Mulder seems to acknowledge it.

In the end, the undeveloped material and unanswered questions help this one from doing more than just taking up space.

Directed by Larry Shaw. Written by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa.

RATING: ***

Deep Throat involves Mulder that a UFO has crash landed in Townsend, Wisconsin, and the area has been taken over by Operation Falcon, a government retrieval squad. Mulder makes it into the crash site to take pictures, but is quickly captured and taken before Falcon's leader, Commander Henderson (Marshall Bell, veteran of cool stuff like Total Recall). While in custody Mulder meets Max Fenig (Scott Bellis), a UFO freak who was also caught by the soldiers. The next morning, Mulder is released, and picked up by a disappointed Scully. Supposedly the security is for a downed Libyan plane containing a nuclear weapon, but Mulder is convinced otherwise, and Fenig has information to back up the UFO scenario, and may himself by the cause of it all. Plus something is attacking various people around the site, leaving them with extreme burns...or dead.

One of the better UFO-related installments of the season, benefiting no end from the fast pace and sense of urgency others lacked. Immediately the action gets rolling, and Gordon and Gansa's script keeps pulling off compelling twists and turns every few minutes. The character of Fenig is a terrific one, and more than a plot device. He's the center of the episode, and Bellis is up to the task, making the character funny, tragic and fascinating. This show also introduces Frederick Coffin as Section Chief McGrath, who seemed as if would take over the disapproving boss gig from Blevins, but it didn't happen. Then again, if he did, we may not have had a character by the name of Walter Skinner. The surprising final scene involving McGrath and Deep Throat throws some doubt on the latter's intentions. Shaw's direction is strong, and he gives us a terrific, unnerving scene where a group of Falcon's operatives are attacked by an unseen assailant; this sequence is heightened by great Mark Snow scoring.

Chris Carter on 'Fallen Angel': "[An] important element in "Fallen Angel," was the invisible alien being. I've always believed that what you don't see is scarier than what you do see. And we've always wanted to avoid the 'monster of the week' syndrome. The translucent force field in "Fallen Angel," is much more malevolent than something that has a fangs or a fur coat or a waggly tail. This episode also contains an important narrative element. When Scully comes to Mulder and says "They're going to shut us down," the idea that the X-Files projects can be terminated from above at any time resonates from that moment forward, a critical part of the narrative tension."