Directed and written by Chris Carter.

RATING: ***1/2

Duane Barry (Steve Railsback) is a former FBI agent who claims to be a multiple alien abduction victim, and currently in a mental hospital. Suddenly he takes a gun and the FBI has a hostage situation to deal with. Krycek informs Mulder that they've been assigned to help negotiate the crisis, because Mulder will be the most likely to understands Barry's obsession with aliens. Mulder goes into confront him, while Krycek and Scully have discovered more down-to-Earth truths about the unstable Barry. Even when the hostage situation is cleanly resolved, things take unexpected turns as Scully learns of strange little metallic devices that were retrieved from Barry's body. And she soon after finds herself in grave danger when Barry escapes and decides to sacrifice someone else to his otherworldly kidnappers...

This is a hell of an episode that builds tremendous suspense thanks to a superior piece of writing by Carter. There's some excellent dramatic interplay going on, and not just involving Duchovny and Railsback. Pounder as agent Lucy Kazdin is utterly believable, tough yet non-cliched. Lea again makes his Krycek character engaging, although at this point we've already established that he's not the innocent he's pretending to be. The whole hostage scenario is done extremely well, and completely believable. Although the tension subsides when that part of the episode is done, what comes next is still very interesting...with a final scene that will definitely have viewers eagerly awaiting the second half of this story. What makes this episode even more impressive is that it's Carter's directing debut! He has an excellent eye for visual flair, and he and cinematographer John S. Bartley have done some of the best shots of the season. The scenes in which Barry is subjected to torture by the aliens is absolutely chilling, as is the pre-credits sequence in which a space ship hovers about his house. 'Duane Barry' was the break-out entry in terms of critic respect, as the following Emmy nominations will attest. It was up for Guest Actress (CCH Pounder), Writing, Single Camera Production Editing and Sound Editing.

Pointless foot note: While re-watching this episode and writing this summary, I was hit by a pretty big earthquake. The other night I was watching the sixth season episode 'Drive', and my curtains fell down. Spooky!

Chris Carter on 'Duane Barry': 'Almost everything went right with it. I had the great fortune of casting Steve Railsback as my guest star. He was a dream to work with. If I would have cast a more difficult actor or a less experienced one, I would not have been as successful as I was with the show. He was there for me 100 percent. Even in his off-camera work, he was just a dream, and I was very blessed with that. I have to say that the crew also rose to the occasion. They really helped make up for my inexperience. I had lots of help."

Directed by Michael Lange. Written by Paul Brown.

RATING: ***

Mulder is frantic when Duane Barry breaks into Scully's home and kidnaps her. It's Mulder's belief that Barry intends to give her to his alien abductors in exchange for his own freedom. Realizing that Barry is taking his partner to Skyland Mountain, Mulder, with Krycek in tow, races to prevent him from making contact with the aliens. During Mulder's attempts to make it to the top of the mountain via cable car, and then Krycek shows his true colors by trying to sabotage it. Eventually, Mulder does make it...but only finds Barry, claiming that Scully was taken. Barry is taken into custody, but soon mysteriously dies of asphyxiation. Desperate to find Scully, he goes to pay a visit to Senator Matheson, but instead finds Mr. X, who says there is nothing to be done. Finally, Krycek completely vanishes, leaving Mulder with nothing to go on. Skinner says the same thing as M. X, but reopens the X-Files.

The all-important episode which send the series in new directions, as Scully is abducted and Krycek is truly established as a villain. Although not as thrilling nor as dramatically sound as 'Duane Barry', 'Ascension' is a good piece of work. An early sequence in which a state trooper confronts Barry with Scully locked in the trunk is suspenseful. There's some great moments between the show's recurring characters, including Cigarette Smoking Man, who continues to add to his quietly menacing persona. Duchovny does some solid work as his character's world comes down around him.

Unfortunately, some things just don't add up. Most notably is the fact that Krycek apparently kills the cable car operator, yet Mulder doesn't become suspicious until he discovers Cigarette Smoking Man's fags in Alex's car. What else did he thing happened when he was in the cable car? There were only three people involved, and didn't he bother ask Krycek what had happened to the cable car or operator when they're reunited after Barry's apprehension. And how did Mr. X know that Mulder was going to appear in the stairwell when he was going to see Matheson? Plus Duane Barry himself almost becomes an afterthought following his death.

Despite such flaws in logic, this is an engaging, and very important, entry in the series.

Directed by David Nutter. Written by Glen Morgan, James Wong and Chris Ruppenthal.

RATING: *1/2

Mulder, still grieving over the disappearance of Scully, decides to throw himself into his work, and starts to investigate a murder in the Hollywood Hills in which the victim is drained of his blood. Plus the crime scene has the Biblical chapter John 52;54 scrawled in the dead man's blood. Mulder informs the police that theres a pattern, as similar killings around the country have happened in threes, so two more will happen unless they solves the crime quickly. Although all signs clearly point to a vampire, Mulder admits that he doesn't believe that such a creature exists...though his opinion changes when a suspect in custody is hit by sunlight and his body begins to burn up. Following a lead, Mulder goes to a nightclub, and quickly connects with a sexy woman named Kristen (Perrey Reeves), who he also believes has involvement with the murders. And he's right.

'3' is generally considered of the worst X episodes ever to air, and it's impossible to deny that it is below average. Maybe because it's basically just filler material between the powerful Scully abduction stories that this one feels so out of place, but the fact is it there is a lot wrong with it. The biggest problem is Mulder. He acts as if he's a character from another series...perhaps Red Shoe Diaries. His odd relationship with Kristen simply doesn't ring true because it's not what Mulder would do. However, you could argue he's acting so differently because he's strung out because of the Scully situation.

But the whole episode seems lazy. Things happen through cheap coincidences and luck instead of intelligent plotting. Mulder literally just stumbles across every clue and figure involved in the case. The vampires themselves mostly seem cliched and pretentious. There are a few touches I liked...Mulder's immediate disbelief of the whole vampire myth; the fires raging through the Hollywood Hills in the background...but overall, '3' is probably the lowest point of the season.

Directed by R.W. Goodwin. Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong.

RATING: ****

Scully mysteriously shows up in a hospital bed, and no one knows how she got there. With Scully in a coma, Mulder, Dana's mother (Sheila Larken) and sister Melissa (Melinda McGraw) gather around her, and have to deal with the fact that she made a living will stating that she didn't wish to be kept alive on life support. Realizing he can't sit around and do nothing, Mulder sets out to find out what happened to his partner. He and The Lone Gunmen discover that Scully has unusual protein chains in her blood, which appear to be the result of branched DNA. Mulder almost gets answers from a mysterious gunman, but Mr. X puts an end to it quickly...and brutally. As Scully experiences coma-induced dreams, Mulder confronts first Skinner over the shooting of the gunman, and then looks to play hardball with the Cigarette Smoking Man himself.

Absolutely stunning return to the abduction storyline (and a return to form after the bewildering '3'), with much meaty material jammed into 45 minutes. Everyone is firing on all cylinders, both in terms of on-screen talent and the behind the scenes crew. The scenes of Scully dreaming in the afterlife...or limbo...are surprisingly effective, and have a poetic quality to them. Don S. Davis has a nice cameo as Scully's father, who passed away during the first seasons searing 'Beyond The Sea'. Mulder's story is far more intense.

Watching Mulder lose his cool and go nuts repeatedly at everyone around him is strong stuff, and Duchovny does some of his greatest work on the series. He brilliantly interacts with the show's recurring cast; Skinner gets to show his more sympathetic and understanding side as he relates a event from his past; CSM is his usual smug self, and hints of greater things to come; and the parking lot scene with the almost unbearably intense X is a true classic, and shows just how nasty he can be. Even with all the drama abounding, there's a few funny touches involving the Gunman, such as they plan to nitpick the science of the TV series Earth 2 (anyone recall that Spielberg-related bomb?), and the image of pervey old Frohike in a suit and carrying flowers.

As tightly plotted and directed as you could hope for, 'One Breath' is a brilliant piece of work.

Received an Emmy nomination for John Bartley's rich cinematography.

Directed by David Nutter. Written by Howard Gordon.

RATING: *1/2

Dr. Adam Pierce (Tuck Milligan) comes to Mulder and Scully and tells them about an incident at a volcano research facility in Washington state. One of the team's members was killed, and it seems a person was moving around inside a 130 ° F temperature cave. Mulder, Scully and Pierce travel to the site and run into three others who inform them that the projects head, volcanologist Daniel Trepkos (Bradley Whitford), has gone crazy. It soon seems as if the project has uncovered a silicon-based life form, and everyone at the site may have been infected by it...including Mulder and Scully.

As strong as the first two seasons of the X-Files was, it had a habit of rehashing the same story...such as the justice-from-the-grave routine, and in this case, 'Firewalker' is a virtual remake of year one's dynamite 'Ice'. And, alas, it's a pretty poor effort, both bland and pointless. The most interesting thing for me is watching the guest cast: Whitford, who as gone on to win an Emmy for his always-superb work as Josh on The West Wing; Leland Orser, who has appeared in big stuff like Saving Private Ryan, Seven, Alien Resurrection and The Bone Collector; and Shawnee Smith, who was in The Stand and in the current sitcom Becker. Whitford comes off best as the scientist over the edge and righting the wrongs he and his project have unleashed. Unfortunately, there's never any real suspense generated, and little in the way of surprising plot twists. The usually reliable Nutter (who even directed 'Ice') is having an off episode here, but then again he isn't given much to work with considering the script.

Although not quite as bad as '3', this is still one of the weakest shows of the season.

Howard Gordon on 'Firewalker': "Around the office, that episode was called 'Icewalker'. They were similar in construction, with someone being pulled up from the depths of the Earth, which we also did in 'Darkness Falls'. I wanted to look more at Mulder's dark half, and his pursuit of something that leads to madness. But that theme wasn't explored properly, which is why the episode may have looked a bit too much like 'Ice'.