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Season 3, Episode 21, Aired
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Episode Summary

During a one-night stand in the midst of his divorce, AD Skinner becomes a murder suspect, and Mulder and Scully return the many favors that he has done for them by analyzing evidence that someone doesn't want uncovered to prove his innocence.
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Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • One of the first episodes focusing completely on Skinner

    8.5
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jan 03, 2011 Report Abuse
    Skinner has always been in the background of the show, even since Season 1, but he's never been featured as much as he was in this episode and in this season overall. I thought this episode did a good job of bringing us into the supporting character's past and helps make him more than an occasional guest star. However, there's one major problem with the episode, and that's a lack of explanation.

    The episode is about Skinner being found in bed with a dead hooker and being pinned for the murder. All of the physical evidence points towards Skinner being guilty, but Mulder believes that he's not responsible. The following scenes provide a number of different reasons that Skinner could've caused him to be seen as guilty, but none of them are given as a 100% answer. The closest we come to a resolution is Mulder discovering that a group of people (presumably the same people who tried to kill him in the restaurant) are trying to discredit him and make him appear crazy. That's fine, but what about the old woman he sees everywhere? His difficulties sleeping? The unexplainable substance found around the victim's mouth? It doesn't make sense to me how we got from Point A to Point B, and this is definitely not the first time the show has had this problem.

    Overall though, the episode did it's job: it kept me interested for 44 minutes and it really made Skinner from a guest star into a legitimate supporting character.moreless

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  • Skinner is part of yet another conspiracy

    8.5
    "Great"
    By OnePerCentClub, Jul 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    Not that it's a bad thing, but it seems that one of the main reasons somebody is trying to get rid of Skinner is because, if they can't get rid of Mulder and his spooky ideas, they'll have to start with the boss. Mulder and Scully do a great job trying to help their boss and they succeed. Their respect and admiration for the only person who believes in what they do is unique and now they are returning the favor.

    Funny it was the only episode that ever mentioned Skinner's marital status and too bad there was never a follow-up. I found several inconsistencies when Mulder and Scully were investigating the case, but well, you can't be perfect in this life. Even on TV.moreless

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  • All the information provided but lack of another interests make this episode to represent about average of third season's episodes.

    7.9
    "Good"
    By arkhyel, Jan 01, 2008 Report Abuse
    This is barely a good episode. One thing makes this pretty interesting. It's life of AD Skinner. This episode reveals things about life of one mostly important supporting character. Main storyline is somewhat silly and not very interesting. Skinner wakes up in hotel with female body in same bed and then there is this old woman in Skinner's dreams. Only interesting parts is to see how Mulder, Scully and Skinner by himself react to Skinner's murder accusations. I also liked to see Mrs. Skinner. It doesn't have many scenes that I would remember. After all I think that all the information provided but lack of another interests make this episode to represent about average of third season's episodes.moreless

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  • perfect example of chrises writing skills one of my favourite X-Files episodes ever!

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By theroseofsharyn, Jun 04, 2007 Report Abuse
    had to watch the episode twice before i totaly understood what was happening, Skinner wakes up in a bed lying next to a murderd prostitute and he is the prime suspect. When Mulder and a reluctant Scully head out to try and prove Skinners inosense we find that he has been having frequent "visitations" from an elderly woman who Mulder suspects is a ghost. After more murders follow in connection with the first one Mulder and Scully must try to find the real killer before he gets to Skinner. When the two find Skinner has already killed the murderer we find it was all planned by the government in an attempt to replace Skinner and close the X-Files.moreless

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  • This is a very interesting episode revealing more about AD Skinner and his relationship with Scully and Mulder.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By gemmsy, May 08, 2007 Report Abuse
    This is a very interesting episode revealing more about AD Skinner and his relationship with Scully and Mulder. It shows how important to Skinner Scully's opinion of him and how much Mulder respects Skinner.

    A nagging question about this episode: Does Mrs. Skinner actually survive? And if indeed she did, did the couple reconcile?
    The episode implies that they still love and care about each other so when we see Skinner put his ring back on at the end of the episode does that mean that Mrs. Skinner is still alive and they're giving it another go!?

    I guess we'll never know. An interesting episode none the less.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Principal Setting: Washington, D.C. Edit
    • When Mulder and Scully are checking on Mrs. Skinner's car, you can see there is a punch in the front-left side. The next car that they're examining, the one that "pushed her out of the road", they find scratches in the same side (left-front), This would mean that the car didn't push her out, but they crashed. In that case, the damages would be greater than they look like. There's no way that two cars have the marks on the same side, unless they have crashed front to front. Edit
    • Re the above goof: The character was originally written as a man, but when actress Tasha Simms was cast instead, the first name was changed in the script, but never changed in the closing cast credits. Edit

  • Notes

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    • The X-Files Game (the first one) takes place between this episode and the episode "Wetwired" (season 3, episode 23). "Avatar" takes place in March of 1996 and "Wetwired" takes place in late April of 1996. The game takes place during the first week of April, 1996. Edit
    • A scene with Skinner and the Cigarette-Smoking Man was cut due to time constraints. In this scene CSM questions Skinner's allegiance. Edit
    • Amanda Tapping would later be reunited with Malcolm Stewart in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Cure" and with Michael David Simms in the SG-1 episode "Fair Game." Tapping and Mitch Pileggi would also appear together in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Be All My Sins Remember'd." Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Mulder: It's not a strange story... It's age old, actually. You may have heard it - although in slightly less clinical terms. In the Middle Ages, a visitation like the one Skinner described would have been attributed to a Succubus. A spirit that visits men during the night in the form of an old woman. Scully: Visits them for sex? Mulder: Usually. Edit
    • Scully: (About Skinner) Do you know him? Sharon Skinner: I used to think so. I'm Sharon Skinner. I'm his wife. Edit
    • Skinner: I got through that experience like most eighteen-year-olds. By numbing myself with whatever was around. I was no choir boy, I inhaled. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Movie Reference: Don't Look Now The red coat worn by the old woman that Skinner never quite manages to catch up with is an obvious allusion to the red-coated stranger in the Nicholas Roeg film in which Donald Sutherland is haunted by glimpses of a hooded character he thinks may be the reincarnation of his dead daughter. Edit
    • Skinner: I wasn't a choirboy, I inhaled This line is a reference to the famous President Clinton claim that he had had a joint but he never inhaled. Edit
    • Episode Title: Avatar An Avatar is the human incarnation of a deity. Edit

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