Synchrony

Season 4, Episode 19, Aired
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Episode Summary

A case involving a strange old man warning two scientists of events in the immediate future which come to pass; and the use of their experimental flash-freezing compound that does not exist yet, has Mulder believing that one of the scientists has come from the future to stop his own scientific breakthrough from becoming reality.moreless
7.9
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Fan Episode Reviews (6)

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  • Back To The Future

    7.0
    "Good"
    By Anon67683, Feb 26, 2011 Report Abuse
    Time travel stories are inherently problematic as it hard to resolve all the logical inconsistencies that are presented. If time travel were possible, wouldn't more people than just Jason come back, and if so, wouldn't our present be utter chaos as everyone and their grandmother travels back in time to rewrite history?

    I wasn't clear as to why the elder Jason felt the need to go postal and kill everyone involved after failing to save Lucas in the opening teaser. Surely, there would have been a less drastic way to ensure that his research was discredited. Perhaps by writing an anonymous letter, or destroying data or any one of a number of things short of murdering even himself. I know, not as dramatic, but it's these type of inconsistencies that bring me out of the story since I no longer trust where the writer is taking me.moreless

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  • Mulder and Scully look into someone who is somehow freezing people to death

    8.5
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Feb 14, 2011 Report Abuse
    I was surprised with this episode; the ratings of it lead me to believe that it wouldn't be all that great, but it was actually pretty interesting. I think the show could've done a little more with the premise, but for a 43 minute episode, they did a good job.

    What I liked the most was how misleading it was. The episode starts off with an old man predicting the death of a researcher. There's some focus on this for a little while until Mulder and Scully find somebody who is completely frozen, despite the weather being nowhere near bad enough to freeze somebody. They come to the conclusion that the old man who predicted the death must be responsible. We then get some of the episode focused on the "freezing" aspect of the case. Things change yet again when a photograph is found of the people involved in the case of an event that hasn't happened. Finally, the episode opens up, and halfway through, we realize how close to their chest the writers were holding their cards.

    Time travel was the basic premise of the episode, and I think they could've focused a lot more on that. However, that's just a minor pet peeve. There were some good Mulder and Scully moments again, and the plot itself had enough twists and ridiuclous sci-fi stuff to keep me entertained from beginning to end. I was glad to see an episode with a lower rating actually end up being pretty good.moreless

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  • Not a bad episode... (spoilers)

    7.5
    "Good"
    By nostalgiafan1, Oct 17, 2010 Report Abuse
    This episode, in my opinion was just OK. I liked the idea of time travel and the cryogenics aspect of it, but I still found myself almost a tad bored with it.

    I knew from the very beginning that the old man was Jason, but the reasons as to why were kept secret until about halfway through.

    I loved the spontaneous combustion of the doctor after being in the tub. It was a good twist added, and I found myself happy when Scully found out how to keep the woman alive in the end.

    Did anyone else notice that Mulder could have kept the Jasons alive? He's staring at them while their of fire while holding a FIRE EXTINGUISHER. I just thought that was pretty funny. :)moreless

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  • Back to the past

    8.0
    "Great"
    By danideathstrike, Apr 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    Synchrony is all about time travel, you could compare it to Terminator in the fact that the killer is coming from the future to kill some one in the past, but thats the only likeness- no arnie, no robots. Its actually a pretty good episode were the futute killer comes back to kill himself and a couple of more people, in various ways. There are some really good special effects and make up as well as some grade A acting. Overall i would give this episode 8 out of 10 as its pretty good. Shame there was no "I'll be back".moreless

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  • The one with time travel

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By SleepTight, Jul 10, 2006 Report Abuse
    'Synchrony' is a fabulous episode that continues this great season and deals with time travel.

    It begins with an old man telling two young men who are fighting not to go to a street or else one of them will die but he does so anyway and a cop picks up the old man. The young man walk to a street and when the other tries to warn him anyway the one gets hit by a bus and killed, the bus driver thinks that the other one pushed him.

    The man is called Jason who is then accused of murder, also of the police man who had taken away the old man because he was frozen and had Jason's hand prints on him *clue*.

    Then an Asian man is in town to meet Jason but the old guy picks him up and when he brings him to his apartment he puts something in his hand that makes him freeze. Mulder and Sculyl find the body and together with Jason's girlfriend they try to defrost it and it works until the man is brought back but his temperature keeps going higher until he bursts into flames, that was one of the most impressive and painful deaths on the show.

    Then that old man follows the girlfriend and to a place he tries to kill her but wasn't able and leaves her behind. She eventually goes over to his place again and finds out that he was Jason, then this time he makes her ice.

    The episode was about time travel, we learn from the old man that she, the Asian and Jason himself found out how to do that by freezing themselves, but with that there will be no future. He came back to stop that from happening and now is going after Jason. The young Jason finds the old Jason and then he tries to kill himself, Mulder sees it but cannot help it and the one old one begins to burn while holding the young one and in that way the die together.

    Meanwhile the were able to bring back the girlfriend and this time she doesn't burst into flames, but her Jason's didn't survive. The data was deleted but the girl could bring it back at the end.
    The episode was fascinating, even though it was the first time that Scully really bothered me this season. The episode was well done and the death scenes were excellent. This is another great episode of the season.
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Plot Hole: Scully stated in her thesis, that one universe can only produce one outcome. From that, Mulder believes that history cannot be changed and that, in the end, timetravel will be invented. However, the events prove, that history can indeed be changed, as the photo is never taken and yet exists. So either both Scully and Mulder are wrong or it is a mistake the writers of this episode made. Edit
    • In the shot of the 6th Precinct police station, it has a California state flag flying out front. The episode took place in Massachusetts, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Edit
    • When Lisa gets off the bus, the number of the bus is different to the one we saw heading downtown, the one that she presumably was on. Edit

  • Notes

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    • The molecular model of the "freezing" catalyst shown in this episode contains less than 10 atoms and likely corresponds to a common organic compound rather than any fictional catalyst. Edit
    • This episode marks the first reference to NMR spectroscopy on The X-Files. Edit
    • Hiro Kanagawa has also appeared in a previous episode of X-Files. He played Peter Tanaka in second season's episode "Firewalker". Edit

  • Quotes

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    • Mulder: I think the real question is how somebody could have had access to a compound that doesn't exist. Edit
    • Mulder: So what's your medical opinion Scully? Scully: Well my best guess would be that he's been exposed to some kind of chemical refrigerant, like liquid nitrogen, possibly even ingested it. Mulder: Well, you see what happens when you drink and drive? Edit
    • Scully: It's a celebration, but of what? Mulder: Of something that never happened. Scully: What? Mulder, this is a photograph. It is a documented moment in time. Mulder: In a future that somebody is trying like hell to prevent from happening. Scully: What? Mulder: Think about it, Scully. If Lucas Menand never gets hit by the bus, his complaint gets heard before the grant committee. Jason Nichols loses his funding and he never gets to collaborate on his research with Dr. Yonechi. Therefore, this photograph never gets taken because this celebration never happens. Scully: Yeah, and if your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you'd be your own grandpa. Edit

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