This
Written and directed by Glen Morgan
"It's got to be connected, right? That-that whatever... Langley message and this. They know that he knows. W-Who's they?"
— Fox Mulder
Mulder receives a phone call from a long-lost friend, and the situation quickly escalates from bizarre to deadly as he and Scully are forced to go on the run for their lives.
Tropes:
- Artificial Afterlife: Langley is in a simulated reality. It has its advantages — he can eat hotdogs and donuts all day, The Ramones play every night and get along well with each other, and the New England Patriots always lose. However, he's miserable because he can tell that it's all fake and he and the others are "digital slaves" with no choice but to use their intellects to serve the people running the simulation."We dream, but we're not allowed to have dreams, goals, nothing for ourselves. No choice, no diversity. There's a... there's a wall around this place. The stars are fake. The sunlight... has no warmth. And all the great minds that have died since they realized this place are here. Steve Jobs. Marvin Minsky. Michael Crichton. They all hate it here. They don't even know who they are. What we were in that life is completely opposite from what we are here."
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Mulder and Scully asleep on a couch at the former's home, with Langley appearing on Mulder's phone.
- Brain Uploading: Langly is one of a group of people whose minds have been uploaded to serve as a think tank.
- Call-Back:
- Mulder and Scully keep questioning Langley's appearance in Mulder's phone, despite having died from a weaponized Marburg virus strain, along with his two friends.
- The two's trust in Skinner is not exactly the best in this episode, and for good reason: Mulder suspected that he worked for the Cigarette-Smoking Man again.
- Concealment Equals Cover: Scully using Mulder's kitchen table as shotgun fire cover.
- Continuity Nod: Two references are made towards episodes from the same writer and director of this one:
- Deep Throat's real credentials, Ronald Pakula, is consistent with a line from the eponymous character of "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man", which only mentioned his first name:Cigarette-Smoking Man: How many historic events have only the two of us witnessed together, Ronald?
- As Mulder and Scully look through Skinner's online X-Files, one of those reads Home, Pennsylvania.
- Deep Throat's real credentials, Ronald Pakula, is consistent with a line from the eponymous character of "Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man", which only mentioned his first name:
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Skinner's online X-Files, one picture is of Reggie's FBI badge, which sets up a future episode about the Mandala effect and his projection onto Mulder's and Scully's adventures.
- Impossibly Delicious Food:Mulder: I'm gonna X-File this bran muffin, get to the bottom of why it's so friggin' good.
Scully: I don't care if it came out of an alien's butt. I'm gonna eat the whole thing. - Killed Mid-Sentence: Dr. Hamby gets shot by the Russian agent as she gives instructions to Mulder and Scully.
- Kill It with Fire: Scully mentions that after the Lone Gunmen sealed off a building to prevent the Marburg virus's escape, their ensuing deaths led to their bodies being burnt for viral destruction.
- Kinky Cuffs: Implied, after Mulder knocks out his captor with his hands cuffed behind him and Scully arrives after this, leading to this exchange.Scully: (Unlocking the handcuffs) How is it that you're able to operate so well with your hands cuffed behind your back?
Mulder: As if you didn't know. - Not Quite Dead: Despite having shot the white-haired assassin who had been following them, the ending reveals that he is now inside the same Artificial Afterlife as Langley.
- Private Military Contractors: Perlu, an armed force with Russian connections but not a part of any government.
- Shout-Out: Deep Throat's name is revealed to have been "Ronald Pakula", a reference to Alan J. Pakula, director of both the proto-X-Files thriller The Parallax View and All the President's Men.
- So Much for Stealth: Mulder hides his phone before the Perlu goons get in. Unfortunately, Langly calls again while they're looking for it.
- Trojan Prisoner: Scully gets herself and Mulder into Titanpointe by cuffing him and pretending he's a dangerous prisoner the NSA wants to interrogate.
- You Owe Me: Avoided by Scully, when she asks a younger FBI agent for a favor getting herself and Mulder into the tunnel (winking at him in the process), and then doesn't return the favor in the end by saying, "Sorry, bro; married to the Bureau."
