The X-Files (TV Series) S.R. 819 (1999) User Reviews

An exciting race against the clock.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 16 September 2022]

Skinner receives a call telling him that his time is up, it soon transpires that he's been infected with a deadly disease.

It's a good, fast paced, race against the clock type of episode, after the lighter tone of the previous episode, this one is pretty gritty, and quite intense.

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that this was made in response to the popularity of The 24 Series, but guess what, this came first.

It's interesting to see how Mulder and Scully both reacted to Agent Skinner, how quick they were to support their former boss, despite his recent behaviour towards them, it'll be interesting to see if his attitudes towards them changes in the future.

Those wonderful production values that have been very evident since the start of this sixth series are once again very evident, and credit to the makeup team, Skinner looks impressively unwell in all of his scenes.

Different, an exciting episode.

8/10.

"You have twenty four hours to go."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 25 July 2017]

For all the cryptic stuff going on in this episode, it ends with sort of a whimper, doesn't it? I mean, Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) 'dies' on a hospital bed and a minute later he's coughing his way back to reality. Then, and how does this happen, three weeks later he's back at his desk telling Scully and Mulder that he's not going to get to the bottom of the attempt on his life. Well, why not? I know, I know, there are powerful forces above him in the hierarchy, but gee, they were trying to kill him!

You know, for all the conspiracy related episodes and by now, the clandestine efforts of the syndicate to get rid of Mulder, and by association, Skinner, why go through all the roundabout ways of killing the guy? Why not just have some assassin take him out? Like the Tunisian guy would have done if he didn't get pummeled by the unseen driver in the parking garage. That would have been the suspicious looking bearded guy that doesn't show up in the credits if I follow Mulder's reasoning there at the end of the story.

Say, here's something I picked up in the cast list that nobody's mentioned. The woman in the role of Skinner's secretary was actually Mitch Pileggi's real life wife, Arlene Warren. She appeared in ten episodes of The X-Files, seven of them as Skinner's assistant. I had to chuckle thinking that maybe she got the part thinking she'd get a chance to beat up on Skinner the way his former secretary did in the 'Pusher' episode back in Season Three. They would get to rehearse the scene at home and then maybe... well, never mind.

Anyway, this one ends with no resolution really, except to learn that Krycek is back in town biding his time so he can get back on track to get revenge on the syndicate that did him wrong. That would now seem to make the two men some sort of allies in their quest, but as we've seen time and time again, nothing is ever as it seems in the X-Files.

A.D. Slugger

[Sanpaco13 · 9/10 · 13 November 2009]

S.R. 819 is a great episode. I hadn't realized it really until just watching it again now for the third or fourth time. The teaser is one of those OMG ones where a main character is pronounced dead. You are then thrown into events from where they started and shown how it led to this. I enjoy the Skinner centric episodes a lot because he is a great character and Mitch Pileggi is a great actor. In this episode we learn that he is a boxer in his free time and is known as "Slugger". Awesome. As he is fighting however, he begins having blurred vision and is knocked out and bruised severely on his right side. He wakes up in the hospital and given a clean bill of health, but on the way home he begins having blurred vision again and stops at the FBI headquarters to rest. This is when Mulder notices him and calls Scully to check him out. From here things start to get intense. Thinking Skinner might have been poisoned, they trace events back to a scientists who asked Skinner for the time earlier that day. They go to the guy's house and are attacked by a bunch of thugs. After a chase, one man is caught but they are forced to let him go due to diplomatic immunity (lethal weapon anyone?). Meanwhile, Scully discovers some interesting cell/nanobot/machine things in Skinner's blood that appear to be multiplying and creating a dam in the blood stream (?) or something like that. Anyway... some stuff happens, Mulder finds out from the Senator that there was a SR 819 dealing with exporting new technology, which some dude has gotten a hold of and infected Skinner with for an unknown reason, Skinner is in the hospital again and is saved from an amputation by mere seconds as Scully bursts in to stop incompetence. Man I would have totally gotten a new doctor after that lady did that. But no then later when he "dies" instead of even trying to revive him the stupid lady is like "no don't even try" and after he is declared dead he pops up like a ghost and sees the long haired bearded Krycek guy. Yeah that's right. Krycek. Who has been going about all kinds of secret stuff to infect Skinner for reasons yet to be seen.

The episode has some interesting plot elements and some great action, not to mention the col looking veiny skin. But I was confused by the nanobots. What exactly did they do? That wasn't explained very well. And if they are just machines, how exactly were they performing mitosis? Confusing. But overall a great episode. 9 out of 10.

Varicose Veins?

[Muldernscully · 10/10 · 5 February 2007]

S.R. 819 is awesome. It grabs you from the start when Skinner is seen dying in the teaser and the doctor covers his face. What the...? What a shocker! We then get a voice-over from Mitch Pileggi, his only one I think. The story is set as one of the 24 hours earlier-type episodes, where we see what happens to explain the baffling teaser. I like these type of episodes, because they have me on pins and needles the whole time wondering how that event came to be. This is writer John Shiban's best solo work, just beating out the excellent 'The Pine Bluff Variant'. It's great to see the concern that Mulder and Scully show for their boss, in trying to solve the mystery of his illness. I like the line of Mulder asking Skinner if he woke up alone, a nod, I think, to season three's 'Avatar', another Skinner-centric episode, where he wakes up next to a dead prostitute. Mark Snow composes a brilliant score and the vein make-up for Skinner is very real-looking and convincing. And throughout the episode you have your suspicions as to who is making Skinner suffer, which turns out to be a cool reveal. At the end, just when you think Skinner is going to commit to Mulder and Scully, he mysteriously returns to the fence upon which he sits. S.R. 819 is the last of the Skinner-centered episodes, and the best one.

So-so "mythology" thriller

[andyetris · 6/10 · 19 October 2006]

Walter Skinner, Mulder and Scully's FBI supervisor, sickens with a mysterious illness. When Mulder connects it to Skinner's review of Senate Resolution 819, he seeks out former ally Senator Richard Matheson. Meanwhile Scully discovers that the apparent virus is actually nanotechnology.

This is an open-ended story in which our heroes run around without solving anything - including Skinner's problem! Without a real resolution it has to be judged on how it contributes to the larger story arc. Despite popping up again in season 7, what happens here simply isn't important. Skipping it won't lose you anything in understanding the "mythology" which is just about to be wrapped up anyway!