The X-Files (TV Series) Home Again (2016) User Reviews

The X File is almost secondary in this emotional roller-coaster.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 3 March 2016]

Joseph Cutler is shifting homeless people by force to make way for new developments, one night he's followed and literally ripped apart by a 'man' of enormous strength. As soon as Mulder and Scully arrive on scene, she receives a call from her brother, telling her that her mum's had a heart attack and is in intensive care, she heads home, leaving Mulder to investigate The 'Band Aid Nose Man.' Mulder picks up a plaster, it's contents (DNA) cannot be identified.

After the last episode, I felt that X Files level of surrealism had peaked with the Were monster. That comic tone was left there, Home Again was back to reality with a bang, a true emotional roller- coaster running alongside the monster story. As a Dr Who fan, I was reminded a little of the episode 'Flatline,' the concept was very similar. Wonderfully gruesome in parts, especially the juxtaposition of Petula Clarke's sweet 'Down town' playing in the background.

Gillian Anderson was just magnificent I thought, the ability to switch emotion, mood etc, incredible, I've just finished watching her in War and Peace, what a talent.

A great episode, fair to say the monster story was almost secondary, very much a Dana story, this was rather good.

8/10

My son is named William, too.

[Muldernscully · 8/10 · 9 February 2016]

When you think that Gillian Anderson can't be any more impressive in her portrayal as Dana Scully, you are proved wrong. Anderson shines in Home Again, as the weight of Scully's mother's critical condition weighs heavily on her mind and she struggles with her mother's decision to not stay on life support and calling for her estranged son instead of Dana.

If you are familiar with the Bible, you get a vibe from the prodigal son parable told by Jesus where the older son who was righteous is jealous of his younger brother who returns from wickedness and his treated like a king by their father who is just grateful that his younger son has returned. In this episode, Scully is questioning why her mother is calling for the estranged son and not for her two living children who have always been there for her. As Scully relates to Mulder, Margaret just wanted to make sure that Charlie, the estranged son, was all right. I think that is why Margaret was wearing the quarter around her neck. A quarter is worth ¼ of a dollar. Margaret Scully has four children, but 1 of the 4 is estranged from her and she is concerned for his well-being like any mother would be.

Scully breaks down as her mother passes away, which caused me to shed some tears. I think my tears were more for Scully's pain than for any concern for her mother, who I am not emotionally vested in. Once again, it was Anderson's performance that raised this episode up a notch. David Duchovny did a fine job as well, showing strong emotional support for Scully's crisis. And, at the end, Mulder just listens to Scully as she relates the crisis to their son William, not interjecting something dumb as men are prone to do.

The rest of the episode was an uninspired story of a creature killing people who were trying to move the homeless or keep the homeless out of their respective neighborhoods. The creature was brought to life by a homeless artist who molded him from clay. It felt like a retread of the season 4 episode Kaddish with a little bit of season 3's Grotesque thrown in for the clay-molding aspect.

Glen Morgan, who wrote and directed this episode, still has a great grasp on the Mulder-Scully dynamic, particularly the dialogue between the two. The story and direction, however, leave a bit to be desired. When Scully first learns of her mother's heart attack, she hustles down the stairs and they have the camera right in her face, bouncing along with her. I get what Morgan was trying to do there, but it just felt out of place and unnatural. Also, who is driving this garbage truck for this monster to move around in? I don't think the artist molded a giant truck from clay. The clay monster is supposedly protecting the homeless people according to the artist by killing the relocation agents, so how is killing the art thieves protecting them?

Scully's personal story and struggle is what makes this episode great and elevates an otherwise mediocre monster of the week story.

More like "One Breath Again" than "Home Again"

[rodrigoquinan · 8/10 · 8 February 2016]

First thing we need to clarify is: this isn't a sequel to Home. Even the themes are different - though both touches on maternity issues. The title created lots of expectations in the fanbase - Home is the most controversial episode the show ever made and it's very loved by the fans. But as Glen Morgan said in the interviews, it's unrelated.

It's named "Home Again" because of Glen Morgan's supersticion: "Home" was his comeback to the X-Files after a season off making "Space Above And Beyond"; now "Home Again" is his second comeback as a writer to the series after leaving in the end of season 4 to showrun with his partner James Wong the season 2 of Millennium.

Once you get past this isn't "Home 2", you can directly compare to another episode wrote by Glen Morgan: "One Breath", from season 2. This is in many ways related to that episode (it even has flashbacks from it), but in a new perspective and with a different ending - even that lake is a reference. Gillian Anderson suffering in hospitals is always something incredibly beautiful and tragic to watch in the X-Files (remember Memento Mori? Emily?) and she does another great job here - "Were-Monster" was a Mulder episode, this is hers.

The thing is, this is a dramatic mythology episode like One Breathe, but at the same time it has a creepy monster-of-the-week case, which works well too. The case is violent, dark and very, very scary, something X-Files wasn't since it left Vancouver and now it's scary as hell for the second time in 4 episodes (the other scary one was Founder's Mutation)

The only problem is that in the end they are trying too much at the same time and it feels that both the drama part and the monster part end without reaching its full potential. They still work well, but in other context, in a 24 episode season, they could have been 2 different episodes or even a 2 part one.

Still, in the end they somehow relate both ideas, the whole episode has excellent commentary on both homeless people and motherhood and maybe the best thing in this revival, it's so faithful and delicade in showing the passage of time for Mulder and Scully. This season is heavily influenced by the arcs of the first 4 seasons (when James, Glen and Darin were still at the show) and the William arc in the end of the original run.

"Home Again" is memorable episode with potential of a classic episode; it ends up being a bit less than that - and hopefully it will grow with time, just like "Closure" did - but even if it never reach the classic status of its counterpart "One Breath", it would be for a noble reason: it tried too much at the same time.

Pretty good dramatic side-plot paired with a pretty mediocre monster of the week plot.

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 7/10 · 8 February 2016]

This episode had two plots running; one about Mulder and Scully investigating a murderous trash monster, and the other about Scully's mother suffering a heart attack. The latter plot was the better of the two. It was very well executed, absolutely devastating. For example, at one point Scully is talking about it on the phone, and she's watching the corpse of the person in the next bed over being taken away. This was a brilliantly dark reminder of the stakes in this plot.

Then, there's the trash monster section of the episode, running parallel. I quite liked it at first. I thought the trash monster was quite menacing, and it was also a source of much needed humour next to the dramatic plot. But the ending and explanation to this segment was very convoluted and confusing. It felt like the end was kind of rushed. There was also a segment set to "Downtown" by Petula Clark that just didn't quite work.

Ultimately, it's got a stunning dramatic side-plot that is paired up with a monster of the week that mostly works.

The Things we make are Our Responsibility

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 9 February 2016]

Including our Garbage... And corpses.

Hm, some IMDb Trolls really are downvoting all of the high-rated reviews. This is not Reddit, go there instead.

There were so many levels in this Glen Morgan written episode "Home Again", with the Humorous episode out of the way, we have as someone said "One Breath" but also elements of "Kaddish" and possibly "Arcadia". I don't see it as any kind of rehash or repeat of previous plot lines, because the mythology is remarkably different in each one.

We are responsible for what we create. Regardless of if it is a mound of trash, a child, a piece of art, a law, or a Homeless Shelter. Tim Armstrong from the bands "Rancid" and "Operation Ivy" is "The Trashman" - Hero of the Homeless, and creator of "Band-aid Nose Man" (John DeSantis) - An outward Expression of Trashman's beliefs, an expression which soon starts expressing a life of it's own, at the grisly expense of a few crooked politicians and "Art Stealers".

Meanwhile we have the return of Margaret Skully (Sheila Larkin)- And Dana dealing with that, the end result is that she starts thinking about William again. Was it the right thing to just give him away? At the time during Season 9, it was. But the Trashman's remarks stir up groaning too deep for words. At first he sounds like my neighbor when he gets drunk, until the "Profoundities" emerge, he's speaking directly to Skully.

The fact is, it is difficult to tell this story in 6 episodes. We've been through some of this in "William" and "The Truth" and there were some ironic parallels in Trashman's Lair, if we see what Skully sees there.

As a social statement, it's mostly about how the Homeless are fought over by two factions, lets call them the "red" and the "black" for now: It doesn't really matter if these people, played by Daryl Shuttleworth and Peggy Jo Jacobs are representing a political party or something else, Mulder basically identifies them right away as being motivated by the same thing: making money off of the needs of the Homeless, one wants to shunt them away to be forgotten and make money from them, the other wants to simply make money from them. And everyone involved eventually meets Mr. Band-aid Man.

It's also a little reminiscent of Season 6's "Arcadia" in which a man in charge of a homeowner's association is responsible for creating a huge Trash Monster. So in Kaddish, we had a bona-fide Golem, which was motivated by some kind of sense of loss and love and also empowered by Jewish Mysticism, Arcadia, in which the Garbagemonster was motivated by small infractions of someone's huge rule-book empowered by an eastern religion, eventually he is dealt with by the same unreasonable rules from his own book. Which usually happens when a religion keeps a "god-given" text that contains contradictory commands. This could be any religion.

But Skully's reflections at the denouement of this Episode pretty much say it outright, she is still responsible for William, and just as Margaret needed to talk to her youngest child, so too will Skully need to seek our her only remaining child. In all of this, have we forgotten Emily? But Emily's story is done, William's is at this point a big Question mark.

Musicwise, Glen Morgan once again shows his roots with Petulia Clark's "Downtown"

Hard to decide (spoilers)

[robertka1 · 7/10 · 9 February 2016]

I loved the original X-Files and watched the vast majority of the episodes whenever my time allowed it. Last year, I bought the complete series and enjoyed it a lot, sometimes even watching some episodes again.

I was delighted when I heard that X-Files was going to be back; however, so far I am a bit let down. Why? Because, unlike the original episodes where there was always action, plus exciting cat-and-mouse plots, where the excitement was ever present that you didn't want to even pause, this season is a little strange.

First off, there is a lot less action and thrills. Mulder and Scully sort of take turns talking about the past, about their personal problems, about whether they should have accepted to come back. So much so that they seem to be doing the viewer a favour to be present. Take episode 4 for example, a lot of time is spent on Scully being present with her mom. Events are taking place; yet, she is at the hospital and is soon joined by Mulder. Agreed, Scully's mother having a heart attack is exceptional I felt that too much time was spent on that. I got the impression that "The X-Files" was changed to "The X-Files: a Reality Show". Still, I am going to continue watching this season in the hope that the writers decide to let go of the nostalgia for Mulder and Scully and turn toward more excitement. Why, you ask? 'cause I Believe . . . .

a good main story, and a heartbreaking side story that ties in well

[Quinoa1984 · 9/10 · 15 February 2016]

In this X-Files episode from the new/limited-run 10th season, while Mulder and Scully investigate the "Trash-Man", some sort of entity that resides in trash part of the dumpster-trucks and tears people literally in half (we see the limbs), Scully's mother has a heart attack and is near death. This brings a lot of memories for Scully - when she was found and in a coma in season 2, and then later on gave up her baby for adoption (the mother mentions the child's name when she wakes up) - and it provides for Gillian Anderson the episode to do the most sorrowful acting in this season.

One may remember the mother character from past seasons (like the episode when Scully is found and is by her bedside, and to the show's credit they use the same actress). The main story with this trash-monster, who seems controlled, sort of, by the illustrations of a graffiti artist (?) is fine, though mostly as a sort of classic monster-of-the-week story. What makes it more interesting is what Scully brings to it, especially once she returns to the case to distract herself from what's happened to her mother. It's an episode with a strong story, but it's made potent by the emotional context and how much weight and gravity is there with the idea that... ideas themselves can create or destroy things (a scene with Scully and Mulder listening to this illustrator explaining this, and what Scully flashes to, highlights this best). I don't know if it's the "best" of the new episodes of the six, but it did bring the biggest wallop as far as the pathos.

Everything You Want In An X-Files Episode

[cdlistguy · 9/10 · 22 July 2022]

It's all here: an effective main story; witty humor, especially from Mulder; pathos as Scully deals with family issues; and a continuation of the arc that is presented in a dramatic fashion. Glenn Morgan also manages to weave the story and arc threads together in a creative way. Throw in the ironic use of Petula Clark's "Downtown" and a special guest appearance by Tim Armstrong of Rancid as a major character, and I don't see how you could ask for anything more. Bonus points for referencing Buddha and tulkus in a meaningful way.

"Scully, back in the day is now."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 3 September 2017]

I am constantly in awe of Gillian Anderson as an actress. She can call forth any emotion required on a dime and it's incredible to behold. David Duchovny can hold his own, but Anderson seems almost in another league; there's virtually no other actress who can come close. And did you notice her awesome take-down of the thug in the alley along side Mulder? It happened too quickly to catch if it was a stunt person or not, but that action sequence was astounding.

Though you have a monster of the week story line at work here, it's overshadowed by Scully's personal grief over the loss of her mother (Sheila Larken) and the accompanying angst related to giving up her son William. Although Mulder shares in that loss, his deportment is more stoic, realizing that it was the right thing to do at the time for the baby's safety. I didn't necessarily agree with that idea at the time, and I still question it, but a lot of years have gone by now to second guess the decision.

With those consistent references to William, who by this time would be a teenager, I'm of the opinion that the series will bring him into the picture at some point to test a relationship with Scully and Mulder. And here's another thought, relative to Scully's long lost and estranged brother Charlie. Scully said she didn't know how to reach him, and couldn't verify that her other brother Bill contacted Charlie about their dying mother. It would't surprise me in the least, given the nature of The X-Files, that the phone call from Charlie was made by his ghost.

GIGO or Garbage In Garbage Out

[m_lecarre · 2/10 · 9 February 2016]

*** SPOILER ALERT *** Now don't get me wrong, I generally enjoy watching the X-Files and can forgive the screenwriters when they occasionally get lazy and either re-hash an old theme or create a bland episode that goes nowhere at all primarily because I like the Scully/Mulder pairing and the generally dramatic and somewhat dark atmosphere of the series. This episode however was, for me, a complete disaster. I don't 'write' and meld my own philosophical implications into the script, and I don't attempt to give it some deeper meaning than the material that is actually presented. This is where I obviously differ from some of the other reviewers of this episode who apparently perform those intellectual transpositions of the actual script into another key for reception by senses other than those for which they were originally intended and which (equally obviously) I don't possess. Replete with archetypal nasty-guy land developers who employ very unrealistic water cannons to wash away homeless people from their soon to be developed land, over-the-top gore that was so over the top it that it became laughable rather than dramatic or horrific, and of course Scully's blouse which was (as is now commonplace in US TV shows) insanely and all too obviously overtly stretched across her bosoms (for sensual effect?) but strangely devoid of any buttons (and the required button holes) above the cleavage area save for a single one at her neck; catchy but cheap and tarty. Add a few buckets of modeling clay and give a blindfolded five year old a bricklayers trowel to model it into a monster man, throw in some super magic paint that can go where no man has gone before without a very big ladder and which can instruct itself to produce some Quark Express quality CG illustrative artwork, slip Mulder a heavy sedative (was he really half-awake or just bored and awaiting his pay check?), and finally throw in a driverless garbage truck (they'll surely be all the rage some day) and you have this episode. The side story of Scully's mother dying added nothing to the story as a whole and I had to wonder why it was included in this particular episode (or any other) where it did not 'tie-in' with the primary theme in any way. Scriptwriters and Mulder - get off those sleeping pills and Scully, please, buy a blouse that fits you as well as the rest of your clothes and doesn't try to sell you as a nicely matured sex symbol. A very disappointing episode.

Xfiles are in the can

[greenwhich · 1/10 · 9 February 2016]

What in the beeping beep is that beep? It belongs in the beep, because it was so full of beeping beep beep beeping.

Can we not, maybe spend some of the Xfile case actually working on the case, and than maybe later solving the case? You know the beginning Xflie, second Xfile, and now this Xfile of this current series.

There was no emotion in that end, yawn. How did she magically revive, saying, where is the baby, and where is the baby? Hang on, the truth is out dear. Beep. But that previous news, queue the panting close up with the head bobbing and frantically running, was hysterical.

And anybody trash talking like that, belongs homeless. Tell me it was a voice over, because that sounded all kind of homeless? As the playdough monster (Darkman, just don't say Candyman 5 times, or some other kind of rip off) protects the homeless. I mean it's no real wonder why their homeless. Is it? Play dough...

Do I need to explain, do I? You don't understand, shucks, no explanation needed for the can? Most reviewers above are all like my beep just smells the best, does it really smell like roses here?

These Xfiles, aren't the Xfiles. Instead it is an unformulated back to back season. But if it has started this bad, it isn't going to go anywhere else. None of these cases or episodes have been structured reasonably into any real closure, because it has been seemingly building up to an ending. What should have been episode 1 following along on in the same plot in episode 2, went somewhere else. Episode 2, needed a follow up episode where it could have been combined into her mother's lost, queue their child, had gotten confused somewhere else. Beep the beep out of episode 3, it showed how bothered that they aren't bothered. And this present episode was almost as corny, because it went off somewhere else. But none of these episodes have really closed even in that other silencing way, because that must be like that season's ending, or the truth is out dear?

This season has been all over the place in its even cheesiest of jibes, where it is just going through the motions of using actors who have no real interest and not much chemistry anymore. Remember the Xfile days, where they use to moon all over each other, we could almost feel their nuances. But as the show progressed that started getting lost, because something else happened, where it became another soap opera following along with their life stories. As the Xfiles themselves became more and more of a show about them, and less and less about the content. Anyhow until now they have finally come back on the air today, literally punching fans in the face, with this other trip down nostalgia lane, but it's obviously just a rehash to move their careers back along, or whatever the other cash in, and they really haven't got it, on this show anymore. They needed replacements hence innovation, a new model, not their royalties. The cases are there, the conspiracy is there, the content is there, the market is there, but they aren't if it is shown like this. Use them as Gurus, advisers, specialists adding into the background, but get some new blood in. People who can connect, making this show look good. And that is also, what in the hell cancer man, and where is Skinner hiding? I mean come on.... WTF is this other beep..