The X-Files Season 9, Episode 8: Hellbound

'Hellbound' is Reyes's 'The Field Where I Died', right?

Actually, having written that, I'm not sure what else there really is to say about it. There were definitely elements of that episode, but also reaching back even further in the series, 'Squeeze' and 'Tooms' based on the periodic recurrence of the crimes, and of all episodes, a little of 'Born Again' thrown in, too.

I probably brought it up way back when I watched 'The Field Where I Died', but that was so long ago (OK, it was April) so I'll say again that I don't believe in any of this past life or soul stuff. I believe in what can very nearly be described as free will. (Even if we accept a deterministic universe at a sub-atomic level, there's enough variation to give us the impression that we're actually thinking and acting for ourselves - which we are, it's not like there's a specific external force controlling us, but our thoughts are simply chemical and physical processes, which could be entirely unchangeable.)

Either way, in this universe, it's really a Thing that happens, and while Mulder's experience in 'The Field Where I Died' was largely disconnected and more philosophical, in 'Hellbound', Reyes is very connected to the case at hand, and I think that's what makes this at least a somewhat more interesting episode.

I think it's kind of too late to be trying to develop a character like Reyes, but I suppose it's better that eight episodes into the season featuring her, we know more about her and her past and her beliefs than we've ever known about stuffy, stubborn Doggett. So at the very least, I've now reached a point where I feel like I can care about Reyes.

And in this case, Reyes doesn't just obtain knowledge about the events, but she has the ability to change history, or at least the future. She can, and does, break the cycle by not being killed, so the revenge killer throughout history dies instead, and is reincarnated at the end, but the huge disparity in age and time should be able to end things for good. Or maybe the show will return in 20 years continue this story, but I doubt it.

The big problem, though, is that we are given no reason for this to be happening. Much like the eighth season episode, 'Empedocles', this is the kind of thing that you would think if it's possible, why is it not happening everywhere all the time? Why is it just this murder that's being avenged in this way? Why, in 'Empedocles', were there not hundreds, even thousands, of cases in which a person was 'infected' with evil?

I suppose the same thing could apply to a lot of episodes of this show and others - Buffy and Angel were incredibly bad at the, "Why has no one ever noticed this before?" problem, and The X-Files really has been, too, at times, primarily when it's something that would seem so common otherwise that there's basically no way it could have escaped people's notice.

So we have to assume there was something unusual going on, something specific to this particular case, except that we're never given such an explanation. And never mind the possibility of Scully using science to explain it. I don't tend to like the episodes that are so purely a story with no explanation. One of the things I like about this show is its reliance on scientific investigation, but there's really none of that here and we're left wondering how the hell these particular souls go reincarnated when in the X-Files universe, it seems no one otherwise does.

The only thing the buildup really leads to is the revelation that there's not really a new crime being committed that needs to be investigated. The investigation only revealed that it's a long term mystical revenge, but basically nothing about the very real, very modern humans now committing the crimes. The writers must have decided that didn't matter.

I guess it's not really that important anyway, because when the series ends for good in twelve more episodes, I suspect 'Hellbound' will largely be forgotten.