 Not all reviews were positive ; Tom Kessenich , in his book Examinations , gave the episode a mixed review , writing , " This was an episode that had tremendous promise and Carter and Spotnitz almost got it right . Sadly , they failed to invest themselves fully and intelligently into Mulder 's return . " Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely negative review and awarded it one @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half stars out of four . Vitaris wrote that , despite opening " with tremendously affecting acting from [ David ] Duchovny " , the episode lapses into " a lost opportunity to explore the psyche of a person who has suffered torture " . 
