The X-Files/Recap/S02/E08 One Breath

Background
FBI special agent Dana Scully is currently missing, having disappeared after being kidnapped by a deranged multiple-abductee in the two-part episodes "Duane Barry" and "Ascension". Her partner Fox Mulder has continued his work without her, but is still investigating her disappearance, believing her to have been abducted by aliens. His investigations into similar abductions in the past have been aided by The Lone Gunmen, a trio of conspiracy theorists made up of John Byers (Bruce Harwood), Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly.

Events
Scully's mother, Margaret, tells Mulder a story about Dana shooting a snake with her brothers as a child and regretting what she did afterwards. She indicates she is ready to let go of Dana, and shows Mulder Scully's gravestone. Mulder, however, refuses to give up.

Scully then turns up mysteriously at a hospital in a coma. An out of control Mulder demands to know how she got there, and is escorted out by security but later calms down and meets with Dr. Daly, who reveals that no one can figure out how she got there or what's wrong with her. He tells Mulder and Mrs. Scully that she has a living will that dictates she be taken off of life support when her condition falls to specific criteria. At Scully's bedside, Mulder meets her older sister Melissa. Scully has a vision of sitting in a boat, attached by rope to a dock where Mulder and Melissa stand, and nurse Owens behind them. Frohike visits Scully and sneaks out her medical chart, which the Lone Gunmen later investigate. Byers finds that Scully's blood contains branched DNA that may have been used for identification but now is inactive and nothing more than a poisonous waste product in her system.

The mysterious Nurse Owens visits Scully at her bedside, trying to reach her in her coma. Later Mulder visits Scully while another nurse takes her blood. When distracted, a mysterious man steals Scully's blood sample and runs. Mulder chases him down to the parking lot where he is confronted by X, who demands that he stop pursuing what happened to Scully and let her die. He then executes the man who stole her blood. When Assistant Director Walter Skinner calls Mulder to his office regarding the incident, Mulder denies any involvement and claims that the Cigarette Smoking Man is responsible for what happened to Scully. Mulder demands to know where he is but Skinner refuses to tell him.

In another vision Scully lies on a table and is visited by her deceased father. Mulder, sitting with Melissa in the hospital cafeteria, is asked by a woman for change for the cigarette machine. When she says that a pack of Morleys is already there and leaves, Mulder opens it and finds the Cigarette Smoking Man's address inside. Mulder bursts into the Cigarette Smoking Man's home and holds him at gunpoint, demanding to know why Scully was taken instead of him. The Cigarette Smoking Man claims he likes the both of them, which is why she was returned; he reveals that he told Skinner it was Mulder who shot the man in the parking lot, although he didn't believe this to be true, incidentally revealing himself as unaware of who did shoot the man, namely X. He tells Mulder that he'll never know the truth if he kills him, and Mulder decides not to.

Mulder returns to FBI headquarters and types out a resignation letter that he hands into Skinner. Skinner visits his office as Mulder is packing his things, and relates an out-of-body experience he had in Vietnam. Skinner refuses to accept Mulder's resignation and Mulder realizes that he was the one who provided him with the Cigarette Smoking Man's location. Heading to the parking garage, Mulder is met by X, telling him that he'll have a chance for revenge that night when men, believing him to have information on Scully, will search his apartment at a specific time. Mulder is waiting with his gun at his apartment when Melissa arrives. Although he initially refuses to leave, Melissa is able to convince Mulder to see Scully. While being with Scully, Mulder holds Scully's left hand and talks to her. Returning home to find his apartment trashed, Mulder sits on the floor and cries.

Scully awakens the following day, so Mulder is called to the hospital and sees her, where she indicates she heard his voice while in her coma and is given her cross necklace. Scully tells him she doesn't remember anything after being kidnapped by Duane Barry. Later Scully asks one of the nurses if she can see Nurse Owens, as she wants to thank her, but the nurse tells Scully that no nurse named Owens works at the hospital.


 * It Is Not Your Time
 * The One With...: That one episode where Scully spends the whole thing in a boat.


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