Leonard Betts

Another appearance by John Gillnitz. I don't know why I enjoy spotting these so much, but I do.

I like this shot taken from the trunk of a car : our two agents with umbrellas under a snowfall.

In this scene Mulder and Scully are separated to search for Betts when Scully realizes she's found him. She tells Mulder to get over here right now, and he immediately turns and runs to his car. She didn't need to explain, he knew to trust her and do what she said. It's a powerful demonstration of their partnership.

Of course, the last five minutes are the most powerful...

All the emotions Scully is going through, us at the same time !

And Mulder who senses that something is wrong with Scully, but can't figure out what it is.

The writers are so cruel ! And it's just the beginning of the cancer arc...

The teasing tone of this exchange delights me. She doesn't want to admit she saw something unexplainable because she knows he'll tease her, and he does, and she sighs. They know each other so well.

How can I survive watching these two, bantering with such facial expressions ?

Am I cheating here ? Because, in the name of the item there is "unnoticed". Isn't it too visible ?

The scene where Scully nonchalantly digs through medical waste, while Mulder can barely watch, is hilarious. And the look on Mulder's face when Scully tells him he'll have to help is about the funniest thing I've ever seen on the show.

David Duchovny is very funny in this episode, even though it's by no means a comedy. His particular talents really shine through.

This scene is hilarious !! The actors are awesome. I love how Mulder is reluctant and how Scully challenges him: "Your arms are longer" !

And cherry on the cake (but can't put them here), I love the sounds when they rummage in the waste and the groans they make ! A very intimate scene, close together, in improbable outfits.

When Leonard Betts tells Scully she has something he needs, it's a shocking moment. We know he needs cancer, and that's what he says when he's about to kill someone who has cancer for him to eat! Is he saying Scully has cancer? And then, in the last scene, we get confirmation that something is indeed wrong with Scully.

Yeah ! Charles "Chuck" Burks in his lab at the University ! We are so happy to see him in the episode. Chuck is very pretty cool.

I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet this is a pretty American expression. In fact, my guess would be that Vince Gilligan contributed this line, since it's a Southern-folksy expression, and those are his roots.

Are we watching Urgences/E.R. ??

"Or you got yourself a nice paperweight." There are a lot of great one liners in this episode. But Mulder was so tickled with this joke that I chose it as notable.

I love the quote: "Evolution occurs not along a straight graphable line but in huge fits and starts and the unimaginable happens in the gap". I agree with the idea and the theory.

In this quote, you can replace "evolution" by "life" if you want, or by "MSR", and you have the unimaginable which happens in All Things !

Mulder is willing to consider extreme possibilities, to not be hemmed in by what is known but to explore what might be. It leads to an understanding of the Monster we're dealing with here. It's one of Mulder's best qualities.

All along the episode Mulder makes incredible leaps and understand so well the case ! I choose the moment when he states that Leonard Betts IS cancer. Wait, what ? Cancer man ?

And yes, Mulder, you can "cut" Leonard Betts and get two !

Scully puts her medical skills and her survival instincts to work to stop Leonard Betts by defibrillating his head, like a badass!

Scully's morgue scene with the head is awesome ! I like how Scully is trying to rationalize what she have experienced, while Mulder is teasing her.

I didn't want to go here. I planned to use the nosebleeds as a link to other cancer arc episodes, but this connection just jumped out at me. In both Leonard Betts and Home Scully tells mothers that their monster sons have murdered people, and the mothers defend their children, and imply that if Scully were a mother she would understand. This "mothers and mutants theme" will be repeated with Scully and Emily, and again with Scully and William. I'm really kind of blown away by this bit of continuity.

Many people on this whole planet has a personal, intimate or indirect, story with cancer, or more generally illness. So I am. Cancer was a dark shadow present before my birth, who made a sudden indirect attack when I was a kid, leaving scars and damages, and made a fatal come back decades later. Probably, he's now hidden somewhere on my own path, waiting his moment to jump at me.

So, bringing a hopeful tone about the cancer arc, I link this episode to the amazing night scene in "Detour". I like that Scully has found a way to make sense of her illness, and that she's able to share it with Mulder. And with us.

I enjoy the mutant monster of the week episodes, and I think this is a really good one.

I like the way Mulder and Scully challenge each other's theories and then come together at the end with an understanding of what's going on. Their banter along the way is wonderful.

I think the way Scully's cancer was introduced was one of the best shockers of the series.

And the umbrella scene was gorgeous.

A great episode !

I like the progression of the episode: the tone is very funny in the beginning, with enjoyable Mulder and Scully scenes, and, insidiously, the tone becomes darker and moving. First, by actions of the villain we can empathize with, and then by the beginning of the cancer arc. Devastating ! We are taken aback by the storytelling.

The effects in this scene were not very convincing. It never looks like anything more than a video head superimposed in the shot. Nice try, but...

I'm sometimes perturbed by some elements that I find a bit illogical in this completely sci-fi case. Really, decapited in this ambulance accident ? And how a headless man can come back to home ? Where are his brain, his eyes ? Leonard Betts has the ability to generate a new body in a few minutes, but not a new thumb in a few hours ?