Oh hey, a Skinner-centric episode, and with some familiar faces for fans of genre TV. First off, there’s Jennifer Hetrick, best known as “Vash” on a couple episodes of different Star Trek series, as Skinner’s wife Sharon. She keeps getting set up with bald guys in sci-fi shows. There’s also Amanda Tapping, best known as one of the main cast from Stargate SG-1. She plays a murder victim. Oh, and a prostitute.
Should I be surprised that David Duchovny got a story credit on an episode that features a prostitute?
The Case: Skinner Murdered A Prostitute! Maybe…
The Rest: OK, is it me, or do Duchovny-based episodes seem to really spotlight Mulder more than most? I mean, this is a Skinner episode, the first one, and it still seems like Mulder alone believes Skinner is innocent of murder. Scully mostly isn’t sure why Skinner won’t defend himself. Maybe he freaked out that he woke up next to a member of the Stargate SG-1 team with her head twisted all the way around after a one night stand.
Oh, and she was a prostitute. Skinner didn’t know that. Fortunately, Scully and Mulder are on the case. Mulder, who used to hate Skinner, says the boss has put himself on the line often enough that he owes Skinner to prove he’s innocent. Scully just points out Skinner might not be innocent. I mean, he keeps seeing this old lady, sometimes in a red hoodie. He even sees her on the street, chases her down, and finds…his estranged wife Sharon in a red hoodie.
If you think the episode will imply heavily that Sharon is the old woman in the hoodie…yeah, of course it will. It seems Skinner first saw the old woman, someone Mulder thinks is a succubus, when he had a near-death experience in Vietnam. He had chalked it up to the fact he had inhaled (remember, this was the era of the Clinton Administration), but then he saw the old woman again at night. Also, he’s estranged from his wife, but he put off signing the divorce papers when he met the prostitute that he didn’t know was a prostitute.
Basically, it looks like his wife is upset he’s having a one night stand and takes out the prostitute. But also, the Smoking Man was setting Skinner up to remove him from his job and then probably scrap the X-Files. At least, that’s Mulder’s unsubstantiated theory, so make of it what you will.
Anyway, when Sharon is run off the road, Skinner says he won’t divorce her, so she shows her other face and sends him off to save a young woman from a mystery assassin. How did he know to do there? He won’t say. Scully was knocked out, but apparently shooting one unknown assassin gets him his job back. I’m less concerned about how he knew to go there as how he got there ahead of Mulder and some other guys in the lobby, and that no one saw him show up before then.
Well, looks like Skinner will stay married to a protective demon. Eh, I probably would too if I were him.
Up next, a lake monster that east Scully’s dog.
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