Lazarus

The Gordon and Gansa scripts of season one were admittedly not the finest moments of that particular year, and for every "Conduit" and "Fallen Angel" we were given a "Ghost in the Machine" and "Born Again." Episode fifteen, "Lazarus," falls somewhere in the middle of the pack, offering up a mildly interesting premise but failing to deliver the tension that made classic X-Files such delicious TV candy.

I think the concept of "body-switching," of transposing one consciousness independent of its physical body into another, is quite interesting. Even in more recent times, on shows such as Lost, the concept is used in various fashions. There have been enough reported cases of near-death and out-of-body experiences to give the phenomenon some sort of foothold in the backdrop of reality. It is certainly an idea that provides food for thought.

While "Lazarus" manages to execute this idea in a believable fashion, the pieces don't completely come together. The case revolves around Scully's ex-boyfriend Jack Willis. While it's nice to see the writers once again delving into Scully's pre X-Files life, our only glimpse of him is in the teaser, as he is shot during a bank robbery and subsequently "possessed" by the shooter, Dupre. Thus, we don't really have a baseline to compare his later actions. There are also quite a few gaps in logic, just in the hospital scenes alone. How anyone could not have noticed Dupre's body convulsing on the stretcher remains an X-File in itself, and it makes absolutely no sense that a physically and psychologically suffering Willis would have been allowed right back on the case.

Still, this episode earns points for Scully's scenes. Duped by Dupre/Willis during a chase of his girlfriend Lula, Scully is kidnapped (for the first of many times), yet never lets her situation get the best of her. There are some great Scully "backbone" moments here, including the final scene in which she attempts to resurrect memories in Willis's trapped conscience. It provides tension in an otherwise tension-lacking affair.

"Lazarus" earns points for a solid premise (that would later be revisited in a different manner in "Dreamland"), fine acting and for reminding us that Scully has a spine. If it were a more engaging, logically consistent episode, I would probably rank it higher. As is, I give it a 6 out of 10.

Features a great story premise, great guest acting, and we see Mulder and Scully's acting fully develop and mature in this episode - season 1 featured some spotty acting especially on David's part but by this episode, our two main leads fully embrace and mature their characters that later be the foundation for future seasons

The score is also amazing in this episode, and the music perfect synced with the tension. Probably one of the best scores I cna recall in any X Files episode.

The story premise is presented and framed in a engaging and creative way and the tension and story pacing are fantastic and riveting.

I don't get why some critics at the time gave it marginal reviews but I would bet they would change their minds upon a revisit to the episode.

38:20 into the episode, Mulder says they have 1000 households to check. They have 100 officers, and each officer can check 30 households per hour. He says they will cover the area in 3 hours.

100 officers x 30 = 3000 households per hour. 3 hours should be 9000 households. They should be able to check the 1000 households in 20 minutes, not 3 hours. It's strange no one of the cast or production team realized this.

A great idea but let down by an incredibly poor delivery. There's not a cats chance in hell that the antagonist would know how to navigate an FBI office.

Lazarus is a fine, body-switching episode. Although it's difficult to tell who got the better end of the deal. True, Jack Willis' body is still alive, but he has another man's soul in him. Warren Dupre has lost his body, but his soul is very much alive in another man's body. What a perfect disguise for a criminal, as an officer of the law! In Fire, two episodes before, Mulder had a past love interest show up. In Lazarus, it's Scully's turn, as Jack Willis is her former FBI academy instructor whom she dated. But the results are not similar, as Mulder shows no hints of jealousy at all. In Tempus Fugit, Scully comments that in the four years she's known Mulder he's never remembered her birthday. In Lazarus, Mulder gives Scully a birthday card signed by Willis two months early to test him. I wouldn't exactly call that never remembering. Another excellent guest performance given by Christopher Allport as Jack Willis. Plus, this episode has a nice little twist at the end that surprised me.