AIR DATE:  January 17, 1999
Written by John Shiban
Directed by Daniel Sackheim

	As the four most scariest words (Written by John Shiban) came
across the screen I worried what this episode might entail.  Would we get
more killer cats or green goo with people talking a foreign language? 
"S.R. 819" was a decent episode that focused mainly on Skinner and the
choices he has made over his life.  As always in TV shows, he has to be on
the brink of death before he is willing to admit to Scully that if he died
it will be in vain and his life will have been a waste.  Compared to
Scully and Mulder who are willing to risk everything to get to the truth
he isn't willing to do that.  Of course, he basically told Mulder this
same thing in "One Breath" when he told him about his experiences in
Vietnam.  But it has been a long time since the events in "One Breath" 
and it was important to gather what has been going on in Skinner's mind
especially since we haven't seen him since the season's premiere, "The
Beginning", where we were given the hint that he was pushed aside by
everyone. 

	The thing is where do we find Skinner at the end of the episode? 
Is he back to his old self when he tells Scully and Mulder to drop the
investigation into who did this to him, essentially telling Scully and
Mulder that he still isn't willing to risk his life or career to pursue
this matter further?  Or is Skinner trying to protect Scully and Mulder
from finding out who really did this to him and what that means to him?
Also, it is hard to believe that Scully and Mulder would drop it so easily
though they might at the behest of Skinner because as we have seen Scully
and Mulder will do things on their own with or without F.B.I. approval.
The best unknown factor in this episode is everyone's favorite rat,
Krycek.  As can be expected for an X-Files episode we are not given a
clear idea if he is working on his own or for the Consortium since the
last time we saw him he was with Well-Manicured Man, and why exactly did
he put those things in Skinner.  Was it revenge against Skinner or does he
know something is going to come up that he will need Skinner's help? 

	Now some miscellaneous comments on "S.R. 819":

- It was good to see John Shiban and the director, Daniel Sackheim, didn't
know what hospital Skinner was in.  Let's see he is first brought to St.
Katherine's Hospital after his boxing fight, then when he collapsed in the
garage he is taken to D.C. General and for some mysterious reason he ends
up back at St. Katherine's to die.  Also, he has the same female doctor in
D.C. General who was about to cut off his arm as he does in St. Katherine
when he dies.  I suppose doctors can bounce around different hospitals. 
I guess we could say they transported him over there, but considering the
shape he was in it is doubtful they would have moved him and it was never
mentioned.

- I thought it was quite funny that the first arm the doctors were going
to take off was his left arm.  Skinner could have been a one-armed man
like Krycek.  Not being a doctor I don't see how cutting off both arms
would have helped him out.  Talk about a malpractice suit on the way. 

- It would have been nice to have known what name Skinner said to the
doctor just before he died, but I can safely assume it was Krycek so that
she would tell Scully and Mulder.  It did seem like a cheap trick, but it
was a Shiban script so I shouldn't be surprised.

- They shouldn't have shown such a close up of Skinner's face because it
really exposed the makeup job around his eyes. 

- So Skinner's a boxer, huh?  I guess he has to take his frustration out
somehow. 

- So Mulder still stays late at work and hasn't given up his throwing
pencils at the ceiling habit.  I wonder what his fellow co-workers think? 
Oh yeah, I'm a little surprised that they would station Scully and Mulder
across the hall from Skinner's office, but I suppose you put them where
you're got space.

- Also, it was good to see Mulder hasn't forgotten to think everything bad
that happens to others is because of him and the X-Files.  For all he knew
it could have been because someone didn't like Skinner. 

- Skinner didn't appreciate Mulder asking him if he woke up alone which
had to be a slight reference to what happened to Skinner in "Avatar". 

- Nice that Scully keeps up with who are the top physicist when she
recognized Dr. Orgel in the surveillance camera.  Now that's our Scully,
even when she's busy chasing aliens and travelling all over the country
she has time to read the latest medical jo urnals. 

- Once again only in TV land would Mulder spot a photo of Dr. Orgel and
Senator Matheson in Dr. Orgel's trashcan so that he could link Senator
Matheson and Dr. Orgel. 

- Speaking of Senator Matheson I'm glad to see his true colors have
finally been shown in this episode.  I've always felt he was creepy and
using Mulder just as everyone else has on the show.  Let me see if I can
get this right, S.R. 819 was going to allow them to export nanotechnolgy
to foreign countries and for whatever reason it was either a threat to the
Consortium plans or Senator Matheson was working with the Consortium to
export it, and somehow Dr. Orgel was going to Skinner to say it was a bad
idea even though he is pictured with the Senator and S.R. 819 which would
mean he supported the bill.  Wouldn't a picture like that usually have
been taken after the bill had been passed by both the House and the Senate
and signed by the President?  Maybe my brain isn't working today and I
just don't get how this works in the bigger picture of aliens, bees and
desert corn fields in Texas and Tunisia.

- Oh, I don't want to forget to mention I like Senator Matheson's new
haircut. 

- Both Skinner and Mulder were quite psychic in being able to figure out
where to find things.  Skinner knew which garage the Tunisian diplomat
would go to out of all the garages in D.C..  It must be the main hangout
for diplomats.  Though why Skinner didn't want to ask him any questions in
front of Mulder is another mystery.  Mulder's psychic moment came when he
knew which abandoned power plant to go to out of all the plants that could
exist in the D.C. area.  Let's not forget the hospital scene where Mulder
goes looking for the source of the computer phone call to Skinner's
cellular phone and he spots a disguise Krycek right off.  Then again
Krycek was the only long haired homeless looking guy in the hospital hall.
The hospital must be used to seeing homeless people wandering their
hallways since no one at the hospital questioned why he was hanging out. 

- It sure was a cheap car Skinner fell against in the garage since we see
he put a nice dent in it.  Well, at least it should only cost a few
hundred bucks for the owner to get a garage to pop it back out. 

- Is Skinner's secretary trying for the Scully look-a-like contest?  I
almost thought it was Scully entering the office.  Mulder shows his
inability to open the smallest things when he can't open a simple desk
drawer which doesn't exactly use the strongest locks. 

- Just why was Senator Matheson still hanging out at the power plant?  Did
Krycek tell him to expect Mulder anytime now so Mulder can have his big
confrontation scene with him. 

- Even though I didn't see any date stamp in this episode we can figure
out that this episode took place sometime in April or May because the sun
was still bright and shining at 5:56pm in the D.C. area, and I'm fairly
sure we don't see the sun shining that time of day again until Daylight
Saving Time starts.  It didn't even look like it was near dusk when Mulder
drove up to the power plant.  Can't wait to see when next week's episode
takes place.

- Damn, those Nanites they cause more problems for more shows than any
other little critters.  I couldn't help but think of all those Star Trek
episodes where Nanites caused some minor problems for the ship, then I
couldn't help thinking about the Nanites used in Mystery Science Theater
3000 where MST3K made fun of the concept of Nanites. 

- I was surprised to find that Skinner was still overseeing the X-Files. 
One would think they would have moved him as far away as possible from the
X-Files. 

- The Scully and Mulder watch gets a mixed review this week.  They weren't
together too much during the episode, but they did work together in trying
to get to the bottom of what happened to Skinner.  Their not being
together for most of the show wasn't as bothersome as it has been in the
past. 

	"S.R. 819"  was a fine X-Files episode that explored Skinner's
inter motives for continuing the path he has choosing even if the rest of
it didn't clear anything else up about what is going on in the shows grand
mythology plots.  If anything, it added another unnecessary layer to it. 
Just what we needed. 

Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

1/18/99