AIR DATE:  February 11, 1994
Written by Scott Kaufer & Chris Carter
Directed by Michael Lange

	"Young at Heart" is an excellent X-Files episode that helped to
explain one of the reasons why Mulder is the way he is in the F.B.I., an
agent who doesn't always follow rules or have much respect for higher-ups
in the F.B.I..  "Young at Heart" isn't a major character development for
Mulder, but it does give us an idea of where Mulder had come from, and it
allowed Scully to see him in a new light.  Though "Young at Heart" 
doesn't have the impact of "Conduit" or "The Erlenmeyer Flask" it was an
intense and thrilling episode where we see someone get to Mulder. 

	In "Young at Heart" we finally learn how a fresh out of the
academy Mulder was looked upon by his colleagues and how he solved an
important case and blew it at the same time.  Along with the guilt he has
lived with ever since the shooting incident.  If there is anyone who can
carry guilt with him it is Mulder.  Of course, his whole life is one guilt
trip after another with the big one being losing his sister.  Mulder
follows procedures by not shooting Barnett when he holds the armored car
driver hostage even though he had a clean shot at him.  Because of this
the driver is killed along with a fellow F.B.I. agent before Mulder shoots
Barnett.  Mulder, being Mulder, never has forgiven himself for this no
matter how much his boss, Reggie Purdue, tried to convince him there
wasn't anything he could have done.  You could feel the shame he felt
after he finds out Scully saw the tape of the shoot-out with Barnett.  It
is not something he is proud of and wouldn't want Scully to think any less
of him for it.  Scully never would, but this has to be an event he never
wanted to relive.

	Mulder gives Agent Reggie Purdue the ultimate compliment when he
calls him by his first name out of respect, and not disrespect, like he
did Bill Patterson in "Grotesque".  Purdue appears to be one of the few
people who didn't care about this "Spooky" Mulder reputation he had earned
from other agents.  Purdue was there for Mulder when he had to testify
against Barnett, and was most likely there for him after the shooting
incident.  Mulder doesn't give his trust or respect easily to anyone so
Purdue definitely broke a barrier with Mulder.  We didn't exactly see all
this so it has to be inferred by Mulder's reaction to him.  It must have
gotten to Mulder again when Purdue went over the story of how the F.B.I.
had big things planned for him, etc.  The same thing Skinner will tell him
in "Tooms". A rare occurrence where Mulder shows someone respect. 

	A few miscellaneous comments on "Young at Heart":

- The flashback to Mulder's trial testimony was great because he was still
haunted by it all, and it most likely was the first major trial he had to
do.  His voice cracking when he explained why he didn't shoot Barnett
displayed the deep felt guilt about the other agent's death.  The outburst
being very uncharacteristic of Mulder revealed the pent up anger at
himself and Barnett.  Which is why Barnett turned around and told Mulder
he would get him because he knew it would get to Mulder. 

- Mulder and Scully are still hanging out in the open work area.  I guess
this is before they decided to trust no one. 

- What kind of football field was that kid playing on?  Does the school
have such a low budget they can't afford to keep up the grass?  Must be
one of those Canadian football fields.

- Who was that other guy in Reggie Purdue's office?  His secretary? 
Another agent?  You would think with the position Purdue must have held at
the F.B.I. he would rank his own office.  Boy, no wonder Mulder was put
into the old copier room in the basement, there wasn't anywhere else to
put him. 

- I see it isn't only Scully who Mulder will wake up at night when he
calls Purdue at 10:30pm.  Lucky for Barnett Mulder did call because it
gave him the chance to be even more dramatic when he killed Purdue. 

- The older Barnett was quite creepy even though he was only on the screen
for a few minutes.  You got the feeling he liked to kill people. 

- Oh yeah, I got a big kick out of Mulder saying Barnett has an accent
because he was from New Hampshire.  Well, that certainty wasn't any New
Hampshire accent I ever heard before.  It sounded more like the actor
playing the young Barnett, Alan Boyce, trying his best John Malkovich
imitation from the movie "In a Line of Fire".  Hell, this is probably
where writers Chris Carter and Scott Kaufer got the idea in the first
place of an old foil to come back and get to Mulder like Malkovich did
Eastwood.

- We knew this time Mulder wasn't going to hesitate when it came to
shooting Barnett if the same situation came up when they did a closeup of
him loading up his gun.  I'm glad Mulder's aim is better since the first
time he shot Barnett.  The second time it would be no shoulder or hand for
Mulder, he was going directly for the heart.  Somehow I think shooting
Barnett the second time would have worked better if Scully was there to
see Mulder do it instead of having them talk in the hospital as Barnett
died.  The episode should have ended in the theater and not bring in the
lame bit of the government trying to get Barnett to give them Dr. Ridley's
research files. 

- The whole government conspiracy of trying to make a deal with Barnett
lessened the episode and was totally unnecessary to the story.  This is
one of those classic X-Files episodes where Deep Throat or Mr. X was
brought in for no reason other than to move the plot along though this
time Deep Throat didn't even do that.

- I believe Agent Henderson had a thing for Mulder or maybe they had a
brief fling and she was still just flirting with him. 

- I would like to know what is a healthy 20 pounds after Mulder asked the
photo enhancer to add that much on a photo of Barnett?

- Wow, we get a Scully voiceover in the middle of the episode along with
her wearing her glasses.  Don't see that anymore on the show. 

- How did Dr. Ridley know Scully was investigating the case and where she
lives?  I think there is an X-Files episode in that alone. 

- I loved how Scully describing her phone messages to Mulder tells him her
mother called for no reason at all.  Hmm, aren't parents just like that
sometimes!  My brother does it all the time.  We have nickname for these
calls "What's up" calls since there wasn't any real reason for him to
call.  The classic time was when he called up and asked me what I wanted
and I had to tell him he called me. 

- So for entertainment Scully goes out with a friend to cello recitial. 
Well, at least she still had a life back then. 

- How long were they going to wait to seat the audience?  I can understand
there might have been a reception before the cello recitial, but it sure
was getting crowded in that little lobby.  Also, would she still be
practicing so close to curtain time.  Wow, they do weird things in the
Beltway.

- I think I know what happened to Dr. Ridley's notes.  After whatever is
the waiting period for stuff to be picked up at the railroad locker it is
taken to a section where it sits for a while before it is chucked into the
recycling bin.


	"Young at Heart" is an excellent minor first season episode that
helped to explain what makes Mulder tick.  When he first joined the F.B.I. 
he followed the book and got someone killed, something that will haunt him
for the rest of his life.  Scully once again finds a new part of Mulder
she hadn't seen before and it is apart he didn't want her to see.  This is
one of those episodes you don't expect much out of, but get a lot back in
return in learning more about the characters.

Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu
8/10/97

Back to Top of Page

Back to 1st Season Episodes List

2nd Season Episodes List
3rd Season Episodes List
4th season Episodes List

Back to Main X-Files Comment Page