Apology is policy replaces The Truth Is Out There statement of the opening credits as we are thrown right into the conclusion of the two-parter started with Nisei. Written by Frank Spotnitz this one debuted on 1 December, 1995.

Mulder (David Duchovny) has his hands full as he is thrown into confrontation with the Red-Haired Man (Stephen McHattie) a self-admitted assassin, supposedly working for the NSA. The pair quickly find themselves trapped in one of the surgical train cars Mulder saw on the tape he purchased in the previous episode that purported to show an alien autopsy, and which Scully (Gillian Anderson) begins to recall as where she was taken during her abduction.

As the two men square off, Scully gets some help from the hapless Agent Pendrell (Brendan Beiser) – who is harbouring a crush on the agent as they investigate the implant taken from the back of her neck. This leads her to a camp in Virginia that used to be a leper colony, and learns that the Japanese with the government’s oversight, and aid from the Syndicate, as indicated by the Elder (Don S. Williams), has been continuing their human experiments (begun during the Second World War as unit 731).

Scully is provided evidence to support this claim, but what Mulder sees on the train leads him to believe that the Japanese and the U.S./Syndicate are working on an alien-human hybrid, and he’s willing to bet his life on it…

A bluff that everyone seems ready to call, with X (Steven Williams) arriving just in time to rescue Mulder before the train car is sacrificed to cover up the truth.

Revelations was written by Kim Newton, and had its debut on 15 December, 1995. This is one of those flip the script episodes where Mulder plays a bit of the sceptic, while Scully wants to believe because of her upbringing and Catholic faith.

Someone is targeting people who show signs of stigmata, Mulder reveals there have been eleven, and the latest (played by R. Lee Emery) was a reverend and a faker, but another attack, on a young boy, Kevin Kryder (Kevin Zegers) who exhibits a number of strange symptoms and manifestations may be the true target of the killer, played by Kenneth Walsh.

The episode features the wonderful Micheal Berryman playing against type, something that made people sit up and take notice of.

And while I have no problem with an episode featuring Scully more in the role of the believer, I would be interested in a story that puts them into conflict over differing beliefs that are outside the normal role of science as portrayed in the series.

Young Kevin hints that he will see Scully again, but to date, I don’t think that’s happened.

The investigations continue next week with more X-Files, because the truth is out there…