Genuinely some creepy scenes. I never get tired of the thoughtful cinematography on this show. I love that you guys celebrate those things.

With all the talk of the camera direction I want to have a flash-forward reaction to S6E3 "Triangle" (pretty sure that's the one), just because I don't think I can wait the time it will take to get there!

Yes Guys we have Tony Todd, The Candyman himself here, but this episode is probably more notable for the introduction of Krycek and X. With Deep Throat eliminated X now becomes Mulder's new clandestine contact, with more cryptic clues to find the truth. Of course avid X-Files fans know that we saw Krycek before as one of the victims of The Gender Bender in S1 where he had a minor part, again this show uses the same actors again in different parts. I really like this episode which never makes any top lists of episodes. Of course the Super Soldier angle has been used many times before, as it was in The Bourne Identity, where a covert government programme is used on soldiers to make them almost invincible. Here we have Tony Todd/Augustus able to infect the mind of the others and make them believe the reality of the situations that may not be real, but the victims have the physical injuries of reality. One could say this was similar to the 1984 film Dreamscape. We can see how mentally ill the men have become with the fact they haven't slept for nearly 25 years. A very tense scene in the train station when Mulder thinks he sees Dr Gerardi, and a brilliant end to this too with Mulder and Augustus on the roof, and then Krycek shoots Augustus. A link here with Tony Todd too being in Final Destination as it was originally written as an X-Files episode. Then we have the reveal at the end with the abominable Krycek and Cancer Man/Smoking Man conspiring. The groundwork now being laid for some brilliant S2 mythology episodes.

Much better than the previous episode, in no small part due to Tony Todd's performance. I also just think it's a more interesting episode. I like how when he went to kill the second guy, the other veteran, he just accepted his fate. I suppose after a quarter century without sleep, rotting away in an apartment watching infomercials at 3am, I'd be ready for it to be over too. I remember when I first saw this episode feeling bad for Krycek with how much of an ass Mulder was being to him for seemingly no reason. Then you get to that last scene and it's like "oh you fuckin weasel". Great episode.

It seems like you both missed the shot where it showed him holding the gun at Mulder and then cut to Crycek and then back to Cole in the same exact pose but he was holding the Bible?

I’m gonna put on my bingo card Living plastic trash dumpster comes alive and eats people. Oh shit that’s not gonna work, that was a Doctor Who plot thread

The show really starts in season 1.

I have a feeling that you are going to be tempted to do more than one reaction per week......resist.

Candyman as Freddy Kreuger.

I've always much preferred the Alien mythology episodes, but this one was a pretty entertaining MotW episode. B tier for me.

Yes, definitely Tony Todd week. A little disappointed in this episode that more time was not spent with his character, but overall, I'd rate this at least B episode, possibly even an A for the direction and introductions of Agent Krycek and Mulder's new contact played by Steven Williams. Fun fact: Steven Williams had a bit part as a state trooper in the 1980 film "The Blues Brother" but is probably best known as Captain Adam Fuller from the Fox TV show "21 Jump Street" that launched Johnny Depp's career.

Another thing, Augustus Cole (Tony Todd) was at the edge, he looked down and saw that metal bar sticking up. and we all figure that is how he was going to end. But really it was Cole, thinking about falling and taking his own life on the pipe, but I think, since he was a preacher he knew he should not take his own life. and then sees Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) pull the gun and knows it would be fine if someone else takes his life. That is my take on it. So he was happy to have it all over.

Wait until the DS9 where Jake publishes his story about the Vietnam vet who hasn’t slept in 24 years. Yeah, spoilers, whatever. Also, this is the new Best Standalone Episode. Tony Todd is his usual scene-commanding self, and as you said, the direction went so much harder than it needed to. This was unbelievably cinematic for mid-‘90s episodic TV. Warehouse? Train station? Baseball stadium? Let’s go.

A couple of companion pieces to go with this in season three you could watch nowhere man which is automatically similar and has a lot of the same people in the production credits And you could watch in season 45 and six the series millennium, which is Chris Carter’s connected but disconnected side series

You guys should do a "3 far-out plot guesses of a future X-File episode" and see as we go along, if you were correct or even close. There is still 189 episodes left and 2 movies. It could be entertaining....for us.

The guy who died in an imaginary fire was named "Grissom"? That was after Star Trek III in which the last thing the crew of the USS Grissom heard was a Klingon Commander saying "FIRE!" What did Gus Grissom ever do to these writers? In the 60s he was a hero of the Space Race, one of the first 7 astronauts dubbed the "Mercury 7 Astronauts". Then he dies in the Apollo 1 fire, so anyone or anything bearing his name afterwards dies by fire as well? That's cold....

Alex Krycek, also known as the "she was a kind 3" actor from Gender Bender.

Love your reaction and review. I liked everything about "Sleepless" from start to finish. Another one of my favorites. And yes, you are right in your observations that these S2 episodes so far have a sort of almost serialized feel to them. Even though the previous few episodes (the premiere aside) are not really mytharc/MOTW-hybrids, they still advance the main storyline and add lots to the character developments.

It comes down to how well Tony Todd executes

"One minute is more than I care to give. The blood's boiling in my veins. I can feel the air stinging on my skin." - Augustus "Preacher" Cole RIP Tony Todd, perfect casting and great performance.

Just refer to the jerk as Krycheck you dont have to call him Alex.

Think about this...this episode is almost 32 years ago...in the episode...the Vietnam war was like 24 years ago....this X-files is farther away from you now than the Vietnam war was to us then....also no spoilers but the series is about to step it up a notch...it is cool that this series in the monster of the week episodes will still put things in that add to the overall story line arc...cheers

Yes! So glad someone else mentioned him in Gender Bender and that you instantly remembered his scene.

Woo! Man, that was a long week. No more vacation time! ;) Looking forward to watching along with you and hearing your thoughts. I very much enjoy this episode and said as much on the patron takes; however, I forgot to mention (although I'm sure others did) that you may recognise the face of Mulder's new partner from the episode Gender Bender. Right, with that said, let's get into this in 3, 2, 1...

No guys, not X-Files. STAR TREK!🤣🤣 Just kidding, I love X-Files.

1st! Can't wait to hit play.