The X Files / Young at Heart / Additional

So obviously if a psycho from Mulder's past threatens his friends then Scully is clearly an optional target. So it should come as no surprise that one scene has Scully hearing a creak, pulling her weapon, cocking the gun, with a camera shot of a younger Barnett hiding in the dark behind a wall as Scully answers the door to Dr. John Ridley, a disbarred doctor who was experimenting on anti-aging.

Imagining just how painful it is when Deep Throat tells Mulder that Barnett stole Ridley's notes about anti-aging (or even his "salamander arm") and plans to negotiate his release, immunity, money, and a "safe haven", Duchovny sure paints that picture effectively. This is cat and mouse, "Young at Heart" presents an adversary with quite an advantage opposite Mulder...Barnett is young, no longer the fiftyish creep that told Mulder he'd get him in court before the guilty verdict and sentencing. While the end result is never in doubt -- a cello recital where Scully is present and "in danger", Mulder anticipates he'll show up to shoot her. And perhaps he'll get the chance to right a "mistake" from the past when his inability to shoot Barnett got an agent killed...FBI regulations Mulder followed, although it wouldn't ease his conscience and hurt for the family.

I love the idea that Barnett is so invested in killing Mulder that he gives up his identity, challenging him one last time. But the work of Ridley...what will become of that?