All appears to be normal, until the meeting concludes with a Satanic prayer. In a quiet New Hampshire town, a seemingly conservative high school faculty (led by Dan Butler, perhaps best known as 'Frasier''s Bulldog) has gathered to discuss which musicals to deem appropriate for the forthcoming school play. 'Die Hand Die Verletzt' (German for 'The Hand That Wounds' or more closely, 'The Hand, The Pain') begins with a lot of the underplayed, tongue-in-cheek humor that is the show's secret weapon. There is an exception this time around, though I'll explain that when we get to it. A further long-running threat would also emerge in the episode 'Colony' in the shape of Brian Thompson as the Alien Bounty Hunter.įor my Top 5 list of season two, like last time I've tried to avoid 'Mythology' episodes and steer towards entries that can be enjoyed in isolation from the rest of the series. His role as a sinister antagonist to Mulder and some time associate to Cigarette Smoking Man would continue throughout the subsequent six seasons of the show. Though originally written in as a means to allow Gillian Anderson time off for her real life pregnancy, this plot line added a new level of tension and planted the seeds for many other stories that would pay off later in the show's run.Īs well as introducing a new informant for Mulder, appropriately nick-named 'X', the season also saw corrupt Agent Alex Krycek (played by Nicholas Lea) joining Mulder as Scully's temporary replacement. It's understandable then that given these events and the show's then still-growing success that the second season made a point of delving much deeper into the shows core mythology and building upon it's central character's backgrounds.Īs such, season two has fewer 'Monster of the week' episodes in lieu of following ongoing stories such as Mulder's quest to find out the truth about his sister's disappearance and Scully's apparent abduction.
The dramatic finale to season one of The X-Files saw Mulder's informant Deep Throat assassinated and The X-Files investigations themselves closed by the FBI.