Spoilers

“Paper Hearts”

This was one of the creepiest and most unsettling episodes of the X-Files and it was a story that kept the paranormal stuff basically in the background. A little dream stuff, but other than that, this could be a real story.

It was a story about a serial killer who was responsible for multiple little girls’ disappearances. Mulder had captured him years before, but when Mulder’s dreams lead him to a fourteen victim that he was not aware of, the case suddenly became mor personal for Mulder.

This was another story to make a twist connecting to the disappearance of Samantha Mulder. The killer, John Lee Roche, played by Tom Noonan, was playing a mind game with Mulder, potentially claiming that Samantha was one of two unnamed victims just discovered.

Tom Noonan does a spectacular job portraying Roche in an understated and dark character. He is not your stereotypical serial killer you see on TV program. David Duchovny does a great job playing off Noonan.

I rally liked this concept for what happened to Samantha. The show basically proved that Roche had not kidnapped and killed her, but they left enough of a doubt that it still could have been the truth. I like this a lot better than any of the other possible solutions for the Samantha Mulder mystery. I especially prefer it over the Mudler’s father chose to give up Samantha. I still wonder if they ever knew for certain what happened to her?

Really great episode.