'X-Files' Review: 'Home Again' Brings a New Monster and Old Sorrow

Monday night’s episode of The X-Files — the fourth in the revived series’ six-show run — is called “Home Again.” It’s a “monster of the week” episode, but also one with firm roots in X-Files mythology: specifically, the fourth-season episode titled “Home.”

This week’s new hour finds Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) tracking down a mysterious creature who comes to be known as the Band-Aid Man. He’s a force of destruction — he rips bodies apart — but the nature of his rage is complicated. The episode turns on the idea that the way a big city treats its homeless population can become a moral dilemma that plays out in matters of life and death — in this case, some of it supernatural. 

An important subplot involves Scully’s mother, who’s in a coma and presumed to be on the verge of death. This in turn raises the specter of the baby Mulder and Scully gave up for adoption — William, who would have been the grandson of Scully’s mother.