User Reviews

An okay episode with lots of deep meaning that likely went over my head. Kudos to the brilliant achieving from Mellisa and her other personalities. That was really entertaining to watch her switch from person to person.

Would have love to learn more about her background rather than her past and life and history with mulder.

Cancer man is likened to Gestapo on this episode which I found funny. As he's likely the person running the FBI which could be considered as the secret police.

I didn't understand why the church members had to die and why they so willingly drank poison. They must of really had a absolute faith in their leader.

Overall an okay episode that I won't be watching again.

i totally disagree with those who find this episode boring, contrived or whatever... i found the writing frequently poetic and moving; wonderfully supported by a beautiful yet understated score... i was moved... wong and morgan, importing the beauty of the actual letters sent between many loved ones during the civil war, the poetry of their expression, the depth of emotion they so ardently conveyed adds a poignancy to the words uttered by duchovney and cloke... this is one of my favorite x-files episodes... brilliantly conceived and filled with compassion, it is essentially a love story of love lost and the painful longing for reunion and an end to the hurtful separation..."i miss you..." spoken by cloke--three words--so powerful... and, of course, as always the beautiful performance given by kristen cloke...she is always a joy to watch...long live wong and morgan.

I really liked this episode, just on a gut level, I just like it. There's something about it that's firing off so well, the way the mood and the story meld together, it just has a pleasant, meaningful feel.

But let's just get to it then, the biggest problem with this episode is it seems to start in the second act. There's no proper setup, we didn't actually BEGIN a story to tell. Mulder and Scully are involved in a Branch Davidian style raid, and ten seconds later Mulder and this random lady are swept up in this reincarnation plot, where they were together in the Civil War.

I've watched enough television to follow along just fine, I get the tropes and the beats, but there's just no story here actually laid down to experience. Like I get what the plot is, I understand what they're going for. But they don't actually tell the story. There's no beginning to connect all these later dots, and there's no stakes or world built to be meaningful as things progress toward a tragic end.

The other review which mentions they had to cut 20 minutes of the episode away is very helpful, that's exactly what it comes across as. It's an episode that was meant to be 50% longer than what it is.

But I'm judging on what I can see and what everyone who watches the X-Files experiences, and basically we have what looks like an intriguing episode that doesn't properly set itself up, hook Mulder into this paranormal plot, and then doesn't build up the relationship or stakes sufficiently. Such that you're left watching what's probably a really good episode in full, but is in actuality, fragments that look like they're from a good episode. Which I still give a 7/10, which is pretty strong given that the pacing and story as presented are a mess.

This is an episode that could have been, but was not.

It's a shame really, because I think that it had a beautiful story. A wonderful intro, and a tear-jerking ending. But the middle of it was kind of a mess.

Where to start? Yeah, the acting. I'm sorry David Duchovny, but you were terrible. I've never thought that he was good at drama. But he was just terrible in this episode. The entire hypnotize sequence made absolutely no sense. The writing was terrible and the scene dragged on for too long. If it wasn't for that scene, this episode would score very high.

Despite the weak hypnotize scenes and the Sidney personage. I really did love the episode. The music was amazing, some of the best soundtracks ever used on the X-Files. The Field shots were beautiful. As was the ending when Mulder found Melissa and the crazy religious cult dead. Beautiful and creepy. Did all the children die as well?

I'm giving this episode THREE stars. Uneven, but I still like it a lot for the good parts.

This is not one of my favored episodes of the X-Files as it seems quite disjointed, and when it comes time for a therapist to regress Mulder to a past life, it takes him totally out of the character he represents in the series. Not only that, but the regression that places him as being alive during World War II also brings forward the Cancer Man (William B. Davis) as a Nazi, which we know could not be the case because he was actively involved with the alien/hybrid project with Bill Mulder at the time. So the lack of continuity there blew up the episode for me.

That's not to say the concept wasn't interesting because it was. The idea of people reincarnating over and over again is nothing new, however the novel element pursued in this story had Mulder's associations from the present day all appearing in some relation to his past life in a variety of configurations. So that was an intriguing element.

When I first saw this episode during it's original run, I thought actress Kristen Cloke did a marvelous job as Melissa Rydell Ephesian, wife of the cult leader Vernon Ephesian (Michael Massee). Watching today, I still consider her performance rather stunning during her regression sessions, however it made me chuckle to hear her channeling the man named Sydney who's voice had an uncanny resemblance to that of Gilbert Gottfried. Go back and check it out and you'll see what I mean. I can't stand Gilbert Gottfried, so that's part of the equation for dissing this episode. Not to mention the downer represented by Temple of the Seven Stars' charismatic leader doing a full bore Jonestown massacre on his followers before Scully and Mulder could make the save.

This has got to be one of the poorest Morgan and Wong scripts I have ever seen. I guess when you win you win and when you lose you lose. I think they used up all their creative energy on "Home" and then just threw this crap together at last minute. First of all we will talk about script inconsistencies and unbelievability.

Scully talking to Mulder at the beginning of the episode as he walks outside into the yard to search for the extra victims says something like "intelligence reported no hiding places in the vicinity of the yard". Then Mulder walks out about 20 feet and finds a wooden trap door in plain site. Nice thorough job intel. Next thing that really bugs me is how much Scully is against trying to get information from Melissa/Sidney/whatever just because Mulder believes her personalities are past lives. Scully, the fact remains that this is the person that knows where the weapons are and you need to find that out really bad so get over whether or not you agree with Mulder or not about the origin of the personality and do your job. Which brings us to Kristen Cloke. This is another of Morgan and Wong's favorite actors to use in their shows. She was in Millennium for a season and was one of the main characters on their Space Above and Beyond show as well. I didn't mind her that bad in Millennium although she could get annoying occasionally and she was actually quite likable on Space Above and Beyond, but she drives me crazy in this episode. Why? She is way too eccentric with her alternate personalities. Especially Sidney who is some kind of old guy with serious problems and for some reason always acts like he is holding a cigarette. Anyway I don't really like that character at all. I did watch the deleted scenes where she acts out a couple more personalities that were actually pretty humorous and its too bad they cut them out because they could have boosted the episodes quality. Back to writing. Its sure a pretty darn good thing that the civil war lady memorized her journal entry with the exact date. Seriously this sounds like one of those actors reading the journal entry that you hear in historical documentaries. Its also a really good thing the the library keeps a drawer of civil war era photos and that they just happened to have both Mulder's and Melissa's past personas there. Then there's the hypnosis scene. I don't think I've seen a more unbelievable scene acted by David Duchovny. Its really too bad because I don't think its his acting that's the problem but it seems that way because of the terrible writing. First of all no one that goes back like that is going to take the time to explain who all the modern counterparts are to the people they are describing and they aren't going to explain the philosophy of reincarnation just in case someone in the room doesn't get it. C'mon guys give the viewer's a little credit. Then there's the fact that Melissa is either Mulder's husband or wife or something in all the past lives but in the current one she is a brief nobody. Yep that makes lots of sense. OK I think one more thing then I will move on to the things I liked. I wish they would have used the Jonestown theme in an episode that was more about a Jonestown cult and not one that was focusing on reincarnation. Anyone who is familiar with the true story of Jonestown knows that the story is a lot darker and creepier than what it is portrayed as in this episode and they could have done a much better job with that theme.

What did I like? I really like the music in this episode. Mark Snow did an amazing job with the score despite the cruddy story. It actually makes the viewing bearable. Then I also love the following dialog between Mulder and Scully:

MULDER: Dana, if, um... early in the four years we've been working together... an event occurred that suggested or somebody told you that... we'd been friends together in other lifetimes... always... wouldn't it have changed some of the ways we looked at one another? SCULLY: Even if I knew for certain, I wouldn't change a day. (She heads for the door then looks back.) Well, maybe that Flukeman thing. I could've lived without that just fine. (She smirks and walks out. He smiles. Later, he and Melissa are listening to the tape of Melissa's regression.)

Great moment between them. As I watch I find myself wanting to like this episode but just can't because of the poor writing and trying to force the explanation onto the viewer without letting them come to their own conclusion. I don't know if that made sense. Let me clear things up by saying 3/10.

I respect opinions of Muldernscully, I like to read his comments after watching each episode. Usually I agree with him, but not this time. You've got to see this episode! "The field where I died" is definitely one of more original episodes from whole series. It's not spooky, there are no creepy monsters (episodes 4x02-4x05 where really dark and disturbing, at last something different) and is definitely not the funny one like "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'" or "War of the Coprophages". It's kinda spiritual, because the theme is about reincarnation. What is interesting - there is no murder or dead body at the teaser. That's kinda surprising because you could count such episodes at fingers in perspective of 3 past seasons. So the episode starts slow. Then it gets more and more interesting. I thought that it would be simple episode about some crazy cult, with a leader with abnormal abilities, but I was wrong. We learn about past life of Mulder, his previous incarnation, his life as a Jewish woman in WWII in Poland or as a soldier during Civil War. In Mulder's past memories there is Scully (her soul) as a different person, also CSM, Samantha, Moulder's father. All above might sound really strange, but come on.. Stranger things happened in the X-files.. For me it seemed so surprising, something really unforeseen. Concept of souls bounded together for an eternity in different incarnations isn't something new. There are religions that reincarnation is a basic dogma. Putting the "relationship" of Mulder&Scully in such context is very interesting.

What is more, I loved acting of David Duchovny and Kirsten Cloke in this episode. Kirsten shown very good performance playing number of characters (Sidney is hilarious!). And Duchovny.. He is great in dramatic parts! I love episodes about Mulder's family - he shows his real emotions, which are hidden during his "normal" work. The same is here, we see Mulder suffering, showing his true emotions during the hypnotic session. And in this episode he calls Scully - Dana. It's so rare!! Don't miss Mulder and Scully talk about their relationship, and witty remark of Scully about the Flukeman Thing ;)

Great episode. Shame it must end the way it ends.

Honestly, by the time the cult members were drinking poisoned kool-aid, I was mixing up a batch of my own to put myself out of my freaking misery. Honestly, what were they thinking? Mulder discovering a past life where he was a Jewish woman during the Holocaust?!?! Seriously!! Oh, and he finds his soul mate from multiple past lives, never to be heard from again. And am I really supposed to believe that people get to choose with whom they return, and Cancer Man follows Mulder across the ages to torture him. Really? He can't find someone else to bug every other lifetime or so. I think Scully ought to get a medal for putting up with Mulder's crap. She lets him waste their precious time (time that ended up resulting in dozens of people chugging the red kool-aid) to go into his past lives, and he doesn't even stinking remember where the other bunkers are!!!! Wasn't that the whole point? I love Mulder and Scully, and the acting was passable, but I think I'll go ahead and pretend that this episode never happened. I get the idea that that's what the creators, writers, and directors did, since the supposed "insight" into Mulder's character is completely irrelevant for the rest an otherwise excellent series.

muldernscully - I'm with you

Kristen Cloke's performance is remarkable in this episode. I loved her as Lara Means in Millennium, but her performance given in this episode is simply remarkable.

It's somewhat 'out there,' even for the X-Files, but it touches on a nice thought. The maintenance of all the great characters' relationships with one another lasts more than a life time, it gives them all a deeper connection that one could only hope for. The quirks such as Mulder referring to Scully as "Dana," for example, is a subtle one, but it signifies the closeness he feels with Scully. It exemplifies what Mulder is thinking, Scully isn't just his partner, they're friends who've a history pre-dating the FBI.

The episode has its faults, of course, but I won't go into great detail, others have done that. I can only say "for shame" for those giving it a one star review/rating. One star, really? It was totally watchable and deserves no less than a five, at least in my opinion. This is definitely an 8-9 episode. Try to be analytical beyond plot, which is a single aspect. The execution and acting matter just as much, and those both make-up for any weaknesses in the plot.

Oh, where do I start with The Field Where I Died. I'll start with the beginning; always a good place to start. The teaser is the lamest teaser I've ever seen. It doesn't peak your interest at all, just Mulder standing in a field with a voice-over. Boring. That also describes the whole episode. The concept of reincarnation, and Mulder somehow being involved in it, is completely ridiculous. It has no place as an x-file. Maybe this story done on a different television show with different characters would've had a chance. The agents are involved in this case because of a contrived reason. Skinner says it's because of Ephesian's paranormal abilities. However, Mulder and Scully quickly discount that he has any such abilities. So, why are they still involved? And why is Melissa even being cooperative? Multiple wives in cults are very loyal to their husband. She wouldn't be submitting so easily to their requests. Every single aspect of Mulder in this episode is completely out of character. From him jumping full force into the whole reincarnation idea to calling Scully "Dana" has you not believing a word of his dialogue. And then when he goes into hypnosis and describes himself as a Jewish woman in World War II Poland. Samantha is his son, Scully his father, and CSM is the Gestapo(how original). Oh brother! I think I missed half the episode from rolling my eyes so much. And then to top it all off, Mulder raises his hands and starts walking across the field toward the barn where they were firing from moments before, doing his best "Dances With Wolves" impression. Lucky for him, they had already stopped firing and had drunken the poison. Because they sure as heck would have shot Mulder without the slightest hesitation. The one decent line in this episode is spoken by Scully when she talks about that she "could've done without the Flukeman thing". That still isn't enough to give this poor excuse for an episode a full point, but IMDb doesn't allow a rating lower than a one. There are plenty of funny things I could say that I would rather do than sit through this mind-numbing episode again, but I'll leave that to your own imagination. One last question to the writers of this episode, Glen Morgan & James Wong: What were you smoking when you wrote this episode and why didn't you share?

Hated it for all the reasons mentioned in the other posts. The acting was bad, the plot badly tied together. How am I to believe the FBI would mount such an operation on one highly dubious telephone call. I assume they would first try to investigate quietly. And again. This had nothing to do with x-files in the first place. One thing in particular annoyed me: Cancer man in the "past-life". If he was a gestapo member during world war II, wouldn't he be much younger? He was at least 20 in the fifties, wasn't he? If the writers were so desperate to pack all of Mulders's loved ones in his past life, where were his parents? Where was Skinner for that matter? And if this Melissa was so important to Mulder in a past life, how come she appears so briefly in this one? The whole thing was just plain ridiculous.

This seems to be a polarizing ep based on the reviews here. I am among those who find it beautiful and moving, on par with "The Empath," a likewise underrated episode of Star Trek.

"The Field Where I Died" is far more plausible than the average monster of the week episode; reincarnation is a widely accepted mainstream belief for perhaps of a third of the world population and a cornerstone of two major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. The idea of Muider and Scully reincarnating and finding each other, lifetime after lifetime, is irresistible, and I love it when Mulder calls her Dana, although I would liked to have seen a little more jealousy from Scully of Mulder and the guest star's multi-lifetime relationship.

A well-thought-out script from Morgan and Wong with strong performances from Duchovny as well as the guest actress and the actor who played the cult leader. I am not usually a fan of the MOTW eps but this is now one of my favorites. Bravo.

This is the only episode until 4th season which I found truly unwatchable. I dont know if it is hysterical women (Mellisa) whom I couldnt stand for 5 minutes, is it bad and boring writting or hysterical mr.Mulder and even more hysterical Skinner and Scully. Its not about past lives and so on but how badly it was acted. And yes they were all so hysterical (FBI) to choose to cease the fire and not to attack the barn while all cult memebers were drinking poison. Since FBI clearly knew this was going to happen they were responsible in a way for death of all those people. Annoying episode in every aspect. I gave it 4 stars just cause it is X-files.

Unlike one of the other comments about this episode, I have actually come to love this one. The first time I watched it, it felt a little cheesy, but having seen it a few times since, it's grown one me.

For those who aren't too familiar with The X-Files story lines, there are essentially three sets of story lines: Alien/Government Conspiracy (where Mulder and Scully search for proof of alien involvement on Earth or government cover-ups), Comedic or Stylized Episodes (Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Modern Day Prometheus), and General Occult Cases. This episode falls under the latter category, and is probably written off as mediocre by a lot of X-Files devotees. However, there are reasons to watch this episode.

***Spoiler*** First, I recommend this one because of the performance by the actress playing Melissa, one of the cult leader's wives, and the character Mulder becomes obsessed with. She plays a woman who displays characteristics of multiple personality disorder, and one of her personalities is from the Civil War era. It's a convincing performance, even if a little over-the-top at times, but it's worth a look.

Second, I've come to like this one because it's one of the few episodes in the series that doesn't play to the "Mulder and Scully are soul mates" routine. There's a big hypnosis session period between Mulder and Melissa that unearths the possibility that Melissa's soul has been trying to reconnect with Mulder's for centuries. It's poignant, and looks at the idea of soul mates in an interesting light.

***End of Spoiler***

Third, I like this one because, despite some heavy-handed dialogue, it's actually more poetic than some of the other episodes. I'm not crazy about Mulder/Scully voice overs, but I do think it helps to make Mulder more autonomous from the partnership in this story, and helps reiterate, even at this point in Mulder and Scully's project work, that he is still capable of making his own conclusions that don't necessarily jive with hers.

It's not perfect, but it's still worth a look.

Blend the events of Waco and Jonestown until smooth.

Sprinkle in a generous helping of Sybil as well as two portions of the Civil War. Stir briefly.

Once mixture is lumpy pour into an X-Files shaped mold.

Cook at a dangerously dull heat for forty-five minutes or until you get sick of waiting for something interesting to happen.

Remove from heat and frost with Cheesy Love Story.

Serves only those with very little artistic discretion or those who have no prior knowledge of cults.

Please see our other "Cooking Film" recipes if "The Field Where I Died" left a bad taste in your mouth.

This is one of the best episodes they have ever done! Made me think seriously about reincarnation. Very nostalgic to think about!

This episode is very old.

When It aired I was only 5 years old.

Any way, this episode was a odd mash-up of content that seemed to be asking too much, too much of the writing, too much of the actual actors , too much of the audience's brain. A Suicide Cult/A MPD De-Railment/Past-Life/Transcendent Souls In Love All Throttled together in one Too Short Too Fast Paced 20 Minutes? The audience doesn't even understand what the ideas inside the episode is; much less the original story aspects.

I'd love to see this episode re-done with all the updated details on several areas. I like the elements they chose but I feel like the plot could have been dealt with differently in an effort to help the story overall.