"Aubrey" starts off great, fast paced as Mulder and Scully visit Aubrey where the remains of a missing FBI agent from the 40's are found. A murder occurs and initially, the suspicion falls upon a convicted rapist who is now wheelchair bound.
So far so good--until Mulder's wild "genetic memory" theory, which is correct, of course. Scully exclaims "That's outrageous," and let's be real--it is. The X-Files is best when it toes the border of the unknown, the mysterious, the paranormal, and the real world, comprised of everyday people and law enforcement, not necessarily science.
Scientific explanations, as in "Aubrey," are patently unscientific, because it is, after all, still a very fantasy-oriented fiction and attempts by the writers to make the explanation rooted in some kind of science come off as stupidity. Bringing up an genetics and Mendel may sound smart ostensibly, but I'm sure most viewers look past the words and see pure hogwash.
Even Fringe, which peddles pseudoscience in each episode, doesn't attempt for real explanations and science, opting for a general understanding that science can reach fantastical levels and is dangerous in the wrong hands. And that's where the episode goes dreadfully wrong, reducing mystery and intrigue to simple "science."
Still, the buildup before the pathetic explanation and several scenes afterwards are pretty awesome and has lots of tension and mystery. It's not enough to make it a particularly good episode, but it's passable.
Score: 8.6/10
