For some reason, the producers brought back the actress who plays Lucy, Tracey Ellis, in a later episode in which she is also featured heavily and not very good again. If there's one thing that detracts from "Oubliette," it's her. In the episode, she has two modes--abrasive or curling up and crying--detracting from David Duchovny's riveting performance. It's hard to connect with her when she rarely acts human enough for us to really care.
And hat's why Duchovny is there to pull the weight. Given what happened to his sister, Mulder finds himself empathizing with Lucy while she is under a cloud of suspicion from the other agents. Through him, we are can see a little of Lucy who doesn't always have an attitude or is crying.
Plot-wise, "Oubliette" is different than a normal episode. It's a per-cursor to Millennium, a dark show about serial killers and other weirdos which Chris Carter launched the next year. Jewel Staite (kind of cool how she looks the same years later) plays Amy Jacobs, a girl who is kidnapped by photographer creep and spends the episode trying to get out. Meanwhile, Mulder drives the investigation forward, using Lucy's connection to Amy, eventually finding the kidnapper.
Up next, one of my favorite set of mytharc episodes!
Score: 8.8/10
