This episode was the sequel to a flashback episode from season 5 (Unusual Suspects) that told the origin story of The Lone Gunmen. It is a story of government conspiracy but not really part of the mythology. In this episode we find The Lone Gunmen attending DEFCON in Las Vegas. We learn that Byers is the one who most encourages the group to attend these events because he is still looking for Susanne Modeski who disappeared in Unusual Suspects more than 10 years ago. And of course, it wouldn’t be much of an episode if he didn’t find her.
Byers does in fact happen to notice her at the convention. The Gunmen figure out that she he staying with someone they fear could be holding her against her will. They trick Scully into coming to the convention to help by using a text to speech program and faking Mulder’s voice. Things aren’t quite as they seem and it becomes a very fun episode with government conspiracy, mind control and murder all playing their roles. In many ways, this episode is very reminiscent of the one it is a sequel to except with Scully working with the Gunmen instead of Mulder.
I’m a little biased as I especially like The Lone Gunmen as characters in the X-Files but I would give this episode 4.5/5 stars. I’ve read some criticism that claims this is merely a filler episode but don’t believe it. Anyone who likes The Lone Gunmen characters should love this episode. My only complaint is that Mulder wasn’t involved. I really like how they used Scully in this episode but I think Mulder working with them could have been even better.