Product Details

• Directors: Richard Compton, James A. Contner, Allen Coulter, Tucker Gates, Ralph Hemecker
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Run Time: 45 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304563876
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,726 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #22 in	Video > Horror > Television > X-Files
  #69 in	Video > Television > Fox TV

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
"The Blessing Way" and "Paper Clip" (third season, episodes 1 and 2) conclude the ambitious three-part series begun with the second season cliffhanger, "Anasazi," which left Mulder (David Duchovny) facing certain death in a burning inferno. Mulder is saved by a Navajo Elder (Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman), who performs the healing ceremony "The Blessing Way," while Scully (Gillian Anderson) discovers a computer-chip implanted in the back of her neck. In "Paper Clip," Mulder and Scully are reunited and uncover a hidden American government program known as Operation Paper Clip, which is somehow connected to the UFO reportedly recovered in New Mexico in 1947 and a secret underground warehouse that contains the DNA samples of every American who ever had a smallpox vaccination. This trilogy, personally scripted by creator Chris Carter, jacks the stakes up from tiny group of plotters to an national conspiracy of global proportions. Recurring characters Alex Krychek (Nicholas Lea) and the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) are joined by another mysterious figure, the Well-Manicured Man (John Neville), a deceptively paternal looking figure who has his own reasons for keeping Mulder and Scully alive. Fan faves Lone Gunmen help out Mulder and Scully with background information while the motivations of Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) are further complicated with teasing suggestions. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definetly an X-Files' classic. More questions arise., March 5, 1999

By	"tonyvc01" (MD,USA) - See all my reviews

Probably the most awaited season of all. At the end of the season before nobody could wait to see if Fox was dead or what. Those navajo indians in the show gave it a nice twist. A must see for a true X-FILE avid watcher.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great double bill, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

I have nothing else to say other than it was a brilliant double but that the first episode could have been included too.

3.0 out of 5 stars The unresolved mechanism of Mulder's escape weakens the entire story line, October 8, 2008

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The first episode is the resolution of a cliffhanger where Mulder is trapped inside a buried railroad car with the corpses of aliens. The Cigarette-Smoking man orders a soldier to toss a firebomb into the car and it goes off. The soldiers and the Cigarette-Smoking man then depart in a helicopter. This leads Scully to believe that Mulder is dead.
However, he is not. In a manner that is never explained, Mulder has escaped from the car and is found by a group of Navahos under a pile of rocks. They use their ancient healing techniques to save his life. Scully then goes back to Washington where the members of a shadowy group are still desperately searching for the data tapes containing information on alien visitations. The data is encoded using an encryption technique similar to the code-talker format used so successfully in World War II. Information is written in a modified form of the Navaho language, known to few people outside the Navaho tribes and hence unbreakable by others. Scully has been warned that someone she trusts will try to kill her and when she meets with Skinner, they both draw their guns on each other.
The second episode is a continuation of the first, Mulder appears and together with Scully they pursue additional information about ghastly experiments conducted by ex-Nazi scientists. There are further revelations about this shadowy group that Mulder's father was a member of. At the end, Skinner uses the stolen data tape to successfully bargain with the Cigarette-Smoking man for the lives and careers of Mulder and Scully. Their position is further enhanced by the revelation that many members of the Navaho tribes have memorized the data on the stolen tapes.
The lack of an explanation as to how Mulder was able to survive the firebombing cast a pall over the beginning of the first episode. Even if the explanation was weak, without one, the series degenerates to one where any difficult circumstance can be resolved by simply having them appear free of the problem. After this, the complexities seem to convolute, as Scully and Mulder get in deeper against their ruthless adversaries. Their opponents seem efficient at everything except when they try to move against Mulder and Scully, in those cases they degenerate into hopeless incompetents. Even to the point where they accidentally shoot Scully's sister. After a few of these capers, I started to lose interest.