Collateral Damage (Millennium)

"Collateral Damage" featured guest appearances by O'Quinn, Jacinda Barrett, James Marsters, and radio host Art Bell as himself.

As she is dragged into a car, her dropped purse shows that her father is Millennium Group member Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn).

Watts briefs FBI agents on the kidnapping, as a witness describes one abductor, who was wearing a mask like those issued to U.S. troops in the Gulf War.

Previously they had been depicted with a series of rapid and vague images; director Wright felt that it would be beneficial to slow these down and linger on imagery for longer, "so we could see a little more of what was happening".

VanDerWerff felt that the episode began with a formulaic and "manipulative" attempt to shock the audience with the kidnapping of a young woman, but quickly moved past this to introduce more interesting elements, particularly the nature of the relationship between Watts and Black.

VanDerWerff highlighted the acting of Marsters, finding that he succeeded in making character of Swan into a sympathetic and complex one rather than a simple villain.

[11] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated "Collateral Damage" five stars out of five.

Shearman called the episode "magnificent", highlighting its in-depth take on the morality of both Black and Watts when faced with the issue of defending either their beliefs or their families.

He also praised the guest acting in the episode, and felt that Perry's script was the first to adequately address questions raised by the series rather than simply asking more.