Synchrony (The X-Files)

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.

The idea of a scientist trying to stop the invention of something terrible was inspired by Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who complained to Harry S. Truman about the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT cryogenics researchers Jason Nichols (Joseph Fuqua) and Lucas Menand (Jed Rees) become embroiled in an argument as they walk down a city street.

The old man kills Dr. Yonechi (Hiro Kanagawa), a Japanese researcher on the topic of biological vitrification for cryopreservation, by pricking him with a metallic stylus, introducing an unknown chemical into his body.

Inside the old man's room, the agents discover a faded color photograph picturing Jason, Yonechi and Lisa toasting champagne glasses in the cryonics laboratory.

Mulder arrives with the news that Lisa has been saved, and the elder Jason wraps his arms around his younger self and spontaneously bursts into flames, the fire consuming them both.

[3] After series creator Chris Carter and Howard Gordon completed the script for "Unrequited", the former assigned the latter to develop a new episode with David Greenwalt, who was new to the show and had been hired a few months prior as a producer.

[5] Howard was inspired to make the main antagonist a regretful scientist after hearing the story of Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer berating U.S. President Harry S. Truman for using atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

A few days before filming was slated to begin, Gordon was still frantically reworking the teleplay; during these last-minute rewrites, he removed a number of elements, including two "useless characters" (one of whom was a Stephen Hawking-esque scientist in a wheelchair) — a move that he claims "really tightened up the story".

Handlen considered that while "'Synchrony' has all the pieces of my favorite kind of episode, [it] doesn't really work as well as it should" due to an emotional detachment that made him not care about the scientists and their story, and his finding Old Jason's actions to be illogical.

[7] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave "Synchrony" two out of four stars, considering it a middling episode with some effective moments, but complaining about plot holes, "not particularly compelling" supporting characters, and feeling that time travel "takes away from the reality that is this show's foundation".

[8] Robert Shearman, in his book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode two and a half stars out of five, praising the "high concept that is told without pretension".