It was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Kim Manners, and forms part of the series' overarching mythology.

The series centers on FBI special agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her new partner John Doggett (Robert Patrick)—following the alien abduction of her former partner, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)—who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.

In this episode, Scully, Doggett, and Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) discover several returned alien abductees.

Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) visit Theresa in the hospital to get information about Mulder's whereabouts.

Later in a motel, the agents interrogate Richie, whose friend Gary had been abducted just before Mulder; he was investigating UFO reports in Montana in an attempt to find him.

[3] After settling his contract dispute with Fox, Duchovny had quit full-time participation in the show after the seventh season.

[4] In order to explain Mulder's absence, Duchovny's character was abducted by aliens in the seventh season finale, "Requiem."

A so-called "cloaking-effect", created on a computer and consisting mostly of digital fog and "wiggled lights", was used to make the "spaceship" appear and then suddenly disappear.

[10] This episode marked the first appearance of Monica Reyes, played by Annabeth Gish, who would become a main character in season nine.

[11] After receiving the part, Gish's first scene, which was scheduled for four in the morning, involved her running down a hill to discover a former abductee.

"[21] She applauded the reintroduction of Jeremiah Smith—a character she felt "the show had mostly forgotten about"—and wrote highly of Scott as Absalom, calling him a "one of the episode's highlights.

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

[22] The two noted, and praised, that the true tragedy of the episode is the fact that, despite her increased role as the reluctant believer, the way Scully deals with Absalom and Jeremiah Smith "in a strictly scientific way", instead of taking the "leap of faith", prevents her from finding and saving Mulder in time.

Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a negative review and awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four.