A man finds himself in jail living his life backwards, inexorably moving back to the day his wife was murdered, apparently by his own hand.

It's difficult to keep this kind of story coherent, and it's actually managed awfully well. Guest star Joe Morton gets another chance to work with Robert Patrick after Terminator 2 and he makes a fine focal point for the episode as we see everything through his eyes. A superb performance, he is believable as a man with a mission but one so on edge that there's a remote possibility that he did murder his own wife. The fact that he can't remember whether or not he did allows the audience to retain their suspicions throughout as well, culminating in an incredibly tense moment when you think he's going to stab his wife in error, thinking her to be the killer. His emotions on learning what has happened to land him in jail are also carefully played out in several scenes, with his horror plain to see.

With Scully a supporting player, it's Doggett who is the important figure as we see his solitary home life, can appreciate his inability to believe his friend when he says he's travelling backwards in time and root for him as he comes through at the right moment. The plot itself is surprisingly linear considering and doesn't confuse one bit. It's a simple explanation when the killer is revealed, but it leads to a simple but effective wrap-up that seems strangely just given what's happened. Although I was thinking along similar lines for the ending, it's not quite how I envisaged it, making this an interesting and carefully-controlled experiment.

*****

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