 In the episode, a case Mulder is asked to investigate is covertly covered up by the agents' boss Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), who has made a sinister bargain with The Smoking Man (Davis).The decision to center another episode around Skinner—following the third season episode "Avatar"—was made when Gillian Anderson took a week off to shoot the film "The Mighty".Rather than have Duchovny carry the additional workload, the writing staff decided to focus the episode on supporting cast members.