Factual error: The Arecibo Radio Telescope is abandoned when Mulder goes there. However, after SETI was cancelled, the telescope was still used for other things. (00:16:50)
Plot hole: At his arrival at the Arecibo observatory, Mulder crushes the padlock on the door leading to the control building, and then he finds the native man, Jorge, in the toilet, who hid himself in the building. There's no way Jorge could enter the building and also lock himself in there with the padlock. (00:17:45)
Continuity mistake: When Mulder is in the tower and Scully has just found him the sweat patches on his shirt change in between shots. (00:40:00)
Continuity mistake: When Fox Mulder is having the flashback when Samantha was abducted, he looks at the doorknob, in the close-up he is still looking at the doorknob but it has changed colour.
Factual error: Scully reads to Mulder from a book all about flukes (Trematodes). However, the information she is quoting is wrong. She states that flukes or flatworms have a "scolex" with hooks and suckers. These are actually the distinguishing characteristic of cestodes (tapeworms). Trematodes have no scolex and definitely no hooks. (00:17:30)
Character mistake: Surprisingly, it took Scully quite a long time to realize that the tattoo on the victim's forearm is in Cyrillic lettering. (00:24:00)
Continuity mistake: Towards The End of the episode there is a scene where Mulder is talking to another agent next to an ambulance and it is shot at night despite it being morning only a couple of seconds ago. (00:33:53)
Revealing mistake: When the sheet is pulled back from Mrs. McRoberts' body at the morgue, her eyelids flutter significantly despite being dead. (00:18:30)
Continuity mistake: When Mulder gets out of the car, it's dark outside, but when the helicopter comes, it is still daylight. (00:25:00)
Revealing mistake: At The Beginning of the episode we see Duane being abducted and he begins to scream. Look at the "alien" on the left of the screen near to the top of the bed and you will see him move his head revealing where the suit ends and neck/head begins. (00:02:12)
Other mistake: An agent and Scully analyze the fragment taken out from Duane Berry's body. The agent draws Scully's attention to "small markings", which are half a monitor size, and Scully naively asks where they are. (00:39:00)
Revealing mistake: When Scully makes a purchase at the grocery store, shortly before she scans the metal fragment, the clerk gives her the total of the sale, however, shortly after the camera captures the register, which displays ‘no sale'. (00:41:30)
Revealing mistake: The answering machine at The End appears to not be plugged into any phone line. The shot shows the phone jacks on the right side of the machine are empty. In order for an answering machine to work at least one of those ports would need to be hooked to the phone.
Continuity mistake: Krycek & Mulder leave FBI Headquarters, to go to Skyland Mountain, in a blue sedan - only in the next sceene - as Mulder is driving and almost falls asleep, the color of the sedan has changed to maroon. (00:12:40)
Continuity mistake: When Mulder is in the tram car ascending the mountain to rescue Scully, he pulls all of the things out of under the top left-hand seat, but when the scene moves to Krycek in the booth, you don't see any of the things that Mulder threw out. (00:19:40 - 00:20:50)
Factual error: It's quite strange that only after Mulder looks into the ashtray he realizes that the Smoking Man has been in the car. Mulder should smell the scent of cigarettes immediately after entering the car, especially if he is a non-smoker. (00:36:05)
Continuity mistake: When Mulder is talking to Dana's mom about finding her cross (necklace) in the trunk, Scully's mom says that she gave it to her on her 15th birthday, but in Season 5 in Christmas Carol, Scully has a flashback to receiving it at Christmas. (00:41:40 - 00:43:55)
Continuity mistake: When we see Dana Scully after being abducted she has an instrument in the middle of her stomach, inflating it. When we see it in the first shot there is nothing but the instrument, then in the next shot there are gauze pads taped down all around it.
Continuity mistake: The Father is standing in some darkened part of the room, however in the next shot the room is all lit up and there is no darkened place there. (00:38:25)
Answer: As he stated many times throughout the series, Mulder needed Scully to be sober and skeptical. Whenever Scully's skepticism wavered and she started questioning her own rationality, Mulder would try to restore her sense of skepticism, because he needed her to be clear-thinking.
Charles Austin Miller