Season 1, Episode 16
John Barnett, a violent bank robber who promised revenge against Mulder during his incarceration, seemingly returns to life after dying in prison five years earlier. A death threat aimed at Mulder and left at the site of a jewel heist indicates it was written by Barnett despite the fact that a doctor verified his dead body in 1989. Mulder’s former supervisor, Reggie Purdue, assists in the investigation while Scully discovers that the prison doctor, Ridley, who signed Barnett’s death certificate, was slicing up prisoners as guinea pigs for medical experimentation.
Having been missing since Barnett’s supposed demise, Ridley resurfaces to tell Mulder and Scully that through his jailhouse experiments he discovered a way to reverse the aging process—and the government wants his secrets.
While “Young at Heart” presents an intriguing tale of the Frankenstein variety, it’s unfortunately bogged down by an overly complicated screenplay that covers everything from salamander/human DNA splicing to eternal youth. What the episode doesn’t have are thrills, excitement, or even a little humor.
Rating: đź‘˝ đź‘˝
