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 three stars out of five. The two were critical of the storyline, noting that it "doesn't really work as either a "Don't Look Now" ghost story or as a conspiracy piece", but praised the acting of Pileggi and the dialogue written by Gordon; the two called the former "great" and the latter "so terse and so real". Paula Vitaris of "Cinefantastique" gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two stars out of four. She referred to the scenes between Skinner and Sharon as "contrived" and derided Skinner's bedside confession as "simply poor writing". Vitaris was positive of Duchovny and Hetrick's acting, and wrote that Pileggi gave "his best" despite the fact that there was little chemistry between the characters to make it effective. David Duchovny, on the other hand, was very pleased with the episode and Mitch Pileggi's performance; he later noted, "It was nice for Mitch, and I think he deserved an episode after two years. He did a great job".