Factual error: At The Beginning of the scene, XO Johanson is looking through the periscope. However, it is nonsense, because the submarine was in silent running, and the Japanese destroyer was circling it, so the sub must have cruised in deep submersion. The water depth there was approx. 270 meters, as the French salvage team claims at The Beginning of the episode. There is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters. Looking through the periscope in these conditions would be completely useless. (00:32:25)
Factual error: The crew are supposed to be French. However at The Beginning of the episode we can hear them talking in French with a Canadian accent.
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