X-Files S2E22: Paranoia (and deadly bugs) may destroy ya

Sestra Amateur: 

Warning: Do not watch this episode while eating. I know the show’s mantra is “Trust No One,” but trust me on this one. In Costa Rica, entomologist Robert Torrence is collecting insects. Vultures are feeding on a carcass with visible lesions and boils. While Dr. Torrence examines it, pus from the carcass explodes in his face. A few hours later, he suffers from the same affliction. Seven hours after that, soldiers find Torrence’s dead body. I guess all the Penicillin in the world would not have saved him. 

In the Cumberland State Correctional Facility in Virginia, an inmate receives a package which exposes him to the same disease. That’s a unique form of prison population control. Sculder are called to the scene, but not because of the contagion; two of the inmates escaped. They meet with U.S. Marshal Tapia, played by Dean Norris, then a character actor, and now, for better (Breaking Bad) or for worse (Under the Dome), one of the busiest actors around. He reveals the prison has been evacuated and taken over by the National Guard. This is definitely not a normal prison break. 

The escaped prisoners, Paul and Steve, kill a family man at a rest stop and steal the family’s RV. At the prison, Scully meets with weaselly Dr. Osbourne (Charles Martin Smith). An epidemiologist with the Center for Disease Control, he refuses to talk until Dana pulls the “I’m a medical doctor” card. Osbourne admits 14 people were infected and 10 of them have died. Scully worries the escapees are infected and spreading the virus. 

Mulder and the Marshals find the dead father at the rest stop. Steve, the visibly infected inmate, ends up in a gas station bathroom and the attendant, Antonio, unfortunately finds him. Paul calls his girlfriend from a phone booth – remember those? – and you can’t really tell if she’s ecstatic or petrified that he’s out of prison. Dana, who isn’t getting answers from Dr. Osbourne’s counterpart, finds the incinerator room and locates a body labeled Torrence. (Any relation to Dr. Torrence?) She cuts open the body bag, but Osbourne rushes in to stop her unauthorized examination. Of course, one of the boils explodes in his face. Nice knowing you, Doc.

The next morning, U.S. Marshals find the RV at the gas station. Fox finds Antonio and he's showing symptoms. Mulder uses his superior intellect to one-up Agent Tapia about where the escapees are heading. The CDC send a medical helicopter to rescue Antonio, but it comes off more like a kidnapping. 

Scully learns a company called Pinck Pharmaceuticals sent the package that started the virus chain reaction to the original infected inmate Torrence. Dana picks an insect off one of the dead bodies. Hope she doesn’t decide to eat this one too. Paul makes it home and it turns out girlfriend Elizabeth is happy to see him again, but less happy to see Paul’s infected partner. Steve’s boil eventually explodes in Elizabeth’s face. While she’s trying to wash it off, Paul and Elizabeth’s toddler son experiences his first – and probably not his last – police raid. Too bad Paul got away again.

Dr. Osbourne shows Scully he’s infected, so now he’s ready to answer all of her questions. Turns out the CDC scientists are really from Pinck Pharmaceuticals. Their experiments were related to an insect Dr. Torrence found in Costa Rica named Faciphaga Emasculata. (The episode title, F. Emasculata, makes sense now.) Guess that was from a batch he mailed back to the lab before he bit the dust. The bug carried a deadly parasite that attacks the immune system. Wonder why Dana just doesn’t show up to every case in a Hazmat suit. 

Mulder, angry that he and Scully were not given all the facts before going to the prison, heads to Skinner’s office to vent. Cancer Man is there, so Fox calls him on it. CSM gives as good as he gets and chastises Mulder for wasting valuable time. I know this is a Chris Carter ep, but CSM’s involvement seems forced this time. I was starting to wonder if Carter was contractually obligated to put William B. Davis in all of his episodes. Maybe it just feels that way because this is a bottle ep that has nothing to do with the ongoing mythology that usually crosses Mulder with Cancer Man. 

Fox talks with Elizabeth, who is under observation in an isolation room at the local hospital. She refuses to help in the search for Paul because she thinks Mulder is lying about the contagion. If I were Elizabeth, I would be more open-minded after having pus from someone’s boil explode in my face. Meanwhile, Dr. Osbourne’s condition gets progressively worse. He puts Scully in charge, so she tests the blood that one of the insects siphoned from her arm to find out if she’s infected. 

Dana catches the fake CDC guys burning the evidence – namely, the infected bodies. The head Pinck scientist lets Scully live because no one will believe her without evidence. Dana tells her partner that Paul is the only living connection to the contagion, so Fox needs to get a statement from him. The fugitive is tracked to a Greyhound bus bound for Toronto. Paul takes a hostage, but is willing to talk to Mulder. Paul claims it all started when inmate Bobby Torrence received a package. Before Paul can reveal anything else, one of the marshals shoots and kills him. 

A frustrated Fox gives his report to Skinner, who tells him to let it go. Dana arrives and learns the scientist in Costa Rica and Patient Zero had the same name. Now the pharmaceutical company can claim it was all a clerical error. Pretty sure I never made a clerical error that killed 18 people.

Sestra Professional:

In the early years,  The X-Files loved going to environmental extremes. Pick up a bug in Costa Rica and you risk wiping out all of the U.S. of A. and then the world. We get an extra dose of gross with those pustules spewing the deadly contagion.

This episode -- penned by Carter and superstar scribe Howard Gordon -- has a lot going for it, but the issue I had with it on first watch remains to this day. I know the show wouldn't want its beautiful leads covered in masks and protective gear for an extended amount of time, but they're certainly not doing themselves any favors by charging in to contaminated scenes unadorned.

It takes a good eight minutes for Sculder to show up in "F. Emasculata," but director Rob Bowman keeps the episode hopping before and after. It was a nice plot device to bring the agents in on the manhunt, only to discover the more wide-ranging implications of the contagion -- deadly 36 hours after infection. 

Till we can access them, this is Smokey and the Bandit: This ep excels in spreading paranoia over how quickly and pervasively disease can be spread, and even more appropriately for the show's purposes, how the government enables big business -- in this case a pharmaceutical company -- while keeping information away from the public.

After first seeming disinterested, law enforcement rather quickly nabs the escaped convict's girlfriend -- and theoretically saves the toddler from infection, thanks to Mulder. He's separated from Scully for virtually the whole episode as she tries to get to the heart of the outbreak in the prison. That means a lot of cell phone calls between our heroes, the fan base really gets into that.

There'll be a time for the truth ... but this isn't it: Without gearing up first, Dana does finally get the exposition and the root of the contagion. But even more intriguingly, she almost mirrors CSM's point of view. "We controlled the disease by controlling information," he tells Fox. "We can't leak this, not until we know more," she reiterates to her partner. "If this gets out prematurely, the panic is going to spread faster than the contagion." That's certainly a first for the show, having the heroine sorta on the same side as the resident baddie.

I'm not as bothered as Sestra Am was by CSM's inclusion for a couple reasons. First, this is definitely a full-on conspiracy episode. We know Smokey primarily from alien-related activities, but if government is protecting a pharmaceutical company, I'm not surprised that he's a big part of it. And second, we're nearing the end of the second season, and I'm almost positive CSM will be key to the cliffhanger. So Carter preps a little for that event with a reminder of how strong his presence and resolve are here.

Boy, that bus station thing went about as poorly as it could have for Mulder. Your perp was in the bathroom, Fox-y, that shoulda gone a lot smoother. All the passengers could have been cleared before he got out. Plus, you should have geared up, because once again -- exploding pustules can kill you.

I stand right on the line you keep crossing: The conspiracy definitely won this round. As Fox rightly states, even if the agents found the truth, they would be discredited as being part of it. I'm more concerned about getting Walter off that line, so he can stop spewing platitudes such as "You really have no idea who you're dealing with," "For every step you take, they're three steps ahead" and "Watch your back. This is just the beginning."

And now this week's dose of meta. According to the Official Guide to The X-Files, the producers considered delaying the air date because the similarly themed motion picture Outbreak had just come out. ... Carter created the part of the ill-fated gas-station attendant Angelo for production assistant Angelo Vacco. He even got his own spot on the end-of-season gag reel.

Guest star of the week: Apologies to Dean Norris, but he does an even better job a few years later guesting on sister show Millennium, and my pick is Charles Martin Smith. As the infected epidemiologist (try saying that three times fast), he gives a subdued performance that explodes like an infected pustule. Not really, but the guy responsible for getting Capone in The Untouchables seems more like an actual human being than any of the other non-regulars in the ep.