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.
Sestra Amateur:
This episode borrows heavily from The Omen and The Exorcist. Considering the writer, Sara Charno, also wrote the "Aubrey" episode, I guess that’s not too surprising. People say you should write what you know.
The opening segment shows a family at a theme park in Lincoln Park, Virginia (not to be confused with a family attending a Linkin Park show). Dad – Steven Holvey -- tries to placate his crying toddler with his older brother's balloon. The older child – Charlie – takes umbrage to this and lets Dad know it. In return, Dad throws away everyone’s delicious ice cream cones. Not sure what the lesson was supposed to be with that one.
Mom – Maggie Holvey -- takes Teddy the toddler to the bathroom. She harnesses Teddy to the sink so she can use the bathroom stall in private. That’s a more acceptable way of saying Mom ties up her kid. Of course, he gets out and wanders off. His panicked mother leaves the bathroom without washing her hands. This may be the only time lack of hygiene can be considered acceptable behavior. Teddy is following a wayward balloon and ends up on the theme park’s railroad track. The conductor is unable to stop and Teddy dies a pretty grisly death. On the upside, Damien – I mean Charlie -- gets his balloon back.
Three months later, Mulder explains the case to Scully, showing her pictures of the balloon defying logic and gravity. The picture is enhanced by expert Chuck Burks and it appears as though a poltergeist is pulling the balloon. Sculder go to the Holvey residence to speak with the parents. Charlie’s presence seems to fan the flames of the fire in the home’s fireplace. Scully watches his grandmother, Golda, draw a backward swastika on Charlie’s hand. The fire alarm blares and the power goes out. I’m sure it’s all just coincidence.
When the power returns, Grandma is yelling at Maggie in Romanian. Captions probably would have come in handy with this episode, but you get the gist of what she’s saying. Maggie says her mother accuses her of mating with a devil (Steven) and having a devil child (presumably Charlie). It turns out the swastika is intended for protection, but is the protection for or from Charlie?
Dana later checks Teddy’s medical history and thinks it’s a case of Munchausen by proxy. They return to Steven, who gives some timely exposition regarding Golda’s attitude toward himself and the children. Sculder ask to interview Charlie through a social worker. Maggie is against it, but Steven agrees. Of course, when Dad tries to leave with Charlie, Steven gets hanged by the garage door opener. But maybe it’s not Charlie’s fault, he seemed genuinely upset at his father's demise. The police show Scully evidence of a satanic ritual in Grandma’s bedroom. Dana also sees a stained glass window with the same mark Golda drew on Charlie’s hand. Fox finds ash on the garage door opener and the car. Then Grandma’s religious gang of Men in Black arrive and ban Sculder from the house.
Mulder analyzes the ash and learns it doesn’t contain metal, carbon or oxygen. Sculder bring it to Chuck, who recognizes it as holy ash that materializes out of thin air. Think dry, non-slimy ectoplasm. Fox seems to appreciate Dana’s skepticism, I don’t think he’s ever smiled that genuinely before. Meanwhile, Charlie eavesdrops as Golda and her minions perform a ritual with chickens and blood. Charlie appears in the smoke, yelling in Romanian.
The social worker finally arrives at the Holvey house. Charlie calls to his mother and they find the child collapsed and feverish outside Golda’s bedroom. Maggie interrupts the ceremony and kicks out Grandma’s gang. Grandma grabs Charlie and locks him in the room with her. The social worker realizes she’s in over her head and calls 911. She flags down Sculder and updates them. Charlie attacks Golda with the chickens (yes, really) and Grandma is dead by the time Mulder opens the door. For those keeping score, Maggie has now lost her youngest son, husband and mother.
Fox finds more ash during analysis of the crime scene. The religious Men in Black – known as the Calusari (not calamari, but now I want some calamari) – return and Mulder tries to get some answers, but Big Cheese Calusari just issues a cryptic warning. This is clearly one of those episodes where communication would have not only resolved everything faster, but probably prevented all of these deaths in the first place. Maggie clues the agents in on some Romanian history to explain Golda’s behavior.
Charlie finally gets interviewed at a hospital in Arlington, Virginia. He loses his temper and claims he wasn’t there when Grandma died. Charlie blames Michael. “Who’s Michael,” you ask? Turns out that’s Charlie’s still-born twin brother. His parents did not tell Charlie about Michael nor did Maggie let Golda perform a Romanian separation ritual that would prevent Michael’s spirit from staying bound to Charlie. Michael emerges when a nurse tries to give his living twin a shot and clocks her upside the head. (I’m starting to think I use the phrase "clocked upside the head" in every episode.)
“Charlie” convinces his mother to take him home. Maggie knows something is not right, but does it anyway. Of course, Charlie is still in the hospital bed, so Mom has Michael with her. Back at home, Maggie starts the separation ritual, but Michael is none too happy about that. Mulder sends Scully to the Holvey house while he assists the Calusari, who are performing the ritual on Charlie. This is where it really feels like we’re watching The Exorcist … more like Exorcist II – less quality and emotional impact.
Dana sees Maggie being held by an unseen force against the ceiling, but Mom keeps on chanting. Charlie continues his Linda Blair impersonation while Michael threatens to stab Scully with a knife. The Calusari finish the ritual and Michael dissolves into a pile of ash. After seeing how quickly the men completed the ritual, it makes you wonder why Golda waited three months before trying it, especially since she had been fighting to perform the ritual for eight years. Guess we’ll chalk it up to yet another plot contrivance for dramatic effect.
Sestra Professional:
We're back in creepy kid land. And this one looks familiar, 'cause Charlie/Michael was also Kevin Morris in "Conduit" way back at the beginning of the first season. Little Teddy was not so creepy, except for the part about not looking like either of his parents, so I guess he had to go. See what happens when the youngest child gets all the attention?
As evident by Sestra Am's recap, we have an awful lot of Romanians and other assorted characters running around in the ep. As a result, there's less Sculder. Fox gets to dust many crime scenes and Dana says "Munchausen by proxy" a lot -- which, of course, is what a doctor should say when she sees the medical records of these kids. But ultimately, that's kind of why this episode feels like it's been possessed by a lesser heretic.
So Mulder is thinking poltergeist, which is backed up by the neither organic nor inorganic ash and the photographic evidence of electromagnetic energy. Scully thinks he's seeing Jesus in an elm tree. She's quick to explain away the wiring problems in the house and death by garage-door opener as well. At some point, one will think she'll hit the coincidence limit. Maybe when it hits her first.
During production, the powers-that-be agonized over the death of the toddler and the garage-door hanging was subjected to a standards and practices compromise. But I think the real bold/bizarre choice was the use of reverse swastikas for protective purposes. That image automatically unsettles viewers, so when they're used to safeguard a child here, it both raises our hackles and ensures we're paying close attention to the details.
If you try to stop us, the blood will be on your hands: Then Golda's cronies show up and Charlie is no longer the only creepy character in the episode. But we do get a sense that, for all Grandma's rantings and ravings and dead roosters, she may be on to something. She's certainly more effective than the case worker, who can't stop Golda from locking herself in a room with a child but seems more adept at running to tell Sculder everything she's witnessed.
It takes a reallllly long time for Maggie to come around. Why did she let her mother move in with her family in the first place if she didn't believe a word that Golda said? And why does she choose the time when she would need her mother the most to throw her out? After the grandma's demise, Maggie's still not swayed by the Calusari. It takes Michael in Charlie guise asking her for a train ride and a balloon to wake her up. It's a rather weak representation of a woman, worsened by the fact that she was spawned by a female writer.
You marry a devil ... you have devil child: We don't really get any answers to why all of this went down. How did the pissed-off kid who wanted his balloon back fit into this? If that was Michael, how was he watching himself dispatch of his baby brother? And if he was Charlie watching Michael, was he just being a spoiled brat? Furthermore, was Grandma right? Did the combination of Maggie and Steve really conjure up an evil that the Calusari chief compares to Lucifer and Hitler? Or did something that heinous come about because the child was still-born and tied to his twin? At least we've learned another parenting lesson -- don't keep such tragedy from another sibling.
We do get a good explanation for why Golda seemed to be doting on her grandson sometimes and fearful of him at others. Even better, the hospital set piece of Michael in the corner with Charlie in the bed and the nurse between them proved to be one of the creepier images of this season. Not sure how the nurse survived that blow, she must have a pretty strong cranium. And our returning kid star, Joel Palmer, gets to chew the scenery when he turns from merely mopey to full-on evil.
Evil follows evil: I guess The X-Files was striving here to allow Mulder to look malevolence in the face and try to avoid being touched by that while Scully got tossed around like a rag doll once again. That enabled the Calusari elder to say things like "You must be careful. It knows you" to creep Fox (and us) out while getting Dana to keep what probably are regularly scheduled chiropractic appointments for all her beatdowns.
Guest star of the week: Kay E. Kuter has made a career out of taking small but critical roles in television and film for more than five decades. Sestra Am and I know him well as the deliverer of exposition Enduran in The Last Starfighter and he kind of fulfills a similar role here as the face of the Calusari. One thing's for sure, he manages to provide gravitas by coming off as more than a one-dimensional character (which can't be said of many others in the same ep).
Sestra Amateur:
This is an episode in which it pays to watch without distractions. There are so many great throwaway lines and sight gags that casual viewers will otherwise miss a lot of Darin Morgan’s wit.
Today, we travel to Vancouver’s version of Florida. Alligator Man stalks two boys who are swimming in a pool. Turns out it’s cool because he’s their dad, Jerald Glazebrook. To show just how normal he is, he tells the boys to go to bed before their mother finds out they’re out past their bedtime. No husband, even an alligator man, wants to bear the wrath of an angry wife/mother. Unfortunately, something enters the pool and kills poor Jerald.
Mulder tells Scully that 48 similar attacks have occurred in the past 28 years. At Jerald’s funeral, Dana notes different quirks and traits of the sideshow attendees. Fox is hardly fazed when one freak – pardon me, escape artist – burrows out of the ground and rams a railroad spike through his own chest. Apparently, the purpose was to show his admiration for Jerald’s escape abilities. The deceased's friends and family are understandably annoyed.
The Sheriff defends his town’s “very special people,” but Scully argues if they are truly normal then they are capable of the same actions and reactions of … non-very special people. Sculder meet with local artist Hepcat, who sculpts a creature called the Fiji Mermaid (hope it’s Fiji because closed-captioning changed it to Feejee) that is very reminiscent of Morgan’s Flukeman. Sculder head to the Gulf Breeze trailer court and Mulder pisses off Mr. Nutt – a dwarf - by assuming he’s former circus folk. Nutt, in turn, stereotypes Fox but since he nailed it, we'll have to just move on. Sculder meet bellhop Lanny, who, along with his conjoined – and shy – brother Leonard, left the circus to work for Nutt. Meanwhile, Hepcat gets attacked, X-Files-style.
The next morning, Fox is jogging when he spots a man covered with a jigsaw-puzzle tattoo fishing ... without using a pole. The man, known as The Conundrum, starts eating his bounty raw – not like sushi with rice and chopsticks, but ripping into it with his teeth. He runs away upon spotting Mulder.
Lanny retrieves Scully on behalf of the sheriff. Dana is as mesmerized by the bellhop's exposed deformity as much as he is mesmerized by her exposed breast. They both instinctively cover up. Fox sees blood on the outside of Hepcat’s tiny window. The sheriff doesn’t understand why the killer just didn’t come through the open front door. They watch Dr. Blockhead – the funeral burrower – escape from a straight jacket and hammer a nail into his nostril. They also meet The Conundrum. Remember hearing about human geeks as a kid? They’re the ones who would bite the heads off of live chickens. The Conundrum eats a handful of crickets – mid-morning snack, I guess. Scully just nibbles on hers, to Mulder’s amazement. Turns out, it was just sleight of hand; Dana didn’t really eat one, but did Gillian Anderson?
Scully meets with the freak-show museum curator, who tells her the story of Siamese twins Chang and Eng. Chang died from a cerebral hemorrhage and poor Eng died from fright soon after Chang’s death. Can you imagine being conjoined to a dead body for the rest of your life? You can kind of see where this is going. The curator teaches Scully how to spot phony acts, which he calls gaffes. He finagles five bucks out of her and then Dana is shown the Great Egress. Guess she can write it off on her expense report.
Mulder catches Nutt under Scully’s trailer. The manager jumps to the conclusion that Fox has concluded Nutt was spying on Dana for cheap thrills. Nutt tries to use the stereotype prejudice argument again, but Fox shuts him down and creeps him out to the point where Nutt leaves without fixing Scully’s plumbing. (No, that is not a euphemism.) Fox catches his partner up regarding Dr. Blockhead -- Jeffrey Swaim -- who, surprise surprise, is not a real doctor. Dana does the same for him with Sheriff Hamilton, formerly Jim-Jim, the Dog-Face Boy. When the sheriff confronts them about their suspicions, Scully uses the by-the-book approach. Mulder goes a different route – he blurts out the truth.
Meanwhile, The Conundrum is paying his rent – it’s very amusing to see his personalized checks, but that zip code isn’t even a U.S. one, let alone a Florida one. The Conundrum has nicer penmanship than I do too. After the human geek leaves, Nutt gets attached by the killer creature. Lanny wakes Dana, and with blood on his hands, says he found his boss' body. Awwww, Nutt(s).
There’s evidence at the scene which leads Sculder to Dr. Blockhead, so they take him into custody. Of course, he escapes from the cuffs, what were they thinking? He makes a run for it, but the sheriff catches him outside. Lanny, who’s sleeping in the jail’s drunk tank, sees something and starts screaming. Dana thinks Lanky Lanny's brother, Leonard, is the killer. He confirms those suspicions and Scully watches Leonard run (crawl?) away. The puppetry takes away from the pursuit scene, but maybe it’s supposed to look cheesy in keeping with this episode. Sculder try to corral Lenny in the funhouse, but they’re clearly not having any fun.
Back in the trailer park, The Conundrum's attacked, but does what he does best and eats Leonard. The next morning, Sculder and the sheriff are still looking for their suspect. Dana tells Dr. Blockhead that Lanky died the night before and her autopsy revealed his death was caused by cirrhosis of the liver. Even though Lanny drank frequently, I’m sure there was a touch of Eng involved as well. Dr. Blockhead condemns future society for eradicating freaks in favor of more Mulders. Fox’s Superman pose during Blockhead’s tirade is one of the funniest visual moments in this episode. Then Doc Block and The Conundrum pack their things in a Volkswagen Bug and leave the trailer park. (Punch buggy yellow!) Hope they pick up some Pepto-Bismol for the human geek’s tummy ache.
Sestra Professional:
What an introduction for Darin Morgan to the series. His introduction as a writer anyway, since he was the unidentifiable title character in the episode "The Host" earlier this season. But at the typewriter, he's very recognizable. He changed the series for better and for good. His legacy in the credits may be four episodes in the original run, but his fingerprints are all over most of the very best shows the series has to offer from here on out.
Just the teaser alone proves we're in a brand-new ballgame. Until now, an alligator man would be the "Monster of the Week." But the croc here is a fun dad, a good dad and then a dead dad at the hands of something infinitely more monstrous.
Do you recall what Barnum said about suckers? And then Morgan gets his hands on Mulder, who was plenty ripe for more ribbing a lot deeper than being nicknamed Spooky. He does let Fox show his intelligence in the FBI office before he virtually tears him down bit by bit in front of God and all his creatures, great and weird.
Darin's very, very good to Scully, she almost gets a personality transplant in his hands. She's sexier, funnier and more curious about the case and the world in general than she's been over two seasons. And so we get her saying things that might have been attributed to Mulder earlier in the run, like her explanation that if the oddities are normal, they also would be capable of committing the crimes.
You never know where the truth ends and the humbug begins: With our leads taken care of, Morgan's free to trot out any creature his mind can come up with via the sideshow theme -- Dr. Blockhead driving a spike into his own chest, the diminutive trailer court manager and the local sheriff who turns out to once have been Jim-Jim, the Dog-Face Boy. But all of them are shown more dignity despite their quirks than the FBI guy.
As Sestra Am said this episode is jam-packed with juicy Darin Morgan goodness, both in words and images brought forth by director Kim Manners. Morgan's got the premise built in P.T. Barnum's history and how the circus creator and promoter manipulated the public into turning over their hard-earned dough. It's priceless the way Scully and Lanny cover up simultaneously when they become aware their bathrobes are perhaps a bit too revealing. Mulder's pulse doesn't quicken, though, he can pluck a nail out of Doc Block's nose as smoothly he can ponder whether there's more than one bald-headed jigsaw puzzle-tattooed naked guy.
It's what's inside that counts: Somewhere in all of that -- and the ongoing animosity Fox invites from the pint-sized proprietor -- is the actual murder case. Once Sculder is done being embarrassed while eliminating the former dog-faced boy as a suspect, they can close in on the actual culprit.
As with all Darin Morgan episodes, there really is a message of heart at the core. "You can not change the way you were born," Lanny bemoans. We see it here as little Leonard can't and Mulder can't, but the insinuation of the extension to the real world hangs in the air with such a lightness of spirit that we're not really bummed by the concept. Especially when the author -- via Doc Block -- immediately takes Mulder down another peg.
"Twenty-first century genetic engineering will
not only eliminate the Siamese twins and the alligator-skin people, but
you're gonna be hard-pressed to find a slight overbite, or a not-so-high
cheekbone," he proclaims. "You see, I've seen the future, and the future looks just
like him. ... Imagine, going through your whole life looking like that."
So much meta from this episode, starting with the cricket/grasshopper thing. 'Tis true, Sestra Am, Dana may not have ingested the grasshopper, but Gillian sure did. We'll go back to the Season 2 gag reel for Manners' animated response to that bit -- he wonders whether she'll be up and hoppin' around all night.
Morgan's costume from "The Host" is part of the set decoration at Hepcat's place. And the best of the marquee sideshow performers -- Blockhead (Jim Rose) and The Conundrum (naturally played by The Enigma) -- came to prominence while performing on the second stage of the 1992 Lollapalooza Festival. (Can't wait for Darin's lollapalooza of a joke about that festival next season.)
Guest star of the week: Oh, the horror of choosing just one. Everyone was picture-perfect, particularly Jim Rose, Michael Anderson (Mr. Nutt) and Wayne Grace (the artist formerly known as Jim-Jim). But the gravitas of the episode has to be handled by Lanky Lanny Vincent Schiavelli, the character actor we all know from Ghost and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (and I know from Moonlighting and Sestra Am knows from Batman Returns) who fits in all-too-seamlessly amidst those who worked in sideshows for a living.
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. 
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. 
