First off, let me tell you there aren’t a lot of accurate synonyms for the word "gargoyle," so I apologize in advance for its overuse here. The episode opens in an art class at George Washington University. Student John Mostow is drawing his version of the very not-grotesque male model, but makes him look practically demonic. Mostow uses his own blood to add some color to the charcoal drawing, then bolts out of the class when it’s over. Fabio Jr. tries to open his car door, but someone who has jammed the lock slashes him. The next morning Mostow’s alarm wakes him up, mere moments before the FBI raids his place. Mostow manages to bite Agent Greg Nemhauser, maybe he’s a cannibal too. Bill Patterson, played by everyone’s favorite dumbass-hating TV sitcom father Kurtwood Smith, is the Agent in Charge and finds the box cutter that may have been the murder weapon.
One week later, Sculder review the case. Seven murders are linked to Mostow, all men between the ages of 17 and 25. Of course, Mostow claims he was possessed when the murders occurred. And Assistant Director Skinner wants Sculder on the case because a murder with an identical modus operandi occurred while Mostow was in custody. That’s one way to direct the blame elsewhere, John. Sculder meet Mostow in jail where he’s drawing yet another gargoyle head. Scully tries to use rationale and common sense to reach John, but proves unsuccessful. Mostow is convinced the demon has found a new host. They get interrupted by Agent Patterson, who clearly thinks Mulder is full of it. Dana is practically a groupie around Bill, who heads the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. Fox and Patterson, who have history, verbally spar then go their separate ways. Sculder go to Mostow’s place and find full-size demon sculptures in a hidden room. Turns out, a dead body is inside the gargoyle. More like five additional victims.
In the meantime, Agent Nemhauser -- Scully to Patterson’s Mulder -- is at the hospital with the latest victim, who suffered horrible burns. Turns out Patterson secretly wants Fox's assistance. Mulder is researching the gargoyle image and subjecting us to an overlong voiceover when Patterson comes a-calling. Again, things don’t end on good terms, which brings up a very pertinent question: How come we’re halfway through the episode and still haven’t seen Skinner?
Dana goes to Fox's apartment and sees he has been in full Mostow mode; not the killing part, mind you, just demon images all over the room. Mulder starts making his own gargoyle bust out of papier mache. He falls asleep in Mostow’s apartment but wakes when he senses someone hovering over him. Of course, it looks like a demon. Fox chases it, but gets slashed and knocked down. Scully, Patterson and the medics arrive to help Mulder, who doesn’t stick around for long. An irritated Dana gets over her Bill infatuation and confronts him about Mulder, but suddenly he sounds like an X-Files believer. He actually suggests Scully let Fox do what he needs to do. Meanwhile, Nemhauser is standing to the side, caressing the bite mark on his hand. Yeah, that’s not weird at all. Maybe he should tell someone. Dumbass. Mulder confronts Mostow about why the demon didn’t kill him. Just take the win, Fox.Dana's hanging out with the fingerprint tech and learns her partner's prints are on the murder weapon. That makes Mulder a dumbass too. Luckily, the tech just assumed Fox was shoddy at securing the evidence properly. Scully gets called to Skinner’s office – only took three-fourths of the episode – because Fox fondled the murder weapon. Walter seems concerned about Mulder’s mental state and he’s probably right since at that moment he is having a disturbing dream about Patterson and Nemhauser. Of course, Fox's living room is just littered with gargoyle images. He goes back to Mostow’s studio and finds new demon busts … and a blood trail ... and an arm. Yep, just the arm.
Scully returns a message from Greg and calls his cell phone. Mulder finds Nemhauser’s phone and jacket. Dana asks him about the knife and he admits to fondling the evidence. Fox finds Greg inside the bust. Based on all of the bodies they recovered in the other busts, it sure took a while for Mulder to tear apart that sucker. Patterson arrives and Mulder realizes he’s the killer because Bill's hands are covered in clay. Looks like he delved a little too deeply into Mostow’s psyche. Scully arrives and distracts Mulder so Patterson makes a run for it. Sculder give chase but Bill – holding the box cutter in his grotesque-looking hand – tries to slash Fox. Proving you shouldn’t bring a knife to a gun fight, Mulder shoots him. Two weeks later, a healing Patterson is sounding exactly like Mostow. Guess he really didn’t mean to do it. Irony, dumbass.
Sestra Professional:
"Grotesque" isn't an episode traditionally shown a lot of love by X-Philes. But penned by Howard Gordon, it fits right into the show's stand-alone wheelhouse. It reminds me of a few Medium episodes in which Supernatural's demon king Mark Sheppard jumps from body to body, leaving a trail of corpses and possessed patsies in his wake. Come to think of it, there's also a Medium arc in which Kurtwood Smith plays a profiler admired by the female lead who turns out to be less than worthy of her esteem. I digress as The X-Files clearly did theirs first, but those are just another couple examples of how the show won friends and influenced people.
What makes you think I'd want to see that? Kudos to the props department for the amazing gargoyle images that play such a big part in the overall picture and then building on that horror by revealing the bodies contained within. Assistant art director Gary Allen created the gargoyle sketches, produced by the art department and given to cinematographer John Bartley and director Kim Manners. They imbued the picture with rich blues and dark shadows and the result was a moody piece with abundant creeps and scares. The Academy agreed, Bartley took home an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography.We get a little variation on the Mulder and Scully theme too. Starting with how Dana appreciates Bill's work and Fox can't spare the time of day for him. So it's not just traditional science that brings our heroes to different theories this time around. "I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not disappointing you," Mulder tells Patterson. And we can extend that analogy a little further, widening it to an array of people in Fox's orbit -- his family, little-seen boss Skinner and the FBI in general. But not Dana, never Dana.
Is this the monster called madness? Another aspect of this particular episode I really appreciate is the obsessive component of Mulder's personality brought forward. He's prone to addictive behavior and delving into the history of Mostow's art fits messily into that concept. It's not, by any means, a stretch to see him fall asleep in a studio, surrounded by art or with books laid out in front of him.
"I'm very proud of that episode," Howard Gordon said in the official third-season episode guide, "because I think it illuminated a lot of Mulder. ... There really is this line between madness and sanity. We sort of walk around and act civilized, but there's this thin membrane between us and people who walk into McDonald's and start shooting things up."Dana's also running true to form. She can put her respect for Patterson aside when she realizes he's holding a grudge against her partner. When evidence is in front of her, she won't ignore it to suit her theory. That proves to be one of the biggest differences between our leads, and that will enable the show to keep going and growing in the face of Scully less and less able to deny supernatural and/or extraterrestrial occurrences.
A little meta will do ya: According to the third-season guide, a Catholic hospital was reluctant to let the show affix gargoyle figures to the exterior of their building for the opening sequence. ... The Patterson character reportedly was sculpted (pun intended) in the mold (yes, again) on real-life FBI profiler John Douglas, credited with writing the proverbial book on profiling. Douglas reportedly suffered from stress illnesses caused by his work, and so not completely off the mark from the fictional version depicted here. ... Nemhauser was named for the show's post-production supervisor Lori Jo Nemhauser.
Guest star of the week: With apologies to the intense Lavani as the bedeviled Mostow, it's a That 70's Show repeat. On the heels of Lisa Robin Kelly co-garnering kudos last week for "Syzygy," her on-screen dad Kurtwood Smith cops the honor in "Grotesque." There's a reason he became the go-to guy for shows of the era like The X-Files and Medium. Namely, the casting personnel weren't dumbasses.
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