This episode begins in a grocery store in Loudoun County, Virginia. Customers are shopping to a sweet Muzak version of Johnny Mathis’s "Misty." Hopefully it won’t have as extreme an influence here as in the Clint Eastwood/Jessica Walter movie Play Misty for Me. Have you ever noticed the music while you’re grocery shopping? If it’s a song you like then the experience is more enjoyable. However, if it’s one you don’t like then you’ll rush to complete the task and get the hell out of the store, even though that means the wretched song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. It’s wise to wait and see what the next one is because if it’s a good one, then your pleasant mood will return. But I digress. 
One customer is stocking up on canned goods – he probably should have used a cart instead of a basket – then heads to the checkout line. We see Flukeman ("The Host" Season 2, Episode 2) has made the news, but it’s a tabloid so I guess that doesn’t really count. Besides if Flukeman really came back, wouldn’t Mulder have investigated? The customer, nicknamed Pusher, realizes he’s surrounded by undercover FBI agents, so he confronts them and they take him into custody. Turns out he has some type of hypnotic ability because he messes with one police officer’s head and they get walloped by an 18-wheeler. Agent Frank Burst, Pusher’s nemesis, survives the crash to tell his tale of woe to Sculder. Turns out, Pusher has been bragging to Burst about his accomplishments, murders that look like suicides. Sculder learn Pusher has been advertising in mercenary magazines and an analyst Holly brings them some issues to search. Poor Holly was mugged and has a large bruise on her eye. She also has a rather pessimistic attitude toward law enforcement’s ability to solve crimes. Interesting, considering her career choice. Sculder find contact numbers for Pusher in the magazines and set a trap for him. But Pusher is on to them and leaves them a clue.
The next morning he is at the golf driving range when police show up to take him into custody … again. Pusher convinces one of the SWAT guys to set himself on fire. Sculder put him out pretty quickly, but the damage is done. Mulder finds an exhausted Pusher in a white Cadillac and easily arrests him, but Pusher chides he’ll get away with it. At the courthouse, Pusher identifies himself as Robert Patrick Modell. Fox tries to explain to the judge how the suicides are actually murders committed by Modell. It doesn’t work out so well and Pusher is released. Scully does some background research on Modell, but still doesn’t really believe in his power to put “the whammy” on his victims.Then Pusher puts the whammy on the security guard and Holly at the FBI office and obtains Mulder’s home address. Every time they reference “the whammy,” I think of the game show Press Your Luck. Modell seems sincere when looking at the analyst’s bruised eye. Too bad he can’t find her purse snatcher. Skinner interrupts them and restrains Pusher, but Modell convinces Holly that Walter is her assailant. She sprays him with mace and kicks him in the face. Jeez, everyone is going to have facial injuries by the end of this episode. Surveillance cameras verify Pusher’s presence in the building and Dana now believes in “the whammy.”
Agents raid Modell’s apartment to arrest him, but he’s not there. Mulder, who has a search warrant, starts going through Pusher’s things. Looks like the only food he buys are canned protein drinks. Scully learns Modell is epileptic and takes medication for it. Fox thinks it’s the result of a brain tumor. Pusher calls them and talks Agent Burst into having a heart attack. Frank won’t hang up because he wants to complete the call trace. Talk about taking one for the team. Sculder track Modell to a hospital where he has an MRI appointment.Mulder goes in alone and unarmed while the SWAT team waits outside. Fox learns the hospital security guard shot the technician then himself. The guard’s gun is missing. Dana sees Pusher’s brain MRI and there’s clearly a mass. Modell’s chart confirms he’s dying. Guess Pusher didn’t take the bad news so well, looks like he completely bypassed the denial stage and went straight to anger. Modell takes Mulder at gunpoint and Scully joins them in their psychological standoff.
Pusher rattles on and on about his warrior mentality then gives the gun to Mulder, who’s clearly being pushed into playing Russian roulette. Two rounds down, four to go. Fox then unwillingly turns the gun on Dana, who breaks through Mulder’s trance by pulling the fire alarm. Fox shoots Modell, who doesn’t die but is stuck on life support for whatever little life he has left. I guess you can say this experience has brought Sculder a little closer together. Sestra Pro, I saw in the IMDB credits that Dave Grohl had a cameo in this one. So how did that happen?Sestra Professional:
Gotta have a guy who named his band the Foo Fighters in an X-Files episode, right? Dave Grohl was a big fan of the show and the Foos will contribute to "Songs in the Key of X" -- a compilation of songs inspired by the show -- and then the soundtrack of Fight the Future as well. Blink and you miss him here, even when you know he's walking into FBI headquarters behind Modell. And that's because of Robert Wisden's dynamic performance.
The sci-fi/fantasy character actor is the focal point of this exemplary stand-alone ep. "Pusher" really does stand alone. It also boasts a crackling, fast-paced and compelling script by Vince Gilligan with unforgettable Sculder moments -- all delivered via a light yet taut touch by the show's workhorse director Rob Bowman. They don't come much better. Because they can't.Bet you five bucks I get off: Wisden's Robert Patrick Modell obviously doesn't give a damn. He's got his death sentence, he's got his animosity for society and he's just looking for a worthy adversary. The fact that it winds up coming from the FBI, which turned down his employment application, only makes it that more satisfying for him. He's capable of just about anything, taking great joy in all the pain he causes -- especially when he makes Frank Burst burst -- and doesn't mind leaving a trail of clues along the way.
The fact that law enforcement continues to catch him and he keeps getting away proves to be a nice change of pace from an ordinary episode. Usually there's 40 minutes of hunting for the bad guy/creature and some resolution of the case. Here, Sculder know how and even why -- although Dana's not too hot on the whole Press Your Luck theory. Let's go, G-Woman: Mulder can't even keep up with Pusher on the quipping front. The best Fox can do is put his search warrant on Modell's TV set as it airs the movie, Svengali, about a music maestro trying to control the woman he loves through hypnotism and mind control. He also pulls the ol' "your shoe's untied"/"made you look" gag on Robert Patrick -- no relation.
But then there's the episode's real attraction -- advancing the relationship of Mulder and Scully. When Fox goes into the building unarmed -- lest he use his weapon on anyone but Pusher -- he's got Dana in his ear whispering sweet nothings (OK, more like important facts about Modell's brain tumor, but still, it's pretty sensual.)
Mulder, no. ... Mulder, yes: The final confrontation in the hospital is as tense as The X-Files will ever get. The strong-willed Mulder is not in control -- David Duchovny is spot-on here -- and even Scully has to struggle to get through to him -- Gillian Anderson rocks that, of course. The show really had to fight to get that Russian roulette denouement, the network was worried about giving impressionable kids ideas, Gilligan said in the official third-season episode guide.Pleased to meta you: The casting of Modell proved to be fortuitous but not easy. According to The Complete X-Files, Harvey Fierstein and Lance Henriksen were considered for the role. ... Throughout his time writing for the series, Gilligan used the first or last name of his lady love -- Holly Rice -- in his eps. This time, Holly kicked some serious Skinner ass. ... Gilligan originally conceived the plot as a movie script, then retooled it when he joined The X-Files writing staff. ... Scully's line "He's a killer and a golfer" -- seems a little obvious, even over 20 years later. Less on the nose, devotees draw parallels between Robert Patrick Modell and Walter White, Gilligan's lead character in his much-beloved series Breaking Bad.
Guest star of the week: Lots of clutch performances in this one -- Vic Polizos is simply wonderful as the ill-fated detective and Julia Arkos' Holly literally kicks ass but is just as good before and after the beatdown. There's no pushing Wisden out of this spot, though. Talk about nailing the character. And those eyes. So persuasive, very calming, very tranquil, makes me think of a breeze ... a gentle breeze. I just can't help but give him the kudos.
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