X-Files S2E5: Things are getting Barry, Barry interesting

Sestra Amateur: 

Meet Duane Barry. He looks like a nice, normal guy with a house and a dog. But Duane Barry is not normal. He thinks he’s been abducted by aliens and he’s convinced they performed experiments on him. Duane even thinks they implanted tracking devices in his sinus cavity, teeth and belly button so they can always find him. On June 3, 1985, Barry believes the aliens have returned to torture him. But are we seeing what Duane thinks he’s seeing or have aliens really found him? 

Nine years later, we see Duane Barry again, and in that time, he's understandably been institutionalized. His psychiatrist, Dr. Hakkie (who looks a little alien himself), wants to sedate Duane because his patient is refusing to take his meds. Barry says it’s because he doesn’t like how they make him feel. Then Duane tries another approach -- he knocks out a security guard and takes Hakkie Sack hostage. That’s not really helping your argument, is it?

Mulder is swimming when Krycek tracks him down to tell him they’re needed at the hostage scene. I’d bet a Titans Scully vinyl figure that Sestra Pro was more focused on Krycek in his business suit than on Mulder in his teeny tiny red Speedo. 

Mulder and Krycek meet with Agent Lucy Kazdin, whose hairstyle, clothes and skepticism really reminded me of Scully. Duane not only has Hakkie Sack as a hostage; he’s holding employees at a travel agency too. Aside from the mental health issues, Duane Barry also has a bad habit of referring to himself in the third person, but that’s probably how he distances himself from the horrifying memories in his head. Barry wants to go back to his abduction site, but he doesn’t know where that would be. I don’t think the travel agency has a Triple-A Triptik for that location, Duane. 

While talking to Barry on the phone, Mulder learns the guy is a former FBI agent. Guess Duane knows all of their hostage negotiation tricks. Mulder is clearly the man of the hour with this case while Krycek does the coffee run. Ouch. Hope he didn’t screw up the drink order. Nothing will kill a budding career faster. Mulder calls Scully to research Duane Barry. The power goes out and Duane shoots wildly, hitting one of his hostages. Medic!

Mulder and another agent mobilize to help the shooting victim. Mulder trades himself for the injured man. Agent Kazdin tries to coach him, but Mulder goes off script because he believes Duane is truly an abductee. Scully calls Mulder, but can only reach Krycek. She warns Alex that Mulder needs to get out before Duane kills him but clearly does not tell Krycek why because she instead hops on a plane to tell them in person. Not sure whether that should be chalked up to Scully’s lack of trust with Krycek (even though she has no known reason not to trust him), her emotional state at the thought of Mulder’s life in danger or a writing continuity issue. 

Duane describes the torture he endured from his aliens, things the meanest dentist in the world wouldn’t even do to a patient. Scully says Barry is experiencing psychosis from a shooting injury to his head which occurred when he was an FBI agent. She relays that information to Mulder, who convinces Duane to release the female hostages. Mulder gets Barry out of harm’s way when the Hostage Response Team is ready to shoot him, but then seems to put him right back in their cross hairs. They shoot Duane but don’t kill him.

Agent Kazdin later tells Mulder doctors recovered metal from Duane’s gums and sinus cavity, just where he said they would be. Duane also had damage to his teeth that could not have been caused by modern dental instruments. Scully has the metal analyzed and learns it has some type of bar code. She scans it at the grocery store checkout register and it seems to show a serial number. Weird. She also pays for her purchases with a check and the cashier doesn’t ask for a driver’s license. Weirder. 

Back at the hospital, the “aliens” return for poor Duane Barry, so he knocks out a security guard and leaves – I assume – against medical advice. Scully calls Mulder because the serial number on the metal freaked her out. But Duane Barry shows up at her apartment and our intrepid heroine is in trouble … to be continued. 

Sestra Professional:

Gillian Anderson's pregnancy really put The X-Files on the spot. And not only did executive producer Chris Carter work his way out of that hole, he did so brilliantly with an arc that reverberated for the rest of the series run.

"Duane Barry" marked the first time Carter took the reins directorially, and he received on-the-job training with a near-flawless episode that he also penned. Of course, it helped to get Steve Railsback to take the title role and go off the proverbial rails with Duane. He gives that poor schlub such gravity, all the while retaining that is-he-right or is-he-crazy sensibility.

Speedo time! I'd say Sestra Am owes me a Scully Titans vinyl figure, but she already gave it to me. When Mulder goes for a swim during a break from his hefty alien caseload, a thousand fan fictions are born -- particularly after Krycek retrieves him with the words "something's going down." To be fair, I didn't see Alex sneaking a peek at Fox's package, but maybe he did while I was doing that.

It's a great plot device to have Mulder come in to do the hostage negotiation. The team already on site certainly doesn't believe in aliens, they just want the FBI's leading authority to appear to understand Barry so they can keep him on the telephone, prevent him from taking lives and get the situation resolved.

You think you know what Duane Barry's going through? It's another swift stroke to make Barry former FBI. Kinda makes you think that Fox Mulder isn't so far away from turning into the shrieking fearball that Duane has become over the years. His resolve to sympathize with Barry puts Mulder at odds with those who have brought him in to help the situation. Agent Kazdin -- fabulous CCH Pounder (who might be guest star of the week under other circumstances) gets to deliver the lone humorous note in the ep -- telling Krycek to take out his note pad and then ordering her complicated cappuccino.

Someone probably should have told little Lucy and the tactical team that Mulder would go over the line with Duane, that he would be not only interested in saving the hostages but in helping Barry out as well. And there's something deeply freaky about Duane claiming the aliens drilled holes in his damn teeth on the same day I went to the dentist -- and had holes drilled in my damn teeth. 

Now we've got Scully working from behind her desk on the other side, finding out that Barry isn't what Mulder thinks he is -- thanks to that bullet in the brain thing. Yeah, OK, I'll admit that just might be responsible for his unique insight. Hey, Krycek gets a step up from order taker, now he's fielding phone calls. He can come be my secre ... assistant, if he wants. I'll definitely treat him better.

Another vote is in -- and one of the female hostages admits she believes Barry's story before she exits the premises. Kazdin eventually is forced to recognize the strangeness of the actual implants found on Duane's X-rays, and even Scully admits that would mean he was telling the truth -- or some version of the truth. And that's the premise that really propels the series going forward. What version of the truth are we getting? It's not all lies, but it's not the entire truth either.

Guest star of the week: Railsback. Wow, another tour de force performance on a series that's already pulling top-notch talent early in its second season. He's played psychopaths before -- Charles Manson in the TV movie Helter Skelter, Ed Gein in the film of the same name -- but not quite in this vein. Interestingly enough, it was Pounder who scored an Emmy nomination for this episode. Maybe Railsback was a little too good for his own good.

X-Files S2E4: Heeeere's Krycek: Expect Sleepless nights

Sestra Amateur: 

Nope, we’re not in Seattle. We’re in New York City where Saul Grissom is relaxing on the couch in his apartment, minding his own business. He realizes the hallway is on fire, calls 911 and grabs a fire extinguisher. It doesn’t do any good and the fire spreads inside the apartment. Firemen rush upstairs while residents run out in panic, except for one man with a creepy look on his face. Hey, it’s Candyman! No hook for a hand, but he does have a weird scar on his neck. The firemen don’t see signs of a fire but force their way into Saul’s apartment and find poor, dead Saul. So was the fire only in Saul’s head? Nice to know the resale value of a decent NYC apartment hasn’t been affected.

Sometime later Mulder picks up the newspaper from his doorstep and finds better inserts than coupons. Someone circled Saul’s obit and provided an audiocassette of Saul’s 911 recording. Turns out Dr. Grissom researched sleep disorders before his untimely demise. Mulder tries to convince Skinner that Grissom’s death is an X-File. Skinner says he’ll look into it then sends Mulder back to the purgatory that is wiretap duty. 

Mulder later gets a visit from an eager agent by the name of Alex Krycek. (I think I heard Sestra Pro’s squeal when I was watching the ep. She has a sixth sense about him.) Krycek tells Mulder they’re assigned to Grissom’s case, but since Krycek opened the file he considers it his case. Krycek shows some balls when Mulder fights him on it. Krycek: 1, Mulder: 0. Mulder covertly calls Scully and asks her to perform an autopsy on Grissom. Hey Sestra, who’s George Hale? (Mulder's nom de plume.)

Mulder ditches Krycek (Mulder 1, Krycek 1) and goes to Grissom’s sleep disorder clinic in Stamford, Connecticut. Krycek catches up with Mulder there and is a little perturbed, but Mulder has to concede since the rookie has the lone vehicle. Krycek 2, Mulder, 1. Mulder and Krycek meet with Scully at Quantico so she could discuss her autopsy findings. She says Grissom’s body showed he was exposed to intense heat but did not suffer burns, as though the victim believed he was burning to death. 

Meanwhile, Candyman has a reunion with Henry Willig, a man with the same neck scar as Candyman. Henry, who calls him Preacher, is being tortured by visions from their time in Vietnam. Preacher induces Henry into believe he's being shot to death by his Vietnamese victims. Krycek’s contact tells him about Henry’s unusual autopsy results -- Henry has 43 small internal hemorrhages but no bullet holes. Krycek 3, Mulder 1. 

Mulder learns Willig was a Marine and realizes both victims were stationed together 24 years earlier. The only other survivor of their group is Augustus Cole – Preacher – who is in a secured VA hospital in New Jersey. Well, no, he’s not. Turns out Cole tricked his doctor into signing him out. Cole’s doctor says they had kept him separated from the other patients because he somehow disrupted their sleep patterns. While Mulder and Krycek are making progress in their investigation, Mr. X – Deep Throat’s very reluctant replacement – insists on a meeting related to the case. 

Mulder ditches Krycek again (Krycek 3, Mulder 2), so Mr. X can talk the sleep eradication treatments that made Willig, Cole and their unit “better soldiers” in Vietnam. Mr. X gives Mulder the name of a presumed dead soldier so they can interview him. Krycek 3, Mulder 3. Mulder then retrieves Krycek, who has heard that Cole robbed a drug store and is hiding at a nearby motel. Krycek 4, Mulder 3. They join the local police, but two officers end up shooting each other while Cole gets away. 

Scully is typing up her report, and as usual this season, missing all the action. Mulder believes Cole is telepathically projecting his consciousness onto others, which we know is true. Krycek 4, Mulder 4. Mulder and Krycek head to 2 Jays Café – no, not TooJay’s where you can get a nice, thick, tasty pastrami sandwich – this place is more like a dive. They meet with Sal. He not only has the neck scar, but like Cole and Willig, looks like he hasn’t been sleeping. Turns out that’s the case. Sal, who hasn’t gotten a wink in 24 years, tells them the horrifying history of their squad’s murderous actions. Sal says Grissom had a partner named Dr. Francis Girardi. Scully learned Girardi is en route to New York for Grissom’s funeral. 

Mulder and Krycek get stuck on the Long Island Expressway – damn that rush-hour traffic! -- and barely make it to the Bronx train station in time. Of course, Cole’s there too. Mulder finds Girardi,, then spots Cole pointing a gun at Girardi’s back. Mulder pulls his gun and tells Cole to drop his, but Cole shoots Girardi then seems to shoot Mulder. Turns out Mulder hallucinated the whole thing and was pointing his gun at the crowd. Krycek convinces Mulder to confide in him about Mulder’s theory of Cole’s psychic ability. Krycek 5, Mulder 4. 

While reviewing CCTV footage, Mulder and Krycek realize where Cole took Girardi. The latter imagines soldiers from the squad have returned to kill him. Mulder and Krycek find Girardi who is injured, but still alive. Alex calls for help while his seasoned partner finds Cole. Mulder tries to help Cole without shooting him, but Krycek catches up and points his gun at Cole. Cole holds out his bible, but Alex believes Cole is pointing a gun at Mulder so Krycek shoots and kills Candyman. Weirdest case of suicide by cop ever. Krycek panics when he can’t find a gun by Cole, but Mulder convinces Alex he did the right thing. Krycek 5, Mulder 5. 

Back in Mulder’s car, the file Mr. X gave him is missing. Someone also stole Scully’s reports related to the case. Turns out it was Krycek, who turns everything over to the Cigarette Smoking Man. Krycek tells him Scully is a problem and CSM agrees. Watch your back, Scully, and enjoy your maternity leave, Gillian. Final score: Krycek 6, Mulder 5. Round one goes to the new guy.

Sestra Professional:

Gillian's not on leave quite yet, she actually barely leaves the canvas as we'll see in the next episode -- a landmark one for the show on every front. But first, Krycek comes on the scene. A welcome addition, to put it mildly. I might have mentioned that he's my favorite character on the series, will detail why that is a lot more in future episodes.

Great opening teaser, very X-Filey for sure. It's an excellent set piece with the fire, only to find out that Grissom became more of a mental charcoal bricquet than a physical one. I don't know about anyone else, but this character reporting a fire comes off as an uncomfortable reference to the first Apollo mission for me.

Yes, Agent Mulder, I can read: Newspaper props in television are so shoddy, let me tell you that. We're really big on 1.) verbs, 2.) using negative white space and 3.) trying to draw the reader in. But full props to Howard Gordon (Homeland, 24, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who penned the episode. This has both an interesting premise and character development as the show continues building to a seminal moment. Not to mention the fact that Mulder and Scully's relationship keeps getting stronger with them spending much of their time apart.

Re: Mulder referring to himself as George Hale, that's a callback to the "Little Green Men" episode earlier this season. Hale's ideas resulted in the creation of the Palomar Observatory in San Diego. The Hale Telescope is named for him. First user of that apparatus -- Edwin Powell Hubbell, who later got his own telescope tribute.

Krycek's pretty convincing as a would-be lapdog, trying to get on Mulder's side by saying he believed in his work, and that at the academy, he always thought there was more out there than what people were being force fed through official channels. Nice gag reflex too at seeing a corpse in a pugilistic state.

Although Scully's major contributions are medical, Gillian provides some texture with her reactions to Mulder's "new" partner. David does some major "something smells bad" acting in his initial antipathy for the rookie, but comes across much more naturally in a telephone call with Scully that shows how rock solid that relationship has become through good-natured teasing that speaks volumes about their unspoken need to be part of each other's lives. 

The truth is still out there, but it's never been more dangerous: We also get our first look at Mulder's new informant, X. Meta on this was that the character was going to be female -- and in fact, Natalija Nogulich even filmed a scene, but then she was replaced by 21 Jump Street alum Steven Williams. We're already finding out that he's a different kind of informant, one much less willing to be a father figure for Mulder. "The man we both knew paid for that information with his life, a sacrifice I'm not willing to make," X tells Mulder. 

Mulder might be not thrilled to have a Y chromosome tagging along, but it certainly makes for interesting interplay. The train station scene is loaded with tension. We're certainly with Mulder as he pulls his weapon when he thinks he sees both his witness and his target. But then we pull for the new guy, who claims he wants to believe and is looking for more insight into the case and Mulder.

And then the denouement. Even before we find out Krycek is not what he seems, Alex's reaction to getting the chance to take out Cole doesn't seem completely unwarranted. Particularly since he thinks he's seeing a weapon pointed right back at him. Even Mulder begrudgingly admits the rook did the right thing.

But, uh oh, Krycek is playing for the other team. (That's a bit of a double entendre, it wasn't long after this than Mulder-Krycek fan fiction started popping up on the internet.) It's Alex who points out the strengthened Sculder bond to Cigarette Smoking Man. So anything that happens to Scully is Krycek's fault?   

Guest star of the week: Since Nicholas Lea's role is recurring, it's a no-brainer to give the nod to Tony Todd. He gives a truly striking and committed performance as Augustus Cole, especially in his final scene. The Candyman-turned-24 General makes you buy into the premise and draws viewers into the resolution of this particular story while other pieces of the overall game are being moved around the board.

X-Files S2E3: They're out for Blood

Sestra Amateur: 

This week’s episode takes us to Franklin, Pennsylvania, or at least, Vancouver’s version of Franklin. A postal employee named Ed Funsch is inputting zip codes into a computer when he cuts his finger. A short time later, Ed’s boss has to fire him due to cutbacks. Sucks to be the low man on the totem pole, Ed. He really should have turned that cut into a Worker’s Compensation claim so he could buy himself some time. 

But Ed takes another approach. Since the boss took pity on him and said he could finish out the work week, Ed goes back to inputting zip codes. Shouldn’t bosses do the layoffs at the end of Friday’s work day just to avoid these kinds of conflicts? The digital display on Ed’s computer tells him to “Kill ‘Em All.” Now I’ve got Metallica’s "Seek and Destroy" in my head. Pretty much the same idea that is now in Ed’s head, but for very different reasons. 

Meanwhile, something similar is occurring in a crowded elevator in another part of Franklin. A claustrophobic man is getting violent instructions from the control panel. He follows through and kills four of the passengers. Local law enforcement calls the Feds for help. Guess who arrives. Sheriff Spencer tells Mulder that seven Franklin residents have killed 22 people in the past six months. That’s really going to hurt Franklin’s tourism business unless they decide to advertise it as the murder capital of the United States. Those seven killers are believed to have induced cops to kill them to stop further violence. 

The crime scene is still active when Mulder arrives, even though Franklin is at least 300 miles from Washington, D.C. I hate when they do that. Why not give us a throwaway line like Mulder was in the area for a Penguins game to explain his quick arrival? (This episode originally aired Sept. 30, 1994, so it could have been a preseason game.) 

While Mulder is assisting Sheriff Spencer, poor Ed is getting kill commands from his friendly neighborhood ATM. Seems like blood is a catalyst when Ed sees the digital commands. But Ed continues to resist. Good for you, Ed! 

Scully is studying Mulder’s review of the Franklin homicides. Her facial reaction when Mulder concedes it’s not aliens is priceless. Mulder notes damaged electronics at the crime scenes and starts to put the pieces together – not literally. Meanwhile, a woman goes to pick up her car from a creepy-but-not-criminal mechanic and kills him out of fear that he will rape and kill her. You know, she might have been able to convince a jury to believe her. But Mulder and Spencer interview her and she slashes Mulder with a knife after the microwave tells her they know what she did. Spencer shoots her dead. That makes the count eight killers and 23 victims --  or 31 victims.

Scully conducts the autopsy on the woman and determines the killers experienced an LSD-like state during phobic incidents. That’s an overly simplified description of what’s really going on with these people. You can compare my summary to Jurassic Park, in which the novel uses a good 15 pages of exposition to detail how dinosaurs of the same sex manage to breed, but the movie gives you the line “amphibian DNA” to answer all of your gender swapping questions. But enough of the science stuff. Let’s check in on Ed.

The good news is Ed is out job hunting. The bad news is he’s in a department store when multiple televisions encourage him to kill. And of course, this store has a sporting goods department where Ed can buy a rifle and ammunition. Out for a run, Mulder finds city workers and dead flies. That leads him to the Lone Gunmen who give Mulder some leads regarding governmentally banned pesticides. 

Mulder and Spencer confront the county supervisor, who admits the sprays were used to protect the crops that are part of Franklin’s economy. Mulder later gets hit with pesticides during an illegal spray. He goes to the hospital, and while watching the TV screen, thinks he’s picking up subliminal messages. Hey, Sestra Pro, wouldn’t this have been a good place to revisit Mulder’s pyrophobia? The sheriff convinces the mayor to stop spraying and discreetly get people tested. 

A blood tester ends up at Ed’s house, where he's already broken his computer monitor, calculator, watch and even his doorbell. Was the ding dong starting to sound like “kill kill?” Mulder gets to Ed’s house, but he is gone. Since Mulder realizes Ed’s fear is blood, he thinks he’s heading to the hospital. The agents await Ed at the hospital, and Scully hides behind Mulder -- mainly to cover Gillian Anderson’s pregnancy belly -- because there is absolutely nothing tactical about their positioning. 

But Ed has decided to go to the blood drive at the college instead. He goes up the clock tower with his rifle while Mulder and the sheriff head that way. I don’t know why they didn’t call campus police to let them know a paranoid psychotic with a rifle was heading their way. Based on their lights and sirens, it’s not like the sheriff was striving for discretion. Luckily, Ed is the worst shot ever. He took out some innocent bottles of orange juice, but I don’t think he hit a single human. Let’s give Ed the benefit of the doubt and think he’s still trying to resist the urge to kill. Mulder manages to subdue him without killing him. Mulder calls Scully and his cell phone screen reads, “All done. Bye bye.” My old Nokia never said that to me. Even scarier, Mulder’s phone is in roaming mode. Wonder how much that call cost him.

Sestra Professional:

It's The X-Files twist on going postal. And while this episode hasn't traditionally gotten a lot of notice, it is a fine example of the show really hitting its stride. The script -- by the tried-and-true duo of Glen Morgan and James Wong -- addressed disgruntled postal workers, random shootings and the fear and paranoia caused by insecticide sprayings. Darin Morgan, last week's mutant worm on camera, gets his first writing credit after helping develop the story.

Everything hinges on a committed yet somehow still sympathetic performance by William Sanderson, but a ton of kudos are also due to show's musical genius Mark Snow. First, he creates a genuinely creepy mood, then raises the stakes with music cues that substantially ratchet up the tension in the scariest moments.

Different chemicals, same stunts: Still working apart a great deal of the time, both Mulder and Scully fare very well in this one. Mulder intuits that gadgets have gone wild, while Scully finds the cause. Then they have The Lone Gunmen back to geek it up, comparing the Los Angeles sprayings to DDT testing in the '50s. Of course, back then effects started showing decades later and quite as quickly.

The county supervisor is following political protocol by believing everything he's been told, but miracle of miracles, the sheriff actually believes Mulder. We're finally making some progress. Maybe that's another reason why the show seems to be playing on a higher level, Sculder are not the only ones who believe the results of their investigation.

Of course, there still is room for traditional Mulder-Scully conflict. They can't agree on absolutely everything. So when Mulder claims insecticide heightened the killers' previous phobias and electronic messages made them carry out violence to prevent their worst fears from coming true, Scully kinda thinks it's garden-variety Mulder paranoia.

Fear. It's the oldest tool of power: Another strong point is that it doesn't take until the final 10 minutes to figure everything out. As mentioned, Sculder make their observations, and then all that's left is to find a man who has eluded testing. Is it too soon to say they're firing on all cylinders?

It does get to be a bit too much when Ed ascends a clock tower similarly to the infamous 1966 University of Texas massacre, like they're throwing everything but the kitchen sink into one episode, but it's a minor complaint about a strong episode. The most chilling X-Files have always played upon our own fears. This one delivers upon that premise and then some.

"We know more about what happened to him than he does," the sheriff said when Mulder still wants to question Ed after the denouement. (And in the back of my mind, I wonder if the affable John Cygan tested for my favorite role in the series -- said character makes his debut in the very next episode.)

A bit of meta, the tag -- "ALL DONE ... BYE BYE" -- was used as the final shot for the second season's gag reel. But that scene got me wondering whether Mulder continued his treatment off camera, since he obviously wasn't quite over his dosage of LSD. And yes indeed, Sestra Am, I do believe it would have been an excellent time to harken back to Mulder's fire fear.

Guest star of the week: As previously pointed out, it's definitely Sanderson, perhaps best known as the two Darryls' brother Larry on Newhart. He does standout work as the fired postal worker trying to fight off the forces inducing him to do harm. His screams of pain in the clock tower are harrowing. And since he's the only one of the killers who didn't commit "suicide by cop," we'll say job well done for Ed and particularly well done by William.

X-Files S2E2: The Host with the mostest

Sestra Amateur: 

I’m sorry to say we’re not talking about Lorne the Host from Joss Whedon’s series Angel; that character won’t exist for about six more years. This host is on a Russian cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean, a tad east of New Jersey. It’s causing toilets to overflow, so of course, some hapless sailor gets sent to fix the plumbing problem. I wonder how you say “I’ll be right back” in Russian. The impromptu plumber gets grabbed by something reminiscent of the underwater creature from Leviathan ... and Deep Star Six ... and Endless Descent. 1989 was a bad year for sea creature horror movies. Too bad for this guy it wasn’t the luminous, well-meaning alien from The Abyss.

Meanwhile, back in D.C., Mulder is still pulling wiretap duty. Never piss off your superiors. Mulder’s eating his sunflower seeds and drinking his Shasa cola. That’s not a typo. They couldn’t get the rights to use the Shasta brand name? That’s pretty sad. Mulder finally gets liberated from wiretap purgatory to investigate a not-an-X-File case. 

Mulder and Newark Police Detective Norman head into the lovely, fragrant Jersey sewers to see the dead body. Mulder thinks he’s getting his chain yanked and has the foul-smelling corpse sent to FBI Headquarters, care of Assistant Director Skinner. Speaking of Skinner, I really hope the wardrobe department eventually dulls the reflection on his glasses because you can practically see what the TV show’s crew is wearing in the lenses. Mulder lets Skinner have it and continues down a path of career suicide. Scully agrees to autopsy the stinky sewer corpse because, well, that’s what Scully does. My XF trivia knowledge is improving -- the John Doe number is Chris Carter’s birthday, right, Sestra? So whose birth date is the case number 112148? During the procedure, a slimy tentacle reaches out from inside the corpse. Scully grabs it with tongs and gets into a tug of war with it. For a moment there, you think Scully is going to lose.

Back in beautiful downtown Newark, there’s no Prudential Center in sight. Hell, the thought of it probably doesn’t exist yet. A sewer worker gets bit by the creature, so we should probably just write him off. The doctor treating him thinks a tetanus shot and antibiotics will help. The worker tells Mulder he thinks a snake bit him. Scully calls Mulder to tell him about the parasite she found. How many of you have seen Parasite starring Demi Moore? It really is one of the most awful movies out there and not in a good-awful way. It’s essentially 85 minutes of WTH. ... But I digress. Mulder then takes a cryptic call from Deep Throat 2.0. He says Mulder has a friend at the FBI, then hangs up. Good, because someone’s going to have to start saving Mulder’s career again. But what kind of friend just hangs up without saying goodbye? Rude!

Scully introduces Mulder to the Turbellaria, which may finally swear me off rare steaks forever. This type of worm acts like a parasite, feeding off the organs. Mulder shows Scully a picture of bite marks on the sewer worker. They appear to be the same except for one pesky discrepancy -- they're supposed to be really tiny. The one that bit the sewer worker ain’t tiny. Scully says flatworms (or flukeworms) don’t go around attacking people, but since the sound of Scully’s voice changes because of looping technology, I’m not so inclined to believe her. (Yes, I’m manufacturing an excuse. No, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.) Meanwhile, things quickly go downhill for the sewer worker who coughs up a flatworm which goes down his shower drain.

At the Newark County Sewage Processing Plant (I don’t think there is such a place), an employee finds a flukeworm in the system but it’s more humanoid – and human-sized. Let’s call it Fluke Skywalker. Back in her office, someone slips a tabloid under Scully’s door. The sensationalistic rag contains an article about the Russian cargo ship incident. I actually took a moment to pause the episode and read the article. Looked like the writers really made an effort with that prop. I’m sure Special Correspondent George Lister is some type of inside joke. This show is just loaded with Easter eggs. So Scully links the stinky sewer corpse to the missing sailor through a tattoo. Wouldn’t it be funny if the anonymous tipster was giving Scully the magazine to relate it to a different case? Scully should use that issue as a reference all season, because there’s a chance more X-Files cases are addressed in there. Mulder calls Scully so she could see Fluke, who has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Middlesex County. Interesting detainer choice, Jersey.

The next morning Mulder meets with Skinner to discuss Fluke’s fate. I really wish they scripted the scene of Skinner and federal prosecutors talking about how to prosecute Fluke. Skinner begrudgingly admits this case should have been handled as an X-File. Meanwhile, Fluke is being transported by U.S. Marshals in an ambulance ... at night ... on a deserted road ... by only the driver. Freakin’ morons. It’s like the government wants Fluke to escape. Hmmmmm…

The marshal pulls off the road in front of a live bait shop. How apropos. Fluke finds his way to a portable toilet – yeah, won’t be using those anytime soon either. A truck arrives to empty the toilet and Fluke gets sucked out like Unger and Dunn in Airplane 2. An hour later, the truck passes Mulder at the ambulance crime scene. Mulder gets another cryptic call from his secret friend, who is even less helpful than the original Deep Throat.

Mulder goes back to the sewage processing plant hoping Fluke will return there. Scully warns Mulder that Fluke could multiply if it finds a new host. Another worker falls in and Fluke attacks him, so Mulder jumps in to help. Hope Mulder retires that suit because dry cleaning won’t save it. Mulder saves the worker, chases Fluke and cuts him in half. Now if this was Leviathan, that would just mean one monster became two. But we see the lower half sink. Hope they recover both parts and dispose of Fluke properly. By the way, what is the proper way to dispose of a human-sized flatworm?

Sculder meet later to discuss the case. Scully tells Mulder the parasite is still capable of spontaneous regeneration just like any flatworm, but she’s doing that weird looping voiceover thing again. Sestra, did you read anything about why they needed to keep dubbing parts of Scully’s dialogue for this ep? In the end, Scully blames science, not nature for the ... fluke. From her description, Fluke should be more like Godzilla. But Fluke Jr. (the coughed up flatworm) is apparently still out there. Or is it the one Mulder cut in half? Or, as usual, is it left open to interpretation?
 
Sestra Professional:

It really has to be some kind of Fluke that the guy in the costume for this episode -- Darin Morgan -- turned out to be my favorite television writer of all time. There was just no way of knowing that would come to pass, although when you hear the tale of how he sat down next to David Duchovny on an airplane and asked for an autograph, "To my arch nemesis," you could see the penchant for creativity. Much, much more on him to come. For now, he's stuck in what was purported to be spectacularly uncomfortable worm wear.

In the meantime, there are Easter eggs to be deciphered. You're correct about Chris Carter's birthday, 112148 is the birthday of his wife, Dori, and that was used a few times as dates and times during first-season episodes. I don't have anything specific on George Lister, but during the show's run, combinations of names were created, so maybe this was a variation on that theme. Sorry, even less intel on the looping.

I wouldn't want to step in anything: The creep factor is high on this episode. It does throw a little bit of fear into a person, although not quite in the same way The Carol Burnett Show once scarred me for life with a toilet shark. I don't remember being particularly more frightened by what was lingering in the waters when I was residing in Newark, although there's always been some kind of uneasiness about porta potties.

Awww, Mulder's first present for Skinner -- a mangled corpse drenched in raw sewage. Fox is pretty rusty if he can't recognize an X-File when he sees one, for he used to see X-Files in his breakfast eggs. Now he also has to be talked into solving a crime, sitting around taking notes of wiretaps has really taken a toll on this guy.

With Deep Throat gone, it's time for Mulder to have a new friend in the FBI, because someone's got to point Sculder in a direction when they don't have anything to go on. And that's not the only relationship on the up and up. The agents definitely get a glow about them -- not pregnancy-related -- while discussing fluke worms and how big they can get. Yeah, no subtext there. Mulder says the only reason he can find to stay is his relationship with Scully. She later counters with, "I would consider it more than a professional loss if you decide to leave." What it lacks in warmth, it makes up for with sincerity.

And let's break some new ground with Gillian Anderson's burgeoning belly. We've seen all kinds of ways of hiding pregnancy on the air -- flower pots and big purses and the like. Utilizing a gross corpse in an extended autopsy scene must have been a breakthrough in both science and entertainment at the time. 

I'd like to give some props to props, makeup and Matthew Bennett, who played the sanitation worker. When the fluke starts to take control, the poor sucker -- or should that be suckee -- empties the contents of a toothpaste tube in his mouth to get rid of the bad taste. That scene ends with a fluke worm emerging from his mouth and slipping down the drain -- the greatest gross-out on the show since Tooms' liver-eating bile in the first season. And according to The X-Files Episode Guide, credit also goes to Carter, since he not only wrote the ep, but fought with Fox -- the network, not the agent -- to get that scene aired.

It looks like I'm going to have to tell Skinner his suspect is a giant bloodsucking worm after all: There's a lot of information stuffed into the epilogue, about how man and not nature created that destructive worm with a "primordial soup of radioactive sewage." Chernobyl gets shoehorned in, although perhaps it's not as clunky as it might have been considering the use of a Russian ship earlier in the plot. And Mulder ponders: "Three species disappear every day, you wonder how many new ones are being created." A lot of information for the end of the show, but it's hard to complain about one that really had very little let-up from ominous start to perhaps-even-more-petrifying conclusion.

Guest star of the week: No, duh. It's Darin Morgan. In addition to getting much-needed paycheck at the time, playing this part on the show also gave the future writer/director insight into what it's like for the actors who get stuck in a costume on a set for hours and hours at a time.

X-Files S2E1: The 'Wow' factor

Sestra Amateur: 

OK, X-Philes, we’re back for Season 2. It’s not surprising to know the truth is still out there … allegedly. We don’t get a lot of answers in this one, and of course, we end up with even more questions. But we do get some interesting Mulder back story, so let’s dive in. 

The episode begins with Mulder’s voice-over explaining the history of Voyager – no, not the Star Trek show. That wouldn’t appear on the UPN channel for another four months. The spacecraft, launched in 1977, contained proof that earthlings weren’t just a bunch of Neanderthals – at least not by our definition. So in this episode, which aired in 1994, the episode’s teases that someone out there may have responded.

Since the X-Files unit was disbanded, our heroes have been assigned to separate divisions. Mulder is listening to wiretap conversations related to white-collar crime – zzzzzzz – and Scully is dissecting bodies at the FBI academy. One of her students says she sounds "spooky." Guess now we’re supposed to see Scully on the same level as Mulder? 

Scully later sees her former partner in the hallway, but he ignores her. What the hell, Spooky? They have a clandestine meeting in the Watergate Hotel parking lot and Mulder said he thinks he’s being watched. But based on history and reputation, isn’t Watergate the worst place to go? Mulder tells Scully about Deep Throat’s funeral – sort of. That should mean Deep Throat’s identity is now known, at least to Sculder, but neither mentions his role in the government war. Neither Assistant Director Skinner or Cigarette Smoking Man mention Deep Throat either. Maybe his identity is an X-File. Mulder is clearly frustrated because he’s seen so much, but still does not have any tangible proof. Hey, Spooky, Scully had tangible proof in the last episode, but she gave it up to save your ass. 

Let’s flash back to November 1973 for a moment. Fox is playing Stratego with his younger sister, Samantha. He’s acting like a typical big brother, which is probably why he feels guilty after it appears she’s abducted by aliens. The scene itself is slightly reminiscent of young Barry’s abduction in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I’m not sure whether Sestra Pro is going to argue with me on that one since those aliens ended up being benevolent and later returned Barry. But from the perspective of Barry’s mother, Jillian, it was the scariest moment of her life. 

Back in the present, Mulder goes to see Senator Richard Matheson – that one has to be a shoutout to the author. Matheson wrote one of my favorite novels, Bid Time Return, which most people know as the movie, Somewhere in Time. Senator Matheson is clearly a Mulder supporter and he gives Mulder the heads-up to recover information from Voyager before the government arrives and destroys the evidence. 

So Mulder heads to the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center in Puerto Rico. Funny how the power is off, but the control panel still has working lights. That’s one hell of a battery backup. The next morning Scully learns from Skinner that Mulder is missing. Mulder really should have just burned a sick day so it wouldn’t seem suspicious. But maybe he wanted someone – Scully – to follow him. Being inside Mulder's head can be confusing. 

CSM thinks Scully can locate Mulder, and of course, she takes the bait. Scully is searching Mulder’s apartment for clues. Love the answering-machine message from Mulder’s stood-up date. At least he’s trying – well, he was trying – to have a social life. Scully figures out Mulder’s computer password fairly quickly – not the actual phrase, but how it was entered as a password. Two agents who were watching Mulder’s place arrive, but Scully still leaves with a clue to Mulder’s whereabouts. 

Back in Puerto Rico, a terrified man in the bathroom of the abandoned facility scares the crap out of Mulder. Not literally, I hope. My Spanish may be a little rusty, but Jorge seems to tell a typical tale of alien abduction. Mulder doesn’t really speak Spanish, but Jorge’s simple alien drawing tells Mulder everything he wanted to hear. Scully seeks assistance from expert Dr. Troisky, who analyzes Mulder’s Voyager printout and helps her narrow down the search. Scully realizes she’s being followed so she sends the agents on a wild-goose chase while she heads to Puerto Rico. Good girl. 

In Puerto Rico, there’s a storm raging outside the facility. Jorge panics and runs away. Mulder finds his body. It looks like Jorge was scared to death, cue sinister dun dun duuuuuun music here. There’s an interesting dynamic to this episode. While Scully is running around acting like Mulder (rightly paranoid and overly cautious), he is starting to act like her as he tries to determine the cause of Jorge’s death in true pathologist fashion. It’s very interesting to see Mulder’s heartfelt evolution of trust toward Scully while he’s talking into his tape recorder. Too bad Scully isn’t there to witness it. 

But let’s put a pin in that for now. Something is happening at the facility – bright lights, ground shaking, distorted recordings. Have the aliens arrived? Mulder seems to think so, but he loses consciousness. Scully wakes Mulder the next morning – the rainstorm is clearly over and it’s a beautiful day. Mulder tries to convince her “they” made contact. But the government is there to destroy the evidence, so he grabs what he can. Sculder take off, but the soldiers shoot at them. Of course, they miss. 

Back at FBI headquarters, Mulder’s getting dressed down by Skinner, but then, for some reason, CSM opens his big cigarette-smelling mouth and starts gloating to Mulder. Guess Skinner didn’t like that, because not only does he not fire Mulder, but he kicks Cancer Man out of his office. He’s not just a yes man after all! Go, Skinner! Of course, Skinner puts Mulder back on wiretaps, but his agent had that coming. Sculder find time later to review the tape Mulder took from the facility in Puerto Rico, but it’s blank. Maybe next time, Mulder. I’m sure you’ll get tangible proof any episode now...


Sestra Professional:

That's my idea of a hiatus between seasons -- one week. And now we get a glorious grand-scale opener. We've got our first real look at a living alien, a car chase, fleshing out of Skinner's character as well as individual and collective looks at how much the bond has strengthened since Scully first walked into Mulder's basement office the prior year.

This episode is sooooo Contact, which probably explains why I like that Jodie Foster movie. But in The Complete X-Files, co-writer Glen Morgan explained he had previously written a script on his own about a man's journey to a telescope in Chile called Little Green Men that he and writing partner "cannabilized" for the season opener of the same name.

I love the Wow Signal story, in both content and as a real-life occurrence that carries so much weight in terms of our ongoing plot. As the guest expert explains in the show, in August 1977, an astronomer at Ohio State got so excited about an extraterrestrial signal that he wrote "Wow!" in the margin of his computer printout. It's also great to tap another source besides the tried-and-true mention of Roswell.

They closed Sculder's eyes at the end of the first season. And as the second one starts, we see they've opened Mulder's ears. Really, I'm not sure what his problem is, listening to a strip-club story as part of his FBI duties. That kind of thing will seem to be right up his alley in the not-too-distant future.

Now we're actually meeting in the Watergate Hotel? So All the President's Men, minus Deep Throat, of course. I can buy Samantha's abduction as Close Encounters-esque. The suspension in mid-air part is new, thought, and very well done. Sometimes we might forget we're watching a TV show made in a mere week's time. On the other hand, I just can't stand when a password is figured that easily. They couldn't spare the two seconds for Scully to try "TRUSTNOONE" before "TRUSTNO1"? By the way, was that a recent password change for Mulder? He definitely seems the type to change it on a regular basis.
 
Noho on the rojo: In the early days, X-Philes ran around saying "noho on the rojo," referring to how Mulder tried to keep non-English-speaking Jorge from touching the red button at the observatory. That should have had its own T-shirt. But back to the plot. That Jorge guy could never be Roy Neary from Close Encounters. He's really, really afraid of the aliens. (How did this man get his job with that kind of debilitating fear?) He's also terrified of lightning, and therefore, of alien lightning. He'd probably still be alive had he not run out into the storm.

It's hard ... suspecting everyone ... everything. It wears you down. I agree wholeheartedly on how powerful it was to hear Mulder pouring out his heart while trying to work out things in his head on the tape recorder. What he says really helps set the stage for Season 2, particularly with Sculder -- as Sestra Am pointed out -- in role reversal for this episode.

Among the crucial plot points Mulder discusses was the need to find out what happened to his sister and to see the entities that took her from him. "What would I do if they really came?" he asks, and he gets a quick answer to that previously rhetorical question. Mulder tries to block the door, he takes out his gun, he tries to fire -- he's reacting similarly to the way young Fox did on the night his sister was taken.  

And the coup de grace in the final scene as Mulder tells Scully, "I may not have the X-Files, Scully, but I still have my work. And I still have you ... and I still have myself." The look Gillian Anderson gives him in the pregnant pause -- hee hee -- after the bond is referred to might be her finest moment since Season 1 episode "Beyond the Sea." So much lodged into a second in which she doesn't respond with dialogue, and made me mentally write "Wow" in the margin.

We're loaded with meta in this episode. Raymond Barry plays Senator Richard Matheson very well, but executive producer Chris Carter wanted Darren McGavin for the role. McGavin played the lead role in Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the 1974 series that probably was the biggest of all the show's various influences. But don't fret, he eventually will become a tangible part of X-Files lure. 

Good thing it wasn't a Double Jeopardy question: Another of the really great meta moments -- "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2" referred to an answer David Duchovny got wrong when he appeared on Jeopardy. Here's another nice one: The passenger manifest Scully peruses looking for Mulder contained names of a lot of online fans as well as Charles Grant, who wrote some of the show's novels.

Richard Matheson definitely was a shoutout to the sci-fi/horror writer. The literary legend also wrote some of the best Twilight Zone episodes -- including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," "The Invaders" and the adaptation of "Third from the Sun." Between that and the other pop-culture references from this ep, maybe we got a peek at the show's suggested summer watch/reading list.

But on an even greater front, Anderson's pregnancy starts to impact the show in ways both great and small. As Carter has acknowledged repeatedly, that provided the biggest impetus for advancement of the conspiracy/mythology element. Right now, she's got the glorious glow and she's being filmed in the time-honored tradition of closeups and shielding behind furniture and other objects. There will be more to explore on this in upcoming eps.

X-Files S1E24: Trust that the truth is out there

Sestra Amateur: 

Funny how a simple title like "The Erlenmeyer Flask" can transport you back to 11th-grade chemistry class. But I’m pretty sure this episode will contain more deadly experiments than anyone ever experienced in a high-school classroom. Now let’s see how it relates to the season finale.

Somewhere in Maryland, patrol cops are in hot pursuit of a suspect. The terrified driver leaves his car and tries to run on foot, but the cops surround him. The suspect takes one of their batons and starts beating the police officers. Exhibiting unusual strength, he overpowers the cops. Another one arrives and tries to stun the suspect with a Tazer, but the suspect just pulls the probes out of his chest. I don’t know if any of you have ever used a Tazer-like device on a human being, but the “oh, shit” look on the cop’s face when it clearly had no effect is pretty accurate. Luckily for this cop, the suspect chooses to run away instead of continuing the attack. The cop shoots at the man who jumps into the river. It looks like the guy was hit, but instead of seeing blood there are puddles of green goo on the dock. Looks like he's on the right show.

Deep Throat calls Mulder and wakes him up. Sestra Pro, what movie was on Mulder’s television? One actor sounded like James Mason, but it wasn’t a film I’ve seen before. Also, does it have some related meaning/foreshadowing with this episode or was it picked randomly? DT tells Mulder to watch the news, so he records the coverage of the chase and reviews the tape ad nauseum. He cannot identify one spectator who I’m going to refer to as Unknown Man. Mulder learns the incident began with a moving violation. See how quickly situations can escalate? 

Sculder go to the crime scene, which 18 hours after the incident, still looks very active. The police captain out-thinks Mulder while Scully looks bored. They check out the suspect’s car and learned someone secretly replaced the original one with Folgers. I mean someone stole a rental car and replaced it with the one the suspect originally took, which belonged to Dr. Berube of the Emgen Corporation molecular research laboratory. 

Berube is very carefully handling substances in an Erlenmeyer flask. While questioning the doc, one of his monkeys tries to bite Scully. Berube then gives Sculder the move-along. Scully refuses to continue the investigation because she thinks DT is yanking Mulder’s chain – her words, not mine. So when Mulder meets with his informant, he gives him a piece of his mind. Scully would have been proud -- but Mulder stays on DT’s hook and continues the investigation. 

Back at the lab, Unknown Man arrives looking for Dr. Secare, the moving violator. He kills Berube as Secare emerges from the river. Guess Secare can breathe underwater. The next morning, Sculder are back at Berube’s lab investigating his “suicide." They learn Berube was working on the Human Genome Project, the mapping of human genes. With his bare hands, Mulder picks up the flask labeled “purity control” that Berube handled so cautiously. He convinces Scully to test the contents. Scully takes the flask from him and I have to keep reminding myself they weren’t using latex gloves very often 22 years ago. 

Scully takes the flask to Georgetown University. Dr. Carpenter, the hooker from Arthur, analyzes the contents and tells the agent it contained a bacteria and virus that Berube was cloning for gene therapy. Scully also learns that the bacteria predates homo sapiens and the DNA contains an “extraterrestrial” base panel. Guess she's back on board. 

Mulder illegally enters Berube’s home and finds keys for a storage facility. Secare calls Berube, but Mulder answers the phone while the Unknown Man is eavesdropping. Secare is unable to say where he is because of his injuries. A Good Samaritan calls for an ambulance. The paramedics try to treat Secare, but he releases a toxic gas that overpowers the EMTs and their driver. How come we see the green goo and blood here, but no blood at the original crime scene? I’m calling the continuity police. 

Mulder goes to the storage facility and opens locker #1056. Hey Sestra Pro, shouldn’t it be #1013? Inside, he finds adult human bodies that appear to be asleep in tanks of murky water. Mulder is chased by Unknown Man and his cronies. Surprisingly, Mulder walks all the way home instead of ... oh, I don’t know, doubling back to see what the men are doing or calling Scully from any other phone in the state of Maryland. This is one of those times when a great story can get marred by a contrived, senseless plot point. 

So Scully goes to Mulder’s apartment to pick him up and they arrive back at the storage facility the next morning. A great scene in which Scully finally admits to Mulder that, after 24 episodes, she doesn’t know what to believe is ruined by the knowledge that the storage unit will be empty when they finally go inside. That’s what they get for taking too long to get back there. At least DT is there to provide some more exposition. Turns out the bodies were terminally ill patients who voluntarily submitted to gene therapy. Secare survived his treatments, but the government couldn’t risk having him live a normal life as a human/alien hybrid. It’s hard to disagree with DT since we saw what happened to those poor paramedics who tried to treat Secare. 

Scully returns to Georgetown and learns Dr. Carpenter was killed in a car crash with her family. Mulder returns to Berube’s house and finds Secare hiding in the attic. Right when Mulder says he’ll protect the guy, the Unknown Man shoots Secare. Toxic gas escapes from the new hole in Secare’s body and blinds Mulder. The unknown but live one, who is wearing a gas mask, subdues our intrepid hero. The gas causes visible burns to Mulder’s nose and mouth. Unknown Man further tortures Mulder by leaving a ringing cell phone just out of his reach and refusing to answer it. In addition to having no name, that guy truly has no scruples. 

Scully and DT team up to try and save Mulder. Scully obtains the original alien tissue sample from a secured laboratory. It looks like a frozen alien baby. Scully somehow smuggles out the embryocicle and gives it to DT, who meets with Mr. Unknown to exchange it for Mulder. I find it hard to believe DT would support the theory of the needs of one outweighing the needs of many, but since David Duchovny is under contract, I guess it will play out this way. So Unknown Man takes the package, shoots DT, dumps Mulder from the van and leaves the scene. DT, who was not wearing a bullet-proof vest, tells Scully to “trust … no one ...” then dies. And no, we do not learn anything more about his identity. 

Mulder's looking a lot better 13 days later and he calls Scully to tell her the X-Files have been shut down. Of course, he is very determined not to give up his search for the truth because it’s, well, out there. Meanwhile, in the Pentagon, we see a rare Cancer Man moment in which he is not smoking a cigarette. He’s securing the alien embryo in an evidence room that is reminiscent of the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the government hides the ark in a maze of bureaucracy. Guess Cancer Man is one of the “top men,” but we already knew that. See you next season. 

Sestra Professional:

So long, Deep Throat. We hardly knew ya. And by that, as Sestra Am said, we really don't know who you were or high up the Washington food chain you climbed. But here's one of my favorite meta bits ever. When Deep Throat's portrayer Jerry Hardin received his copy of the script, it had a note from executive producer Chris Carter on it that read, "No one really dies on The X-Files. 

That was a particularly nice thing for the show runner to do since that demise was so shocking when it aired. However, it did provide the sense of jeopardy and imminent threat that the show needed to stay vital. As well as hammering home the first two really distinctive catch phrases -- "Trust no one" and "The truth is out there."

So many Sestra Am questions, so little time. The James Mason movie was Journey to the Center of the Earth. So there's that tangential connection to what's going on around our parts. Plus the added bonus of the final bit of dialogue used before Mulder changes channels -- "Science is not a guessing game." Mason is soooo Scully. 1056 was a variation on Carter's 1013 birthday theme, as he was born in the year 1956. And perhaps Secare starts bleeding in addition to gooing at his end because he's still part human and is actually dying that time?

But in regards to that green goo and all the permutations which emanate from it, that has always been one of the least cohesive elements of the conspiracy episodes. And that's saying something since there was never a "show bible" kept for such purposes. But that's discussion for another season, other than the obvious -- maybe it's a conspiracy.

You work so hard and you still don't see it: The early mythology episodes did more to advance the character of Mulder, but this season-ending one really gives Scully a boost. Sure, he gets to see the hybrids before they (and he) disappear, but she gets to do the heavy lifting and save him in the process. Although saving him at the expense of the best proof anyone's ever had does seem like a little much.

Scully understandably starts off annoyed by the cryptic Deep Throat phone call that really did not give the pair much to go on. But then she sees the gene-therapy evidence first-hand and comprehends the bacteria containing a virus to be both millions of years old and extraterrestrial by definition. After somehow coming up with the containment facility's project password "Purity Control" when it could have been everything from "monkey pee" to CSM's favorite brand of cigarettes, she finally holds that confirmation of alien life in her own two hands. The kind she can't deny because she's been out of the room all season when Mulder ran across it.

Maybe this time we can just cut out the Obi-Wan Kenobi crap: Sestra Am, you made no mention of Mulder's Star Wars reference. I'm opening my own X-File on that one. Mulder was right on target declaring Deep Throat had become too dependent on him. And Sculder's real lucky that Berube "did a Greg Louganis out the window" or they never would have gotten anywhere on the case. 

What's always been particularly terrifying about the show are its assertions about groups within groups conducting covert activities unknown at the highest levels of power that make you think about what might be going on in the real world. Dozens and dozens of Unknown Men putting Alien Pops in Pentagon evidence rooms (without refrigeration yet) and the like. Meanwhile, the show also gives us smart throwaway lines like Deep Throat's claim Roswell was a smoke screen, as the government had half-a-dozen better alien salvage operations.

So they're shutting the X-Files down? Guess that's the end of our blog. It was fun while it lasted. But one last wee bit of meta: Count Sestra Am's recap paragraphs and then count these. We can do it too, sort of.

Guest Star of the Week: She's a hooker? I forgot all about it! Talk about not getting typecast. Anne De Salvo, also well known to the Sestras as a wife with absolutely no redeeming qualities in D.C. Cab, did a fine a job delivering the scientific gobbledygook here as she did holding her own against Dudley Moore's drunken sod.