Sestra Amateur:
April 9: On a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, aliens arrive and answer every question the X-Files have ever posed. Well, not exactly. It’s more like an earthquake. Native American Albert Hosteen knows something is up. His grandson, Eric Hosteen, sees a white patch in a canyon. He wipes away the dirt, finds what appears to be an alien skeleton and takes it to Albert, who tells Eric to return it to where he found it.
April 10: In Dover, Delaware, a conspiracy theorist hacks into the Department of Defense’s computer and finds something he really, really likes. No good can come of this. Word quickly gets around the United Nations. Cancer Man gets a call about the compromised file which supports the existence of extraterrestrial life. Someone raids the conspiracy theorist’s apartment to retrieve the file, but he is already gone.
April 11: Mulder has a headache and pops some aspirin. The Lone Gunmen arrive unannounced and tell Fox that “Black Ops” are looking for Kenneth Soona – our conspiracy theorist, aka “The Thinker.” They hear a shot and learn one of Fox’s neighbors shot her husband. Police arrive really quickly and take over. The Thinker meets with Mulder and claims he has Department of Defense UFO intelligence files. He wants the government to answer for its actions.
April 12: Fox tries to access the digital evidence through his work computer. It’s indecipherable to him, but Dana thinks it’s just encrypted in Navajo. Her partner's still acting a little off-kilter and Doctor Scully picks up on it. While she tries to find a translator, he meets with Skinner. Mulder has his “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” moment and clocks Skinner! Walter quickly gets the upper hand, and Fox gets the rest of the day off.
April 13: Mulder goes back to Skinner’s office to try and account for his behavior. Then Scully is confronted by four FBI supervisors and also leaves pretty perturbed. Meanwhile, CSM goes to William Mulder’s house. Bill is not happy to see him, but Cancer Man says Fox has files which apparently mention his father. CSM says he's trying to protect the son with plausible deniability. Back in Mulder’s apartment, Dana wants Fox to reassure her that putting everything on the line for these files is the right way to go. Mulder can’t explain why he attacked Skinner. Dana arranges to meet with a code talker and Fox’s dad to ask him to visit. Mulder, who is sweating profusely, puts his Mr. X calling card in the window and leaves. Scully arrives at his apartment and someone takes a shot at her – probably meaning to hit Fox. The bullet grazes her forehead but she’s OK. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: She really needs to wear a helmet during her investigations.
Back in Martha’s Vineyard, Bill Mulder starts to admit his past actions. He pulls the typical “I’ll be right back” moment to take some medication. Krycek appears (stop cheering, Sestra Pro) and shoots Bill, whose last words are “forgive me.” Of course, they are. Fox calls Dana to tell her the horrible news. She's worried he is being set up for his own father’s murder and tells him someone may also be trying to kill him. Still feverish and pretty out of it, Mulder goes to Scully’s apartment.
April 14: When Fox wakes up, he realizes Dana took his gun for ballistics analysis. More paranoid than usual, Mulder thinks his partner is out to prove him guilty. Scully digs the bullet out of his wall and sees a suspicious van parked outside the apartment complex. It looks like a soft-water tank delivery vehicle, but Dana inspects the tanks in the basement. Smart gal. Fox returns home and finds Krycek. He really lets him have it. Then Scully arrives on the scene and shoots Mulder in the shoulder. It really was for his own good; it’s harder to frame him when the physical evidence isn’t there to be compromised. Fox, of course, sees it differently because Krycek gets away.
April 15: I guess Sculder took the day off to file their tax returns before midnight.
April 16: Actually, Mulder was getting some much-needed sleep. He wakes up in a room with Scully and Albert in New Mexico. Dana finally convinces her partner she’s still on his side. She also proves he was being drugged through the water in his apartment, explaining his off-the-hook behavior. This may be the best argument ever for bottled water. It also clears up why his neighbor acted out of character when she shot her husband. Hope she has a good attorney who puts Scully on the stand in her defense. Dana tells Fox that Hosteen served as a Navajo code talker during World War II. Turns out he also knew Fox was coming. Scully really wants him to find out why she and Duane Barry are mentioned in the mysterious files.
Mulder and Albert head to the reservation. He tells Fox about Anasazi – “the ancient aliens” – an Indian tribe that disappeared 600 years ago. Hosteen believes they were abducted by “visitors who come here still” -- tourists? Mulder and Eric ride to the location where the alien remains were originally found. CSM calls Fox and denies giving the order to kill Bill. Not surprisingly, Mulder is not convinced and he hangs up. But Fox doesn’t know his nemesis is actually in the area.
Mulder unearths a train refrigeration car in the quarry. He jumps inside and finds bodies stacked in there. Scully says the documents refer to testing on humans who were also known as “merchandise.” Fox thinks they’re aliens until he sees a smallpox vaccination scar on one of them. You know, it’s not too far-fetched to think an alien race also had to find a cure for smallpox. Eric hears a helicopter and shuts Mulder inside the train car. The military enter, but can’t find him. CSM orders the soldiers to burn it. He takes Eric with him as a bomb explodes inside the train car. Is Mulder alive? Did David Duchovny renew his contract? Is Mr. X wondering why the hell Fox would summon him and not be there to answer? Stay tuned for Season 3.
Sestra Professional:
It's gonna be hard to top this cliffhanger. In a series is chock full of catch phrases such as "Trust No One" and the "The Truth Is Out There," my favorite remains "Burn it!"
That Albert Hosteen sure knows a lot. There really wouldn't be a show if he was around all the time. He could say something mysterious like "the earth has a secret it needs to tell" that kind of explains something but kinda doesn't and then get his grandson to solve mysteries and maybe pick up some loot. Call it The Rock Quarry Files?
I agree that those cops got there really quickly on that domestic. The credits hadn't even finished rolling yet. I suppose the conspiracy might have had a squad car assigned to watch that building. Strangely enough, though, no one apparently did an investigation following a shot through an FBI agent's window since Scully was able to dig the slug out of the wall the next day.
God made heaven and earth but didn't bother to tell anyone about his side projects: Having Mulder go off the rails is quite a task, because his volume is already naturally tuned to about 11. So I guess that's why Skinner got decked. What can't be as easily explained is show creator/executive producer Chris Carter as one of the FBI supervisors interrogating Scully. Bill Mulder's corpse was less stiff than that performance. But don't think I wasn't entertained all the same by him delivering the standard Scully "debunking" exposition.
David Duchovny and Chris Carter worked up the story together, and they conjured up a lot of great set pieces, starting with the conversation between Cigarette Smoking Man and Bill Mulder. That gives way to the strangely startling bathroom mirror image. Now you don't see Krycek in the mirror, now you do! Just for the record, I didn't see him shoot nobody.
With Fox off the rails, Dana's got to be the voice of reason even more than usual. And they enable her to do so without being totally subservient. "I need some kind of assurance that they're not going to let us hang ourselves with this thing," she tells Fox.
On to this codebreaking thing. A woman who can't decipher many of the words in the document can pick out "goods," "merchandise" and "vaccination"? The excuse is that they're modern words, but I'm thinking that she would probably should have been able to discern more of the easier ones first.
I think Sestra Am provides the only vote I've ever heard in favor of Scully shooting Mulder instead of Krycek. (Well, except from the Ratboy legion, of course.) That was a startling twist that's explained pretty well -- how could he prove he didn't kill his father if he wasted Alex with the gun used on Bill? -- but still feels so strange when it goes down.
It wasn't an exercise in subtlety: Dana's other efforts in the investigation feel much more organic. She figures out there was LSD or amphetamines in the apartment complex's water supply. And, of course, she discovers the future star of The Rock Quarry Files. Here's another gem for that show's teaser: "In the desert, things find a way to survive. Secrets are like this too."
As someone who watched every moment of every extra on the videocassette when the episodes were originally released, I find it tough to look at the desert without thinking about how Carter & Company hand-painted every one of those Vancouver rocks red. It's like an implanted vision at this point. (Oh, and you, missed a spot! See picture above.) But once they get in that boxcar, it's a roller-coaster ride to the end credits.
Bravo to the art department for their dynamic work on aliens. The bodies really were stacked floor to ceiling. And it felt all-too-claustrophobic when Mulder was locked in the car and it was set ablaze with that tell-tale phrase. But while we once waited months for a resolution, Sibling Cinema readers will only have to hang on a mere week.
Guest star of the week: Chris Carter. No, it's not Carter. Burn! (It!) Gotta go with Peter Donat here. Bringing in a power hitter to juice this story along and give it somewhere to go. He was such a great get for the series, someone who could hold his own against William B. Davis with the understanding that his character would never be as strong-minded. Bill's obviously been in on the conspiracy, but we do nothing but sympathize for him here.
Sestra Amateur:
I wonder whether tourism for Dudley Lake, Arkansas took a beating because of this episode. Chicken sales probably dropped too. As "Our Town" begins, George Kearns and Paula Gray are on a late-night date. Paula runs into the woods. George is about to go after her, but doubles over in pain. He pops a pill then takes off after her. Paula leads him deeper into the brush. He loses her, but finds people wearing tribal masks who then kill him. It was clearly a trap, George, you idiot. She was too young and pretty for you.
Sculder get the case as a missing persons report. Scully thinks the brass are messing with them. Mulder thinks the disappearance is related to foxfire. Since I don’t know what makes foxfire different from regular fire I’m not sure why that would make it an X-File. My knowledge is limited to Mozilla Firefox, which I prefer over Internet Explorer.
The agents learn Kearns was a poultry inspector for Chaco Chicken. Fox tells Dana about Creighton Jones, a man who lost his mind in Dudley back in 1961. An old video shows Creighton rambling about fire demons. So instead of Mad Cow Disease we’re looking at Mad Chicken Disease?
Sculder meet with Sheriff Tom Arens, played by character actor Gary Grubbs. I think he’s appeared in every show made since the 1970s. Mulder notices witches’ pegs near the burn site, but the sheriff claims they are all over the town because hill people are suspicious. He also pooh-poohs the idea of foxfire. Sculder visit George’s wife, Doris, who is well aware of her husband’s cheating ways. Fox reads George’s last report, which indicates he was going to notify the Department of Agriculture about numerous violations at the chicken processing plant.
The agents and the sheriff proceed to the Chaco plant. Turns out Paula works there and she’s exhibiting the same symptoms as poor George. Supervisor Jess Harold clearly despised Kearns. He shows them positive reports that indicate the plant is in compliance. Sculder also learn George sued for Worker’s Compensation but lost his court case. While touring the plant, they come across a feed grinder that pulverizes remaining chicken parts. Paula hallucinates while she’s working, flips out and takes Jess hostage. Arens shoots her and Paula lands in the feed grinder’s remains. That batch is still edible though, right?
While treating Jess, staff physician Vance Randolph admits Paula came to him complaining of headaches. Both she and George took codeine for pain. Sculder meet with Paula’s grandfather, Walter, the head of Chaco Chicken. They learn Chaco also disliked Kearns, but he authorizes the autopsy to find out what happened to Paula.
Dana discerns that Paula suffered from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, so my original crack about Mad Chicken Disease was fairly accurate (from the human perspective; obviously Mad Cow happens to cattle). Creutzfeldt-Jakob causes dementia and seizures in its human victims. Mulder also learns young Paula is actually 47 years old.
Sculder’s car gets run off the road by a Chaco Chicken driver who crashes into a canal. It doesn’t appear to be intentional as he too is afflicted with the disease. Eww, now there’s chickens, blood and who knows what else contaminating the water. Scully thinks someone disposed of Kearns' body in the feed grinder, causing others to become infected because they … ate George. This is more disturbing than what happened with the cattle in "Red Museum" earlier this season.
The runoff in the water disturbs Fox, so he convinces the reluctant sheriff to dredge the canal for George’s body. They find his bones all right, along with the bones of at least eight other people. Some of the bones are 20 to 30 years old and all of the skeletons are missing their heads. Scully wonders why some of the bones appear polished.
Arens breaks the bad news of George’s death to Doris.
Back at the plant, Dr. Randolph and Jess Harold conspiratorially discuss the sick employees. During his research, Mulder casts a 200-mile net around Dudley and learns 87 people have disappeared over the past 50 years. He also has a theory about the polished bones and it’s not a tasteful one. Jess and Doris show up at the Chaco residence. Jeez, everyone is in on this one. Even Chaco’s maid is part of the conspiracy.
Sculder visit the Hall of Records after hours to research Paula, but someone has torched the place so the information is irretrievable. Doris calls Fox and says she’s scared Mr. Chaco will kill her. She’s not wrong; someone with an ax shows up at her house. Dana arrives too late; Doris is gone. Mulder goes to Chaco’s house and sees mementos from New Guinea circa 1944. He breaks into a cabinet – without a warrant, I might add – and finds the missing heads. He warns Scully, who gets clocked upside the head by Chaco anyway. (I guess it’s her turn this episode.)
Chaco drags Dana to the Doris BBQ and lectures his followers about making wrong decisions. Well if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle chicken. The executioner – must be the sheriff since everyone else is accounted for -- beheads Chaco and is about to relieve Scully of hers as well. Luckily, Fox arrives in the nick of time and shoots him. I’m sure Sestra Pro has something to say about the tender moment when Mulder gently removes the duct tape from Scully’s mouth. So now the sheriff and Jess Harold are dead and everyone else runs away.
The Chaco Chicken processing plant is closed. Sculder learn the New Guinea tribe with whom Chaco stayed during World War II was a cannibalistic one. Maybe that’s why they can’t find his remains, he taught his followers too well. I guess KFC for dinner is a bad idea…
Sestra Professional:
This one is so delightfully twisted, it's another example of how The X-Files could deliver a nice juicy stand-alone ep. In his second credited script, Frank Spotnitz delivers a good story build, revealing pieces of the puzzle along the way -- and not many of them that we might have guessed beforehand -- a la Bad Day at Black Rock, which he later said served as part of his inspiration for the premise.
Chaco's diatribe on chickens being more useful than most people because their meat and eggs can be eaten and pillows can be stuffed with their feathers has a familiar X-Files ring of slight pretension to it. But that's offset by a cool fun fact (if I can call it that) -- almost all the guest characters are named after known cannibals. And here's a real on-the-nose moment, the nametag of the worker feeding chickens at the end reads C. Little.
He had a bone to pick with everyone: It all hinges on the guy who was not "one of them," an outsider in the town from the get-go, and not just because he was chasing after young girls. But then the granddaughter is added to the recipe with the glorious set piece of her sinking into the feed. And so a chasm opens between Chaco and the rest of his flock. He actually wants to know what happened to Paula. That would have been one of his smarter moves if the rest of the town hadn't decided to impeach him and serve him up as smorgasbord.
Scully does a lot of the heavy lifting earlier on in the ep -- using science to figure out about the disease and how it could be affecting numerous people in the small town, when odds of that happening would be practically non-existent. She's grossed out just theorizing Kearns was fed to the chickens and the disease was passed on that way.
But Mulder is no dim bulb, because he counters that there would be an epidemic instead of a few local cases if it was all happening because of Chaco Chicken. Of course, he was much more interested in figuring out how a woman who looked so young could actually be 47.
Good people, good food: That leads Fox to the cannibalism theory, and a strange foreshadowing of the next episode. He mentions how the Anasazi partook of human flesh, and the reward for doing so was longevity. OK, maybe Spotnitz's research for the season finale uncovered that bones consumed by that tribe were found in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. But they couldn't have name-checked any other cannibal clan in this one?
After being thwarted at the records office ... the internet will do wonders for future agents, I'm sure ... Sculder splits up. Why does Dana get to go to the widow's house when Fox is the one who got her frightened phone call? Maybe like Sestra Am said, it's just her turn.
Then the great flip in which the town turns on Chaco. "How long before it's any one of us -- any one of you?" he asks the apparently hungry throng. In true Generation X fashion, the Dudley Do-Wrongs shrug their shoulders and go rogue.
Despite the fact that Mark Snow's score is really quickening the pulse, we probably should think Scully's in pretty grave danger here. But after all she's survived this year, including her abduction and a rather terrifying fetishist, it's difficult to believe that she's gonna be Seven-ed. Even though Mulder parks a considerable distance from the chow line, he still manages to get there in time. So they should probably have heeded Chaco's warning of like a minute earlier. Kearns actually got the job done after all.
Sestra Am mentioned the moment Fox removes the duct tape from Dana's mouth, but it was the touch he gives her afterward that really got to me. And I'm not even a shipper (someone who absolutely must see Mulder and Sculder personally involved)! Since the original run, I've been a no-romo, although not particularly against them ending up together -- because seriously, who else would be right for either one of them -- but much more interested in the adventure than the romance.
Guest star of the week: I was quite impressed by John Milford, a veteran of many westerns of the '60s as old man Chaco. But in playing the role of the shoot-first sheriff who dragged his heels when it came to assisting the FBI, Gary Grubbs really dug in to his role. (Xtra props to director Rob Bowman catching Mulder and Scully's reflection in Arens' glasses.)
Sestra Amateur:
In Richmond, Virginia, Tony Shalhoub – in post-Wings and pre-Monk mode – is frantically searching for someone in a hotel. He bangs on the door, but the occupant won’t open it. A neighbor’s light starts flickering. The neighbor looks out the peephole to see who is causing the ruckus. Then, Monk’s shadow creeps under the neighbor’s door and kills him. By electrocution? Spontaneous combustion? A combination of the two? Either way, the neighbor dissolves into ash and Monk takes off.
Scully gets called to assist former student Detective Kelly Ryan, who is assigned to investigate the “abduction” of said neighbor Patrick Newirth. You’d think Cigarette Smoking Man would have kept this person safe since Newirth is an executive with Morley Tobacco. Dana focuses on the heating vent as an entry point – nice nod to Eugene Tooms from "Squeeze." Ryan shows them the scorch mark on the carpet by the front door. Scully assumes it’s burned human flesh based on the contents of the ash. Mulder figures Patrick was probably looking out through the peephole and also notes the burned-out light in the hallway. Spontaneous combustion due to rapid oxidation is Fox’s theory du jour.
Sculder visit the home of a woman who went missing prior to the latest vanishing act. Mulder notes another light-bulb issue. His fingerprint identification tool produces Dana’s geeky line, “For your next birthday, I’ll buy you a utility belt.” So in the past few weeks, Mulder has been compared to Superman and Batman. Maybe we’ll get a water episode so he can be Aquaman too. Fox thinks an Amtrak ticket is a lead.
Of course, Monk is at the train station and he’s not looking so good. He keeps looking at the ground, specifically his shadow. He leaves, but gets stopped by local police for loitering. Monk tries to make a run for it. He hides in the shadows and tells the police officers to stay away from him. His warnings are vague enough to make himself sound really guilty. I would at least mention avoiding my shadow, even if it did sound crazy. If the alternative is death, then I would appreciate a heads-up. Unfortunately, both cops fall to Monk’s murderous shadow. Hope one of the patrol cars had a working camera.
Detective Kelly updates Sculder the following morning. Mulder suggests they start viewing the train video footage. Fox sees Monk behaving suspiciously and Dana notes his jacket logo – Polarity Magnetics – is the place where the first victim worked. I believe this is what they call a clue. Sculder – without Kelly – go to the facility and identify Monk as Dr. Chester Banton, who has been missing for five weeks. Turns out, Banton suffered an accident involving a dark-matter experiment.
Dr. Christopher Davey shows Sculder Banton’s shadow burned into the wall of the accelerator room. Think of it as a “two-billion- watt X-ray.” Now Scully is on the spontaneous combustion bandwagon, but Mulder has already hopped off. Davey secretly listens to their conversation via the speaker. Sculder return to the train station and Fox realizes the lighting is diffused, aka soft light. Banton sees them and bolts. Sculder surround Banton just like the cops did, but luckily Mulder has more information than the police. He shoots out the lights so there are no shadows and they get Ryan’s man.
Banton is taken to the Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital. He describes his shadow as a black hole that splits molecules and reduces matter into pure energy. That’s verbatim, by the way, so if I got it wrong, science nerds, then blame the screenwriter. In addition to accidentally killing his colleague, Gail Anne, Banton is paranoid the government is after him because of this power. Kelly arrives and kicks out Sculder because her supervisor didn’t invite the FBI into their investigation and the detective isn’t ready to admit she asked for Dana’s professional guidance.
Of course, the police treat Banton like a normal suspect, so this will get messy. Well, not too messy because they’ll only need a Dustbuster for the cleanup. Sculder express differing opinions about what to do next. Mulder goes the Mr. X route, and he's way less helpful here than in the episode in which he saved Fox’s life. But later that night, X and his muscle show up at Yaloff to “transfer” Dr. Banton. The power goes out and emergency lighting causes Banton’s shadow to take out two of X’s lackeys. X lets Banton get away.
Mulder figures Banton will head back to his lab. Ryan gets there first ... and alone. Banton, who allegedly “doesn’t want to hurt” her, intentionally crosses his shadow with hers so the detective is reduced to a pile of ash. Banton has Davey lock him in the accelerator room, but it turns out his partner is working for the government. He reports that he has Banton secured, but X arrives and shoots Chris in the head. That’s what you get for being a traitor, Davey. The accelerator gets activated and dissolves Banton and X gets away without Sculder seeing him.
Mulder arranges another meet with X because Fox is livid his source tried to remove Banton from Yaloff. Mulder breaks up with X, who claims he did not kill the doctor (well, that one, anyway). Scully attends Ryan’s funeral. Fox learns Davey is considered a missing person and tells Dana he thinks Chris is the one burned into the accelerator room wall, not Banton. Can you get DNA from ash? Maybe not in 1995. Turns out, Mulder is right -- X has a broken and devastated Banton imprisoned and undergoing testing. Remember kids, just because you’re paranoid the government is out to get you doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Sestra Professional:
"Soft Light" has always seemed like an under-the-radar episode among The X-Files legion, but it's very intriguing, rather haunting, and of course, sports an amazing guest performance. It's also marks a fine entrance by Vince Gilligan, who you might have heard of as the mastermind behind Breaking Bad. But the XF fan cut his teeth on this show after mailing his first script to Fox.
On Gilligan's island, when Scully says something like "Let's just forget for a moment that there's no scientific theory to support it," Mulder retorts "OK." Fox will also ask Dana if she "can spare a phrophylactic" when he wants to borrow some gloves.
It'll kill you. It doesn't care who you are: James Contnter directed this ep, and although it was his lone effort for the show, he went on to other shows in the same vein -- namely Buffy the Vampire Slayer (20 episodes) and Angel (13 episodes). He does a fine job with eerie atmosphere and the all-important people-dissolving-into-shadows bits.
My favorite moment in "Soft Light" has to be X looking through the peephole of the particle accelerator, that's downright scary. The show has gone to great lengths to show that while X may have respected his predecessor, Deep Throat, he's nothing like him. He seems to only want to give Mulder assistance when it benefits him, and couldn't care less whether Fox likes that or not. Steven Williams drives those points home. Just look at that mug! Who would want to risk crossing him?
Dana's protege, Kelly Ryan, apparently admires Scully so much that she's fashioned her appearance just like her -- head to toe. Too bad she doesn't have Dana's sensibility or maybe she would have survived her first case. (By the way, actress Kate Twa, also looks a lot like the female half of the gender-switching killer from the episode "Gender Bender.") But rest assured it's still Mulder who poses the theories, and he's not wrong a lot in this one.
I'll die before I let them use me: Does Dr. Banton's passion for dark matter remind anyone of Fox's fervor for aliens and conspiracy? They definitely seem to be signs of the same coin, and an even greater warning to Mulder than the trite phraseologies emitted by X this week (instead of Skinner) -- "I have nothing to gain and everything to lose" and "You're choosing a dangerous time to go it alone." Why would Fox believe anything X says at this point?
Another strong element to this one was the Scully-Mulder clash. Dana doesn't mind assisting Kelly, because she understands what it's like to try to succeed in "the boys' club," but Fox counters that Ryan shouldn't be putting her own ambition first. Since Mulder's hunches and theories work out pretty much down the line, I suppose he's the victor here too as well. But Scully's point is valid.
Gilligan's first ep gets a little unwieldy when Banton worries about the government wanting to catch him for a "brain suck," but regains momentum when his partner turns on him. Truth be told, I was a little perpleXed by X's involvement. He told Fox he couldn't be contacted willy and nilly, and then in the next scene, X is after Banton. But then Mulder cleared it up for me, claiming his informer used the agents to lead Banton to him. Fox's theory percentages sure got a bump this week.
Guest star of the week: Shalhooooooub, of course. By turns, understandably frightened, empowered and then confined, the future star of Monk really delivers the goods. He's not in the proverbial shadows at all in "Soft Light," anchoring the episode by soft pedaling that premise that maybe Banton and Mulder aren't all that different.
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).
Back in Martha’s Vineyard, Bill Mulder starts to admit his past actions. He pulls the typical “I’ll be right back” moment to take some medication. Krycek appears (stop cheering, Sestra Pro) and shoots Bill, whose last words are “forgive me.” Of course, they are. Fox calls Dana to tell her the horrible news. She's worried he is being set up for his own father’s murder and tells him someone may also be trying to kill him. Still feverish and pretty out of it, Mulder goes to Scully’s apartment.
I think Sestra Am provides the only vote I've ever heard in favor of Scully shooting Mulder instead of Krycek. (Well, except from the Ratboy legion, of course.) That was a startling twist that's explained pretty well -- how could he prove he didn't kill his father if he wasted Alex with the gun used on Bill? -- but still feels so strange when it goes down. 
Guest star of the week: Chris Carter. No, it's not Carter. Burn! (It!) Gotta go with Peter Donat here. Bringing in a power hitter to juice this story along and give it somewhere to go. He was such a great get for the series, someone who could hold his own against William B. Davis with the understanding that his character would never be as strong-minded. Bill's obviously been in on the conspiracy, but we do nothing but sympathize for him here.
