Two men are exsanguinated (their blood mostly drained) in identical deaths where the only witnesses are their daughters, both eerily similar. The girls are then both abducted. Initially Mulder believes alien abduction is involved, but it gradually turns out that both daughters were conceived with IVF. The doctor involved, Dr. Kendrick is one of a number of cloned ‘super soldiers’ created in the government sponsored Lichfield Experiment. She is trying to continue the cloning process. It turns out that one of the original clones is responsible for the abduction. The two girls manage to escape their captor by poisoning her. As Mulder and Scully take them back home, they try the same trick on them and attempt to escape. Mulder realises just in time and manages to recapture the girls who are then held in a ‘safe’ place. We see at the end, that the doctor attending them is Dr. Kendrick.
This was, I think, the first episode of The X-files that I ever saw, and as such, is one of my favourites so far. The story twists and turns nicely and the two girls are suitably spooky. It is interesting to see that the two girls rather strongly resemble images of Mulder's sister we see later in the series.
Episode 12 – Fire
Members of British aristocracy are being burnt alive, with no clear cause of the fires. Mulder is approached by an old flame, Phoebe Green, from his days in Oxford who wants his assistance in solving the case. They are assigned to help protect Sir Malcolm Marsden and his family as they arrive in the US. The psychotic killer, who can somehow create and control fire, has followed them and taken the place of the caretaker for their home. As he gets closer to the family, Mulder becomes drawn back into his old relationship. Mulder must overcome his fear of fire in order to rescue the family and Scully from the killer.
This episode has moments of brilliance – the special effects are impressive, and Mark Sheppard plays the psycho killer very well. It is also interesting to see how Scully’s jealousy of Mulder’s relationship with Phoebe develops. However, the ridiculously plumy ‘British’ characters, and the Mulder’s rather unnecessary phobia overcoming actions do stop this from being a classic episode.
Episode 13 – Beyond the Sea
Scully sees a vision of her father, only to receive a phone call immediately afterwards from her mother to say that he has passed away. Two teenagers are abducted by a serial killer and the only lead is Luther Lee Boggs, a killer who is days away from the gas chamber and who claims a psychic connection with the victims. He draws in Scully by claiming to have a message from her recently deceased father. Mulder has previous dealings with Boggs however, and is doubtful. Acting on initial information leads Mulder into a trap where he is shot. Scully persists though, but fails to get Boggs the clemency he wants. He does eventually hand over the information to her, and she is lead to the killer, who dies in a fall as he escapes. Scully avoids the danger after a warning from Boggs. Boggs offers Scully her father’s message if she will be a witness to his death, but she chooses to attend to Mulder instead.
This is clearly the standout episode of the series so far. It is no surprise to see Brad Dourif play an unhinged character such as Boggs, but he does it very well. It is interesting to see something of a role reversal with Mulder playing the sceptic and Scully the one who is more inclined to believe Boggs. However, this episode belongs to Gillian Anderson, who puts in an astonishing performance. Although she has done well in the series so far, there has not been anything to suggest she is as good as this The Silence of the Lambs style confrontation with Boggs is easily awards worthy.
Episode 14 – Gender Bender
A man picks up a woman in a club and takes her home. After they have had sex, he suddenly begins foaming at the mouth and dies. The ‘woman’ he picked up appears to morph into a man and leaves. Mulder links the case with previous ones where the victims have alternated between being male and female. The deaths have been caused by extremely strong concentrations of pheromones. Mulder finds that the deaths have originated in Massachusetts, near where an Amish style religious sect resides. The agents do not get many answers from the sect but Scully encounters a man who has a mysterious hold on her. Meanwhile, Mulder observes an odd embalming type ceremony. It turns out that one of the sect members has left and may be responsible for the deaths. Meanwhile, an escaped victim of the killer leads Mulder and Scully to him . he escapes, only to be caught by the sect members who take him away. When Mulder and Scully return to the community, they find it abandoned with only unusual crop circles left.
Much like the gender bending killer, this episode is rather confused. The sect is clearly implied to be an alien species, but can they all shift gender – and what exactly is the purpose of this? Some atmospheric scenes lift this a little but the viewer is ultimately left rather unsatisfied.
Episode 15 – Lazarus
Scully is helping a fellow officer, Jack Willis catch a serial bank robber, Warren Dupre and his wife Lula. As they attempt to apprehend Dupre, he shoots Willis and Scully returns fire, killing Dupre. As doctors rush to save Willis, there seems to be some sort of body swap as Dupre’s spirit invades Willis’ body. Scully’s previous relationship with Willis clouds her judgement as Mulder is convinced that he is possessed by the criminal. Scully is taken hostage by Willis and Lula, where it turns out that Lula had double crossed Dupre. As Mulder just gets to Scully in time, the diabetes Willis suffered from kills him.
Although this case ends up as an X-File, Scully's initial involvement is rather unclear. This episode suffers from some rather average performances from the actors playing Willis and Lula. It is a shame as the connections with Scully’s past could have thrown up some interesting situations. Unfortunately, this will just go down as one of those ‘interesting idea but average execution’ episodes.
Episode 16 – Young at Heart.
1989 – a prisoner witnesses a doctor treating another inmate, John Barnett, but the doctor threatens him and tells him the inmate is dead, although we clearly see the ‘corpse’ blink. Cut to the present day and Mulder’s past seems to come back to haunt him as the supposed ‘dead’ prisoner is recommitting crimes and threatening Mulder, who had previously testified against him. John Barnett had been treated by Dr. Ridley, who had developed an anti-aging procedure. Deepthroat reveals to Mulder that Barnett is in contact with the government and is trying to do a deal with them to hand over the anti-aging secrets. Barnett attempts to attack Scully but is shot by Mulder and dies on an operating table without handing over the secrets.
A pretty solid episode with yet more clues about Mulder’s past and present personality. We get to see maybe why he does not follow the rule book too closely in this episode. There are some good ideas about meddling with nature and we get to see a very brief appearance from CSM as he attempts to get the information about the anti-aging process from Barnett before he dies.
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