2×04 – SLEEPLESS
by foxestacado
Recap by Mack the Spoon
This is another of my strange little favorites. I like the over-the-top paranoia thing, and I think they did it really well in this episode. It may not be the most popular MotW of the season, but I like it even better than “Sleepless”, I think. Anyway.
The episode opens in a postal center, with envelopes being moved along rapidly by machines. A man, Ed Funsch (last names on this show are nothing if not creative), is working with a machine where he types up the zip code on each letter as it comes up on a digital readout. I don’t really know the point of the machine, but I’m not a postal worker of any kind. So, yeah, typing, envelope moves on and is replaced, typing, envelope goes away. Then it jams, and Ed, annoyed, reaches out to grab the paper. He cuts himself, and stares in what might be called horrified fascination as the blood comes out of his finger.
The manager comes up behind him, and Ed jerks around in surprise as his name is called. “You okay?” the manager asks. In a slight southern accent, and still seeming shocked, Ed says, “There’s blood.”
The manager leans and looks at it, but dismisses it as only a paper cut. Then he goes on, “Uh, listen, Ed, I need to talk to you.” Probably not a good sign, there, Ed.
In the manager’s office, the manager gets Ed a drink of water from the cooler. The reason for the niceness of this gesture is immediately evident as he goes into this speech: “Ed, uh… this is never easy. Ed, everybody down here sure likes you a lot, Funsch. And I know it’s tough ’cause you’re new to this area. Ed, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to let you go. I mean, your work is first-rate, and like I said, you’re a good guy. But you know the story. Cutbacks and seniority and… you’re low man on the pole.” That’s rough, right there.
Ed looks kind of pathetic as he asks if he could at least work part-time. The manager looks uncomfortable, and pulls an envelope out of his lapel pocket. It’s a collection that “the guys” took up – a hundred bucks for Ed. The manager puts it into Ed’s own front pocket, which I think is kind of too much touching from a guy who just fired him. He adds a fake-looking smile, and says Ed can stay on until the end of the week, patting him on the shoulder and then leaving the room. Again with the touching.
Ed drinks the water, now looking even more depressed. He goes back to work. As before, a digital readout of the zip code for each envelope comes up, and he types it in, before another one comes along. This goes on as normal until for one envelope, the readout says “KILL”. The music gives a dramatic chime at the same time. Ed stares in shock, but when he looks back, it’s a number again. Quirking an eyebrow slightly, Ed tries to just work. But once again, after a few normal zip codes, “KILL” appears on the LCD. It is once again accompanied by a dramatic chord. Mark Snow is pretty awesome.
Ed looks around, very confused. No one else is doing anything unusual, and no one seems to have noticed what’s happening to him. When his gaze returns to the readout, it now says “KILL ‘EM” (two dramatic chimes). His eyes widen – and may I point out that this guest star’s eyes are a very intense blue? I don’t think anyone’s but Doggett’s rival that shade. Anyway, then the readout changes again – this time, to “KILL ‘EM ALL” (dramatic chime).
Credits. I kinda wanted the end text to be replaced with “KILL ‘EM ALL”, but alas.
Next scene is an elevator in the civic center of the same Pennsylvania town. The readout for the floor number is the same red digital numbers as we just saw, as is the digital clock. I… don’t think I’ve ever actually seen that type of display, except on my alarm clock. But, whatever. We pan through the elevator and see that it’s really packed. Very closeup of a man in the back, Taber. He’s obviously nervous. He glances toward the clock, which suddenly reads “NO AIR”. (Hey, no dramatic chime!) Okay, I’m not even claustrophobic, and that’s not cool. When he glances back, breathing more sharply, it says “CAN’T BREATHE”. Then it changes to “KILL ‘EM ALL” (ah, there’s our friend the dramatic chime. I guess it only comes by when it’s giving instructions.) He gets very agitated.
The next chime takes us (rather chung-chung-like) to crime scene tape, in a lobby. A police officer lifts the tape so a sheriff and Mulder can come under it. The sheriff gives Mulder some details: “Thanks for coming on such short notice. I realize the F.B.I.’s Behavioral Science Unit normally profiles murder suspects that are still at large, and it must be odd being asked to profile our suspects, all of whom are dead.” Meanwhile, Mulder (thankfully wearing gloves this time) squats down and looks under the plastic covering a body. Aww, season 2 Mulder is so young.
The sheriff continues that he’s relieved the Bureau answered his request and sent him, and I am distracted as we actually see the sheriff’s face because he looks just like Bill Nye the Science Guy. So Bill Nye he is. Bill continues to blabber on about how unexplained everything about this case is. Wait, are the X-Files closed right now? I forget. I guess it probably is, huh, since it’s at the beginning of the season. Anyway, Mulder (who is very pretty, and looks about 16) still hasn’t spoken, as Bill explains that the crime scene is preserved, the businesses in the building are closed for the day, etc. Ooh! Darin Morgan helped write this episode! See, I told you there was a reason I liked it so much.
Mulder is now in the elevator, looking at the blood smears on the wall. He of course also notices that the readout is broken, and finally speaks to ask if it was damaged during the incident. The Science Guy doesn’t know, but will find out. Mulder asks to see the suspect. As they leave the crime scene, Bill remarks that things like this aren’t supposed to happen here.
Mulder: “A forty-two year old real estate agent murders four strangers with his bare hands? That’s not supposed to happen anywhere.” True.
Bill explains that he meant that this area just doesn’t have this kind of crime – “since colonial times, there’s [sic] only been three murders in this area,” but in the last sixth months seven people have killed 22. And apparently that’s higher per capita than the combined homicide rates of Detroit, D.C., and Los Angeles. Huh.
As they walk toward the body, Mulder asks, “In each incident, the suspect was killed?” Nye nods: suicide by cop in every case, in a public area. Every time, the suspect went nuts, so officers had to shoot to save lives.
Mulder asks if autopsies were done to test for substance abuse in the victims. Bill replies, in that kinda annoying tone this show gives from people from small towns, “Agent Mulder, this town is mainly made up of apple and cherry growers. These folks don’t drink much. They certainly don’t do drugs,” and I thought at first he meant that it was stupid to even suggest such a thing, but no, he was just giving a little sermon before adding that the tests were negative.
They’ve reached the body of the suspect/victim. Mulder uncovers him and notices something about the right hand. There’s a bluish-green substance on two fingertips. Meanwhile, there’s this exchange:
Bill: I played softball with this guy over Labor Day. He was one of those nice guys… couldn’t play and didn’t bitch about being stuck in right field.
Mulder: What’s wrong with right field?
Bill: Always the first one to shake hands at the end of the game. Didn’t matter whether they won or lost.
Mulder: (obviously only sort of paying attention, which makes sense because Bill’s going all preachy again) Got to have an arm to play right field.
Bill: Bought a round of beers afterwards, even though he didn’t drink. (Okay, we get it, we never would have expected it, he was a saint, blahblahblah.)
Mulder: I played right field.
Hee. Mulder then covers the hand in a bag, and asks for it to be analyzed by the bureau. Bill, looking very serious, asks what could possibly bring someone to do this.
Then we cut to another digital screen. Uh-oh. It’s an ATM, and Ed is using it. He puts in his PIN (note how I did not say either “ATM machine” or “PIN number”. Gah.) and then goes to select an account when he hears a little girl whine, “Mommy!” and the mother’s response: “You’re bleeding.” Immediately becoming agitated, he turns around and sees a little girl in overalls (poor kid) with a nosebleed, her mother kneeling in front of her holding a tissue to it.
Can I just say that this show has made me freak out whenever I get a nosebleed? Not because I, like poor Ed, am particularly afraid of blood, but the whole cancer thing. Sigh. So, yeah, Ed grimaces as the mother continues to admonish the girl not to touch it or it’ll bleed again, and he turns back to the ATM…
…which now reads “SECURITY GUARD” (and once again, no chime. I think I was right). Slow pan around Ed as he turns to see a security guard behind him. Looking lost, Ed turns back to the screen. It gives a normal ATM beep and changes to, “TAKE HIS GUN”. Ed looks back at the guard, mouth slightly open. Now there’s both a dramatic chime and the ATM beep as the screen commands “KILL ‘EM ALL”. Nice creepy sequence as Ed grimaces, closes his eyes, and starts clawing at his face and generally acting wacko, with several shots back to the screen – still reading “KILL ‘EM ALL” and chiming dramatically each time. Ed starts crying out and beating the screen, which attracts the attention of the security guard.
The guard comes over, asking what the hell’s wrong with Ed, who just runs off. The ATM screen innocently wonders whether the guard would like another transaction.
Oh, great. A voiceover. I’d hoped that by avoiding mytharc episodes, I’d avoid these. Anyway, Mulder’s talking about mass murders while we see shots of the suspects from the homicides. Two categories for perpetrators of mass murders: spree killer and the serial. Since these murders are “sudden violent outbursts in a public locale” and the suspects don’t care whether they’re identified or even if they survive, it’s a spree killing. I think we could have figured that out by the name, but whatever. At least the voiceover is done. That wasn’t too bad, actually.
Nope, wait, not done. We’re in Quantico, and Scully (yay, Scully!) is reading this – it’s Mulder’s report. She’s wearing glasses, by the way, which is cute. Aww. Mulder continues that these perpetrators are odd in that they all are statistically more likely to be the victim of this kind of crime – they were all “middle-income, responsible people. None with a history of violence.” We see pictures of all the suspects again, but these are pictures of them while alive. They all look happy and normal. Then we see pictures of them all sprawled and dead and stuff.
Mulder says that no one reported much in the way of ‘I’m-about-to-kill-lots-of-people’-type behavior beforehand, and I’m suddenly finding this less fun as I realize I’m writing this days after the shooting spree in the Omaha mall, and then the one in Colorado at the missionary dorm. Ack. Uh, wow. Okay, anyway, the only symptoms reported by friends and family of the perps were sleep disorders, headaches, and eating difficulties, although in the last case witnesses did report that the suspect “displayed a claustrophobic reaction.” At this point Mulder looks up, having heard a rumbling overhead.
Then we’re back with Scully, as we hear Mulder say he is sure there’s some outside factor, but he can’t figure out a cause. Cut back to Mulder, the residue on the finger of the last suspect is “an undefined but nontoxic organic chemical found on plants”, cut back to Scully, paranoia has been reported in mass UFO abduction cases. Scully raises an eyebrow and says to herself, “I was wondering when you’d get to that.” Hee. And aww. But even Mulder has found no evidence of that, which amazes Scully.
In fact, as we cut back to Mulder, looking at other crime scene photos, we learn that the only thing tying the cases together is the destruction of an electronic device at each scene: a pager, a fax machine, a (ridiculously huge) cellular phone, a gas pump digital display. “In all honesty, Scully, I’ve never had a more difficult time developing a profile.” Cut back to Scully, looking pensive as Mulder worries about who will be a killer, and who will be killed.
Then we’re looking at someone’s high heels, in the dark, which is usually a good sign that the woman is going to be killed – but hold that thought. A nervous-looking woman approaches a car in a mechanic’s garage. She asks, “Hello?” as if there’s no sign of anyone, although he’s there because he’s definitely whistling and doing mechanic-y things.
Apparently she needed to ask, anyway, though, because there’s no response until she asks again. The guy replies that she’s late, and she apologizes and says something came up at work. But if it’s ready, she’ll just pay and be on her way. The mechanic, whose face we still haven’t seen, walks out from behind the open hood. He wonders, “How did you manage to break that anyhow?”
Smiling tensely, Mrs. McRoberts (for that is her name) replies that it’s a long story. Hmmm. She wants to know if it’s fixed. When he says it is, she opens her purse quickly, asking what she owes. The mechanic moseys over, saying that he found some other problems while he was fixing it. And they’re serious problems, so he wants her to come back there behind the hood so he can show her.
We zoom in on Mrs. McRoberts’ suddenly terrified, half-lit face. She gasps, but recovers her composure enough to say that her husband is waiting and she has to go. The mechanic shrugs, and states that it’s okay, but she won’t be getting very far without getting it fixed. He adds, “C’mere” and turns with his back to her, starting to whistle again as she reluctantly does so.
He is bent over the hood when he sees that she’s arrived. In her defense, he does stop whistling and just stare at her for a few seconds, but maybe that’s because she looks so frightened. When he goes over to his digital screen and presses a button, making the car start, Mrs. McRoberts jumps. Unconcerned, the mechanic explains that it’s a diagnostic test of the engine, and that it’s supposed to have an output of blahblahIdon’tcare, but she’s nowhere near that.
He invites her to come over here, next to him, to look at something under the hood. I admit, I’d be leery of doing that, especially at night, wearing a dress, in a badly-light garage. Anyway, the woman gathers her courage and goes over. The mechanic lists out problems, like something to do with oil leakage and throw rods, but Mrs. McRoberts looks over at the screen. It is now empty except for the word, “LIAR”. Hey, it chimed melodramatically, too. There goes my theory. Another chime, with the mechanic chattering in the background, and the screen tells an increasingly alarmed Mrs. McRoberts, “HE’S A LIAR”. She gulps as it chimes and changes to, “HE’LL RAPE YOU”. Creeee-peeee. Then, “HE’LL KILL YOU”. She gets a steely look in her eye, breathing deeply. “KILL HIM FIRST”.
The mechanic is saying, “If you don’t believe me, take a look here,” and touches her shoulder. Big mistake. She gasps and grabs a ratchet, beating him in the head with it, yelling. He screams, too, and falls, hitting the light so it swings crazily as the rest of the scene unfolds. She tries to hit him again, but he strikes back, just in self-defense. He reaches for a hammer, and she grabs what the transcript informs me is the nozzle for an oil can. I would have had no idea, so we would have been left with ‘generic pointy metal thing’. We see him prepare to hit her while she faces him determinedly, and then he screams and there’s a flesh-squishing sound. He falls to the ground with the nozzle jammed in his stomach. It’s dripping blood, and there is blood on her shoes. We hear her walking away as the camera shows us the diagnostic screen, which says, “ANALYSIS COMPLETE: NEXT”.
Another digital light, but it’s just Mulder using an alarmingly huge camera to take pictures of the mechanic’s body. He then picks up the bagged bloody ratchet, and notices the diagnostic screen still blinking the same message. He’s looking at a clipboard, maybe the mechanic’s appointment log, when Bill Nye and another guy (hee, I’m a poet) walk over.
The other guy introduces himself as Larry Winter, county supervisor, and shakes Mulder’s gloved hand. Mulder: “Uh, pardon my rubber.” Yeah. Anyway. The county supervisor wants to know if this is more of the same. Bill points out that this doesn’t look connected, which prompts Larry to wonder if he should be relieved or worried about copycat killers.
Mulder flips through the pages, which list what repairs have been done, while Bill goes on that it’s not a copycat because it’s not a copy of the other incidents: it wasn’t in a public area, and the suspect fled, covering “his” tracks. Mulder reaches a page that lists a replacement of the digital dashboard clock. Ah ha. As Bill adds that the killer “appears not to have had a premeditated weapon”, which seems to me to be a weird way of saying that, Mulder jumps in that “they are connected.”
The McRoberts house. She opens the door to Mulder asking if she’s Mrs. McRoberts. For a second, she looks like Mimi Rogers and I start screaming, but then I recognize her and stop, relieved. So Mulder shows her his ID, introducing himself and Sheriff Bill, and asks if they can come in. Mrs. McRoberts seems reluctant because she’s late for work, but Mulder just tells her to blame him and walks in, Bill following behind.
Mulder opens the conversation by asking about her car trouble, and Mrs. McRoberts counters that it’s her husband’s department. But no, Mulder can’t speak with him because he just took the car to Pittsburgh for a meeting. Opening the fridge, she asks if they mind if she has breakfast. Mulder does not, so she puts whatever it is in the microwave.
The microwave, instead of displaying the cooking time, however, tells her, “HE KNOWS”, with another knell of dooooom. As she gasps and swallows, Mulder pulls out the garage invoice and mentions that she signed it. He asks if she picked up the car last night, although Duchovny’s inflection on the question is really weird. It is inflected, not monotone for once, but it sounds like a statement. Perhaps picking up on this, the microwave says, “KILL ‘EM BOTH”. She gasps again, quietly, and replies, “Yes,” in a low voice.
Mulder walks over to the microwave, which reads “7:35 AM”. Hey, I don’t think any of the microwaves I’ve owned said whether it was AM or PM. Sad. And I guess she never actually microwaved anything, since… it’s not running anymore, and I don’t think it ever did. Oookay.
Mulder asks if she could describe how the dashboard readout got damaged. Mrs. McRoberts looks like she’s about to cry. Mulder presses, “Mrs. McRoberts?”, looking about as concerned as DD ever does this early on in the series.
Finally, she says, voice trembling, “I did it. I broke it.” Mulder asks why, and she surreptitiously opens the knife drawer conveniently placed under her. She doesn’t answer, but grips a knife as he walks closer to her and suggests that she saw something in the readout. Oh, Mulder. So smart and yet so dumb. He gently offers to help, and then puts his hand on her shoulder. Sigh.
She shrieks and goes after him, slashing his arm and then knocking him over. On top of him, she reaches up to stab him, when Bill (who has been doing… what, this whole time?) orders her to stop. Mulder cries, “No!” but she doesn’t stop so Bill shoots.
We fade to a shot of Mrs. McRoberts’ body at the Quantico lab. Scully has done the autopsy, naturally. In her voiceover (sigh)/notes from the procedure, she states that several anomalies were found, that weren’t present in the other autopsies for this case. For example, the woman’s adrenaline levels were 200 times normal, and her adrenal gland appeared hemorrhaged – not from disease, but “rahther” from wear. GA’s pronunciation sounded very British there.
We see Scully typing up her report as her voiceover continues. There were other signs of “episodes of intense phobia”. The vitreous humor, extracted from the eyeball in a procedure I’m sure we’re all glad we didn’t have to see even though she’s dead, showed a high concentration of the same substance that was on a previous perpetrator’s finger. We flash to Mulder reading what is presumably this report, his lower arm bandaged. Scully guesses that this chemical would react with adrenaline and other hormones to create a substance similar to LSD.
Now we’re at a shopping mall in Franklin, Pennsylvania. Our friend Ed, dressed smartly, approaches a counter and asks to apply for a job. The lady apologizes but says they’re not accepting applications, and puts up a sign that says, “Back in one hour”, and leaves. Ed sighs. He walks a few steps, looking around aimlessly, and his eyes come to rest on a banner advertising a blood drive. Right in the middle of the store? Really? Huh.
Anyway, he predictably panics when asked to sign up for it, and tries not to run away. The lady behind the table for the blood drive keeps calling after him. Okay, Miss Pushy, leave him alone! Not everyone wants to donate blood, sheesh! He’s standing next to a bank of TVs when he suddenly seems to hear the dramatic chime, and all the TVs show static, then a bunch of violent scenes. I am once again grateful to the transcript for telling me what they are. I recognized Charles Manson, but there’s also apparently “a scene from the L.A. riots, the Rodney King beating, an exploding building, another riot scene, and the famous O.J. Simpson-Bronco chase.” The TVs keep scrolling through these scenes, with a burst of static between each one. Ed watches, alarmed and confused.
Then the screen goes blank and says, “BEHIND YOU”. The dramatic chime confirms this. I kinda thought it was referring to the blood drive table or something, but no – Ed slowly turns around, and there is a big ol’ gun section. There aren’t many stores around here that have such a section. I think you generally have to go to a special store. Not that I’d know for sure. But anyway, Ed raises an eyebrow, sweating nervously, and looks back at the screen. A dramatic chime signals its change to, “DO IT!” Ed gets a rather unfocused look on his face and walks slowly toward the guns. The TVs are back to playing normal things like some sort of sporting event.
We switch to Mulder going for a run down the city sidewalk. He’s wearing a sleeveless grey shirt which has a lot of sweat on the front, and his arm is still bandaged. He stops and breathes heavily, watching a truck stop in front of him. A man on top throws a shovelful of something out into someone’s yard, and then the truck drives off
Mulder goes over to investigate (putting the I in FBI). Turns out it’s a bunch of dying flies. Weird. Being Mulder, he picks one up and stares at it. The scene transitions to the Lone Gunmen (yay!) examining the fly in a magnifying glass.
Byers says their April edition had an article about the CIA’s new something-something micro-video camera. Langly adds that it’s small enough to be placed on the back of a fly. Mulder: “Imagine being one of those flies on the wall of the Oval Office.” Frohike: “Been there, done that.” He smiles and takes the fly over to another desk. They all follow. Byers explains that what Mulder found is a Eurasian cluster fly, a pest that can inflict a lot of damage to fruit crops.
Langly proposes that this one might have been “irradiated to control population”, while Byers alternatively suggests, “Or agents of competing South American agricultural corporations posing as Franklin city employees, are releasing fertile flies to destroy the crops.” Sigh. I love them and their craziness. Meanwhile, Frohike picks up the fly with tweezers, then plops it in a petri dish. He announces, “Nope. This bug’s been nuked.”
Mulder pats Byers on the back and says that it was a fine effort, though. He changes the subject and asks if they know of the chemical compound Scully described. As he points to it on a paper in a file he’s holding, Langly correctly identifies it as LSDM. He sniffs that Mulder obviously didn’t read their August edition of TLG. Mulder smiles slightly and apologizes, saying it arrived on the same day as his subscription to “Celebrity Skin”. Langly chuckles.
They move over to another part of the room, where Frohike picks up some night vision goggles for some reason. He asks Mulder where his “little partner” is, to which Mulder retorts famously, “She wouldn’t come. She’s afraid of her love for you.” Frohike comments that Scully is tasty, and Mulder says that Frohike gives perversion a bad name. The exchange is funny, but I can’t say much for DD’s line readings there. He’s usually good at doing those kind of lines, but there? Sounded bored.
Anyway, Byers finds a video about toxic pesticides, and he and Langly explain/exposit that LSDM is “an unreleased experimental synthetic botanical insecticide” that acts like a pheromone. It’s sprayed on the plant and the pest reacts in fear to it. But it hasn’t been released, as Mulder guesses, because it’s possible it could create the same response in humans. Except Byers and Langly smirk at the use of the word “possible”.
At a back booth, the Boys sit amidst what looks like smoke from 10 cigarettes as Sal puffs and tells his story. Aw, Krycek is drinking coffee! Well, it’s in a mug, I’ll assume it’s coffee. He doesn’t look like the type of guy to sip a nice Earl Gray. And it looks like he takes sugar or cream in it, because there’s a spoon on a saucer there on the table next to him. Sal says that the doctors said that the experiment would make him feel like he was living two lifetimes, and at first that was what it was like. They’d go on 24-hour patrols, night ambushes, and they’d never get tired. They didn’t need sleep, but if they felt tired they would take the serotonin. When Sal says this Krycek dutifully records it in his Handy Dandy FBI Notebook. The squad went on like that for a while until they stopped taking orders from the company commander in Saigon, and Sal confirms Krycek’s question that the entire squad went AWOL (Absent Without Leave). Sal says they didn’t take orders, they just made up missions as they went along. Pretty soon, Sal says, they didn’t care who they were killing. Outside of Phu Bai there was a school…and Krycek seems pissed off when he asks if no one ever tried to stop the squad. Krycek kind of scoffs and runs a hand through his hair, like he can’t believe what he’s hearing when Sal answers in the negative. Mulder tells Sal that they suspect Cole is the murderer, and Sal tells the Boys that he knows Cole as Preacher because he was always preaching from his bible, saying that the squad would have to pay for what they were doing. Mulder wonders why Grissom was targeted if he wasn’t even a member of the squad, but Sal says it was Grissom who made them what they were, along with another doctor, a Dr. Girardi. It’s because of those doctors that Sal hasn’t slept a night in 24 years.
Stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway (more commonly known as the L.I.E, each letter pronounced), Krycek wonders why Cole would go after Girardi. Mulder postulates that Cole sees himself as a kind of avenging angel and must punish those responsible for the atrocities. Why, Krycek wonders, is all this happening now? Because the anniversary of the Phu Bai massacre — where over 300 children were slaughtered and none brought to justice — was two days ago. Then Scully calls to tell Mulder that she thinks she found Dr. Francis Girardi, a professor of neurosurgery at Harvard, and that he’s coming in to New York via Bronx Station on the 7:30 p.m. train for Grissom’s funeral. Mulder asks Scully to have a photograph of Girardi waiting for the Boys when they get there. Mulder looks at his watch, which says 6:15, and the Boys rush up to the station at 7:33 p.m. And when I say rush, I mean they tear ass after getting the photo at the security desk. Krycek does pretty well keeping up with Mulder, who we know runs and swims to keep in tip-top deliciously delectable shape. They rush out to the platform, and Mulder hands Krycek a photo of the guy they’re looking for. Mulder tells Krycek to stay where he is, and that he’ll cover the other side of the platform. The camera pushes through on a homeless guy searching for change in the pay phones, and we see Cole standing there. Mulder’s scanning the crowd, watching faces as people pass. He catches Krycek’s eye and nods a question at him, but Krycek shakes his head no, he hasn’t seen him yet. Krycek takes a deep breath, like he’s really nervous all of a sudden, as if he’s trying not to screw up. Then Mulder catches sight of a guy who looks like the man in his photo, and closes in on him, only to see Cole walk up behind Girardi and fire two shots from his gun point blank into the doctor’s back. Then Cole lifts his gun and fires two more shots at Mulder, who drops to the ground. Krycek comes running (and although he has his hand on his holster he doesn’t draw his weapon), to find Mulder lying there, his eyes closed.
Krycek runs to Mulder and gently rolls him over, asking if he’s all right. Mulder bolts upright, asking where Girardi went, but Krycek said the doctor was never there. Krycek has his hand on Mulder’s arm, and they rise together, Krycek helping him up. Krycek tells Mulder that he was shouting and waving his weapon (and Alex is holding Mulder’s left arm at the bicep, in case you’re interested) but that Girardi never showed. Mulder says that he saw Cole and the doctor, and that they missed them, brushing Krycek’s hand away. Krycek says that Mulder is mistaken, but he isn’t convinced.
They go to the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) security station, where they start reviewing closed circuit tapes of the incident. Mulder tells the cops to focus on a specific timeframe, and then Krycek comes up and pulls Mulder aside for a talk. He wants to know what really happened to Mulder out there. He tells him that he’s covering for Mulder, and just wants to know the truth because he knows Mulder isn’t telling him something that he needs to know. Mulder says that his ideas aren’t very popular, but Krycek says, “I *told* you. I want to believe, but I need a place to start.” Can you imagine what this partnership would have been if Scully hadn’t been abducted? Chemistry! So Mulder takes a moment to think about it, and then lets loose with his theory: Cole may possess the ability to manipulate sounds and images to generate illusions that are convincing enough to kill. Of course, to be sure he can’t be overheard Mulder has to get reaaaally close to Krycek to tell him his theory. And getting the two characters in the same camera shot means they’re standing pretty damn close to each other. Just sayin’. Krycek thinks Mulder’s theory is an interesting new spin on virtual reality, but now it seems to explain things. A cop pulls Mulder away from the conversation, pointing out a car on the closed-circuit feed near Track 17 — a restricted part of the yard — that wasn’t there five minutes before. Whoo hoo, Muldy’s hot on the case!
The camera pans up from Preacher slowly arranging scalpels on his open bible. Eek, talk about symbolism. We’re in a warehouse or something near Track 17. Dr. Girardi, who’s tied up to a bunch of pipes, is telling Preacher that this in insane. Yeah, like, I think you might want to refrain from telling the crazy guy with the scalpels that the situation is insane, doc. Girardi says that Cole can’t hold him responsible, and Preacher goes all preachy on him and smacks the doctor. Girardi is trying to tell Cole that he volunteered for the experiments. Then we hear a door open and close, and ominous footsteps approaching. Girardi wants to know who it is, because he can’t see without his glasses. Okay, that right there, ladies and gents, is some lovely script work, because it’s making us feel sorry for the guy, despite his involvement in the heinous experiments. Preacher says that Girardi knows who it is as we see shadows of men in helmets approach. Preacher crosses himself, and we see the ghost of Willig in uniform brush by the doctor on his way to pick up a scalpel from the open bible, along with the rest of the squad. Preacher is all testifyin’ and stuff, quoting from the bible as the music gets all edgy. Ooh, I just noticed one of the ghost soldiers had a scalp hanging from the sight of his rifle. Cool, and really gross. One by one the squad members pick up scalpels. The doc is looking kinda nervous.
Next we see the Boys’ nondescript speeding sedan come roaring into the warehouse. They see the car that the cops pointed out from the video parked there. Whipping out his flashlight (yes, I said flashlight) Krycek gets out of the car first, and joined by Mulder they shine their lights into the parked car. Then they hear a scream, and the drums of Oh Shit Something Is Going Down start pumping as the Boys run through the warehouse, only their flashlights illuminating the scene. It’s very cool to see just the flashlight beams cutting through the darkness. They both have their guns drawn, Krycek is pointing his straight ahead and Mulder has his pointed down, alongside his thigh. Mulder spots Girardi’s glasses, and lights them up with this flashlight. See how they worked Girardi not having his glasses in to allow the Boys to find the clue? Mulder picks them up and Krycek shines his light at them, so Mulder can see that both lenses are broken. Mulder then spots a pool of blood, leading to the slumped form of Dr. Girardi. Mulder tells Krycek that the doctor’s still alive, and to put pressure on the back of his neck and to radio for help. Those scalpels didn’t do as much damage as I thought. I guess Krycek is kind of standing their gawking, although we can’t see it, because Mulder yells at him, “Now!” to get him in gear. Krycek then runs over and puts his flashlight down as Mulder goes running off in search of Cole. We hear Krycek radio that he needs immediate assistance at Track 17 at the freight warehouse. His voice sounds a little shaky.
Cut to a shot of Cole standing on the edge of what looks like the warehouse dock. The camera then spins and turns as it travels down to see what he’s looking at, and it’s a rusty piece of metal sticking out of the floor below. It’s a really nice piece of camera work. They probably had to do that with a crane shot. Mulder comes around the corner and sees Cole standing there looking over the edge of the loading dock. He puts his flashlight down and draws a bead of Cole, telling him to step away from the edge. Cole is holding his bible, not really listening to what the nice FBI agent with the gun is saying. Mulder identifies himself as a federal agent and tells Corporal Cole to step back. We never heard his rank before. Cole’s holding the back of his neck with his left hand, and his bible in the other. He turns around and tells Mulder to shoot him. And oh brother, here’s Mulder telling Cole he didn’t go up there to shoot him, and he PUTS DOWN HIS WEAPON! Oy! He tells the guy that murdered two people and almost killed a third that he just wants to talk, and afterwards Cole is free to do whatever he wants. Hmm, like kill the stupid FBI man who just put down his gun in front of a guy who can manipulate reality? Cole tells Mulder that he’s tired, and we see an ambulance drive into the warehouse lot in the background. Mulder says he knows Cole is tired, but just wants to talk. We hear sirens and cop cars approaching as Cole tells Mulder that the military cut out a piece of his brain and made him into somebody else. At this point Cole is crying, and Mulder tells him that he can testify against the military to bring the men that did that to him to justice. Cole says he can’t get back what they took away from him, but he can prevent them from taking anything more. Then Cole sees Krycek standing behind Mulder with his gun drawn. We hear him cock his weapon as Mulder urges him to put down his gun and leave.
Alex looks like he means business, however, as he slowly advances forward. His eyes are locked on Cole, and he’s gripping his weapon in the traditional two-handed way. Strangely enough, Mulder sounds like he’s saying “Krychick” when he tells him to leave a second time. Krycek takes a moment to glance quickly at Mulder, but keeps advancing toward Cole, his hands shaking slightly. All of a sudden Cole raises what looks like a standard U.S. military-issue Colt 45 handgun at Mulder. Nice touch. Mulder is still telling Krycek to put down his gun and leave. But no, Alex just keeps walking slowly forward, his face contorted in concentration and his weapon aimed at Cole. Mulder turns to look at Cole, who’s holding out his bible, and finally realizes that Krycek must see Cole holding a gun on him instead. He yells “Nooooooooo” as we see Cole’s finger almost pull the trigger, but Krycek shoots him twice in the stomach/chest/body area instead. Cole falls as the Boys both run over. Krycek is obviously in distress, sweating and panting as he searches for the gun he thought Cole had. Cole looks up at Mulder and whispers “Good. Night.” as he dies. Next we get a close up on poor Alex, who’s adamant that Cole had a gun. His eyes are actually a little teary here, his hair is all over the place, and he’s shaking. Aw, his bottom lip is even trembling when he says that Cole was going to shoot Mulder. Mulder gives an almost imperceptible nod at the young agent and tells him that he did the right thing. The camera crosses over for a shot of Cole’s bible lying there, and if you look closely, you can also see a shot of Krycek’s hand that’s obviously shaking. Just look at the watch that’s on his wrist. It’s shaking back and forth. Kudos to Nick on that scene; I never realized he imbued Krycek with that much real fear before.
Back at the Boys’ parked car, Mulder gets in and goes searching for the original copy of the top-secret file X gave him that he had stashed under the floor mat. From that other scene it looked like Mulder stuck it under his seat. Anyway, it’s gone of course, and Mulder registers this by banging the steering wheel.
We’re back at FBI headquarters in D.C., (it looks as if it’s in a storage area where files and things are kept) and we hear Scully’s voice telling Mulder that “They” broke into her office and went through her files and her computer, and now that they don’t have either copy of the file, Skinner won’t authorize an investigation. Mulder then tells Scully about X and what he said about how things have never been more dangerous for them. She seems surprised that Mulder actually met with X. Scully wants to know if Mulder trusts X, but he looks away and just gives a sigh.
Somewhere in a darkened room lit only by a window, (and I suppose we could assume it’s somewhere within the bowels of the FBI, but that’s not necessarily true) the Cigarette Smoking Man and two other bad guys go through the top-secret file (and the CSM needs reading glasses, because he puts them down on the table) and ask an unseen person if he knows where Mulder got it. We hear Alex Krycek answer that either Mulder found another source, or another source found Mulder. Then Krycek leans forward on the table and asks if he can recommend something, because he’s outlined several countermeasures. Always thinking ahead, Alex! He’s such a go-getter of the underworld. He even changed his suit…he’s now wearing a dark gray-on-gray pinstripe suit with a red, blue, and cream diagonally striped tie. The suits looks nice on him, but the tie needs some work. The CSM asks about Scully, and Krycek says that their reassignments only strengthened their determination, and that Scully’s a problem — a bigger problem than the CSM told Krycek she was. Then the CSM says that every problem has a solution, and stubs out his cigarette. Dun dun duuuuuuunnn!
This interesting development picks up in the next episode, “Duane Barry.”
Recap by RhymePhile