SEASON 1

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SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

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SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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FINALLY, Mulder and Scully toodle up in their car. Way to hustle, guys. They can hear Lauren screaming "No!!" from outside. Mulder sprints dorkily up the steps while Scully struggles with her seatbelt (sigh). He opens the front door, pushing away the body of the female attacker, and -- the man is hanging in midair, AS IF HOISTED BY SOME INVISIBLE HAND. Mulder stares and stares, David pulling out his very best ASTONISHED MULDER! face. Then the man falls to the floor. THEN, Scully finally calls a mechanic to saw her out of her seatbelt, tips him, makes small talk about the weather, and busts in after Mulder, gun drawn. Lord. Remember they used to do this every time? There literally was a time when Scully JUST MISSED the paranormal activity every single week. Can you believe they bullshitted a whole series on that? I...kind of admire that, actually. Anyway, there's Scully in her suit with the gun and the dead guy has fallen un-paranormally to the floor. She points her gun all over the place just to be safe. Lauren weeps in the corner.

Downtown! Lauren's on ice. She hasn't lawyered up yet. Oh, SVU. So, we're in some kind of interrogation room. Mulder looks like he's in a yogurt commercial with his knees bent and his feet flat on a chair next to him. Scully, leaning against the wall, reminds Lauren (again?) that she's not under arrest, and the sooner she talks the sooner she can leave. She asks Lauren what happened to the people in her house tonight, and if she knows who they are. Lauren is indulging in some elective mutism. Mulder drifts around to Lauren's side of the table and shows her the picture of her and Blurry, But Not Ludicrously Blurry, Howard Graves in the window. He asks her if she knows who it is, and she still doesn't answer.

At that moment, the same two mysterious suited people from the beginning of the episode enter, and tell Mulder and Scully to beat it. Outside, Woman Suit lectures them that they've compromised the investigation. Mulder says they were investigating an X-FILE, not whatever their stupid case is, thank you very much. The Suit Duo demand all their notes and stuff. Wait til they get a load of the picture of the blurry witch hat. Scully retorts that THEY are the ones withholding information and suggests that they tell her and Mulder what they know instead. This suggestion is greeted with stony silencio. Also, the film is weirdly blurry here for some reason. (OH MY GOD, IT'S THE GHOST OF HOWARD GRAVES!) Anyway, when they don't answer, Mulder tells them to go screw and he and Scully march off. Bluff called, the suits call after them and reveal that they think HTG was selling parts (parts again! This world would be a better place if humans weren't so part-crazy, I mean to tell you) to the Isfahan. Aha! Finally, the connection. They found serial numbers in the wreckage of a recent bombing of a transport van. When Mulder asks how Lauren's involved, Man Suit replies, "We don't quite know -- your actions impeded our investigation." D'oh! Mulder and Scully have the grace to look a little sheepish. They have nothing on her, so if she doesn't talk, she's going to be released, and they won't be able to make their case. "I could make her talk," says Man Suit. No offense, Man Suit, but you look like a kindly bank teller. I think it might be the Steve Harvey mustache. You are not really conveying a menacing shadowy government assassin type. I can more easily imagine you in madras shorts holding a garden hose and waving to your neighbor than I can you kicking someone's ass. Mulder leans forward and snarks, "My advice to you -- Don't get rough with her." Or you will find yourself looking down the business end of some ectoplasm, is I'm thinking the implication there. Not that the Suit Duo understand about ghosts. Squares!

Some time and the world's most awkward scene transition later, the Suit Duo exit the interrogation room, Woman Suit muttering that it was a waste of time. "Your turn," says...some other guy. Who is that? He's also wearing a suit. Remember how I was determined to keep track of these people? Is that the guy from the beginning of the episode? Eh. Maybe he had some fascinating storyline in which he falls in love with Mulder and stars in Space: Above and Beyond and it was cut from the episode because Morgan and Wong went 40 minutes over. Not that that would ever happen. Mulder and Scully trudge back into the room, Scully's pants flapping weirdly around her ankles. She really coordinated her outfit this morning -- she exactly matches the grey walls, floors, and doors of wherever this is.