SEASON 1

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SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

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Byers plays the tape. It shows actual news footage of DDT being sprayed everywhere. I have to interject here that my DVD captions call Byers “Bearded Man”. What the heck? Did we really not know their names at this point? I don't believe that. It's pretty hilarious, whatever the reason. So 'Bearded Man' continues that the government called DDT safe and recommended its use everywhere – even on children. It took way too long for it to be banned. That's just scary. My Grandma remembers spraying DDT on picnic tables before using them. Ugh.

'Longhaired Man' (seriously, what the heck?) adds, “Different chemicals, same stunts.” The government learned to be more careful about it. At this point, Mulder asks Frohike, aka the Only Member of TLG Lucky Enough to Have a Name Right Now, if he can borrow his night vision goggles. Leering, Frohike agrees – if he can have Scully's phone number.

Cut to nighttime, where Mulder's using the goggles. Heh. I wonder how that turned out? Scully's response would be priceless. So, yeah. The plot. Mulder's staring through the goggles. Perhaps hearing something, he moves closer to the fields he's surveying. Suddenly, a helicopter flies overhead, and Mulder and Scully run through the cornfields, endlessly shouting each other's names – oh wait, wrong moment. Sorry. What actually happens is it sprays something, and Mulder falls to the ground, coughing and rubbing his eyes.

Next we cut to a hospital (in the daytime, so... how long did Mulder wait?), where Scully has just finished taking a sample of Mulder's blood. Larry is ranting about Mulder's crazy theory: stealth helicopters and experimental pesticides that cause violent behavior. Hey, dude, that makes a heck of a lot more sense than many of his theories. And many of the actual explanations on this show. Mulder snaps, “I saw the chopper from two different locations. Look at my skin, feel my hair. The insecticide is still on me.” I volunteer to feel his hair! Ahem. Sorry, but his S2 hair is so fluffy!

ANYway, Larry continues that he's checked up on Mulder, and found he has a penchant for “spooky” evidence. Mulder exchanges a glance with Scully before telling Larry not to start with him, and not to divert blame. As he mentions, the killers all lived near heavily-sprayed areas. Larry takes umbrage with this, and says he'd never spray on his own town – he has children here and he wouldn't dump poison on them. Mulder asks why it was done in secret, then, if it's so safe. Larry simply asks what crusade Mulder's on.

At this point Sheriff Bill Nye steps in and demands that Larry answer the question. Yay, Bill! Larry steps away from them. He makes the usual “we can't live without crops and nothing else was working” speech, saying that the delay to get official approval to use the spray would have been too long, and meanwhile, “people's lives were being ruined” by the fly. Bill, indignant, points out rightfully that 23 people are dead. Larry counters that there's no proof it was the spray's fault, and in fact it was proven to him to be safe. Mulder asks who proved it. Also, he's wearing a blue shirt here and it really sets off his eyes nicely. Larry doesn't notice this, though, and just stalks out of the room.

Scully, looking rueful, says that she's sorry, but Larry seems to be right. “I'd love to tell you that I flew three-hundred miles in the middle of the night to perform tests that prove that you're about to become the next Charles Manson... but I find little physiological evidence that L.S.D.M. has toxically affected you... even after massive ingestion.” Aww, he waited because he only trusts Scully to do this kind of thing, didn't he? Aww. Also, I guess Charles Manson is a recurring theme in this episode.

Mulder shakes his head a little and protests that Scully's own autopsy showed chemical anomalies. Scully agrees but says that Mulder is proof that it wasn't because of LSDM. Even Bill is unconvinced, though, and wants to look at Scully's chart. I don't know what it has on it, since she just drew Mulder's blood not a minute ago. But whatever.

Mulder looks up at the TV in the hospital room, and seems shocked to see it tell him to “DO IT” and then, “DO IT NOW”. Even though these are accompanied by the chime in the soundtrack, it's nothing, though, because then it switches to a woman wearing a shirt that says “DO IT NOW” in the same font, advertising an aerobics program. Mulder interrupts Scully explaining the chart to Bill to ask her if she's familiar with subliminal messaging.

Scully pauses and replies, “You mean, like, 'sex' in the ice cubes of liquor store ads? That's paranoia.”

Mulder responds that no, it's a fact that some stores use subliminal messaging in their ambient music to deter shoplifting. “And the Russians have been using advanced electroencephelographic techniques to control behavior.” Whatever the heck that means. Scully wonders what this has to do with the spraying, and Mulder 'explains' by reminding them that electronic devices were destroyed at every crime scene.

Bill gives him a confused look, but seems like he might be following, and Scully awesomely says, “I'm still waiting.” Hee. Mulder basically recaps all we know about LSDM causing a fear response in cluster flies, and what if it heightened already existing phobias in humans? They know the one dude was claustrophobic, and Mr. McRoberts told them his wife had a paranoia about rape. So the insecticide made them vulnerable to messages relayed by the electronic devices, “that told them specifically what to do with their fear in order to alleviate it. The messages were relayed purposely.” Scully, humoring him, asks who relayed the messages. When Mulder sighs and doesn't answer, Bill walks out.