SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

Written and directed by Chris Carter

Original airdate: October 14, 1994

Recap by RhymePhile

Teaser

We open to a starry sky in Pulaski, Virginia, on June 3, 1985. In a cute little bungalow (which really needs the weeds chopped down from its front sidewalk) the camera pushes through a dark house (like, really dark, because I can barely make out what the hell is happening, typical of The X-Files) while the television is playing in the background. It kind of looks like the house isn't quite finished, because there are bare beams, and there's plastic covering the openings to some rooms. A dog comes trotting up to its food dish (awww, it kinda looks like David Duchovny's dog Blue), munches some kibble, and walks off. MaybeBlue then jumps up onto a bed, where a man is sleeping. We all know who it is, it's Duane Barry, played by the wonderful Steve Railsback. On the TV is an old movie, maybe Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, because we see a medieval court. All of the sudden the TV signal turns to snow, causing MaybeBlue to whimper. Then we see a strange form cross in front of the camera. It's gray and obviously alien-looking. I love when we get strange figures crossing in front of the camera without seeing what they are. It creeps me out.

Suddenly it seems as though there are a few of these gray-looking alien dudes, because they surround the room in which Duane is sleeping. MaybeBlue glances around and growls, then gets off the bed. Duane wakes up at this, lifting his head from the pillow and stating (to no one in particular, although perhaps MaybeBlue is smarter than we think) that he can't breathe. The bedroom fills with light, and we see the little gray creepy dudes pressing their hands to the plastic sheeting that surrounds the bedroom. Duane is rightly scared at this turn of events, and is whimpering as he turns his head from side to side. I had this weird dream one time where I was in that state where you are slowly waking from a deep sleep, and I saw three aliens standing at the foot of my bed, watching me. Grays, with the big black bug eyes. I couldn't move, and I blinked my eyes, which woke me up. Weird shit, huh?

Anyway, Duane's room starts filling with a blinding white light, and he mutters that eternal line, "No, no, not again!" And then we get the screaming! Screaming Duane Barry clutches his bed sheets as the creepy alien dudes surround him. MaybeBlue is pretty smart after all, because she/he has escaped to the outside of the house. And as the house fills with a blinding white light, the camera pans up to show us a circular alien craft aiming a white beam directly through the roof of the house. That cool, tinkly Mark Snow piano starts up, and we bang into the opening credits.

Back in the present day, we open to the Davis Correctional Treatment Center in Marion, Virginia, where various men in sweatpants are milling around. Y'know, guys never look good in sweatpants, because your eyes always drift to the obvious bulge. They're okay if you're just lying around the house drinking a beer or something, but don't go out to the store in them, 'kay? One dude is all twitchy and stuff, so my powers of deduction tell me that this is a treatment center for slightly whacked-out guys. We see Duane being escorted down the hallway by a guard, and he enters an office. The doctor (we know this because Duane just called him "Doc") asks how Duane is feeling and nods to the guard to leave. Whuh-oh, mistake right there! We're in a correctional facility, doc. It's probably not wise to ask the guard to leave and SHUT THE DOOR!! Jeez.