SEASON 1

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SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

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Downtown Richmond, Virginia, August 7. The camera has a bird's-eye view of a courtyard, within which sits a fountain. We see the Travel Time office off to the right side of the screen. The camera pulls back to show us a SWAT member poised on the roof with a rifle. The Boys pull up to the scene in a maroon four-door sedan as a SWAT van passes by. The Boys are wearing the same exact clothing they had on in the "Sleepless" scenes, still, because Krycek is dressed the same and Mulder has on that green shirt and gray-green suit with the weird tie. I think that's a simple continuity screw-up, because at the end of "Sleepless," Krycek was reporting to the CSM in a different outfit. It doesn't necessarily mean that the two episodes coincide with each other. I think it's simple second unit shooting that was done while they were filming the other episode. Where was I? The Boys go running up to the command center (Krycek in the lead again) where we see various law officers and people milling around. Hey, it's the guy with the funny bottom lip who was also in Millennium. Where's Frank Black? And look, now it's accomplished actress CCH Pounder, who has probably appeared on just about every cop show out there. Because she's awesome. She walks up to the Boys, where she introduces herself to Mulder as Lucy Kazdin, negotiation commander. She thanks Mulder for coming, and Mulder interrupts her, hooking a thumb to introduce Krycek. See, he's trying to be magnanimous. He may not trust the guy completely, but at least he's polite. Unfortunately for Krycek, Kazdin doesn't even glance in his direction. That was rude. She and Mulder shake hands, and Kazdin completely pretends Krycek isn't even there. Aww. She wants to show Mulder what the sitch is, and as they walk away, Alex hangs back a little bit, obviously a little upset that he was ignored.

Kazdin pulls up a chalkboard that has all the information about what they know about on it. This is old-school, y'all, before the modern convenience of white boards and those stinky wipe-off markers. Kazdin gives Duane's full name, and explains he's armed with a 9mm Smith & Wesson with an extra nine-round clip (those guards are pretty well equipped, huh?) and that he's prepared to die. While Mulder stands front and center at the briefing, Krycek is sitting on the edge of a desk a little behind and to the right of Mulder.

Kazdin tells Mulder that Duane wants safe passage for himself and Doctor Del Hakkie -- the doc from the treatment facility -- to an alien abduction site, but since he can't remember where the site is he stopped at Travel Time for a little help. Y'know another travel agency that's no help? Frickin' AAA Travel. Man, when I was planning to go to Washington, D.C., all I got was attitude from the snooty office worker there. Kazdin continues, saying that Duane is lucid but he's off his meds, so he's manic and ranting about strange scars and homing devices implanted in his body. Kazdin is dismissive of the alien abduction nonsense, but knows Mulder knows something about it. But our Mr. Mulder has never been involved in hostage negotiation before! No prob', says Kazdin, Agent Rich here will talk you through it. Can you imagine if you were a crazy, gun-toting dude and had to listen to Mulder to calm you down? You'd be catatonic in no time flat.

Rich tells Mulder that Duane needs a friend, someone to understand what he's going through. He wants Mulder to appeal to his sense of reason. Have I mentioned how lovely DD looks in this scene? His hair is coiffed just so and his lips are such a lovely shade of pink I just...and...I'm doing it again. Mulder wants to know what the team knows about Barry's abduction experiences. Rich looks at Kazdin, and she wants to know if Mulder actually believes this alien abduction bullshite. Of course he does, Kaz, and Mulder wants to know if it's a problem. Well, they are there to save lives, so they're going to take a chance on Spooky and check on his progress every three hours to see how he's coming along, and they'll advise and update on the use of force.

Mulder tells Kazdin that he needs to know more about Duane, because each abduction case is different. But she doesn't have that info. Ah, Mulder wants to know why no one called the hospital for Duane's records. He's such a calming force, isn't he? Always thinking clearly despite the situation. But Kazdin ain't playin' that, telling Mulder that Duane's a psycho and to just keep his ass on the phone so he doesn't kill anyone. Kazdin is a little dismissive of the guy that was called in to help her, don't you think? She's all, if we stop to do a Freudian analysis four people are gonna get shot, dude, so just make up the UFO shit and keep him on the phone. And Mulder's like, bitch, I ain't no Freudian, because if I were I'd be even more screwed up than I am now.