SEASON 1

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SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

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SEASON 9

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Mulder demands to know if Duane hurt Scully, and when Duane denies it, Mulder starts choking Duane. Fox is seriously getting unhinged, here, poor guy. And he's really choking the hell out of Duane, with his thumb and fingers right around the larynx. Ouch. It looks like he's trying to rip his throat out. DD really puts effort into this scene, too, because he's all hell-bent and really grimacing like a wild man. Duane is [coughing] and [gagging] and Mulder throws him back down into the chair. Mulder begins pacing, trying to calm himself down. He brings his hands to his face, and then grabs his jacket to exit the room. Duane tells him he's sorry that They had to take her, and he hopes they're not hurting her too much with the tests. Mulder leaves, and walks down the corridor, where he bumps into Krycek.

Krycek notices that Mulder seems upset, and asks what Duane said. Mulder tells Krycek that Duane gave him nothing, and oh my God, could they put any more eyeliner on Nick's eyes in this scene? It's really noticeable, especially the eye that's turned toward camera. Hmm, his eyebrows are shaped nicely, too. So pretty. What was I saying? Oh, right, Mulder wants to know if Krycek has been in the hallway by himself the whole time, and Krycek says he has. Mulder tells him not to let anyone in Duane's room. Some dude offers Mulder coffee, but he declines and walks to a window, to make his imaginary MulderScenario moment of Scully's abduction more haunting: he looks at his reflection, which changes into an operating room of some sort, where Scully is laid out on a table. There are all these little hash marks being projected onto her skin, which looks really cool, but I'm sure they are so the Grays can aim their little drills easier. Eek. Then we see a drill coming down, Scully's blue, blue eyes opening and dilating from the light, and then we see this weird pump thingy expanding her abdomen.

Mulder comes out of his reverie and hears a door open behind him. He goes to investigate, and finds Krycek in the room with Duane. Duane is shaking his head, and kinda looks scared. Mulder knocks on the window and motions Krycek out of the room. The Boys start talking over one another, Mulder saying that no one is to go in there with Duane, while Krycek is saying that he heard Duane choking and mentioned that Mulder choked him. Mulder asks if Krycek asked about Scully, and Krycek says that Duane started whistling "Stairway to Heaven." I'll let you classic rock fans determine what that one means.

The Boys hear a car pull up, and walk out of the hallway, while Krycek tells a man to keep an eye on Duane. They find a surly-faced Skinner and his posse, all of whom look slightly perturbed. Skinner grits that Mulder disobeyed a direct order. Mulder's bitching out must wait, however, because the guy looking after Duane tells someone to call the paramedics. They all go running in, and two cops are hovering over Duane, saying that Duane was gagging. Mulder tries to ask Duane what happened, but Duane stops breathing. Skinner, Krycek, and Mulder all watch as the paramedics try to revive Duane with CPR.

The next morning at 6:07 a.m. (for those following along at home, that would be August 10) we open to the FBI Academy Morgue in Quantico. We see Duane's toe-tag, on which the date of death has been mysteriously smudged out. His case number is 197735, though. Mulder is standing there, his arms folded, staring at the body. It's also completely dark in the room, until the pathologist walks in and turns the light on. She's all, Excuse me, and Mulder's all, I'm Fox Mulder, Super FBI Agent, I'd like a copy of the autopsy report, what are your findings? The pathologist is like, Damn, I haven't even had my coffee yet, bitch! She tells him there are second-degree burns on his face, contusions on the neck, bruised larynx, and tells Mulder that if she were to list cause of death, it would be asphyxiation. Mulder kind of lowers his head, and asks if she ran a tox screen yet. She says that it should be ready later that morning, but when Mulder requests a copy, she tells him he'll have to go through regular military channels. Mulder's like, whuh? and she says that Quantico is under military jurisdiction since there wasn't an FBI pathologist available. And Mulder just gets the puppy dog look again, because he knows there *would* have been an FBI pathologist available if Scully wasn't floating around the stars somewhere right at that moment.

Downtown Washington, D.C., 6:16 a.m. and our boy Alex Krycek is walking to his car in a parking garage. Hooray, he actually changed his tie! The white shirt and dark blue suit are the same, however. Krycek's looking all shifty as he walks to the car. There's good reason too, because when he sits down we see the CSM is the passenger seat. This scene in particular is where we learn that Alex isn't as high up the Syndicate ladder as he thinks he is. Krycek is visibly nervous, and he clears his throat before he speaks to the CSM. The CSM puts out his cigarette in the car's ashtray, and Krycek says that Skinner is expecting his report about the Duane Barry incident, and wants to know what he should say. The CSM tells him to tell the truth, and when Krycek is confused, the CSM says that Krycek has earned Mulder's trust. Now Krycek has to keep it. Alex is like, how much longer do I have to play the lackey here and keeping sucking up (heh heh) to Mulder? The CSM says to keep playing along until the assignment is completed. Ooh, then Krycek gets uppity and wonders why they just don't kill Mulder, and the CSM says it's not policy. But Krycek doesn't believe him, after what the CSM had him do. Does he mean the tram, or bonking Bob in the head, or perhaps slipping Duane something that killed him, making it look like Mulder was the one who strangled him? It's not clear exactly to what he's referring. Dammit, writers, we need to know this stuff! Anyway, the CSM offers up that classic quote, "Kill Mulder and you risk turning one man's religion into a crusade."