SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

< PREVIOUS

Of course, now that he’s looking so attractive, he has to go and spoil it by dropping a paranormal bombshell – he tells Scully that Mostow claims he was possessed by an evil spirit who was actually responsible for the murders. Scully, of course, is sceptical. She trots out that it’s a common thing for criminals with dissociative disorders to make these claims and disavow responsibility for their crimes. However, as usual, Mulder’s got something to back up his bullshit; the murder of a nineteen-year-old man with identical facial wounds, just last night. Since when are nineteen-year-olds men? Now I’m showing my age. Scully, of course, is no slouch when it comes to the Moose and Squirrel version of Pong, and comes straight back with “A copycat?” Mulder isn’t that easily vanquished when he catches a hint of that old paranormal bouquet, and tells Scully that the details of the facial mutilation were never released and that only members of the team tracking Mostow knew. Apparently Mostow’s been in custody for five days, so it couldn’t have been him. Ooh, and the credits now tell us that this episode was written by Howard Gordon, now of 24 fame. Perhaps this means we’ll get some super-spy action!

Now we’re at the DC Correctional Complex at Lorton, Virginia. I suspect it is actually no such place, but it looks sufficiently forbidding, although the razor wire is still nice and shiny. Creepy Sweaty Guy is in his cell, complaining about the light hurting his eyes in a vaguely Eastern-European accent. Hoorah! It’s Moose and Squirrel, all trenchcoated-up and looking yummy! How I miss them! CSG’s in a straitjacket and sitting on the floor. Scully asks him why he isn’t using his nice, soft bunk (suuurrree) and Mulder says that CSG’s been working. They’re both looming over the CSG, quite deliberately to intimidate, I suspect, but then Mulder squats down close and asks CSG what he’s drawn on the floor, which appears to be a gargoyle. CSG whispers, “It killed those men,” and Mulder asks, “Does it have a name to go with that face?” CSG comes across all metaphysical and says, “All men know its name.” What about the women? Surely we’d know too? Or are all serial killers misogynist? Wait, I think I answered my own question there.

Mulder, doing what he does best, speculates, and asks CSG if it is called Satan or the Devil, but Scully can’t resist dragging this conversation back into the realm of the realistic and says, “Maybe it’s just the name of your accomplice,” in her interrogation voice. Creepy Sweaty Guy gets upset and denies having an accomplice. Scully keeps her blank face on and says, “You killed all those young men yourself?” making it clear she thinks he’s not capable of it. This upsets him even more and he spits out “It killed them. How many times do I have to tell you?” Scully comes back with the fact that Mostow’s fingerprints were on the murder weapon and sounds just a little bored and pissed-off, (a dangerous Scully combination) also dropping the fact that he will be tried for seven murders under the death penalty. If possible, Mostow becomes even more sweaty and creepy, and tells Scully that “It laughs at fools like you.” Oh, she’s not happy about that and you can see that she’s envisaging him in the ‘lectric chair and is even fantasizing about how she’ll cackle as the switch is thrown. Then Mostow turns to Mulder saying, “Fools who would pretend evil can be brought to heel like a brindle bitch. Or be held by your pathetic gulags.” Mulder looks unimpressed by Mostow’s comments so he goes on to say, “While, with a snap of its fingers, it makes men lick the greasy floor of hell…just to see its reflection.” Nice image, that. Naturally, Scully is not going to take this lying down. She continues to interrogate him, even though he’s clearly insane, asking him about the young man who was killed last night. Mostow looks surprised at this, and Scully gives him a disbelieving look, complete with half-mast right Eyebrow, while Mostow begins to shake and cough, just like that old man in that book by Nabokov. He posits, “ It found somebody, somebody new. Just like it found me.”

Bzzzzzzztttt. The door opens and it’s our old friend Kurtwood Smith, who addresses Mulder and asks to see him and Scully outside. Scully, like the good little FBI agent she is, leaves immediately, but Mulder rather reluctantly stands and finally walks out. Duchovny plays this scene as though Mulder is a sulky adolescent who’s been caught with Dad’s car-keys and a six-pack of Heineken. He’s all hunched-over and won’t look anyone in the eye. Kurtwood starts to lay into him, “So what is it, Mulder? Little green men? Evil spirits? Hounds of hell?” Was he listening through the bars or what? Mulder doesn’t answer him, but instead turns to Scully and says, “Scully, this is Bill Patterson. He runs the Investigative Support Unit at Quantico.” Oh, so that’s who Kurtwood is. Scully tries to get this meeting back on a more professional and friendly track by saying it’s an honour to meet him. B-Pat has no interest in being professional or friendly however, and asks Scully if she also thinks Mostow is possessed by some dark spirit. He’s being a bit unfair here – so far Mulder hasn’t expressed any sort of opinion about whether Mostow is truly possessed. Scully does a beautiful double-take (B-Pat obviously hasn’t heard much about her) and denies it. B-Pat then comes back with, “Strange company you keep then.” Obviously, he doesn’t appreciate the back view of Mulder that Scully and the female audience (and certain sections of the male audience) find so appealing. B-Pat’s flunky seems quite uncomfortable with the repartee and keeps his mouth shut. Mulder really has trouble looking B-Pat in the eye, but then he sort of laughs before reaching down, finding his balls, and looking him square in the eye and telling B-Pat how mean-spirited he is, before turning to walk away. B-Pat follows him, telling Mulder that the arrest of John Mostow was the culmination of three years’ work by the ISU and that they were upset by the recent murder and by the suspect floating his possession theory. Mulder counters, saying that B-Pat now thinks Mostow has an accomplice, even though B-Pat’s own profile said that Mostow would definitely be working alone. Well, I suppose it’s not an exact science, now is it? B-Pat tries to save some face by saying that Mostow did act alone, and that last night’s murder was by a second killer, and he acted alone too. How right you are, B-Pat, how right you are. Mulder and B-Pat play their little pissing game a bit more, and it comes out that Mostow draws the gargoyles to keep the demon away. Doesn’t appear to have been terribly effective, now does it? Mulder makes an attempt at giving B-Pat a history lesson about the use of gargoyles at Notre Dame and Chartres, but B-Pat tells him to talk to the hand and shuts him down much more quickly than Scully ever manages to. Mulder loses his temper a little bit (probably because of the cut-short lecture, just as he was getting on a roll) and tells B-Pat he was asked to look into this case and to take it up with AD Skinner. Ding-ding! Two bald macho guys head to head! I’d pay to see that! Mulder stalks off in a huff, leaving Scully and B-Pat’s sidekick to exchange embarrassed glances, before Scully follows him.