THE X-FILES RECAPS: 3x14 - GROTESQUE
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3x14: GROTESQUE

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Cut to – Mulder and Scully walking together down some sort of creepy corridor or laneway (it’s hard to tell – 10:13 must have saved heaps on lighting in these early seasons) and Scully asks Mulder when his love affair with B-Pat ended. I love Scully’s sense of humour. She seems to know just what to say to bring Mulder out of his black moods. Apparently, we’re back at Mostow’s warehouse. Mulder tells Scully that B-Pat never liked him, but Scully expresses disbelief (what a surprise!) and says, “Weren’t you considered the fair-haired boy at the Bureau?” That must have been some time ago. Mulder tells Scully that B-Pat never liked him because Mulder didn’t want to get his knees dirty. That’s disappointing for Scully. Mulder couldn’t quite cast himself in the role of the dutiful student. Well, I’m not surprised, and Scully is barely coming up to Mulder’s shoulder in this scene, even wearing high heels. Hee, she’s tiny! Scully goes on a bit about how men wanted to worship B-Pat and that a lot of men joined the Bureau because they wanted to be him. Mulder is still annoyed, although he’s trying manfully not to take it out on Scully, but he rips the crime scene tape off and throws it down rather vindictively. He tells Scully that B-Pat had a saying, “…if you wanted to know an artist, you had to look at his art. What he meant was: if you wanted to catch a monster you had to become one yourself.” Aaandd, with a push to the door, they’re inside Mostow’s studio. It hasn’t improved any since B-Pat was there and the walls are literally papered with pictures of gargoyles. A gargoyle here, a gargoyle there, here a gargoyle, there a gargoyle, everywhere a gargoyle. Old John Mostow had a farm, EIEIO.

A cat jumps out of nowhere and startles Scully. I’ve never actually known a cat to do that – perhaps it’s something they save for when they’re cast in horror movies and creepy TV shows? Maybe Scully has some sort of horrible premonition about Teso dos Bichos as she seems uncharacteristically unnerved by the feline hijinks. Mulder mans it up and investigates the cat’s hiding place, noting that there’s air coming through and that there must be something on the other side of the wall. He and Scully start tapping around and looking behind the pictures until they find a door. Mulder goes straight in, but Scully hangs back and asks Mulder to wait until they can get some more light. However, Mulder is as prepared as a Boy Scout (or an Indian Guide) and has a flashlight. Scully gets her gun out to back him up as he prowls through the doorway (he really does prowl, it’s not just a figure of speech). Mulder is back on the hunt. The beam from his flashlight reveals even more gargoyles, this time sculpted in clay. Scully asks the question on everyone’s mind, “Why would he keep them in a secret room?” Why indeed? Mulder touches one and the clay still appears to be wet. Holding his flashlight in his mouth (launching a thousand slash-fics) and thus unable to answer Scully’s increasingly worried questions, he digs at the clay with his fingers, revealing a real face underneath (or a good sfx fake face). Aaannnnddd – Scene.

Now we’re watching a young man doing some glass-blowing (and no, it’s not a euphemism, he really is blowing glass). Why do all these people insist on working in large, dark warehouses? It’s just asking for trouble in my opinion. He pauses for a moment as he hears a door slam, but goes back to his work when no-one appears. As the audience, we get to see a shadow creeping around, through the shelves with the finished glass, coming up behind the young artist, who just keeps on working with the molten glass. He turns and screams, dropping the stick with the red-hot glass on the floor, where it begins to burn. Fade out, and we’re at the George Washington University Hospital, in Washington DC. That Washington sure had a lot of stuff named after him. Funnily enough, most Australians would be able to tell you that he was the first President of the United States of America, but would be unable to name the first Prime Minister of Australia. Sir Edmund Barton, for those of you playing along at home. He was also one of the first three High Court judges. Thus endeth the Australian History lecture. Our glassblower is in hospital, with bandages all over his face (I recognise his hair, all right?). The doctor isn’t encouraged by his signs, so I’m guessing he’s not doing too well. B-Pat’s sidekick is there and yay! Scully turns up filling him in on the fact that they found five dismembered bodies in the secret room, all with their faces mutilated like the latest victim, our glassblowing friend in the hospital room. B-Pat’s sidekick tells Scully that the latest victim is still alive, but was subjected to the same facial mutilation as the other victims. B-Pat’s sidekick hasn’t yet spoken to B-Pat about the latest victim, but Scully theorises that she and Mulder’s finding Mostow’s secret gallery (which B-Pat’s team apparently missed) is not going to endear them any further with B-Pat. I’m thinking B-Pat will go for the ball-gag next time, along with the kneeling. Then B-Pat’s sidekick drops the bomb on Scully that he thinks that B-Pat went to Skinner and requested Mulder secretly. Scully evinces disbelief (shocking, I know!), but B-Pat’s sidekick goes on to say that he has worked with B-Pat for three years on the Mostow case and that it nearly killed B-Pat, and the first copy-cat murder had thrown B-Pat “for a loss”. Scully confides that Mulder thinks that B-Pat never thought very highly of him. B-Pat’s sidekick says, “That’s just Patterson. Late night, couple of beers in him, he starts telling me Mulder stories, how he’s some kind of crack genius.” Scully looks down and asks Sidekick about the stitches in his hand, and he tells her that Mostow bit him (I think this was meant to be like a werewolf-style red herring or something, to make us think that Sidekick is the copycat murderer).

B-Pat finally shows up and asks about whether the victim could identify his attacker, but Sidekick says that the doctor says it’s too early to even try and that they’re not even sure he’s going to make it. In a show of utter insensitivity, they’re all standing at the foot of glassblower’s bed while they’re having this conversation. Glassblower is starting to shake and moan, but the FBI agents just keep on talking. Sheesh, no wonder Scully’s a pathologist. Her bedside manner sucks like an Electrolux. Finally, a nurse who’s holding glassblower’s hand and trying to calm him down boots all three of them out. About time, too. They don’t even have the good grace to look embarrassed.

Now the camera is investigating the bookshelves of the Georgetown University Library, as Mulder voiceovers all sorts of information about gargoyles. Yawn, but keep rolling up those shirtsleeves, pretty boy. He’s leafing through books about gargoyles, with pictures of gargoyles and comparing them to Mostow’s drawings. This scene would have been improved if Mulder had been wearing his glasses. He must be writing his own profile of the copycat killer. Finally, he is put to sleep, possibly by his own monotonous voiceover. B-Pat wakes him, telling him that “They’re closing up in a few minutes,” and critiquing Mulder’s work, while Mulder looks put-upon, sulky and unshaven. B-Pat tries to get Mulder to tell him about his theory, but Mulder isn’t playing. B-Pat says he knows where Mulder is going with this, but that he’s already been there and Mulder is wasting his time. Mulder and B-Pat indulge in some badinage in which Mulder tries to push B-Pat into admitting There’s Something About Gargoyles, but B-Pat won’t go there, instead telling Mulder that Mulder has disappointed him. Mulder sits back in an attempt to look down his nose at a man leaning over him (A+ for effort) and says: “I wouldn’t want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.” Ouch. I think my son said something like that to me once when he was about 16. B-Pat tries to keep the argument going, but Mulder refuses to play his silly game and B-Pat stalks out in high dudgeon. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word dudgeon means: a wood used especially for dagger hilts. I’m guessing the term high dudgeon means that you are so angry you’ve pulled your dagger partway out so the hilt is visible or something. I’ve always wanted to know, but that was surprisingly unhelpful. But we digress. Back to the action. Mulder makes his rumpled but sexy way to the window and looks out to see a stone gargoyle looking back in at him.

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