SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

Recap by Mack the Spoon

So, this episode is actually one of my favorites from season 7, despite – or more likely partly because of – the gross-out factor. I'm happy to recap it and I hope I can do it justice. If you don't remember, the gross-out factor is the kind that I thought I was going to get from “War of the Coprophages” (although of course that episode ended up being just awesomely funny and amazing) – the bugs-all-over-people kind. Except it's even worse.

But anyway, the episode starts with a shot of smoke coming out of a chimney, which I totally didn't notice the first time I watched it. Clever. Or, you know, anvilicious – take your pick. There's a guy in protective custody. Skinner's protective custody, to be exact, in a safe house. Or more likely the guy's house, with FBI protection, but anyway. The guy's wife gives the required TV “I feel like a prisoner in my house” thing, and Skinner replies with the standard “We're just keeping you safe” response. Then the wife tries to convince the guy (whose name is Jim) not to testify, but he just says, “I have to do this.”

She leaves, looking worried and annoyed. Then Jim coughs. Really unpleasantly. Because this is The X-Files, you know this is a Bad Thing. Some other agent brings him some water immediately, which he drinks a little of. Skinner tells him that the FBI will pick him up for the hearing tomorrow at 7:30, and that right now he'll be right outside the door if Jim needs him.

Once Skinner has left the room, Jim coughs again, and it sounds really bad. I thought at this point that he must be a smoker. Hahaha, that's hilarious in retrospect, isn't it? When the coughing means he has trouble breathing, I get nervous, like I always do. Being an asthmatic myself, I don't like hearing wheezing in other people (or myself). Then Poor, Doomed Jim takes another sip, sets down the glass, and leaves. We see that the glass has blood in it – and a black beetle. Eeeeewww! Gross.

Next, it's early morning and the wife wakes up, confused as to where her husband is. There's a light coming from the attached bedroom, and her husband's shadow is visible. She asks if he's all right. No, no, he isn't. When there's no response and she can't get the door open, she calls for Skinner. He and the other agent come running in, and they have to push the wife out of the way to try to open the door.

Finally, the door opens – Doomed Jim's body had been blocking it. I say “body” because, as Skinner reveals when he turns it over, everything is bloody and his FACE IS MISSING. I mean, it seems to have been EATEN AWAY BY BUGS (oops, that last part is a spoiler!). Strangely, Jim's wife is distressed by this.

Ahh, pre-season-8 credits. I miss them.

So the next scene is, naturally, Mulder and Scully coming up to the house, with the usual other agents scurrying around. One of them escorts the wife out as they come in. Skinner is on the phone, trying to explain himself to someone. Obviously it's not going to well, and he ends the call frustratedly as Mulder and Scully approach. Man, I do not like season 7 Scully's hair, although it looks pretty decent in this scene. Mulder: “Rough night?” Skinner says it's shaping up to be an ever rougher morning, and beckons them onward, to where the body was found.

Our favorite duo wants to know the details. I'm just going to give Skinner's line directly from the transcript, 'cause I'm lazy like that: “Dr. James Scobie, age 44. R&D biochemist with Morley tobacco. If he were alive as of … (checks his watch) … 26 minutes ago he'd be giving testimony against his former employer before a federal grand jury.” No one knows exactly what he was going to say, but it could have been damaging to Morley and the guy had received death threats, which is why Skinner was supposed to be protecting him.

Scully asks if someone made good on the threats to his life. Skinner says yes, but they can't figure out how. He shows them a picture of the body. Everyone is properly disgusted. Mulder: “Can't blow a whistle with a mouth like that.” Scully suggests acid, and Mulder objects that the man would have screamed bloody murder if that had been the case. Skinner cuts the discussion short by saying he just needs answers, ASAP, because the case is really high-profile, etc. Scully agrees to do the autopsy, of course. At least it isn't her only function on the show. Yet.