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FIGHT THE FUTURE

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Mulder and Skinner walk through the house together, and Mulder, canny as ever, notices that there aren't any ashtrays. He's surprised that neither Jim nor his wife smoke. And there's where I got even more confused about what was going on. Mulder thinks that if it was a hit it was unusually high-profile, and Skinner suggests that it was to intimidate other possible witnesses. He says he's going to go speak to Jim's supervisor, Peter Voss. Mulder wants to come.

Then Skinner's attention is drawn by some other agent. In the meantime, Mulder notices the bloody water with the now-drowned beetle in it. Also, he's pretty. Mulder, not the beetle. Ew.

Next scene is Skinner and Mulder at the kind of alarmingly pristine Morley headquarters. Skinner walks up to the guy at the desk and asks to see Dr. Voss. Anyway, Security Guy asks if they have an appointment. Both agents pull out their badges and identify themselves as FBI. Security Guy just repeats his question. Mulder and Skinner pull out their badges again. It's cute. Skinner: “Maybe you missed this the first time around.”

Before Security Guy can perhaps ask again if they have an appointment, another man comes into view. He introduces himself as David Brimley, head of Corporate Security, and shakes their hands. He knows why they're here, and states that he's very sorry to hear of Jim's death. Okay, if I'd realized when I started that everyone was going to be calling him Scobie, except his wife, I'd have called him that, too. But Jim it is. So there. Anyway, I am skeptical, especially since this actor always plays sleazy types. Mulder is skeptical, too, and wonders if anyone had any hard feelings about him being about to testify. Brimley says nobody was happy he was going to do that, but “the timing of his death couldn't have been worse.” I don't really know what he means by that, but whatever.

Mulder and Skinner follow Brimley to a conference room, where they sit on one side of a table facing a bunch of Morley dudes, including Voss. Voss asks them to pass on his condolences to Jim's wife, and calls her by name. He seems to perhaps be honestly sad. Mulder says it would be a comfort to Joan to know how her husband died. Skinner cuts to the chase and asks what Jim was going to testify about. (I think that's the second sentence in this recap that I've ended with a preposition. I notice these things, but apparently don't change them!)

A lawyer prevents Voss from answering, saying that Voss “would be in violation of his employment confidentiality clause in answering that question.” Both agents are suitably annoyed, but Skinner asks Voss if Jim was his friend, and Voss says yes, for 14 years. Skinner presses that if that were the case, why did Voss demote him five weeks ago? Lawyer repeats the confidentiality spiel, adding that he's “sure” the agents understand that their cooperation cannot include revealing company secrets. The dude looks superficially like Dr. Phil, by the way.

Skinner, getting quite annoyed, says that he wouldn't call this cooperation of any kind. He threatens them with a warrant, which ends the conversation, according to Lawyer Phil. Before Voss leaves, though, Mulder shows him the dead beetle and asks him what it is. Voss says it's a tobacco beetle, and asks why. Upon hearing that it was at the Scobie house, he explains that they're all over - “there's probably a dozen in the grill of your car right now.” I take this moment to be extremely thankful I don't live anywhere near a tobacco company. Lawyer Phil interrupts to ask where Mulder's going with this. Mulder: “I'm sorry, I can't. Answering that question would violate FBI confidentiality due to the sensitive nature of our investigation.” Oh, SNAP. The lawyers all glare.

We cut to Voss pulling into his garage. His house is very nice. As he gets out of the garage, a creepy-looking guy comes up to him. Voss seems to know him, but is quite nervous, and asks what he's doing here. Creepy dude says he's run out of smokes, and wants Voss to honor his and Scobie's “arrangement”, since Jim isn't around. Voss, still nervous, hands him some cartons of cigarettes, but the guy isn't satisfied. This makes Voss stammer that he'll bring him more, as long as he doesn't come around here anymore.

Weird guy picks up on the nervousness and says a lot of people are acting that way around him now. He makes some vaguely threatening noises about how isn't it a shame Scobie's dead, and people might like to know how that happened, and he's actually got a good idea about that. Voss tells him to leave. The guy says he will, but he expects to see a lot of Voss in the future. Yay.

Meanwhile, Mulder and Skinner come to check up on Scully doing the autopsy. Scully says the tissue damage extends down into his throat and into his lungs. Furthermore, his “alveoli look like corned beef.” Thanks for that. Good thing it's not St. Patrick's Day anytime soon, because: eew. Skinner is grossed out by the sight, but Mulder is not fazed. Scully says there's no sign of acids or any corrosive agents. Furthermore, what killed him, strictly speaking, was the inability of oxygen to get from the lungs to the bloodstream. I'm sensing lungs and breathing will be important later in this episode.

Skinner finds this unbelievable, and insists that someone still did this to him, right? Mulder says not necessarily, that maybe no one was ever in the room with Jim, and here's the Mulder's Crazy Theory moment for the episode! We get the What Are You Talking About? from Skinner and Scully, and Mulder goes on that maybe it wasn't a homicide. He asks if Scully saw any tobacco beetles on the body, showing her his example. Scully looks over at Skinner and laughs nervously. Aww, I love it when she gets embarrassed for him. She says there weren't any bugs, though, and wonders why he asked. Mulder shrugs, and Skinner, disbelievingly, asks if he's supposed to tell the Director that they're investigating killer bugs. It's weird to come back to this after season 8 and 9, because that line now seems like it should come from Kersh. ::shudder:: Anyway, Mulder does his usual well-what-else-would-you-suggest, Skinner looks annoyed, and Scully sighs.