SEASON 1

SEASON 2

SEASON 3

SEASON 4

SEASON 5

FIGHT THE FUTURE

SEASON 6

SEASON 7

SEASON 8

SEASON 9

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After threatening to light it for a few seconds, Weaver closes the lighter and ushers Voss out the door. Voss protests, very nervously, that Morley will kill him if he threatens them. But Weaver seems unconcerned, and tells Voss it's not his problem. Defeated, Voss leaves. We see Brimley watch him go, then look meaningfully at Mr. Weaver's door.

Wonder of wonders, Scully is doing another autopsy! This time it's on Mr. Weaver's unfortunate neighbor. Skinner walks in and asks what he's looking at, and the answer is AUGH! No, sorry, that's just my response when I see organ tissue covered in larvae. I know they're just mealworms in real life, totally harmless, but eeewwwww. Scully explains that it's the neighbor's left lung and bronchus. Skinner notes that this is a good explanation for where the beetles came from.

Mulder comes in, and tells them that he's been trying to look at Morley's files. He doesn't seem interested in looking at the nasty bug-infested lung, but walks over to a chair and sits down to listen while Scully explains that it's the larval stage of the tobacco beetle, somehow nesting in the neighbor's lungs. To Skinner's question, Scully answers that for Jim, the larva must have already pupated and left the body en masse. She's distracted by Mulder's coughing as they continue to discuss the details. The coughing doesn't sound good. And indeed, when he pulls his hand away, it's covered in blood. Dramatic music as they all stare at the blood in horror.

A bunch of surgeons are doing a procedure involving a tube down unconscious Mulder's throat, in the next scene. We see that larva are being sucked out of his lungs and ending up in a collecting jar. I say again: eeeeww. Poor Mulder. Scully is one of the doctors, of course, and she looks on worriedly. Seeing Skinner outside the OR, she leaves to talk to him.

He wants to know how Mulder is. She explains that they're using a deep-suction technique meant for asthmatics and cystic fibrosis patients, and they're having some luck clearing his lungs. Skinner senses that she's still troubled, though, and he's right. Though they're able to remove some larva, they don't know how many eggs may still be in the lung tissue, ready to hatch. Say it with me: Eeeewww. All they can do is buy time.

Skinner asks how the eggs got into his lung tissue. Scully duhs that he must have inhaled them. Blah blah blah, the upshot is she thinks the genetically altered bug eggs got into some cigarettes, and were carried into Mulder's lungs as smoke. Of course, since neither Mulder nor Jim smoke, they must have been around someone who does. Dun dun DUN!

We go to the Morley plant, where Skinner is marching purposefully into an area the location title tells us is the research division. He is flanked by other agents in their snazzy FBI coats. They confront Lawyer Phil, who is on the phone, and Skinner tells him not to bother calling security, because they got the search warrant. As Phil reads it, Skinner tells the other agents to get to work. Voss is there, and Skinner demands to know what is going on because one of his agents is dying of the same thing that killed Jim. Aww, I love when Skinner gets protective of our favorite duo.

Voss looks down dejectedly as Lawyer Phil repeats his lawyer spiel about that information being the property of Morley Tobacco. Skinner gets in his face and says that “this is about saving lives.” What a tired line. It works, but it's used on every show involving any kind of law enforcement, or heck, every medical show. Voss speaks up, “That's exactly what we were trying to do.” Though Lawyer Phil advises him not to, Voss wants to spill the story. Disgusted, Lawyer Phil leaves him to it.

They were trying to genetically engineer a safer cigarette, because people are never going to not smoke. Right, like a tobacco company employee really wants people to stop smoking. Anyway, the bug-altering was an accident, and all their tests showed no problems – even with human subjects. But after a few months, three out of four test subjects died. Probably with beetles spewing out of them, I'm guessing. Skinner surmises correctly that this was what Jim was going to testify about. He was the one monitoring the subjects, and that, as Voss says with a tear in his eye, is how he “got infected.” Skinner asks after the subject who didn't die, and of course the next scene is...

Skinner breaking down Weaver's door, gun drawn. Aww, yeah! I love Skinner. Weaver's not there, but Brimley is, tied to a chair and gagged. Skinner calls that the room is clear, and Voss comes in, explaining that Brimley said he meant to get Weaver. Skinner removes the gag (bad idea!!!!) and says it looks like Weaver got to him first. He's right, because all Brimley can manage is a wheeze before there is a NASTY squishing sound and beetles pour out of his mouth. Eeeeewwww!! Why I am recapping this, again?

Darn it, I forgot there was another scene before the hospital again. Sigh. Anyway, Darryl Weaver pulls into a gas station. His car has a Morley bumper sticker, I see. Oh no, it's Brimley's car, I get it. Okay. He stupidly lights up his last cigarette right next to GALLONS AND GALLONS of highly explosive fuel, but doesn't blow up, sadly. That'd make this scene more interesting. So, yeah, he goes into the mini mart and asks the kid behind the counter for “Mickey's Big Mouth”, which I assume is a kind of beer?

The Poor Doomed Kid says there's no smoking, but changes his mind when Weaver slips him a hundred dollar bill. He goes into the back to get the beer, and asks solicitously if Weaver would like anything else, like perhaps some cigarettes. But Weaver says they don't have his brand, and pays for the stuff. I wonder why he bothers to pay, since the kid is probably going to be dead or at least incapacitated & on his way there in a few minutes. At the sight of some cops examining Brimley's car, though, Weaver takes off.

Okay, back to the hospital! Scully walks into Mulder's room, where he's lying there apparently asleep. She takes his hand. He makes a sound and opens his eyes, whispering hoarsely that it must be bad. I assume he means because she looks so worried. Anyway, Scully smiles at him, still holding his hand. Aww. She asks how he feels, and he whispers, “Like a dust-buster attacked me,” coughing weakly. Poor Mulder. She tells him they're looking for someone who might be able to help him, a Morley test subject by the name of Darryl Weaver. Mulder nods in wry recognition, calling him “Mr. E Pluribus.” Hee. Scully smiles at his joke, as she always does when she's worried about him, although in this case I don't know why she'd get it since she never met Weaver.

Anyway, she explains that it seems Mr. Weaver has some sort of immunity, so if they find him, maybe they can figure it out. Mulder doesn't respond, but that's because he's busy gasping and choking and being unable to breathe. See, like I told you, that's scary. (Incidentally, there's an outtake for this scene in which GA follows up right here by shouting, “Freak! I'm freaking out!” I don't know why she does that, but it's awesome because it's GA, and now my sister and I say that to each other whenever we're, well, freaking out.) Scully yells for the doctor as she watches his stats go wild. She holds Mulder's head, trying to help him breathe, and tells the doctor he needs some O2 because his sat's down to 72. They call Code Blue.

Scully looks on in fear and anguish as she sees a beetle crawl out of his mouth under the oxygen mask. Not. Cool. But I wish the shippier parts of this scene were longer.

Later, Scully is watching the nurse attend to Mulder, a pensive and worried expression on her face. The doctor comes up, addressing her as “Dr. Scully,” which is a nice touch, and shows her Mulder's x-ray. It's riddled with larva. She says in dismay that there's more there than there were six hours ago. The doctor agrees that they're beginning to block the flow of blood, and that they need to “go back in there”, but that this time, “we have to crack the chest.”