"The Truth Is Out There" Re-Watch: "Firewalker" & "Red Museum"

 The X-Files

Scully's back! I know, she's technically been in every episode except for one. But she and Mulder have been so apart that it feels like she's been gone. But now she's back where she belongs, at his side, pointing out the flaws in his logic. Let's see how these episodes fare now that our dynamic duo is back in the saddle.

"Firewalker"

Mulder: "I'm going to go find Trepkos."

Scully: "What if he's already dead?"

Mulder: "Then he'll have a tough time answering my questions."

Notable Guest Star: Bradley Whitford as Dr. Daniel Trepkos

Mythology or Monster of the Week: MotW

X-File of the Week: Mulder and Scully are approached by Dr. Adam Pierce. Pierce is a scientist with the California Institute of Technology. He is working with the Firewalker project. Firewalker is a mobile robot that is taking readings in a volcano on Mount Avalon. Firewalker transmitted some disturbing images including what appeared to be the dead body of chief seismologist, Phil Erickson. He also sees what appears to be a moving shadow which should be impossible due to the high temperatures inside the volcano.

You may want to get that checked.

First up, Scully's back! It's so nice to have Dana Scully back where she belongs, back at Mulder's side and giving him alternate, more plausible theories and trying to steer him towards them. I kind of expected there to be more focus on Scully's return. It is mentioned in passing, with Mulder being overly concerned and attempting to mother Scully, but she shuts him own pretty hard and that really is the end of it. I wish they had spent a little more time on it, but it could have veered into overly dramatic territory, so maybe it is for the best?

It's kind of cool to see Bradley Whitford in "The X-Files." You may know him from his time on "The West Wing" and more recently on "The Handmaid's Tale." The role of bi polar Dr. Daniel Trepkos doesn't give him a ton of opportunities to showcase his range. 

This isn't the worst episode of show, but it definitely feels like a lot of these things we have seen before. When one of the researchers, Tanaka, starts choking and ends up with a weird vine thing shooting out of his neck, Scully does an autopsy. They find sand in his lungs and spores indicating a potential silicon based lifeform which shouldn't be possible to find in a volcano. The spores make the infected act out violently and are very contagious. Hmmm, a strange, seemingly alien parasite infecting people in a semi remote location and making the infected a little nutty? It feels a lot like the stellar first season episode "Ice," except in a warmer climate. A somewhat crazed doctor turning against his co-workers, violently murdering a co-worker in the forest. Shades of the eco terrorists in "Darkness Falls."

"The X-Files" is too early in it's run to be repeating things from previous episodes. Lots of long running shows self reference, but maybe we wait until like seasons 6 or 7.

Grade: C

"Red Museum"

Mulder: "According to the literature, Abe Lincoln was a walk-in. And Mikhail Gorbachev. And Charles Coulson, Nixon's advisor."

Scully: "Not Nixon?"

Mulder: "No. Not even they want to claim Nixon."

Mythology or Monster of the Week: Mythology

X-File of the Week: In Delta Glen, WI, teenagers are getting strange phone calls which end up with them in their underwear running down dirt roads in the country. On their backs is written "HE IS ONE." The local sheriff contacts Mulder and Scully because he believes this is all the work of a cult called the Red Museum led by vegetarian, Richard Odin, in the midst of cow country.

Agents on a farm.

This episode is a first for "The X-Files." It is a sneaky mythology episode. It starts out like your average run-of-the-mill "Monster of the Week" episode. The agents head to podunk Wisconsin to investigate this case. They meet this cult. It's kind of ridiculous and sort of funny. They are pasty people who wear these red turbans that make them look like Jambi the Genie. After witnessing a weird ceremony the agents head to lunch where Mulder spins a theory to Scully about the victims being "walk-ins." A walk-in is apparently someone who's soul have apparently been taken over by someone else. Mulder comes to this conclusion because the latest victim mentioned feeling like they had been taken over by an animal spirit. The teenagers in Delta Glen are literally the worst, like worse than normal teenagers. They are going after the cult members using some vaguely anti-Muslim rhetoric which is very off putting and super tone deaf. They are calling a white guy in a turban Aladdin. It's a little ridiculous. 

The episode takes a turn when a farmer comes to the agents and has them watch two men injecting a growth hormone that he believes is causing the trouble, including the overly aggressive teenagers. Things get crazier from here as local doctor, Dr. Jerold Larson is killed in a plane crash that is clearly pretty fishy. Then, one of the men injecting the cows is killed by the Crew Cut Man who also kills the sheriff's son. The appearance of the Crew Cut Man is what turns this episode into a mythology episode. It turns out what Larson had been injecting the kids with was Purity Control, the alien substance that was in the Erlenmeyer Flask. These kids were being injected with alien DNA and the Crew Cut Man has been sent to silence the people involved.

I have seen this episode a number of times, but it always catches me off guard that this is a mythology episode. That is a real credit to Chris Carter, and I rarely give that guy a lot of credit. It's nice that the show has revisited the finale of season one. We get closure and vengeance for Deep Throat's death when the sheriff freaks out and kills the Crew Cut Man for killing his son. They probably should not have brought that guy along, but here we are. And, it kills the one lead they have for what was going on with Purity Control. Though, it is nice to see Mulder being the level headed one in this situation. While, I enjoy the red herring of the Red Museum, I kind of wanted to know a little more about them. They were so strange and we spend a lot of time on them for it to be kind of a throwaway. Scully does deduce that they were being used as a control group since they didn't eat meat, which is also kind of funny.This episode was originally going to be a crossover with the show "Picket Fences" on CBS. I loved that show as a kid. It was way too adult for me, but I mean, I was watching "The X-Files," too. They couldn't work out the scheduling, but I still wonder what could have been.

Grade: B+

Next up, an invisible assailant rapes and beats a nurse at a nursing home and a 1940s unsolved homocide comes back to haunt the agents.

What do you all think of these episodes? Is "Firewalker" a little too much deja vu for you? Do you want more of these stealth mythology episodes? Let me know in the comments.