The X Files - F. Emasculata

F. Emasculata has remained a divisive episode among critics and fans of the show. I think it is damn good, although others might scrutinize the content, questioning its credibility. I liked its continuous emphasis on the truth, the public’s right to know, and a treatise on the actions of Big Pharma when it comes to its testing practices. Of course, the “exploding pustules” that frequent the episode for gross-out effect could be considered too much for some viewers. The whole contagion plot and outbreak potential is handled, I thought, with an excellent sense of urgency and terror…that an exploding pustule is the passage of the parasite gave those in charge of the episode the ability to go for potency in the need to stop the spread or else. Mulder and Scully get assigned “off of Skinner’s desk” (with no explanation as to why they were sent) to “fetch two escaped prisoners” which soon includes studying the spread of a virus that moves off of larvae burst from infected pustules on human flesh. Scully is told that the CDC is involved in a quarantine and study by Dr. Osborne (the great Charles Martin Smith, a good welcome to the X Files for him although he ultimately isn’t treated well by episode’s end!) until he is accidentally infected when she goes to inspect a body bagged and ready for the incinerator.

Throughout Mulder is on the road trying to thwart the efforts of Pinck Pharmaceuticals to cover up their intentional outbreak of the virus onto a prison population in lockdown instead of “waste” years in a testing cycle with the FDA. He’s also tagging along with the US Marshalls as they attempt to find the two escaped prisoners, both infected and carriers. The episode has the wife and child of the convict and a bus load of travelers waiting to leave, all of whom could be ready victims for the virus. Mulder addresses the pharmaceutical company’s misdeeds with Skinner and Cigarette-Smoking Man, and of course be told that releasing the truth to the public would cause panic. And the conversation with Scully results in the same answer…he should keep quiet and not spread word of the F. Emasculata to a public simply not prepared for it. That the ending warning to Mulder by Skinner to “watch his back” (you know, advice “from a friend”) as the FBI agents were assigned this so they could be “discredited” further exemplifies that knowledge of the truth and the inability to prove it is an albatross that burdens Mulder to no end. He is too often a victim of circumstance…the powers defeat him for they are many.

The threat of Scully suffering a similar fate as Osborne is another suspense device employed by the screenplay as is her pursuit of the cause of the contagion. How the contagion spreads, its main culprit, is analyzed when Scully finds an insect on a corpse. Meanwhile a fellow scientist colleague of Osborne’s goes about burning bodies and covering up what is needed to protect Pinck. Pinck Pharmaceuticals sends out entomologists and the like to study plant and animal life in areas like jungles and such to find particular medicinal properties for future use, and one such unfortunate soul discovers the rupturing pustule, infecting him. And he had sent his company samples used by them to study the effects on prisoners. Eventually Scully and Mulder are plopped in the middle of all of this, with no chance to make a difference. These activities will more than likely continue and Mulder and Scully will be unable, it appears, to stop Big Pharma from doing them again. Even if the truth is out there…would Mulder be able to reveal what secrets remain concealed from the public? F. Emasculata debates that. I think the episode debates that quite effectively. 

Although a tiny fabric in the overall stitch of the gulp-in-the-throat, thought-provoking plot, I felt the use of fugitives escaped out in the public and how one of them, particularly John Pyper-Ferguson, is a menace to society beyond just the infection they carry adds extra punch to the proceedings. Like when he bludgeons and kills a family man for his van and beans a gas station attendant over the head; beyond just being infected, there was a reason Pyper-Ferguson was in prison.

Breaking Bad's Dean Norris is that "don't come on my lawn" head of US Marshals, less than subtle in his conveyance that the FBI is not needed on his task force. Of course, Mulder proves him wrong, calling attention to the wife of one of the escapees. Osborne's fate, so treated as just another body for the fire, is just tragic.