X Files / Volcano Spores

 

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I have always felt "Firewalker" is one of those episodes easy to forget because it just feels very similar to a "The Thing" retread. It does the "Uh-oh, Scully's in danger again" at the end. This does serve as a "get Scully back out into the field" follow up to her near-death experience and "return from abduction" in "Duane Barry" / "Ascension" / "One Breath" (a detour of "3" is sort of sandwiched in there, providing Mulder a retreat to LA and finding himself up against vampires). Mulder looks through the notes of Whitford's genius Trepkos about finding silicon life (close to carbon, but Scully refutes this as possible, considering that as "science fiction" drummed up by a "delusional mind"), later learning that the spores were released from a type of obsidian rock and ingested after their release by the party that accompanied Trepkos to the Cascade Range in Oregon to study inside the volcano of Mount Avalon. Trepkos knew that none of his party could ever leave the area because the spores would eventually incubate and reproduce more, possibly threatening a larger population (again, "The Thing"). It was cool to see the likes of character talent such as Leland Orser and Shawnee Smith as guest stars, badly wanting to leave but paranoid of Whitford. Of course, Mulder and Scully accompany an estranged colleague who noticed one of the party dead through a camera transmission on a robot inside the volcano back in California. That guy gets his neck snapped by Whitford for his trouble while Mulder and Scully are fortunate enough not to have been around when the first spores found air out of the rock brought out of the volcano. Yeah, nothing too memorable here. Considering how good this season is, a few so-so episodes here and there aren't enough to sully the quality so far. The make up effects are icky, with bulging necks bursting, so that might be a reason to check this out.