The X Files / Squeeze / Notes

 Brought up on the X Files subreddit was a newbie watching the show's first season all the way through, wondering if this was worth pursuing any further. There was this particular impression that monsters of the week rarely ever received full explanation much less were there answers to them. But I feel without Mulder and Scully plenty of these extraordinary creatures and species that within the X Files universe are out there would continue to be a threat to the human race. Because Mulder, in particular, is so open minded and willing to think outside the box of the FBI or other investigator, those extraordinary species like Tooms that threaten to kill and continue killing are stopped thanks to this ability to not close himself off to all kinds of possibilities...no matter how outlandish or unlikely. And because Mulder isn't so close-minded, he notices shavings by a ventilation shaft, dusting for a peculiar kind of elongated fingerprint on metal. Sure no one should fit through such a space or be able to move about in that ductwork...obvious, right? And this is why Mulder, "spooky or not", is often successful. Yes, the agents don't solve every case, necessarily provide the right field notes their superiors might find feasible, acceptable, or easy to swallow, but without them a lot of these out of the ordinary and not easy to define cases would remain unsolved and unresolved in any way. Pursuing the truth, besides alien life, alien technology, and how the military and government are intrinsically involved, sometimes involves other kinds of lifeforms not quite so defined by man's in-the-box tunnel vision.

Early in the show, Scully is still "untainted" by her involvement with Mulder and the X Files. A friend and fellow FBI agent, on the Violent Crimes Section, named Colton (played by a boyish Donal Logue) wants her to help him try and find a serial killer. Mulder ties this killer to murders way back in the 30s and 60s, seemingly killing, eating livers, and "going dormant". It's the peculiar fingerprints. Again, outside-the-box thinking. Why would an agent like Colton think to look back in the past, so far in the past, to find a killer in the present? Mulder would because his cases were buried away by the FBI, deemed "cold" and frustratingly left without conclusion. When Scully gives her evaluation to Colton's superiors, they joke about her partner, hoping she might join them for a case "more down to earth".

Look, Dana, whose side are you on? - Colton

The victim's. - Scully

66 Exeter Street, Tooms' old digs, with all the trophies taken from past victims, the genetic mutant monster needing his fresh livers to hibernate for another 30 years, eyeing Scully: yes, this is a formula at work. Scully established as a potential victim of the monster of the episode, with Mulder needing to come to the rescue. And once again, they are up against the FBI; in this episode's case, Colton. I LOVE when Scully tells Colton she can't wait to see him fall right on his ass as he tries to ascend the ladder of success within the FBI.

One part of this episode I especially appreciate is a retired cop, having waited 25 years for someone like Mulder to come along, willing to look into a suspect no one else would. The FBI snarling their noses at Mulder, a joke to share about, unable to see the serial killer Mulder and Scully eventually catch. Scully defending Mulder and supporting him here is just an example of what was to come.