The X Files - Ice

 I know this is going to be an episode I will inevitably cover again. I imagine I will indeed watch it after another viewing of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982), since "Ice" is just so inexorably linked to it through certain obvious similarities. Such as scientists in an Arctic post discovering a creature in the ice, after quite a large drilling procedure, not anticipating the little worm-like organism (caused by a meteor that crashlanded on the planet centuries ago) invading a human host, causing violence and death among the crew. Checking for that even occurs once Mulder and Scully, as FBI agents assigned to the mission, along with other scientists (including character actor, Xander Berkeley and actress Felicity Huffman) and a pilot, fly off to this isolated post, eventually falling prey to the very same conditions, paranoia, mistrust, and fear that caused the entire prior crew on the project to kill themselves.

When you see Scully pulling a gun on Mulder with Dr. Hodge (Berkeley) ready to beam him in the skull with a crowbar (as Dr. Nancy Da Silva (Huffman) looks on, agreeing with them that Mulder must be separated from them for their own safety, after discovering him with the murdered body of geologist, Dr. Denny Murphy (Steve Hytner), found in a freezer with his neck slit. We know Mulder didn't do it, since the camera follows him out of his bed to the lab where Murphy's body was found. But it is a big moment in the episode and for the series at the time...that Mulder and Scully had guns pointed at each other (not too long after they were fighting about whether to kill all specimens or save one for study) is not what anyone would expect watching the show at the time.

The show does have Mulder "put away" in a locked room while Scully, Hodge, and Da Silva working to figure out how to kill the worm, eventually realizing when infected blood on infected blood under a microscope proved to Scully that any two of these species in close proximity attack and mortally wound each other. Worms can produce by themselves and do not need each other to procreate.

But on the mind remains that truth Mulder knew: one among them is infected and killed Dr. Murphy. And when Scully tests her theory on the dog adding a second worm, as her, Hodge, and Da Silva look on, sure enough, both worms kill each other...the dog squirms but then seems to return to normal, no longer violent or aggressive. Jeff Kober in the episode early as the pilot, serves as the first human of the second mission in to be infected by the dog when it bites him. When Hodge attempts to cut open and pull out the worm, Kober's pilot Bear dies immediately. The worm must be killed inside the host in order for the one infected to survive...and once the two worms kill each other, they can be passed through urination. 

The episode does deal with the idea that the species could be carried off the base and into the public, so Scully wants to make sure all species collected are gone, dead and unable to spread host to host anywhere else. Also important is getting off the base in one piece. If you have a remaining member of the mission infected (and capable of killing in order to preserve survival as the worm causes the human host to act in defense of itself), that isn't likely. But with the base always under threat of some bad snow storm, getting out is imperative. So survival and escape are key factors in the suspense of the episode, much like "The Thing", and stopping any infected host must be the top priority. So Da Silva eventually encourages Hodge to hold Mulder down so she can put the worm in him...because it is the last one and the worm in her wants to survive! The episode really gets that point across that Mulder trusts Scully but when she pulled a gun on him, that superseded any chance of her checking him without Hodge and Da Silva being near him...because of them killed Murphy. So the episode, much like "The Thing" left us wondering as the minutes ticks away, who is infected and will that person be "treated" before anything else happens? 5/5