I have returned from South Africa!
And I had to jump right back into work, which is still incredibly busy and overwhelming. So between that and the travel sleep debt, I am still quite tired. This might not be the longest review, though I have the tendency to say that and then go on long spiels about something, so we’ll have to see I guess.
Thankfully this was a good episode to come back to as my first post-travel review. We see our first return of a villain in Eugene Tooms, and because it is the return of a previous character, the overall case in the episode is quite straightforward. AD Skinner also makes his first appearance, along with Smoking Man being a menacing presence once again.
Plus we get some iconic moments with Mulder and Scully being ride-or-die for each other, and those scenes alone make the episode for me.
So. Let’s explore this episode, with our creepy liver-eating mutant back once again.
Mulder Testifying in Court
The episode opens with us learning that for some INSANE, unknown reason, the state of Maryland is apparently willing to entertain the idea of letting Tooms out of his psychiatric prison (or wherever exactly he is being held). The only thing I can possibly imagine is that Tooms has managed to trick all of the therapists/psychiatrists/etc who have met with him, because seriously. What the fuck. That is clearly not a normal man, regardless of whether or not you believe he has committed murders or would have murdered poor Scully in her apartment.
And the court might have agreed to keep holding Tooms…if only Mulder hadn’t gone so ridiculously far in his testimony.
My man. All you needed to do was detail the attack on Scully (which is all he was actually charged with) and mayyyyyybe bring up his connection to the most recent 1993 murders. As soon as Mulder brought up murders that were 90 years old and tried to connect them to the seemingly very young man sitting in the courtroom…he lost the judge completely.
There might have been a way to use the past murders and the fact that “this” Eugene Tooms had trophies from them to convince the judge, but implying he is a liver eating 100+ year old mutant is not it, Mulder. 🤦♀️
MULDER: I contend that perhaps through genetic mutation, Eugene Tooms is capable of contorting and elongating his body in order to gain access to victims so that he may extract the livers which provide him with sustenance for the hibernation period of 30 years. He needs one more liver to complete this cycle.
Maybe Mulder could’ve used those trophies to imply that Tooms seems to possibly come from a family of serial killers, and he is at the very least obsessed with past murders. Their best argument here was that Tooms is a violent, mentally ill man. And you could have done that Mulder!!!! But you can’t help yourself, can you?
At least he knows he fucked up. Sad Mulder on a bench.
I will also come to Mulder’s defense slightly—it wasn’t completely his fault that Tooms was set free. As he states, Scully’s testimony as a medical doctor and the actual victim of the only crime Tooms was charged with was incredibly important. She might have been able to counter how loony Mulder himself sounded…and maybe at least push for more supervision of Tooms once released, for others’ safety? (I’ll get into later how ridiculous the amount of freedom they give him is)
But unfortunately, Scully was having her first meeting with Assistant Director Walter Skinner.
Walter Skinner
It’s a little weird to see Skinner this early on, and as such a possibly suspicious character, knowing how important he becomes to the entire 11 season run of the show. I do wonder exactly how much Carter and the writers had planned for Skinner from the start. My brief Wikipedia sleuthing suggests that they at least planned for him to be a recurring character in line with Section Chief Blevins, and that they had an idea of him being slightly different compared to the other FBI chiefs we’ve met so far.
And he definitely is different. I mean, we first meet him as he is reprimanding Scully, to which my immediate response was “Hey!!!! They actually solve most of their cases, asshole!” I’m glad Scully basically immediately fired back with that, because I was ready to offer Skinner my summary of their case solve rate.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it because I know the later seasons Skinner, but it felt to me like Skinner was kind of “play acting” his anger at both Scully and Mulder in this episode, for the benefit of the ominous Smoking Man. It feels more like Section Chief Blevins actually dislikes Mulder and the “X-files” unit, whereas Skinner might not like them, but he generally does…not care. Because the unit does solve cases, and takes cases no one else will take, and sure, maybe Mulder is a bit embarrassing (case in point: that courtroom debacle), but whatever. Despite the looming presence of Smoking Man, it doesn’t seem like Skinner is really in on the larger government conspiracy, and so he really couldn’t care less what Mulder investigates or how close he gets to some elusive “truth”.
In fact, Skinner is actually the tiniest bit supportive of Mulder, in a way we haven’t seen from any other FBI higher up we’ve met so far. Like Reggie (Mulder’s former partner, RIP), Skinner praises Mulder for his investigative skills and doesn’t reprimand him for his interest in the “X-files”. I don’t think he’s actually speaking for the director or others here, but just himself:
SKINNER: “Now, most of us, including the director, feel that your talents are wasted on the X-Files. But we respect that you're deeply invested in those areas.”
Anyway. I like Skinner from this first appearance. He doesn’t have a lot of lines in the episode, and his basic role is to threaten the “X-files” unit once again, and yet…I still liked him. Something definitely felt different about his character, and I am very very glad that Skinner becomes a recurring character.
Eugene Tooms Set Free
OK, I have a lot of problems with how much freedom Tooms is apparently given after he violently attacked an FBI agent. I do still maintain that he must be tricking his psychiatrists somehow, because what the fuck guys?!
Yes, the state places Tooms in the care of a couple who apparently has cared for other mentally ill released criminals. But…that’s about all they seem to do? Tooms is given his old job back, apparently very easily. Granted, given that most of his job seems to be picking up dead animals on the streets of Baltimore, maybe no one else wanted that job…and I guess at least in that job Tooms isn’t interacting with people directly. On the other hand, however, the very nature of his job gives Tooms way more freedom to move about in a van than I feel he should be given so quickly? Like, sure, just let this mentally ill, potentially violent man drive all around Baltimore with absolutely no supervision all day. Yep. Sure. Seems fine?
And while he is required to live with that older couple, he apparently isn’t required to actually check in with them or anyone else regarding his whereabouts? Shouldn’t he at the very least have a curfew of some sort that would have stopped him from breaking into that house and later follow Mulder and frame him for a crime?
Like, I get that technically, it doesn’t appear Tooms was actually placed in jail, but wasn’t he charged with attacking an FBI agent? An actual crime? Even if the court truly believes he wasn’t “responsible” for his actions because of his mental illness…isn’t that all the more reason to give Tooms more structure upon his release from the psychiatric unit? To want to make sure his return to “civilian” life, and his experience in the unit, doesn’t induce further stress and cause him to “act out” violently again?
Really, the state of Maryland is very lucky in fact that Mulder was obsessed with following Tooms around. Unfortunately, that poor, gullible psychiatrist still got killed, but if it weren’t for Mulder Tooms would’ve truly gotten away and would have committed even more murders in 2023.
(Minor) Character Development: Eugene Tooms
I’m not going to go on too much here, especially because after my review of “Squeeze”, I learned that actually, the actor who plays Tooms is a huge creep (look up Doug Hutchinson if you want, but basically, YIKES). So I don’t want to praise his acting (…how much was he acting????)
Still, I did enjoy the slight character development we saw for Tooms here. For the most part, he was still just the very creepy liver-eating mutant, but we did see just how manipulative a man he is. It would’ve been very easy for Tooms to just kill or at least attack Mulder, especially because he still needed that last liver in order to hibernate. But no, Tooms wants revenge for Mulder putting him away and profiling him. So instead, he stages an attack so that it looks like Mulder is the violent one—he even takes one of Mulder’s shoes to hit his own face!
(Side note: I know Mulder had been awake for two days at this point apparently, but it’s still surprising that he apparently slept through Tooms creeping around his living room while he was asleep on the couch? Mulder seriously thought he’d wake up if Scully had news for him, and yet he slept through an intruder in his apartment…)
“Solving” the earlier murders
A big portion of this episode focuses on trying to connect Tooms to the earlier 1933 murders, and this is the part of the episode that relies on some…questionable “science”. I mean, I’ll grant that it was possible for that radar to find the body in the concrete, but uh, that’s about all that is believable?
Now, I’m no expert at all on forensic science, but I am very skeptical of anyone who says they can match a skull to an actual photograph of a person. What even is this? We’re supposed to believe this?
And then there’s the fact that apparently, Tooms is so strong or something that he managed to leave a perfect bite mark in human bone, such that it could be matched later to his dental records? Again, I’m not a forensic scientists, but I listen to enough true crime podcasts, and my understanding is that the consensus is that bite mark analysis is considered unreliable and essentially a pseudoscience. There’s no real evidence that individuals do leave unique “bite marks”, even if their dental patterns are distinct. And that’s when we consider evidence such as marks left on skin or food remains (like Mulder’s sandwich). It feels like even more of a stretch to imply that it would be possible for anyone, even a liver-eating mutant, to leave a perfect bite mark on human bone. Plus, I feel if the bite mark was truly that perfect, the forensic scientist wouldn’t have originally mistaken it for “rodent gnawing”.
Finally, I have to note that it feels a little silly overall that Mulder and Scully are trying so hard to connect Tooms to these older murders? They both have to know there’s no way they could actually convince a judge that this young-looking man committed a murder 60 years ago.
Now, I do enjoy how active Scully is in working to solve the case and sticking by Mulder, and that’s the only reason I don’t completely roll my eyes at the science and investigation happening here.
Mulder and Scully: Ride or Die for each other
The main part of this episode that I love is how supportive and protective Mulder and Scully both are of each other! Despite Scully clearly thinking Mulder is a little crazy, and Mulder being frustrated about that, they refuse to let each other down.
Some of this basically runs right into the “completely platonic coworkers” section below, but I’m going to reserve that for one very key moment (not just in the episode, but in the entire series) and just run through their supportive moments here.
Mulder won’t let Scully get in trouble or ruin her career for him:
I don’t really care about my record, but you’d be in trouble just for sitting in this car and I’d hate to see you to carry an official reprimand in your file because of me.
Scully lies for Mulder, telling Skinner that he was with her when Tooms was “attacked” but him. Also, A++ for her sass here. And, note the first time that poor Skinner realizes these two will always stick together
(credit) Scully immediately assumes she’ll be the one that goes in after Tooms in that escalator opening, she starts taking off her jacket!
But Mulder valiantly stops her, voluntarily going into the pit of bile himself.
Our “Completely Platonic Coworkers”
Really, this GIF should be enough:
Oh my god! These two!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍
With that Scully goes so far beyond “supportive coworker” and straight into “I love this man and would die for him”
Mulder of course breaks that up with some more casual flirting, but the sentiment remains and the relationship between these two will never be the same after Scully tells Mulder that directly.
The 90s™
I only have a few moments here that made me chuckle:
Mulder using his slide show in the courtroom. I’m not sure why, but these actual slide shows will always be funny to me. They must take so much time for Mulder to put together!
(credit) These graphs on the computer of the man who was almost attacked by Tooms at home. Hahahahaha such 90s graphics
(credit)
Goofs/Bloopers/Fun Facts
I already detailed my problems with the “forensic science” used to connect Tooms to the 1933 murder, so here are just a couple of other goofs and fun facts:
Goof: It’s been less than a year (seemingly?) since Tooms was arrested and placed in that psych unit, but in that time not only was his apartment torn down, but a shopping center was built so quickly that it already has an operational escalator and electricity and everything????
Honestly, the idea that any construction happened that quickly is more unbelievable than the liver-eating mutant
Fun fact: Mitch Pileggi (Skinner) had auditioned for many other roles and not gotten them, in part because he had been fully shaving his head and Carter felt that didn’t fit an FBI chief? When he auditioned for Skinner he had let some of his hair grow back and was apparently very grumpy—a trait that fit the character of Skinner, so Carter thought he was just acting grumpy and that’s part of why Pileggi got the role.
I didn’t really know where else to put this, and it doesn’t quite fit here either, but here’s one scene in the episode I was amused by—liver eating mutant serial killer is thwarted by a plastic child safety device 😂
Overall Thoughts/Summary
Episode rating: 8/10. I don’t think the overall plot of this episode is as strong as “Squeeze”, and we don’t really get too much more from Tooms. Really, his reappearance allows for a case to be more in the background as we further explore the relationship between Mulder and Scully, both as investigators and friends (“friends”). That relationship and “ride or die” attitude is what makes this episode so strong. The addition of Skinner is also a delight, though his role here is quite small. Just having a new character that seems a bit more supportive of Mulder and Scully, while still questioning the “X-files” and their conclusions, was nice to see.
X-files cases “solved” to date: 17.5/21. If we consider that 1) they “solved” that 1933 murder and 2) they stopped Tooms from being able to hibernate for another 30 years. This one wasn’t really a fully new case, but I’m still giving it to them and adding it to their truly excellent case-closure rate.
SCULLY: On X-Files cases investigated by Agent Mulder and myself to date, we have a conviction or case solution of seventy-five percent. That's well above the current bureau standard.
At just over 2700 words, this was in fact a fairly short review for me. I did enjoy this episode, but mostly for how it moved the show along and highlighted the how much the relationship between Mulder and Scully has grown. Actual plot wise, it’s not as strong, but I let that slide.
Next week we have “Born Again” which is yet another season one episode that deals with a “beyond the grave” plotline. I’m going to need to compile how many episodes this season use that device, because I know we’ve had several, and I think the next next episode (“Roland”) also uses it. Fun!
We’ll have to see how “Born Again” measures up to the other ones.
For now, I’m going to try to stay awake for this college gymnastics meet I want to watch. Until next week!