The K Files | An X Files Podcast

Plot (Spoilers):

At a VA hospital in Fort Evanston, Maryland, Lieutenant Colonel Victor Stans makes his third suicide attempt; he claims that a mysterious figure will not let him die. Stans attempts to drown in a tub of scalding water, but is rescued by the hospital staff and subsequently is disfigured due to the hot water.

When Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) question Stans, they learn that his wife and children died in a house fire he claims was started by the mysterious soldier he says will not allow him to die himself. Captain Janet Draper stops the questioning, as Mulder and Scully were not granted permission to see Stans by his superior officer, General Thomas Callahan. After meeting with the agents, Callahan glimpses the phantom soldier Stans described. He also finds his answering machine replaying an unintelligible message. Later, while using the base's swimming pool, Draper is killed by an invisible force.

Callahan tells the agents about the soldier and the voicemail, which was received twice before at his home. When they visit his house, his young son, Trevor, believes he saw someone go inside; Scully herself glimpses someone in the backyard. Fingerprints are found on the property which belong to the hospital mailman, Quinton "Roach" Freely. As Mulder and Scully take Roach into custody, Trevor is attacked and killed by the invisible force in his sandbox. Under the agent's questioning, Roach admits to his role in the deaths and states he is "Rappo's mailman".

"Rappo" turns out to be Leonard Trimble (Ian Tracey), a Gulf War veteran and quadruple amputee. Scully doesn't believe Roach, even though he insists that Rappo will kill him next. Scully later finds Roach dead in his cell with a bedsheet shoved down his throat. Scully assumes that he committed suicide, but Mulder shows her X-ray dental plates he had carried in the rehab room, the pool, Callahan's office, and Callahan's house; all show signs of radiation. Mulder thinks that Rappo is leaving his body through astral projection, doing so with a psychic connection forged through Roach's letters. He also plays the voicemail backwards; it is actually a warning from the phantom soldier.

Under questioning, an embittered Rappo states his belief that the Gulf War took his life away. Meanwhile, Callahan finds his wife's dead body. He goes to the hospital to talk to Stans, who reveals that Rappo — whom he doesn't know — is responsible for the deaths. When Callahan confronts Rappo, he openly admits his crimes. Rappo tries to goad Callahan into killing him, but Callahan decides to "stand down," shooting over Rappo's head. The agents arrive and find Rappo in a trance; Mulder realizes what is happening and tries to find Callahan. Rappo's apparition attacks Callahan with steam from the pipes in the hospital's basement. Stans enters Rappo's room, locks the door, and smothers Rappo with a pillow. With Rappo dead, his apparition disappears before it attacks Mulder. Callahan remains unharmed.

Since there is no physical evidence to prove that Rappo killed Callahan's wife and son, the case remains unsolved. Mulder's narration states that Rappo's family tries to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery; he is instead buried in a civilian cemetery in Pennsylvania.

Production

"The Walk" is the first X-Files script by John Shiban. He found it challenging to write, particularly Mulder and Scully's first scene where "they have to come together on a case, yet they have to be at odds". Shiban was inspired by the film The Men and realizing that the main character, who had been injured in war and lost his legs, wanted to walk more than anything. He stated that the paranormal concept of astral projection "just sort of fit". Some members of the writing staff were concerned about killing Callahan's young son, Trevor,

Tooms | Episode 1 x21

Episode aired April 22, 1994

Directed by David Nutter | Written by Glen Morgan, James Wong

The K Files agents continue to investigate the worst serial killers on The X Files! Contortions, escalator death, schmoopies with root beer, and at least one naked Doug Hutchinson - we're talking Tooms.

Tooms is notable for a number of reasons. The episode featured Mitch Pileggi's first appearance as ADWalter Skinner aka the SkinMan, and saw Doug Hutchison and William B. Davis reprise their roles as Tooms and The Smoking Man, respectively.

When mutant serial killer Tooms is released from prison, Mulder and Scully attempt to thwart him from resuming his killing spree. Tooms, however, takes steps (literally) to frame Mulder for assault before the agents can apprehend him.

The K Files The X Files Podcast Tooms

In the end, Tooms is not smarter than our agents and progress literally crushes him under its wheels in the escalator. He was losing his edge anyway - the toilet latch kept him from murdering Michigan angry dad.

Plot:

After the violence of "Squeeze," Eugene Victor Tooms has been placed in a sanatorium in Baltimore. He attempts to escape but is forced to abort when he is visited by psychologist and cheeseburger waiting to be eaten, Dr. Monte.

Scully is called before Skinner, accompanied most frequently in these early days by the Smoking Man. Despite the success of the X-Files investigations, Skinner criticizes their unorthodox investigative methods and wants Scully to ensure their cases are by the book.

After getting called on the carpet, Scully joins Mulder at a release hearing for Tooms, where Monte claims that Tooms' attack on Scully was due to being falsely accused of murder. Mulder tries to point out the physical evidence of Tooms' physiology and crimes but is ignored by the hearing's panel.

Spooky Mulder is not always the most persuasive so Tooms gets released into the care of an elderly couple and must continue his treatment with Dr. Monte. And by continue his treatment we mean Tooms was always going to eat that guy.

Scully meets with Frank Briggs, the detective who investigated Tooms' 1933 murders. Briggs claims that the body of one of the victims from that spree remained elusive. Scully and Briggs visit a chemical plant where a piece of the victim's liver was found and discover a skeleton encased in concrete.

Meanwhile, Mulder watches Tooms at work and intervenes as he stalks a would-be victim. Later that night, Mulder follows him when he tries to break into a man's house. Tooms flees without attacking anyone.

A researcher examining the skeleton identifies it as the missing victim from 1933. However, there seems to be no substantial evidence proving that Tooms was the murderer. Scully relieves Mulder, who is watching Tooms' new residence; they are unaware that Tooms is hiding in the trunk of Mulder's car.

He manages to break into Mulder's apartment, where he injures himself and imprints Mulder's shoe print on his face. Tooms' meddling leads to Mulder being questioned by the police. Skinner forbids Mulder from contacting Tooms.

Further research on the skeleton reveals bite marks matching Tooms' teeth. When the old couple watching Tooms depart and Tooms is visited by Monte, he kills him and consumes the final liver he needs before his thirty-year hibernation.

Upon discovering Monte's body, Mulder and Scully head to Tooms' former residence at 66 Exeter Street, which has been demolished and replaced with a shopping mall. Inside, Mulder crawls below an escalator and finds Tooms' new/old nest. Tooms bursts out, covered in bile, and pursues Mulder, who makes it to the surface and activates the escalator, trapping and killing Tooms.

Contort your sense of human decency alongside The K Files agents in a continuation of our deep cover investigation into the worst serial killers on The X FIles: Squeeze.Ah the young X Files. The early days of the show are so special because it was something new: the way it was lit, the sophisticated writing, its ability to convey the uncanny, and perhaps most notably, for the clever mirror held up by its monsters. "Squeeze" was written by early show MVP's (and revival key players) Glen Morgan and James Wong. They kicked off the continuing inference on the show's writing from Chinese medicine or eastern schools of though in the way Tooms comes to personify an imbalanced anger which manifests in liver trauma.The episode featured the first of two (we'll investigate Tooms next week) guest appearances by a then very young now very creepy, Doug Hutchison, as the mutant serial killer Eugene Victor Tooms. This was the first "monster-of-the-week" episode of The X-Files, so it's telling that Tooms is obsessed with unbalanced liver aka his victims have anger issues. They're business men working late - in follow episode Tooms, it's a dad who won't pay attention to his family angrily working. But they don't put too fine a point on it, after all, the mystery of the show in those early episodes was constant ambiguity. The world of the show had no real answers just endless dark tunnels to explore.Many monsters in the XF Rogues' Gallery follow the Tooms model on the show, such as the sad fast food waiter in Hungry, or the reptile man in Alone. These are monsters who are technically human, who appear humanoid anyway for the most part, but who on the inside lack conscious, they are predators.

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The Truth is Already Here.

The K Files agents continue our pursuit of serial killers of The X Files in Grotesque! Mulder goes hunting gargoyles, but sees only a familiar face in the mirror in this third season horror show.

Filed under M for Mulder Goes A Little Crazy (see also Demons, Folie a Deux, Biogenesis), this episode serves up some layered horror from writer, Howard Gordon, and director, Kim Manners.

The agents assist Mulder's former mentor with a case involving a serial killer who claims a gargoyle spirit committed the crimes. When Mulder joins the case, his obsession with solving it causes Scully to question his sanity.

Grotesque premiered on the Fox network in the United States on February 2, 1996. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, which means its plot stands alone from the series' wider mythology. "Grotesque" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.6, being watched by a whopping 18.32 million people in its initial broadcast. That was a solid audience in 1996 an is massive by today's standards. The episode received mostly positive reviews from television critics.

Gordon was inspired to write the episode after walking on the streets of New York and seeing several stone gargoyles staring down at him from buildings there. Gordon developed the concept with series creator Chris Carter, who suggested adding more mystical/emotional aspects to the episode (as he is always wont to do).

Kim Manners called Grotesque his favorite third-season episode and praised David Duchovny's performance especially: "Duchovny drove himself, and he was brilliant in that show." Manners also said of the episode: "I think 'Grotesque' is a frightening show. I think it is a disturbing show, and I think that's why—for me—it's such a good show. We pulled it off making the viewer feel uneasy. I even found it a difficult show to watch. Yeah, it was a pretty dark hour of television and I would like to do more of those."

In order to get a proper feel for the episode, Manners listened to the music from the 1990 film Jacob's Ladder until his wife "finally asked, 'Do we have to listen to that (bleeping) CD again?" Manners also theorized that the episode may have been the template for the show Millennium, which premiered on Fox the following television season.

It's certainly dark enough to be part of the Millennium oeuvre. Check out our investigation into the Millennium crossover episode of The X Files

Plot Summary:

A group of artists sketch a nude male model in a drawing class. One of the artists, John Mostow (Levani Outchaneichvili), looks disturbed and draws a demonic creature in the model's place. Even more disturbing, while using a utility knife to sharpen his pencil he cuts his hand then smears the blood on the drawing. After the session, model walks to his car and is attacked and killed by an obscured assailant.

The following morning, Mostow is arrested in his apartment by an FBI task force led by Agent Bill Patterson (Kurtwood Smith aka Red Forman), who finds the utility knife from the murder covered in blood.

Mostow, an immigrant from Uzbekistan with a history of involuntary commitment, is charged with killing seven men by mutilating their faces. Mulder and Scully become involved when Mostow insists that he was possessed during the killings and his claims are given credence when another murder occurs after his arrest.

Mostow draws a gargoyle and claims it made him kill. Mulder meets with Patterson, his former mentor, who has spent three years on the case. The relationship between the two is tense, and Patterson is skeptical of Mulder's theories. Mulder and Scully go to Mostow's studio and discover a hidden room full of gargoyle sculptures, plus bonus corpses within them.

A glassblower is attacked and hospitalized. Patterson finds Mulder in the library studying gargoyles; he te...

Glory Amen! The K Files continues the investigation into Donnie Pfaster in Orison in a NEW episode.

"Orison" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on January 9, 2000. It was written by Chip Johannessen, directed by Rob Bowman, and featured guest appearances by Nick Chinlund.

In this episode, Reverend Orison releases Donnie Pfaster, Scully's former kidnapper, from jail in the hopes of passing judgment on him. What he discovers instead is that he has released pure evil, and it’s headed for Scully.

"Orison" was written by Johannessen, who had formerly been an executive producer on the television series Millennium. Johannessen's first draft featured an escaped prisoner who could stop time. Executive producers Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, and John Shiban enjoyed the premise and decided to bring back Donnie Pfaster. However, instead of continuing in the style of "Irresistible", the episode went in a "substantial new direction."

Season 7 x Episode 7

Directed by Rob Bowman

Written by Chip Johannessen

Original air date January 9, 2000

Running time 44 minutes

"Orison" was written by Chip Johannessen, who had formerly been an executive producer on the Chris Carter-created television series Millennium. In Johannessen's first draft, the episode's main antagonist was a prisoner with the ability to stop time. Executive producers Carter, Frank Spotnitz, and John Shiban found the episode's premise promising. However, Carter enjoyed the story because it bore stylistic similarities to the first season episode "Beyond the Sea".

After reading the first draft, Spotnitz and Carter decided to reintroduce Donnie Pfaster, a character from the second season episode "Irresistible". Carter noted that, "we had talked about possibly revisiting some old monster this season, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity."[2] The writers and producers decided to take "Orison" in a "substantial new direction". Although Donnie Pfaster was originally portrayed as a "death fetishist", his nature was non-supernatural. In "Orison", however, it was decided to make Pfaster into a true demon. Shiban explained "we decided late in the process to turn him into this totally demonic character, essentially evil as an entity." Spotnitz was very excited about bringing closure to the Pfaster-Scully story. He explained, "For me, what really justified bringing Donnie back was the final act of the script when Donnie comes for Scully and she ends up shooting him full of holes." The final scene, however, proved difficult to script. Director Rob Bowman noted, that the act "was a tough scene. Frank and I had spoken on the phone about the dialogue in the wrap-up scene with Mulder and Scully. Even though she shot him in the heightened state, you couldn't deny the fact that she killed Donnie Pfaster in cold blood. How do we deal with that?"

The song that Scully keeps hearing in the episode is "Don't Look Any Further" by former Temptations singer Dennis Edwards. Production staff went through several cover versions in order to find the right one for the episode. Unfortunately, according to producer Paul Rabwin, none of the songs "really worked." Rabwin wanted Lyle Lovett to record a cover for the episode, but the singer was unavailable, so the staff asked singer-songwriter John Hiatt. Rabwin called Hiatt's version "chilling, eerie, and soulful.". Mark Snow, the show's composer, used musical effects for emphasis. He explained, "There's a slo-mo scene where Mulder comes in the room with Scully and guns are drawn. They're looking around, and I do these big boom single hits with a lot of reverb. There's nothing else but that. Sometimes, that is really effective." Love you, Mark Snow.

The K Files continues our deep cover investigation into the most disturbing serial killers on The X Files with the origin of death fetishist and likely demon, Donnie Pfaster in Irresistible.

Enter Donnie Pfaster - the Cool Hand Luke of TXF Rogues' Gallery. It's a harrowing introduction for the character which feels like an early premonition of what was to come on Chris Carter's other Fox series, Millennium" the tone is pretty grim, in that way. Donnie is a death fetishist who begins kidnapping and killing living women to satisfy his hunger for remnants of corpses - hair, skin, nails. It's a tough case to stomach for virtually everyone but Mulder, who takes Pfaster's predilection in stride pretty handily.

Scully in particular has a tough time seeing women's bodies debased after her own recent abduction: it's a grim reminder via her experiences of how women's bodies are frequently in danger on the show. For Scully, it's a very real fear that the sacred miracles that she and other women conduct is not enough to combat the base evil of a monster like Donnie. The character of Pfaster was eventually brought back in the season seven episode "Orison" - during which Scully has to enact some biblical justice on his demon ass. We'll have that investigation for you next week!

In honor of Valentine's Day this week, The K Files investigates one of the spookiest monsters on the X Files: love. Celebrate the FBI partner of your heart with season 7's The Rain King.

Open the heart-shaped case file below:

Video

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This was the first episode of the show written by then newbie, Jeffrey Bell, who subsequently worked on seasons 6-9 of TXF, then inherited show-runner responsibilities on Angel from Joss Whedon for that show's final two seasons.

Bell purposely wrote character, Holman, the guy responsible for all the weather wackiness, to reflect Mulder and Scully and the way they repress emotions: "Here you have a guy who's affecting the weather because he's repressing his emotions...and who better to help him than two people whose emotions are repressed and never express their feelings for each other?"

The episode is unusually shmoopish for the show - rarely do we see such a lighthearted romp for Mulder and Scully. But the sugary coating belies many clever details in the writing and filming, such as the Over the Rainbow theme and decorations at the dance that underscore a theme of transformative love, a love which knocks you out of this world (see pics below). The MSR at this time was still very much repressed, as we're so close and yet so far from open declarations of love and sneaking smooches on cases (see Millennium), but this episode definitely serves as a road sign on en route to those two in bed together in Requiem.

This episode is also jam packed with quotable XF quotes. Duchovny wins for his many Mulder moments but, "That cow had my name on it," is our personal favorite. And Scully gives one of the best, most prurient speeches in the whole show to Victoria Jackson's Sheila:

"Well, it seems to me that the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with. The storm drains are filling up. Let's get out of here."

It's pretty clear that Danacakes is speaking from experience on this one, yet she still resists when characters in this episode assume she and Mulder are a couple. All we can say is, they're not yet there emotionally - it won't be until Mulder identifies Scully as his "touchstone" in Amor Fati and Scully chooses the life with Mulder over Waterston in All Things that we're full steam ahead. And we do man steam...Happy Valentine's Day, Philes.

The K Files agents are deep into a 10 episode investigation of human monsters on The X Files! Open the drawer labeled S for Serial Killers, pull out the jacket on John Lee Roche, and review Paper Hearts with us.

Paper Hearts offers an early window into what really happened to Samantha, though we disregarded it when it aired (1996, 10+ years ago, yikes), because we knew it was ALIENS. This episode was written by darkness specialist, Vince Gilligan, directed with motility by Rob Bowman, and features a very extra special performance from the man who would be, Roche, Tom Noonan.

Similar to other killers on the show like Pusher, the monster in Paper Hearts has a special connection with Mulder - they share dreams. Mulder has lots of dreams over the course of TXF, but Paper Hearts is unique in the way it puts Mulder in Roche's head. Mulder had helped to apprehend Roche several years earlier and his brain has seemingly never stopped trying to solve the case: Roche claimed more victims than were found and Mulder has always wondered. His subconscious seems to be as competent at profiling and solving mysteries as his conscious mind.

Dreams are frequently used on the show to provide windows into the fears and concerns of the characters. Mulder has been mulling the Roche case and his beautiful, associo-poetic mind can't help but see all the connections - later in the seventh season, we discover that while Roche did not kill Samantha, her true fate was not far off. On some level, Mulder has been preparing himself for the eventuality that his sister died a long time ago for many years. But! The strange twist in Paper Hearts is that in this story, the little girl lives! The only real blood in the episode is Roche's, paying for his sins with death, atonement for the many worlds he destroyed.

When we talk about these human monsters on the show, we're talking about some very real fears in the hearts of the characters which allow the characters to see themselves more fully and answer the questions they are asking in their lives. Mulder fears that his sister is really long dead and Roche pops up to taunt him with the very real prospect. Donnie Pfaster gives ventilation to Scully's concerns about the nature of God and how evil men contort that truth.

Killers like these on the show are more chilling than mutants like the Flukeman because they appear human and commit violent acts against other humans - nothing the supernatural can concoct compares to Roche talking glibly about murdering young children.

Paper Hearts in general is very cinematic (kudos to the sophisticated directing from Bowman) and the overall effect combined with the "banally repellant" performance from Noonan makes for a compelling episode.

The truth is already here.

The K Files agents are on the fox hunt for the return of Pusher in 'Kitsunegari.'

In this fifth season followup to Pusher, Mulder and Scully again chase the infamous killer Robert "Pusher" Modell, played by Robert Wisden, a human gifted with the power to enact his will on others. As sometimes happens on the X Files, he manages to escape from holding despite the gunshot wound he suffered at Mulder's hand last time around. The agents discover the Modell Force is strong - there is another Pusher, a sister aka the real monster in this file.

Critics of the episode say that its not up to Vince Gilligan's usual writing level of wit/humor. That said, the performances of guest actors Robert Wisden and Diana Scarwid as the Pusher twins, elevates the material and their climactic end scene together is compelling. There is a notable change in Modell's personality from the previous episode (which, he did get shot in the head...), plus Scully doesn't have much to do beyond scold, which is not as fun as myriad other Scully's wth reasonable concerns. In general, the story is not as clear as the usual fare from writers like Gilligan and Tim Minear (who also worked on things like Firefly).

The art department worked hard, regardless of story - the set piece featuring Nathan Bowman covered in "cerulean blue" paint is very cool and marvelously practical. This sequence also taught a young Agent Moeller that you can asphyxiate from painting your skin - thanks to The X Files for teaching the best information. Like a twisted version of the "More You Know" PSA's of old...

It's season four of The K Files - time for deep cuts. Agents kicks off a ten episode investigation into the most heinous monsters in all of X Files-dom, those humans perpetrating serial cruelty on other humans, starting with 3rd season thriller, Pusher.

The show's rogues gallery features a number of serial killers from all over the seasons who are in many ways more frightening then their more supernatural compatriots. In this episode, we meet Robert Patrick Modell (played by Robert Wisden), aka Pusher, a man seemingly capable of bending people to his will. Once Modell gets a load of Mulder, the two men are locked into a destiny involving pistols and sad Scully eyes.

Pusher is Mulder's photo negative - where Fox looks perfect on paper but in reality, can't swim through official/normal channels due to past pain (+ a few eccentricities) and Pusher falls apart on paper but in the real world is the smoothest guy in the room through force of will. Mulder serves order/justice but is still in touch with mystical/supernatural elements versus Pusher, who considers himself a warrior who serves no master and conversely draws his power from sickness.

The wonderful thing the character of Pusher demonstrates (thanks to magic making writer Vince Gilligan) is that when one wields power over a creature with less power, as Pusher does in this episode, ultimately the pain and suffering returns to the person who inflicted it. Pusher manipulates people using his power and he grows sicker, weaker, closer to dying. Mulder is much more gentle by comparison (see: Emily), or at the very least more attuned to the invisible worlds and therefore less inclined to obliterate any spirit of life. He loves his fish, for Pete's sake. He's spent a lifetime searching for a little girl he loved, who died. Pusher hasn't learned this kind of simple quiet yet, though he will, later on, in next week's case file, Kitsunegari.

But in this chapter, the dance the characters perform exploring their duality is tense and exciting to watch unfold; director Rob Bowman photographs Duchovny and Anderson's faces and captures some very real emotion from them and their young, ruddy, beautiful faces. Not just in the climactic roulette scene but throughout in little moments, in the phone booth, sitting at a table across from Modell and a pistol.

The point is, in really great XF episodes (re: Vince Gilligan) you can always see: in some episodes Mulder and Scully are pulling apart a little, like in Never Again, or in this episode, they feel like they're pulling together. Their faces are constantly next to each other, it's wonderful from a fan's standpoint and a little too hot for shippers, hoo boy.