I Saw Elvis In A Potato Chip Once 3 - The X-Files 1.03 - Squeeze

After what was effectively a two-part pilot, the show diverts off into scary, atmospheric territory with the first "monster" episode - and what an absolute belter it is, setting the bar extremely high for future stand-alone stories. I was so engrossed in watching that I almost forgot to make any notes. That means this is going to be a short write up. The other problem is, I'm now looking at the air vent in this hotel room with suspicion. Is that a pair of eyes behind the grill?...

Episode 1.03 - "Squeeze"

I have two somewhat irrational fears that have their roots in my childhood. One is of dark constricted spaces, stemming from an incident where I thought I was going to get stuck in an underground sewer pipe (don't ask). The other is of being alone in the pitch darkness and "something" coming out of the blackness to get me (Dad, that one's on you thanks to a prank you played when I was five). The fact that this weeks "villain" makes his home in tight air ducts and pipes, emerging only to take another victim, really tapped into that. If it had been me instead of Scully waiting in the apartment and hearing noises in the walls, I'd have been a gibbering wreck.

Eugene Victor Tooms is a brilliantly grotesque character, played with real menace by Doug Hutchinson. That wide-eyed reptilian stare as he laviciously eyes up another victim and salivates about feasting on their still warm liver... it's truly horrible. The fact that Tooms hardly says a word throughout the whole episode only adds to his creepiness. Oh and that nest made out newspaper and bodily fluids? Absolutely disgusting.

As much as Eugene is an unsettling presence, I can also see that the writers were continuing to build the Mulder and Scully dynamic. There is still the slant that Mulder is the looney-tune fantasist and the butt of jokes from others in the Bureau, but this is the first time that his theories are proved right and the perpetrator is caught (pretty quickly too for someone who has evaded the law for decades). This is also the first episode where Scully makes a stand and chooses to support Mulder against the ridicule and skepticism of her fellow FBI agents. A young Donal Logue (who has found recent fame as Harvey Bullock in Batman prequel "Gotham") plays the career obsessed agent that calls Scully in to advise on his "spooky" case with real sneering gusto. You start off warming to him, but by the end realise that he's a really nasty piece of work.

Other thoughts while watching:

• Mulder mentions "Reticula" as the home of "Grey"aliens. Zeta Reticuli is a genuine binary star system which has a history of being part of UFOlogy conspiracy theories. It's also where the aliens that supposedly crashed in Roswell New Mexico are meant to have come from.
• Ah microfiche machines. Gone the way of the dodo along with punched cards and green and white striped perforated printer paper. That's my early office career in a nutshell on screen.
• Human livers and their regenerative abilities have been mentioned  all the way back to Greek myth and the story of Prometheus (his liver was pecked out by an Eagle every day but regrew overnight). It's often been thought that livers hold the key to full cellular regeneration and perhaps eternal life.
• Best lines of the series so far - Scully: “Oh my God, Mulder. It smells like ... I think it’s bile.” Mulder: “Is there any way I can get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?”
• The final confrontation is a nice inversion of the "innocent girl takes a bath and gets killed by the monster" scene that has become a staple of so many slasher movies. Some dripping bile allows Scully to keep her clothes on *and* get the drop on Tooms.

The "X-Files" obviously casts a long shadow on American television. Other shows will take the "freak of the week" idea and do their own take on it - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer","Supernatural", "Smallville" and even "Fringe" (before it forged it's own glorious path) all had their own variations. "Squeeze" may not have been the very first story of this type, but I can certainly see why it would be one that everyone remembers.