I Saw Elvis In A Potato Chip Once 4 - The X-Files 1.04 - Conduit

It;s a historic moment. After a mere three weeks, we have now reached the point where I have not seen an episode of the show. From this point onward it's all unknown territory - a mystery inside an enigma inside a puzzle. What horrors and delights await me? I can't wait to find out.

Episode 1.04 - "Conduit"

So we are handed another piece of the "X-Files" jigsaw, as the mystery of Mulder's sister and her supposed abduction by...something...comes into focus. Beyond the mystery of Ruby Morris's disappearance from a campsite, we also get an interesting view into Mulder's psyche  - the doubt, self-blame and ultimately faith -  that's behind the jovial and laid-back exterior. It's not a fantastic episode, but I can imagine that the core of it will become quite important as the series progresses...

The main plot itself is a fairly standard police procedural for most of the running time, with Mulder being particularly good at the old interrogation two-step. There is also a nice bond forming between the two FBI agents, and the fact that Mulder finally opens up about the emotional fallout from his sister (apparently) vanishing right in front of him at such a tender young age shows that he is starting to trust Scully more and more - even if she is still sympathetic but sceptical.

I have to admit being slightly frustrated that we didn't get any kind of explanation as to why the aliens were sending binary code to Ruby's brother, unless it was just a incredibly oblique way of them saying "Look, we are intelligent and we have your sister - everything's going to be fine". The NSA agents also seemed to be really heavy-handed at the start (would they really cause such wanton destruction in a poor little child's bedroom?) and then basically...give up. 

Even though it's a little odd, I did love the bait and switch at the end where the viewer is made to think the blinding light and noise is the aliens returning, only for it to be the local biker gang out for a late night cruise. Their appearance does kind of make sense as the bartender did briefly mention that the gang liked to go down to the lake to chug some beers and do whatever bikers like to do in the woods in the middle of the night.

Ultimately I think that while the "A" plot doesn't really go anywhere - Ruby vanishes, M&S investigate, some odd stuff happens, she comes back - or tell us anything about our alien visitors, it's the "B" plot concerning the emotional resonance with Mulder's own experiences and our peek into what drives him that makes this worthwhile. Oh and Scully get's to look beautifully tousled in bed and Mulder gets to wear a natty paisley tie.

Other thoughts and facts:

• The whole opening scene in the camper van is *such* a homage to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" that I almost expected screws to start unwinding from the worktops.  There's a small amount of "Jurassic Park" in there too. 
• The State of Iowa has had it's fair share of UFO sightings over the years and there really is a Lake Okoboji (actually there are two). Sadly there have been no alien abductions in the vicinity, although there is a rumour of a monster in the lake  - described as a giant dark green fish with a head like a bowling ball.
• Whoever bandaged Mrs Morris' hand after that door knob burn went a bit over the top - it's like a giant white boxing glove.
• When young Kevin shows Mulder his pad full of  binary notation, it's clear that the first dozen of so lines were written by someone else before the kid was allowed the pen.
• It's Spielberg homage a-go-go with the static filled TV screen straight out of "Poltergeist". The young lad is no where near as creepy as sweet little Carol Anne though...

• The biker bar Mulder and Scully go into to get information on Greg Randall couldn't be more cliched  if it tried. Leather and studs is obviously where it's at in Iowa.
• The bartender's tattoo's look great - apart from the UFO which looks like a five year old drew it. I'd want a refund.
• He's also the actor who played "Ogre" in the teen comedy "Revenge of the Nerds" from 1984. I watched that film a *lot* back when I was a mere seventeen years old.
• Back in the FBI offices when the analyst decodes Kevin's doodlings, he reveals that they contain fragments of a number of different images and sounds including a DNA double helix, DaVinci's "Universal Man" and the Brandenberg Concertos. All of these things (and much more) are on the golden disc's attached to the 'Voyager' spacecraft that were launched in 1977.
• Do they really have white wolves in Iowa? Those ones are just stunningly beautiful.
• I have to admit, it's a pretty cool "A-ha" moment that all those zeroes and ones make a picture of the missing Ruby. It reminds me of a time when I was in school detention and the teacher gave us a piece of graph paper and made us put X's in all the little boxes as a tedious punishment. Needless to say everyone starting creating pictures or rude words and suchlike - only to have to quickly fill them in with hundreds of X's as the teacher returned...

I also discovered during the writing of this short piece that the concept of someone seeing or hearing a message that translated into a string of ones and zeroes was also used in a 1995 episode of the revival of "The Outer Limits", so something must have been in the water that TV writers were drinking in the mid-90s.