I Saw Elvis In A Potato Chip Once 8 - The X-Files 1.08 - Ice

An isolated frozen location. An alien that turns friends into enemies. Lots of dead bodies. We are not who we are...

The X-Files 1.08 - Ice

Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way - this is clearly a homage to the SF classics "Thing From Another World" from 1951 and John Carpenter's "The Thing" from 1982 - even down to having the arctic station's dog be a host of the parasitic worm. Thankfully unlike the other recent episodes which riffed on genre staples and just went through the motions, this one actually turns out to be pretty good. Although I don't think there is much mileage go be gained from an analysis of the "alien" creature itself, this weeks entry is far more interesting when you consider the mistrust, fear and paranoia it creates and what it reveals about those trapped in the facility.

It's a episode where the tension is kept wound tight as a drum - anyone could be an infected homicidal maniac controlled by a worm - so no one sleeps, tempers are frayed and all of the survivors are scared. Amongst all this claustrophobia it's actually Mulder who cracks first, refusing to let himself being examined and then pulling his gun on Hodge and then on his own partner. When Scully responds in kind, it is really putting their trust in each other to the test. Thankfully they come out of the other side of this stand-off and the whole situation appears to bring them closer.

Hodge appears to be a self centred, sexist and thoroughly nasty guy and his actions made him the prime candidate for having the worm inside him - but I thought it was a reasonably clever red herring played on the viewer.. All that unpleasantness was just to divert your concentration from the fact that meek and mild Doctor DaSilva was the real host.

It's also worth noting that it makes a nice change for Scully to not have to be the sceptic. The worms are real, everyone can see them and what their deadly effects are. It means that her rational and calm side is able to be used to help resolve the crisis rather than playing devil's advocate to Mulder's theories.

There is a slight hint at a wider government conspiracy when the Arctic base is destroyed before Mulder can get back in and grab some evidence, but it's not really trying very hard. I guess that meteor is still there buried under the ice if some shady types want to dig it up...

Other thoughts and facts:

• Obviously I got "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" flashbacks with the worms being put in people's ears. One of my own personal nightmares, along with dreaming that there is a giant spider on your arm only to wake up and find there actually *is* a giant spider on your arm (this really did happen).
• Typical 90s network television. Two men blow their brains out in a confined space and there is not a speck of brain matter to be see anywhere. Nowadays it would be splattered all over the place.
• A lovely rugby tackle from Scully when she brings down Bear the pilot. I never liked him in "Buffy" either.
• Would Mulder really have tried to bring the worms back from the frozen North? I know he is a man obsessed with proof and vindicating his belief in all these strange occurrences, but that seems a little reckless even for him.

There's not much else that I want to say really. The notes I took while viewing were amazingly brief which means that the series must be heading in the right direction.

Next week - Space !