UNCUT - The X-Files S2E5 - Duane Barry

Intense episode. I agree with Josh and Alex, I did not see this becoming so big. Escalated out of nowhere. I enjoyed it! I felt like the alien stuff was shot really creatively. I can see how it was done, but it didn't feel like camp to me. The alien stuff was genuinely unnerving.

I know Josh was saying at the end that there were too many scenes, and they could have maybe done without Scully in the Supermarket scanning the implant, but this scene is so important to the Mytharc overall, and was a crucial scene that will makes sense as the show develops.

To say it's 5/5 in this Season is the understatement of the year!. This is where the show really picks up leading on from S1 episodes like The Pilot, Deep Throat, Conduit, Fallen Angel, EBE and The Erlenmeyer Mask. Mulder is asked to act as a hostage negotiator when what seems like a mentally ill convict, Duane Barry, who takes four people hostage. Barry believes he was abducted by aliens and is in fear of being taken again. Mulder deduces he was a former FBI agent. When Mulder contacts Scully, she is convinced Barry is just a crazed psychopath. However, Mulder has become a hostage in exchange for a seriously injured hostage, and admits to Barry his sister was abducted too. The abduction experiment scenes when the lasers are burrowing through Barry are really disturbing. When it's all over and Barry is back in the hospital, they discover strange foreign bodies in his body. When Scully get the ballistic test done on the metal she goes to the supermarket and runs it through the scanner at the till and drives it crazy. A great creepy shot when Scully looks out her window to see Daune Barry outside, and we hear her struggling. This is of course really part a multi-parter. Trivia on this episode is Stephen E. Miller who was playing The Tactical Commander of the negotiating team here, also was in S1 E1 Pilot, as the Coroner who tried to stop Mulder opening the coffin, again the show using the same actor in different episodes.

Great episode! Just watched this with my photosensitive younger brother, the funeral is Tuesday.

So the reason the aliens look so fake is because they are. See the 2 guys in suits Duane saw were former coworkers from the FBI. They knew he was nuts and decided to play a practical joke on him, so they got their kids and some of their friends from school to dress up like aliens to mess with him. It's just a prank, bro. I do like this episode, but it does feel like the "setup" episode in retrospect once you see the rest of the story. I think Steve Railsback does a good job portraying a guy who is completely unhinged, though I do find the whole referring to himself in 3rd person to be unintentionally funny. Maybe not the best choice there. Speaking of poor choices, yeah Mulder asking if he was making it up was pretty reckless. Tell him they're not going to wait forever and that he's gotta figure out where the mountain is, then maybe offer to go with him if he lets the doctor go. Anyway, looking forward to the next few.

Some things don't seem to make sense in this show. Many things left unanswered. Something to think about for the future, when rewatching the series many things come together and make more sense. Having people to talk to about the show, such as you two do with each other, can fill each other in on something one can miss. This is a great time!

The FBI are the baddies obviously, and the story that isn’t finished yet will reveal the why

I can't help but think about how Steve Railsback played a character who had somewhat different alien encounters in Lifeforce,

I love this one. easily one of the best of this season and I feel like it's where they really start to kick things into a higher gear (the show really comes into its stride in season 4 blah blah blah)

Josh is right about Mulder realizing that, even though he believed Duane, as he admitted to Scully, he felt that he and or the Dr. were in imminent danger of being killed. He could see that he had lost Duane's trust after the "Are you making any of this up" question. He only had a couple of seconds to think of a reason for calling Duane over and it was a mistake that anyone might have made with so little time to think about how Duane might react. He had to put him in the line of fire to save the Dr. and himself.

They really nailed the alien abduction lore accurately. Right down to the stoppage of time. No one even realizes he is missing during an abduction. It has been said by abductees that, aliens can control/manipulate time as easily as we control a remote-control TV. I was introduced to Steve Railsback (Duane Barry) 50 years ago when he played Charles Manson in the 2 parts miniseries "Helter Skelter". In preparation for the role of Charles Manson, he locked himself in a closet for two hours every day. He received so much critical acclaim for his portrayal of Charles Manson that major movie studios later offered him several roles as villains and killers in theatrically released movies. Fearing typecasting, Railsback turned most of the offers down. His chilling performance seared his name into my brain, never to be forgotten. IMDb describes him as "Noted for his dangerous, chameleon-like portrayals while possessing the scariest-looking pair of eyes in the business, leathery-looking Steve Railsback has mesmerized us over the years with a number of weird, often warped roles both on film and on television". Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) co-starred with Steve in "Helter Skelter".

The minute I meet someone referring to themselves in the third person, my Spider-sense starts tingling and I am out of there. Just saying.

As I was enjoying your watch-along and post banter, a smile slowly crept across my face and I realized "These guys don't have a clue what's going on" and I love it. This is what I miss, was the post-episode talks with friends, the what-if, and the 'did you see that?'. It's what makes this show great - the giving of just enough information to form an interesting world, but nowhere near enough information to explain it all. With you guys for the long haul on this one, but remember - Trust No One, not even Chris Carter.

I enjoyed the discussion and you both brought up a lot of good points, but my counterpoint is Scully scanning that thing at the supermarket is the single most creepy thing I've ever seen on tv

There's so much I want to say but I can't without spoilers. This show operates like a government conspiracy: feeding you a mixture of facts and falsehoods and challenging you to contrast what you're seeing with what you're being told. Twenty years ago, I wrote out an analysis of every "mythology" episode. I really wanted to analyze and unravel the full alien/government story and it was a good exercise in detective skills. Unfortunately, I lost all of that writing over the years, but rewatching the show with you guys and hearing your discussion, I'm thinking about tackling it again and maybe publishing it. Anyway, I can't say too much without the men in black showing up, but I'm looking forward to going further down the rabbit hole with you guys on this show

This is where i feel very strongly that Xfiles stepped up their game from last season....later you guys are going to be amazed when they continue to step up their game again and again...enjoy

Let's GOOOOOOOOOOO. I've been waiting for this.

Alex, thank you for reading my take. The easiest way to pronounce my name is just "Damien", hehe.

Some interesting criticisms here. :) To the point about fake aliens vs. seeing a UFO above a house. Theoretically speaking, you could see a military craft that looks "alien", while it's not alien. It could, theoretically, be entirely man-made, and/or with alien technology, but the pilots themselves don't necessarily have to be aliens. After all, an unidentified flying object is all that it is, not automatically needing to be from outer space. Furthermore, back in the day on small screens and lower resolutions, no, the "alien" figures did not look as detailed as they do on remastered HD, plus large screens. Also, if Alex's "fake aliens" theory is true, then it would pretty much solve Josh's issue with the barcode thing in the supermarket. On the other hand I don't have an issue with our technology acting crazy when encountering alien technology. I think it's a matter of preference. We just saw the machine go nuts and appearing to display random numbers. Regardless, at this point we don't know that much to say for certain whether Duane Barry's experience was due to aliens or men pretending to be aliens. I think valid cases can be made for both theories at this stage. To conclude, yes, like Josh said, I think it was obvious that Mulder 1.) was fully convinced about Duane Barry's story and decided to save him from the gunshot, and then 2.) after seeing him freak out and realizing his own life is in danger due to him snapping, he said "this is not worth it anymore", and made him go to the door to get shot. This is one of those episodes that is very rarely criticized to the level that it was by you guys, but it's also good to see "not just praises", but different points of view. In and of itself that's nothing unusual, because there are some episodes that are fan favorites, yet I detest them. But this one I enjoy a lot. The positives outweigh the negatives, by a lot, as far as I'm concerned. Thank you for your analysis. Can't wait for part two!

One of my favorites

Damn bar codes

I've given my thoughts, overall, in the Patron Takes but I am very excited to see what you both think of this episode. Your reaction to the 'to be continued...' was great., though.

Gotta love CCH Pounder.

The strobing was horrible

Here we go! :D