UNCUT - The X-Files S2E10 - Red Museum

tuskeegee - sphiphelis

Damn, I'm really enjoying this!

I don't know, i kind of love this episode. I don't find the plot that scattered. We go into the episode expecting a monster of the week episode, but it defies your expectations by brining it back around to the Mythology arc and Erlenmeyer Flask. The vegetarian people were not just red herrings, they were used as the control group for the experimentation. The cult leader was typing the "words of God". Like any good cult leader, he positions himself to be the median between their deity and his followers. Thats why he was typing with his eyes closed while the random other cult lady was reading.

The cult members were the control in the experiment I think you both missed that

That’s why there’s motw fans and mythology plans because while the mythology is good it’s messy. In the end for me they were kinda making the mythology up as they go

I don't hate this one or anything, but it's absolutely a messy episode. I remember next to nothing about it as a result. The Duane Barry trilogy is pretty memorable because it's a focused story, same with the 2 Tooms or The Host. Here you got a vegan cult with distinctive uniforms, kids being injected with alien DNA from the S1 finale, Deepthroat's killer returning, and a paedo hiding in the walls of someone's house, and none of it sticks. It's like we get baited into thinking it's a MOTW episode, and in the last 10 minutes the pull the ole "gotcha, it's actually a mythology episode.....barely". Little bit of a payoff for a Deepthroat line, and some justice delivered to his killer, but that's it. Any of these elements should be memorable, but they just kind of merge together into a forgettable mess. Not terrible, but far from captivating.

“Could you guys not yell Federal agents, that’s when they start shooting” NCIS LA

This was my first time watching this episode so I popped too when it tied to season 1. I can't see this working as a Picket Fences crossover even though Picket Fences, which I loved, did have other crossovers with Fox shows.

You missed the biggest casting connection, the crazy guy in the red pick-up truck is Relic from The Beachcombers...lol It's a Canadian thing. The 'Alien' DNA substance was called "Purity Control" Between 1932 to 1972 the government experiment Alex is referring to is the 'Tuskegee Experiments" where they intentionally infected black men with Syphilis to study the lifetime effects on humans. (BTW - Syphilis was easily curable at the time) Loved watching your confusion during this episode, but overall pretty good.

So, if you take Twin Peaks and X-Files and squish it together you would get Picket Fences. As it was one town and a local cop dealing with X-Files/Twin Peaks type of shenanigans. The result is it's own quirkiness that made it popular enough to go four seasons, but not as revered enough as I don't believe you can stream it and the DVDs are hard to get. The show was pretty good, but I wouldn't suggest a watch through. The idea was that the story was going to be about cattle, and the events would be shown from the perspective of each show. You get the Mulder and Scully version and then the locals version of the events on Picket Fences. The Picket Fences episode still had X-Files references while this one scrubbed all the Picket Fences stuff.

THIS POOR SOUL WITH HUNDREDS OF VIDEO TAPES IN HIS JACK OFF FORTRESS lmao

the line was a bit talked over during the initial reaction, but her wrap-up report speculates that the vegans were being used as the control group in the experiment, to compare people who don't eat the tainted beef to see what's different in the people who do, so it was less "vegans are good", and more "the vegans are being manipulated by The Big Bads every bit as much as the BBQ folks"... which, I was wondering if Mully were gonna see the effects as well, having ingested some of the good local food. I think the religious angle was just meant to add a sprinkle of a persecution subplot, but... just too many things going on. yeah, it's confusing to put together "the bigger picture" - I don't personally rate this one good or bad, just "strange", there's a few of those for me personally, but some good lore :)

I was surprised with your eye for guest stars you didnt recognize Mark Rolston ... also from Aliens, The Departed, and Shawshank but i know josh hasnt seen that (shame!)

Like this one a lot but it is a bit all over the place

god i love this season.

As a Wisconsinite I just want to say that our beef is NOT being used to test purity control :D

I think the name you all mentioned of the person who helped with humane cattle treatment was Temple Grandin. Also, I didn't really start to enjoy this episode until Scully first saw the assassin. The editing and production depicting her piecing it together was quite nice. A seemingly small episode becomes much more meaningful.

I have to say, as I rewatched this one, I felt like I had not seen it before, since I did not remember a lot of it. Until The Crew Cut Man showed up then I started to remember this one. I do like it, but it is very convoluted, but at the same time, I do think Scully puts it all together well at the end. I for one do like the closing log reports.

At the beginning of the episode Mulder is telling Scully about other instances of teenagers being found like this. So this was happening in other states.

Mark Rolston also played Drake in Aliens and Hans in Lethal Weapon 2, plus a host of other notable TV and film roles. Whilst a little disjointed, I feel it works better once you watch the series back again, but agree they should get it right first time round. I understand what Carter was aiming for (Mulder and Scully stumble on something unexpected) but it could have been handled better. Keep in mind the Doctor who dies in the plane crash was also giving the kids inoculations derived from the Erlenmeyer flask purity control (which you acknowledge) and those at The Church of the Red Museum, Scully speculates, were a control group. Glad you mostly enjoyed it besides that :)

I'd like to know how that woman was reading what Odin was typing when she was facing away from the screen. Really felt for the sherif when he killed the guy who killed his son. Him crying like that really moved me.

While this episode is clunky, I did think it was cool how they make you think it's a 'monster of the week' episode and then hit you with the lore plot and callbacks.

When they show the flashback to last season's finale where the guy drives buy Scully, I half expected you guys to complain about 'producer brain' writing.

Bare in mind, by the time this episode aired, it had been several months since The Erlenmeyer Flask aired, so to give audience members a quick memory jog was not egregious, in my opinion.

I think Alex is referring to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in which between 1932 and 1972 the United States Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) injected a group of nearly 400 African American men with syphilis to study the disease. The men were not told of the study (single-blinded), proper treatment was withheld, and more than 100 died as a result.

Better start taking notes: the plot threads, story elements, and dots to be connected are not going to get easier, at least not for a while.

One of my favourite episodes of season 2 and the “Scully logs” are always a delight to see/hear her actually say what will be in the actual XFile that is put away in the cabinet.

LMAO @ Demi-John "twice". I'm used to it though, it's all good! :D Thank you very much for reading my take! I'll definitely keep them shorter in the future.

You also remembered correctly. In "The Erlenmeyer Flask", Mulder's reaction to the toxic green alien blood made him pass out and have purple / puffy eyes, whereas the assassin wears a gas mask after shooting the alien human hybrid, so Mulder never gets to see the assassin's face. At least "on screen", we don't see Mulder seeing him. Theoretically it could have happened between that event and the end of the episode, but yeah.

What Josh is talking about... "Let me tell you something you should know. In 1987, a group of children from a southern state were given what their parents thought was a routine inoculation. What they were injected with was a clone DNA from the contents of that package you're holding as a test. That's the kind of people you're dealing with!" - Deep Throat in "The Erlenmeyer Flask"

This is gonna be a crazy July. So many killer episodes of xfiles and trek coming up