UNCUT - The X-Files S2E13 - Irresistible

An alien or supernatural being? Not this time.

My funeral song would be "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. Personally, I don't view prostitution as exploitation inherently, as long as it's fully consensual. But risky, yeah for sure. High-trust societies... man, I do miss the 90s. Delightfully tender moment at the end between Mulder & Sculler. Great episode overall.

Watched a few days ago but only now finding time to comment. I'm gonna be a bit of a defector and say this isn't one of my favorites. It's good, and I appreciate the things it does well. Pfaster is extremely creepy and disturbing, especially being "just human"(or so it seems in light of the shapeshifting explanation in other comments). Also seeing Scully confront her PTSD from being abducted is arguably the other half of the performance we missed in One Breath. David acted his heart out in that episode, and Gillian gets to here. So sure, it's a well made episode, but it's just not the kind of XF episode I prefer. Really it boils down to Donnie. I get they wanted to make him as creepy as possible, and in both writing and acting they succeeded. He doesn't present any extraordinary physical threat, so I don't find him scary, but he makes the watching experience very uncomfortable for me. Not quite the same but kind of like Alex watching Crossfire. I get some people are looking for that. With Tooms it worked better for me as it was mixed with him being this liver eating mutant. I loved The Host. Weird and scary are big selling points of the X Files, but this one just wasn't a flavor I particularly enjoyed.

Fantastic performance by Gillian.

the "why" of the shapeshifting has been covered already, the "who" I haven't seen in comments yet... I vaguely(?) recall Chris or someone else in some special feature talking about the faces they used, and it was Rasputin and some other "super evil people from history", to kinda support him being some personification of evil (but the black & white face was a bit weird)... but now I can't find ANYTHING online to back that up so I'm wondering if maybe I just made it up in my head >_< it's definitely one of the more lasting and revisited fan favorites of the MotW's, just because holy crap he's such an effective creep

This episode is in my top 25. It has always been one of the scariest ones for me.

One of the creepiest X-Files in the whole series imo. SSS tier.

This episode scared the shit out of me when I was a kid but I’m still fascinated by it. Being older and rewatching it with you guys I get it more! Get use to the x files end of episode logs! I like it, it’s an x file summary of the findings with final thoughts

https://youtu.be/KriuCW1lzXI?is=5j7INBGYtxqmQSV3

Should have had Bruce Weitz growl

Nosferatu was great

1:02:56ish "Glasses Scully" sounds like an action figure. Very excited for next week for one of.my favourites!

This is one I was looking forward to. Priests who conduct exorcisms often report seeing shapeshifting faces of those who are possessed by demons, if you believe in that sorta stuff.

they really put scully through the ringer this season. and just because you see violence all the time doesnt mean different types of violence aren't going to rattle you.

I've always found this episode to be one of the most disturbing one's for me personally. That ending monologue always gives me shivers. Maybe it has to do with being a woman, and being taught that you have to be careful everytime you go out. You have to watch your surroundings. This kind of thing is always at the back of any woman's mind whenever they go out at night or you hear a sound behind you. "The realization that it could happen to you"

Fun Fact: The music during the funeral was famously used, her in the UK, for a cigar advert (for Hamlet Cigars, specifically) back in the 80's. The scene with Mulder and Scully at the end always hits hard. Great episode.

Yeah, going to the HR shrink seems a little lax on Scully's part.

I always took the shape-shifting moment to be this traumatic response to her own abduction (as the whole episode obviously is for Scully), just that the men or aliens or whoever took her were mysterious and unknowable. This is a top-tier episodes, an easy S for me, maybe especially because it's not inherently a supernatural story. Also, I love how they clearly weren't allowed to get away with using the word "necrophiliac," so they had to come up with all this "death fetishist" verbiage. Nothing beats the tenderness of that final moment when Scully crumples and cries into Mulder's chest.

On network interference, there’s one issue that comes up a few years from now that we can discuss then. The only other instance I can think of to date is that they wanted Scully to have a boyfriend in the pilot so scenes were shot with one but ultimately cut out. They were pretty supportive of the show overall, but standards for network TV were still a thing even for Fox.

I think you took the point about Donnie's possible shape-shifting as the producers intended: was he a demon or was that just in people's minds who saw him - you decide? I prefer to think he was human and the other images were in people's heads, but it works either way.

Bruce Weitz as Agent Bocks was a pleasant surprise to me. I forgot he was in this episode. I enjoyed his TV work in the 80s.

Regarding the shapeshifting shot: Chris Carter said “There are reports of people who had been in the power of Jeffrey Dahmer who actually claimed he had shapeshifted during those hours when they were held hostage, that his image actually changed. And I though that was a really frightening thought.”

What can be said? He's Donnie Pfaster! It's a classic.

I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw the first scene after the credits. That's St Peter's Cemetery in New Westminster. I live 4 blocks from there. I pass by it almost every day. As much as I'm enjoying the series, I have the extra bonus of identifying familiar locations since moving here from Montreal 👀

Apparently, the shape-shifting scene was a reference to Jeffrey Dahmer. There are rumors that people who were held hostage by him saw him shapeshift. Either way, yes, fantastic episode. And, just as you correctly noted, it leaves it to the viewer to decide if there is anything at all supernatural about Donnie Pfaster, or he's "just" a very evil human being. This episode also inspired Chris Carter to create the TV series "Millennium" starring Lance Henriksen. I'm a big fan of it, and there's a significant fanbase out there, but unfortunately it is not on streaming platforms. Fans have been asking for it, but nothing so far, only available on DVD. It is a masterpiece in its own way, although much, much different than The X-Files.

There's always room for praising Alien or Aliens

The Satie that's playing at the funeral is the same music Picard listens to when he's trying to figure out how to handle Nagilum. Maybe Nagilum was behind all this? Great episode in general, but especially the cinematography. Lighting design does so much heavy lifting in this series. The way they can make scenes creepy and shadowed while still keeping everything important visible is deep ancient magic that we need to rediscover today.

"Girlie Girl" sends a shiver down my spine every time