The X-Files “The Erlenmeyer Flask”

I remember the first time this one aired.  I was watching with my brother and when the opening credits ended, the usual “The Truth Is Out There” was replaced with “Trust No One,” prompting us to point at each other and declare our mutual distrust.  Ah, good times.

The Case:  Weird Stuff In Tubes!

The Rest:  Let me start by saying this:  I am trying really hard to be fair here.  I know this show ultimately got disappointing, especially on these mythology episodes.  But maybe, just maybe, it’ll make more sense if I can follow along in the here and now and not on a less-than-weekly basis since it’s not like every episode was linked to the conspiracy.  That would be nutty given how many episodes were Monster-of-the-Week installments.  There was a conspiracy/mythology episode maybe once a month or so at most depending on how often the series went there.  Watching and writing these episodes up at a four or five episode a week basis means I may be able to keep track of who all these anonymous weirdos Mulder and Scully keep running into are.

I mean, I know who Deep Throat is!

And he’s dead by the end of this episode.  Who was he?  What did he want?  I don’t know.  Scully kept asking those questions and Mulder finally decided to listen after a weird case where a guy got into a high speed car chase with the police, got shot, and fell into the water only to emerge kinda fine three days later.

Wait, are they looking for Aquaman?

Nah, I should be so lucky.  Regardless, the man in question was a scientist with a health problem that was put by a scientist buddy of his into a, let’s say, clinical trial where he was injected with alien DNA and became a human/alien hybrid, perhaps the first to survive.  Yeah, those guys, the ones who give off noxious chemicals and gases if their skin or bloodstream gets pierced and never quite know when to die.  There’s the Crew Cut Man, a big bozo who is basically a Man in Black assassin or something.  Mulder looks too deeply, and then Scully has to sneak into a lab by announcing her actual name and employer to get a frozen alien embryo and trade it for Mulder.  Or Deep Throat will, and he’ll get shot to death for it.

You know, if he carried a wallet, they could have maybe checked it for an ID.  Just sayin’.

Oh course, Scully was starting to come around at this point, but I’m sure she’ll be back to her skepticism in season two when the pair are sent to work in other parts of the FBI since Skinner shut them down.

Now, admittedly, I am a bit confused how Scully was able to get the frozen alien embryo to trade for Mulder.  Didn’t those shadowy government agent types already have it?  I mean, if Scully can get her hands on one with minimal instructions from Deep Throat, I would think that they maybe needed better security or something.  Or it may not matter as the Smoking Man puts Scully’s jar into a warehouse full of the things that probably includes the Ark of the Covenant.

Oh, and the agents were reassigned.  I’m sure that’ll last.