The X-Files “Blood”

Gillian Anderson was pregnant during this season, and it was known ahead of time she would be taking some time off.  Granted, it comes down to all of one episode, but I remember watching this one and noticing how much the show was trying really hard not to show Scully’s belly.  I mean, she seems to be wearing a somewhat roomy coat in the one shot that shows her whole body here…

The Case:  Project MK Ultra+!

The Rest:  So, aside from from that Gillian Anderson observation, hey, another recognizable character actor!  It’s William Sanderson!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in something where I didn’t like him!  And here, he’s a potentially murderous postman…wow, what a 90s cliché.

Then again, Wikipedia tells me the one female role with a decent amount of screentime is one Kimberly Ashlyn Gere, who apparently was a porn star who did some, let’s say, acting with her clothes on here.  So, is it possible for an actress who went that route to be known as something other than a porn star?

Anyway, for all that there’s a potentially murderous postman, he’s really a potentially murderous laid off postman, and that’s not why he cracks.  No, someone has been drugging people in a fairly well-off small town, causing them to freak out when subliminal messages that only they can see trigger the target’s natural phobias and turn them murderous.  Sanderson’s postman is afraid of blood, and he keeps seeing the stuff everywhere with messages to kill people that he can only resist for so long.  Gere’s character fears rape and murders a mechanic before pulling a knife on Mulder.  And he’s called in  when the local sheriff can’t make out why a middle aged businessman would kill four people in an elevator with his bare hands.  Turns out he was claustrophobic.

Scully gets involved on her own, flown in when Mulder gets crop dusted because, hey, turns out some unknown people are hitting people with chemicals that bring out their fears to murderous levels when subliminal messages are added.  The returning Lone Gunmen apparently had known about stuff like that, but those guys know everything but Scully’s phone number.

Frohike really wants Scully’s phone number.

Actually, two things about this episode.  First, people actually believe Mulder’s (actually correct) theory.  Even Scully doesn’t argue all that much once he puts the final pieces together.  Second, I really wanna know what happened to Sanderson’s character when the episode ended.  He did fire on people at a blood drive and killed maybe one person, but he was under the influence of drugs he didn’t know he’d been hit with.  He’s not really at fault, and I’m not even sure if he actually killed anyone.  Then again, what would his defense actually be in a case like that?

Well, I guess I may never find out.

Up next…that sneaky Krycek’s first appearance.