The X-Files “Hungry”

OK, for this episode, there are guest appearances from That Guy TV actor Mark Pelligrino (I remember him best from Lost) and the original live action April O’Neil, friend to some Ninja Turtles, Judith Hoag.

But really, this one is about the bad guy.  More than usual.

The Case:  Creepy Feds!

The Rest:  Apparently, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were both making a movie (separately) about the time this episode was produced.  As such, Vince Gilligan decided to follow through on his sort of dream idea:  do the episode from the perspective of the Monster-of-the-Week.  Mulder and Scully (especially Scully) don’t appear in the episode much, and Mulder’s presence seems designed to make the Monster-of-the-Week, a guy named Rob Roberts who is apparently some kind of shark man.  His eyes go black.  His ears, hair, and human teeth are all fake, and he can shoot out a long probosces from his mouth in order to eat brains.  He’s just compelled to eat meat with brains being his preferred meal of choice.

He might have evaded trouble longer at his fast food job if it weren’t that he killed and ate the brain of a rude customer that showed up while he was trying to close up.

Actually, his job must have been pretty good considering the size of his apartment and the fact he could afford to go to a therapist (that’d be Hoag).

However, the dead man’s body had a clue on it, and given the nature of his death, that brings in Mulder and Scully.  Mulder seems to have pegged Rob from the start and keeps popping by and making loaded statements while Rob tries to find ways to control his appetite.  Scully, she thinks the killer is an ex-con co-worker (that’d be Pelligrino), but he just ends up being Rob’s next victim after he tries to blackmail the nervous guy into giving him some goods.  After that was the private investigator spying on Rob’s friendly, older neighbor, and then the neighbor himself when Rob just can’t control the hunger for meat anymore.

The therapist?  She just gives him a hug when he finally shows her his true face.

So, Rob does die by the episode’s end, suicide by cop when Mulder and Scully corner him, but I gotta say, watching Mulder at work from the outside, he comes across as kinda creepy.  His demeanor isn’t any different than usual.  He just keeps appearing at random to make these cryptic comments about what happened.  Mulder’s doing a Columbo  bit or something, but Rob is no irritated snob.  He’s spooked as it is and just wants to get out of this somehow.

The episode ends with Rob’s death, but man, this was another cool one.  Vince Gilligan’s scripts seem to be the most reliable for some of the more interesting concepts, but this is the guy who created Breaking Bad.  I probably shouldn’t be that surprised.

Up next, the end of a different show.