This X-Files Episode Is Still One of the Scariest Office Horror Stories

Late successful The X-Files‘ 5th season—just a fewer weeks earlier the first X-Files diagnostic movie deed theaters—viewers were plunged into the terrifying madness of “Folie à Deux.” A weary Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) trudges to Chicago to cheque retired the latest “monster of the week,” but his caput snaps backmost into the crippled erstwhile helium realizes the monster successful question conscionable mightiness beryllium targeting him next.

Before it flips its attack to enactment Mulder successful its crosshairs, “Folie à Deux”—directed by X-Files regular Kim Manners, and written by aboriginal Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan—introduces america to Gary Lambert (Caprica‘s Brian Markinson), a alternatively mean feline moving a soul-sucking telemarking occupation for a vinyl siding company. The calls rhythm perpetually arsenic Gary reads from a precise publication and endures nagging instructions to “dial and smile,” each the amended to hook caller customers.

It’s dull and stressful but not precisely toxic—until Gary senses an alarming beingness lurking successful the office: a elephantine insect-like creature, masquerading arsenic his brag and turning his co-workers into remote-controlled zombies. It scares him capable to audio-tape a informing astir a monster stalking VinylRight employees, which is wherefore the FBI’s nonmigratory spooky kids Mulder and Scully (Gillian Anderson) get handed the case.

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But there’s hostility successful the FBI bureau too. Mulder and his ain boss, FBI Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), are enduring a surly spot successful their relationship—not for the archetypal oregon past time. Mulder’s annoyed the Bureau sees him arsenic “monster boy” (to beryllium fair, there’s a coagulated crushed for that), and tells Scully helium tin grip this “jerk-off assignment” by himself. But erstwhile helium flounces disconnected to Chicago, helium realizes there’s much to this lawsuit than helium realized, and helium does really request her help.

Meanwhile, Gary’s reaching his breaking constituent arsenic helium observes his co-workers systematically transforming into dead-eyed automatons. It’s each the paranoia of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, down to Gary being the lone idiosyncratic who realizes what’s going on.

Even the assemblage can’t archer if what Gary sees is existent oregon the effect of a precise troubled mind… until Gary takes the full bureau hostage, including a visiting Mulder. In the chaos Mulder realizes helium tin also spot that Gary’s brag is, successful fact, really a elephantine insect hellbent connected assembling an service of quality drones.

There’s a definite magnitude of metaphor astatine play here, arsenic Gary—who ends up being changeable to decease successful the standoff aft sidesplitting an “infected” co-worker—rails against a carnal who “wants to instrumentality distant who we are and power us.” It could beryllium a supernatural menace; it could beryllium capitalism. Actual quality telemarketers person been mostly replaced by robo-calls these days, but successful 1998 erstwhile the occurrence aired, everyone inactive had a onshore enactment and mostly picked up erstwhile the telephone rang. In a country crammed with cubicles afloat of radical each speechmaking the aforesaid transportation implicit and over, you tin spot however “dead-eyed automatons” isn’t excessively acold of a leap.

But this is The X-Files, truthful thing eerie ever has to creep in. Even Mulder is skeptical astir Gary’s claims astatine first, but immoderate doubts evaporate erstwhile helium catches a glimpse of the monster himself. “I saw it too,” helium confesses to Scully. She wonders if it’s possibly a folie à deux, meaning that Mulder was truthful affected by the acquisition of being held hostage that he’s present sharing Gary’s delusions.

But Mulder’s inclined to constituent to a larger conspiracy. Maybe Gary’s boss, the different unmemorable Greg Pincus (John Apicella), is really a manifestation of evil susceptible of utilizing camouflaging caput tricks to conceal its presence?

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Turns retired there’s immoderate past to backmost up this admittedly wild-sounding notion. Gary’s audio informing to VinylRight evoked the operation “hiding successful the light,” thing that’s popped up successful akin X-Files from the past. With immoderate digging, Mulder realizes Pincus has a geographical transportation to galore of the past incidents.

True to form, Scully doesn’t instantly hold with Mulder; what’s more, she’s not keen connected the thought of legitimizing Gary’s crazy-guy talk, particularly since helium murdered a feline connected the mode out. But Mulder is unusually sincere here. He adjacent begs Scully to judge him, since she’s his “one successful 5 billion”—the uncommon idiosyncratic who really understands wherever he’s coming from. But it takes an irregular autopsy for Scully to recognize that Mulder is right, and thing highly weird is so happening.

Along with this, an progressively furious Skinner wonders if this volition beryllium the lawsuit that yet sees Mulder booted from the FBI into a padded room—and Mulder does extremity up strapped down to a infirmary furniture astatine 1 point, frantically shrieking astatine the caregiver to acceptable him escaped truthful helium tin support himself from the zombie-creating critter.

By play five, X-Files fans had travel to admit Mulder’s highly open-minded mode of looking astatine the unexplained. But it’s not that far-fetched to ideate that aft years of not being believed, and years of witnessing immoderate of the astir bizarre discoveries successful the past of the FBI, his ain intelligence wellness would suffer. Maybe adjacent commencement to crack?

It takes Scully’s involution to admit that portion she can’t explicate precisely what happened, there’s capable factual grounds surrounding the lawsuit to corroborate that Mulder hasn’t gone afloat cuckoo. Skinner admits “I’m astatine a spot of a nonaccomplishment here,” but contempt his vexation with Mulder—which spirals into a carnal combat astatine 1 constituent successful the episode—he’s just capable to judge Scully’s judgement arsenic rational and reasonable.

At the extremity of the story, with a still-perplexed Scully suggesting possibly she and Mulder are the ones experiencing the folie à deux, we spot a caller telephone center, packed with anxious employees trying to “dial and smile” without losing their minds. Except, of course, there’s a classical X-Files fastener to push, arsenic 1 precise unlucky antheral abruptly catches show of what looks similar a giant, freaky insect scuttling astir the office.

The X-Files is streaming connected Hulu.

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