The X-files
Detour
Episode: 5X04
First aired:11/09/97
Written by: Frank Spotnitz
Directed by: Brett Dowler
A great episode, very freaky.
Some worthy notes:
Jeff Glaser is played by
Anthony Rapp, who played
Mark in the original production of
Rent.
Scully actually sings in this episode. The chosen song --
Jerimiah Was Bullfrog.
Mulder and
Scully investigate when several people disappear in a remote region of
Florida and come across unexplained happenings in the forest.
Two surveyors walk through
North Floridan forests, mapping out an area and talking on
radios. The talk about the destruction of the forset in preparation for some sort of strip mall. One of the surveyors notices something on the ground and upon further investigation sees a glowing pair of
red eyes and begins to scream. His friend looks through the
telescope but can't see him and begins to run. He hides behind a log but sees the eyes too, screams and disappears.
A father and son walk, the next morning, with their
dog in the same area. The father sees a bloody jaket and hears rustling in the trees. He instructs his son to run home with the dog, which they do. The son hears two
shots from his father's
shot gun, behind him as he runs.
Mulder and Scully are with fellow agents Kinsley and Stonecypher as they travel to Florida to take part in an
FBI creative team seminar with Mulder making
dead pan jokes about. They come across a
road block and are stopped by a
State Trooper. Mulder leaps out of the car, glad for the change and sees if he can be of any help.
Talking with the local
Search and Rescue Leader, Michele Fazekas, Mulder becomes even more interested after she explains that three men have
disappeared without a trace in the local woods and strange tracks have been discovered that can not be
identified as man or animal.
Mulder convinces Scully for them to stay and look into the case. They book a
motel for the night.
The young boy at the beginning claims that he was chased in his home by an invisible man with
red eyes. Scully laughs at this claim pointing to the horror film the boy had been watching: "
The Invisible Man." However Mulder finds tracks at the house and links the current case to an old
X-file from the 1950's when a town in
West Virginia was terrorised by primitive looking men with red eyes who the locals dubbed '
moth men.'
Mulder is convinced that the attacks are in response to local
developments encroaching on the woods and that there are these moth men out there.
Mulder and Scully join Michele and Jeff Glaser, the tech head guy, they march into the forest. Using
infared, they spot two creatures in the brush moving in opposite directions. The group
splits up and chase after the creatures. Michele disappears behind Scully and Mulder, Scully, and Glaser now are seriously worried. Mulder realizes that the creatures
deliberately separated the group into
two units, allowing for easier access to the leader, Michele. The group
embarks on a rescue mission to find Michele and the other people who are missing.
The group finds themselves lost and the creatures make another appearence. Mulder chases after one of them under Glaser's infared
instructions. Mulder opens fire but does not hit anything. Glaser runs away, terrified, and is caught, supposedly by the moth men, and disappears.
Mulder and Scully now walk together but Mulder is suddenly yanked downward but
struggles to remain on top of the ground. Scully opens fire on what caught him but doesn't hit anything. Mulder is
wounded and in
shock. Scully does her best to keep him warm as
darkness falls (a really cute scene where Scully actually sings).
The next morning, Scully searches for food but falls down into a cave. Inside the cave Scully discovers Michele and the father, both
barely alive but strapped to long poles. Scully realizes she is not alone seeing one of the creatures nearby. Mulder tosses her his
gun but jumps in after her when he realizes the other
creature is near him.
Scully opens fire on one of the creatures and kills it. They look closer and see the "
invisible man." Kinsley and Stonecypher arrive and call for help.
Mulder notices the words "
Ad Noctum," or "
into darkness," carved into one of the poles. He points out that
Spanish conquistadors carved warnings on posts in the same manner... then notes that
Ponce De Leon sought the
Fountain of Youth in the area 450 years earlier. He concludes that the predators perceived humans as a threat to their territory, and acted accordingly. Stonecypher notes the creatures would pursue anyone who had entered the woods. Fearing the worst, Mulder suddenly rushes to Scully's motel room since she had gone to get them packed. He finds his partner safe and sound, and the pair leave the area. Staring out from beneath Scully's bed, however, is a pair of
glowing red eyes.
Important Quotes:
Scully -- "Mulder? We’ve got this
conference. They’re waiting."
Mulder -- "Yeah. How do I say this without using any
negative words, Scully?"
Scully -- "You want me to tell them that you’re not going to make it to this year’s
teamwork seminar."
Mulder -- "Yeah, you see that? We don’t need that conference. We have
communication like that, unspoken. You know what I’m thinking."
Mulder -- "
Who cut the cheese?"
Scully -- "Since you won’t be making it to the conference ...."
Mulder -- "Partaaayyy!"
Scully -- "However, I must remind you this goes against the Bureau’s policy of
male and female agents consorting in the same motel room while on
assignment." (opens
wine)
Mulder -- "Try any of that Tailhook crap on me, Scully, I’ll kick your ass."
Glaser -- "Well, that’s what happens. People get to looking around, next thing they know, something eats ‘em."
Scully -- "You were an
Indian Guide. Help me out here."
Mulder -- "Indian Guide says maybe you should run to the store and get some
matches."
Mulder -- "I was told once that the best way to regenerate body heat was to crawl naked into a
sleeping bag with somebody else who’s already
naked."
Scully -- "Well, maybe if it rains
sleeping bags, you’ll get lucky."
Scully (singing) "
Jeremiah was a bull frog ... was a good friend of mine. Never understood a single word he said...
Mulder -- "
Chorus."
Scully -- "Joy .... to the world. All the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea.
Joy to you and me."
Scully -- "
There has to be a scientific explanation for this."
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