The X-files
Pusher
Episode: 3X17
First aired:2/23/96
Written by: Vince Gilligan
Directed by: Rob Bowman
This is one of my favorite episodes. Just wonderful and so interesting!!
A guy is arrested in a supermarket while buying high-
carbohydrated
body building drinks. He talks to the
FBI driver in a soothing voice until the oncoming truck the driver is looking at simply vanishes. The driver pulls foward seeing nothing in his way and the truck crashes into the car allowing the guy to escape.
The surviving
agent tells
Mulder and
Scully about the suspect, known only as
Pusher, who has confessed to a string of murders that look like suicides over the past two years. The agent says that it was a game and that he was bragging.
Mulder sees the work '
Ronin,' a
masterless samurai, fingerprinted on a
police car at the scence and checks mercenary magazines, finding an ad that says "I solve problems. OSU" the
Japanese word oso meaning to push. Mulder notes that suggestion is a powerful force and the suspect may be bending people to his will. Scully, however, notes that there is a difference between
TV comercials or
hypnosis and inducing someone to drive in front of a truck.
Mulder and Scully stake out a pay phone listed in the
ad, and Pusher calls, daring Mulder to follow his trail to prove his worth. A
clue leads them to a
golf course, where under Pusher's influence, an agent douses himself in gasoline and sets himself ablaze as helpless Mulder and Scully look on. Mulder finds Pusher in a nearby car, weakened and bathes in sweat. He says to Mulder "Betcha five bucks I get off."
Mulder testifies at the hearing saying Pusher, whose name is Robert Patrick
Modell, talks people into injuring themselves. Seemingly swayed by Modell's power, however, the judge lets him go. Outside the
courtroom, Mulder tells Modell that his shoe is untied. "Made you look," he says, "how do you do it?"
They find that Modell had applied to the FBI and claimed to have studied under
ninjas in Japan. Scully maintains that Modell is just a little man who wants to feel big. Modell goes to the
FBI building to access information about Mulder, walking past the security gaurds by wearing a phony badge that says 'Pass.' when
Skinner notices him, Modell manipulates a woman into spraying Skinner with mace and kicking him repeatedly as Modell escapes.
The woman later says that it was like Modell was inside her head. Scully now agrees with Mulder's
theory. They raid Modell's
apartment, finding cans of
CarboBoost and
medication for
epilepsy. Mulder thinks that a
brain tumor may have given Modell
psychokinetic powers, and with
protien drinks replenish his energy.
Modell calls and talks to the main agent. The agent tries to stall so they can find Modell's location but Modell talks the agent into having a fatal heart attack. Mulder finally grabs the phone and Modell tells him that he's read into him and finds him a
worthy adversary.
They trace him to a nearby
hospital. Mulder goes in alone wearing a miniature camera. He hears shots and finds a technician and a gaurd dead, all of this Scully and Skinner can see through the camera. A computer monitor shows that Modell does have a
tumor. Modell appears behind Mulder and the screen goes black. Scully rushes in and finds them squared off at a table with a gun between them.
Modell talks Mulder into playing
Russian rouletter, pulling the
trigger at Modell then at his own temple before pointing it at Scully. Scully, extremely upset, tries to talk to Mulder saying "you're stronger than this, Mulder, fight him." She turns on an alarm, breaking Modell's
concentration and Mulder turns to Modell and shoots him.
Modell lays hospitalized in a
coma from which he'll never awaken. The tumor had been operable to the end, they have been told, but he refused
treatment. Mulder agrees that this was finally something that Modell could feel big. Taking his hand, Scully tells Mulder that they shouldn't let Modell take another minute of their time.
Important Quotes
Scully -- "Yes, but
advertise for what? I mean, how... how did this "Pusher" convince an otherwise honest deputy sheriff to free him? I mean, I'm sure you have a theory."
Mulder -- "
Suggestion is a powerful force. The science of hypnosis is predicated on it, as are most TV commercials. I mean,
they're designed to plant thoughts in your head."
Scully -- "Inducing someone to buy
hair color is a little different than inducing them to drive in front of a speeding truck."
Mulder -- "Hey. I think you
drooled on me."
Scully -- "Sorry."
Mulder -- "Hey, your shoe's untied....Made you look....How do you do it?"
Mulder -- "Oh, we had enough to get past a simple preliminary hearing. Modell psyched the guy out. He put the
whammy on
him."
Scully -- "Please explain to me the
scientific nature of the "whammy."
Mulder -- "Hey, Scully, check this out. "
Mango Kiwi Tropical Swirl." Now we know we're dealing with a
madman."
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