20 March 2007

Season 2: Fresh Bones (2X15)

Writer: Howard Gordon
Director: Rob Bowman

Mulder and Scully respond to a request by Robin McAlpin to investigate the events surrounding the death of her marine husband Private Jack McAlpin in North Carolina. He is the second marine stationed at the Folkstone government processing camp for Hatian refugees to die in mysterious circumstances. The Marine Corp officially classified the deaths as suicides, but another marine stationed at the camp, Harry Durham attributes the deaths to a voodoo curse.

Mulder and Scully travel to the camp and interview the base commander Colonel Wharton. He tells them that tension has been high in the camp since a young Haitian boy was killed during a riot. He blames the whole situation on a Haitian revolutionary, Pierre Bauvais who is being held in a camp cell. Scully is given permission to carry out an autopsy but McAlpin's body is missing. However as she and Mulder drive away from the camp, she narrowly avoids running down McAlpin walking in the middle of the road.

Tests on McAlpin reveal trace amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in his blood stream, leading Mulder to conclude that someone injected McAlpin so that he would appear to be dead. When Durham makes a claim that Commander Wharton has sanctioned the beating of the refugees in retaliation for the men he lost during the invasion of Haiti, the situation is further muddled. In the charged world of voodoo curses and zombie soldiers Mulder and Scully search for the truth behind the deaths.

Notes:
When Colonel Wharton peforms his voodoo ritual at the end he says in French: "To the spirits of the stars. The spirit of the moon".

Near the beginning of the episode as Mulder and Scully are walking into the refugee camp, one of the refugee actors breaks character by trying to suppress a smirk right as he's about to go out of the camera's view.

Doesn't Private Dunham seem a bit short for a marine? He's just a bit taller than Scully.

The X-Files sometimes uses the same establishing shot in two different episodes. In "Fresh Bones", just after the opening credits, the shot of the road that Mulder and Scully are driving down is stamped as "Highway 10, Folkstone, North Carolina". In "Aubrey", three episodes earlier, the same shot is used the first time Mulder and Scully go to visit Cokely, and the stamp says "Highway 377, Missouri/Nebraska border".

Quotes:
Mulder: What do you know about zombies?
Scully: Well I hope you don't intend to tell Robin McAlpin that she married one.

Mulder: I was surprised to get your card. I had assumed our last contact... would be our last. Why are you here?
X: Your investigation is faltering, Agent Mulder.
Mulder: I've got a renegade Marine who may be violating every human rights provision...
X: These people have no rights. In 24 hours all access to Folkstone will be restricted to military personnel. No press, no third-party monitoring.
Mulder: What about Scully and me?
X: You'll be called back to Washington on a priority matter.
Mulder: They're making the camp invisible. Why?
X: In case you haven't noticed, Agent Mulder, the Statue of Liberty is on vacation. The new mandate says if you're not a citizen you'd better keep out.

Episode Number: 39
Season Number: 2
First Aired: Friday February 3, 1995
Production Code: 2X15

No comments: