Season 8: Roadruners (8X05)

Written by: Vince Gilligan
Directed by: Rod Hardy

Scully travels to Utah, without Doggett, on a simple case. She found at the crime scene that at least a dozen people may be been involved and the body found there was on a man in his 20's with the spine of an 80-year old woman. She pulls up to a gas station in a remote town with a popular of less than 20 just to get directions and some gas. The store owner fills up her car and Scully goes on her way, only to have her car break down minutes later. She walked back to the gas station and found that the owner had put water in her car, apparently by accident.

Scully is sent to a nearby house to use a phone but the phone lines are also apparently down. Scully thinks this to be awfully coincidental and maybe more than that. She ends up staying the night at this man's house. The next morning, the man awakes her and says a man needs help. The man is seizuring and when Scully rolls him over, she finds some sort of point of entry at the base of his spine.

At a closer look, she sees that some sort of parasite and been set along his spine and gradually moving towards his brain. She tells the people they need to take him to a hospital but the townspeople say they don't have cars. When Scully and the man are alone, she says she thinks everyone here is involved in a cult and are dangerous so she gives the man her gun while she goes out to look for a car to get them out and to a hospital.

She finds an old building and starts looking around for a car when she is cornered by the townspeople and the sick man. She tells him that he had her convinced. Scully is captured and is made to watch while the town stones the sick man to death. They pull out the giant parasite, which looks like a slug, and the shove it up her spine.

Meanwhile, Doggett is getting worried about Scully's whereabouts so he travels down there to look for her. Scully is strapped down to a bed on her stomach, with this slug-like creature, who the town believes to be the second coming of Christ, crawling along her spine. She hears Doggett's car pull up outside and tries to scream but has cloth over her mouth.

Eventually, Doggett became suspicious and finds Scully. He had to carry her outside and towards the car but the townspeople found them so he hid in an old bus. Scully starts screaming that they can't let it get to her brain so he has to cut it out of her neck with a pocket knife. He gets it out just in time when the townspeople find them. He throws the creature onto the ground and shoots it repeatedly. They just stare in awe, not believing what just happened, and let Doggett carry Scully out of there. The next week, Doggett comes in talks to Scully. He tells her that the townspeople don't stand a chance in court. Then, Scully apologizes for not letting Doggett in on this case and that he should have gone with her.

Notes:
This episode is one of the most violent and bloody ever of the series. Critics said that in the absence of Mulder, the show was taking on a more gore-filled appearence.

In the Season 4 episode ''Never Again'', we see Scully getting a tattoo of a snake etched onto her back. However, when the townspeople lift up the back of Scully's shirt to put the parasite into her back the tattoo is not there.

Quotes:
Scully: Hey, it's Scully. Good morning.
Doggett: Good afternoon. I've been trying to reach you.
Scully: Well, actually, I'm out of town. I'm... north of Sugarville, Utah, roughly.
Doggett: Utah? What are you doing there?
Scully: The, uh, local coroner wants a consultation on a murder victim... a man who was found beaten to death in the desert. Apparently, his corpse shows some anomalous characteristics.
Doggett: Anomalous? How?
Scully: From what they're telling me, he is a, uh, 22-year-old backpacker who was last seen by his family about six months ago in perfect health. However, his body is now showing advanced signs of osteoporosis, arthritis, and kyphosis of the vertebrae. In other words, he's got a spine of a 90-year-old woman.
Doggett: Sounds anomalous, all right. You didn't need me to tag along?
Scully: Well, it was just a, uh, a simple consultation... and, uh... he called me over the weekend and I figured I wasn't going to bother you.
Doggett: Well, if there's anything I can do from here.
Scully: Well, actually, there might be, if you don't mind. Somewhere in our files... there is a, uh, an unsolved murder case. Unfortunately, I , uh, don't remember any of the particulars like where or when it took place, but I do remember that there were some glycoproteins found at the crime scene.
Doggett: 'Glycoproteins'.
Scully: Yeah, mucous... But it was, uh, unable to be identified, and seeing as how you, uh, recently read through all of our files I thought maybe it would ring a bell with you.
Doggett: Well, I don't have a great memory for mucous... but I'll be happy to look. Remember anything else?

Scully: Uh, can I ask what happened to your hand?

Gas Station Man: Aww... I was changing the blade on my bow saw. It's kind of gross.
Scully: Yeah. There was a, uh, murder out here last week about 15, 20 miles off the state road. Did you, uh, did you hear about it?
Gas Station Man: Yes, I did. It's scary.
Scully: Yeah. Well, you're going to want to wash this out. Put some iodine on it. You don't want it to get infected.
Gas Station Man: You sound like my mother.
Scully: Yeah, well, I also sound like a doctor.
Gas Station Man: Medical doctor?
Scully: Yeah. Can you sell me some gas?
Gas Station Man: Oh. Oh, I'd love to... but I'm all out. See, the tanker was supposed to be here yesterday but... well, I'm hoping for this afternoon. How low are you?
Scully: I got a... quarter tank, I think. I'll make it. It's all right.
Gas Station Man: I'd feel awful bad if you didn't. Hang on.

Sheriff Ciolino: It's Ciolino. We checked out the number you gave us. It's a pay phone a half-mile from the crime scene.

Doggett: Agent Scully must've just come from there when she called me.
Sheriff Ciolino: Looks like. I'm sorry. Still no sign of her.
Doggett: Are you canvassing? Talking to neighbours?
Sheriff Ciolino: Well, we would but there's no one to canvass. We're looking at a pretty desolate area. There's really nobody out there.
Doggett: All right, listen. You got help coming your way from our Salt Lake City office. I'm heading out there, too. There's a new angle we need to be looking at.
Sheriff Ciolino: What's that?
Doggett: That pay phone. Before Scully's call to me, the last call was placed on it was four days earlier, the night of the murder.
Sheriff Ciolino: Yeah?
Doggett: It was placed to a Juliette Gulatarski. Of Fort Collins, Colorado. She tells me it was her brother Hank. He was on his way for a visit. Said he was stuck in the desert, but would be there in two days. He never showed.

Scully: Hey. How'd you...? You had me convinced. I'm a Federal Agent! At this moment, the FBI is searching for me!

Female Bus Driver: They won't find you.
Mr Milsap: Talk to her.
Hank Gulatarski: Your life... is about to take a wonderful turn. You're going to become a part of something much, much greater than you are. You're going to be... so loved.
Mr Milsap: Amen. Amen.
All: Amen. Amen.
(Hank Gulatarski kneels down and the Female Bus Driver bludgeons hank with a hammer)
Scully: No! Ahh! You son of a bitch!
Mr Milsap: Amen!
Scully: You just murdered him!
All: Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
(The Female Bus Driver reaches into Hank Gulatarski's skull, removes a large organism from his brain and begins walking toward Scully with it)
Scully: No. No! I'm pregnant! No! No, don't do this! I'm going to have a baby! No! Don't do this! No! I'm going to have a baby! No! No! No! No!

Doggett: Ready to go?

Scully: Yeah, I'm ready to go.
Doggett: Grand Jury convenes today. All 47 cult members are sticking together. They're not offering up much defence other than that they're being persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Scully: They believe they worshipped Christ. That that thing was the second coming. Look, I, uh... I wanted to apologise. I left you out of this case, and that was a mistake on my part. It was almost a fatal mistake.
Doggett: It was. You screwed up.
Scully: And I won't do it again.
Doggett: I appreciate it.

Episode Number: 165

Season Number: 8
First Aired: Sunday, November 26, 2000
Prod Code: 8X05