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PLOT:Scully asks Mulder for help regarding a case where victims are found dead within their locked rooms or offices and their livers are torn out.
"Squeeze" is a very important episode in many different levels. It was the first episode written by the writing team of Glen Morgan and James Wong; It was the first episode *not* dealing with UFO's or government conspiracies; It was the first "monster of the week" (MOW) episode; It showed the first time that Scully stood up for Mulder to another agent; It is the first time that Scully is put in danger and Mulder comes to her rescue; and it established that the show can be more than just "The Alien of the Week" episodes.
In the opening, we see that Scully is having lunch with a fellow Academy friend and agent, Tom Colton. He tells her about a bizarre case with three murder victims, no apparent point of entry and the victim's livers seemed to have been ripped out by hand. Through Colton, we see everything that Fox Mulder is not: career ambitious, fake charm, slick hair, by-the-book, and an ass-kisser. He will do anything possible to go up the Bureau ranks and tells Scully that she can go along for the ride if she so chooses. He feels that she was given a bum assignment to the X-Files. So he asks for her help on the case to give her a chance to get reassigned.
Scully is instantly caught between a rock and a hard place. Part of her wants to work in "more legitimate" cases, because of her original goal for working in the Bureau. Yet, she feels a certain loyalty to Mulder, who is still very much misunderstood by other agents. Scully knows Mulder's reputation for being "Spooky", yet she also knows as well as Colton of his uncanny and excellent ability as an investigator. She decides to take Colton's offer but has Mulder tag along as well.
From their initial meeting, Colton's disdain for Mulder is obvious, but Mulder takes it all in stride:
Colton: So Mulder, do you think this is the work of little green men?
Mulder: Grey.
C: What?
M: Grey. You said green men. The actual reticulan skin color is grey due to the lack of pigmentation and the need to eat human livers.
C: You're not serious are you?
M: Do you know how much liver and onions cost in the Reticulan Galaxy?
In this episode, we see and understand why other agents gave Mulder the nickname, "Spooky." Once he obsesses about a case, it literally consumes him. Though he uses basic investigative techniques, he doesn't hesitate in taking risks and coming up with supposedly outlandish theories to prove his point. He discovers a latent print that coincides with an earlier X-File with the same M.O. Scully is only starting to see what Mulder is capable of and is towing the line between reason and instinct.
Colton is thoroughly upset with Mulder taking over "his" case. He refuses to believe the explanation of Tooms as being a mutant that hibernates for 30-year increments while surviving by eating human livers. He tells Scully that he can pull her out of the X-Files to join his team. Instead, she establishes her trust for Mulder's instincts and investigative abilities by vocally ridiculing Colton in front of Mulder. In effect, she has chosen her path willingly and it's with the X-Files and Mulder.
To catch a killer from the past, they must go to the past. So Mulder and Scully, with new conviction, seek out the officer who originally opened the case of Tooms. They find his lair and see the trophies that he kept of his victims. Though Tooms may have been a mutant and needed the livers from his victims, he still emulated a serial killer, who kept trophies or momentos from those he killed. It's gruesome to think about, but they capture Tooms in time before he claimed his last victim: Scully.
For a first-time effort, Morgan and Wong wrote a tour-de-force scarefest of an episode. Doug Hutchison's portrayal of Tooms was eerie in that he established the character as "normal" to everyone. Only Mulder suspected the monster within. This episode was very reminiscent of "The Night Stalker" series in which Carter initially based the "X-Files".
Besides the fact that the episode proved the show could handle *any* paranormal phenomenon as a plot-line, we also get to see the growth of Scully as more than just an agent assigned to the X-Files. She takes a stand in Mulder's behalf forever risking her own reputation as well. She begins to rely on Mulder's instincts and establishes herself as someone he can trust. Thus, the Mulder/Scully dynamic is firmly entrenched.
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