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PLOT:While Mulder's apartment is being fumigated, he happens upon a New England town, where he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a cockroach infestation and attracted to a pretty entomologist.
An interesting premise of killer cockroaches would have made a very unusual, if not creepy, X-File. Yet, this episode, written by Darin Morgan, does not dwell on the little creatures themselves, but on human nature. Yes, that ever-present quality that we all possess, which can sometimes dictate the way we think, act or believe. It is that quality that can also make us act really stupid.
It only takes the first five minutes into this episode before we realize that there really is no X-File. It's the cockroaches that take center stage. People react to them, and the rest is hysteria. Morgan implements this very basic plot into an almost farcical campaign into lunacy as he takes the lead from "War of the Worlds" and the obvious references to "Planet of the Apes" as we are obviously into one hour-long hell of a ride.
Mulder and Scully wouldn't have even been involved if Mulder's apartment was not being fumigated. The irony is just beginning. Though very few X-Files work out well with the two main leads separated, they never seem to be apart as a phone call away is used as a clever device to tie them together. This is probably the first episode where they are not out on their latest case but are enjoying a typical weekend off. Scully is shown cleaning her gun, eating dinner in front of the TV , washing her dog, etc. Of course, "typical" is a mild word to use for our two heroes as they show that even off-duty, they really don't have anyone else to interact with but each other. The words "get a life" instantly pop into my head.
It would have been just another senseless hour of Mulder trying to help out a local Massachussetts town from "the creature of the week", but Morgan implements a little interesting sub-plot that dares not to be noticed: Bambi Berenbaum. Of course, the name just brings all sorts of jokes to mind, but the way Morgan uses her to cause an interesting rift in the Mulder/Scully dynamic is just brilliant. Bambi is even a doctor albeit an entomologist.
Though I'm not ashamed to say that Mulder & Scully belong together in the wide scheme of things, not one person who ever saw this episode can deny the attraction between Mulder and Bambi. Case in point: He is in the middle of being surrounded by cockroaches and in the middle of a conversation with Scully on his cell phone, then "I've got to go" comes out of Mulder's mouth and hangs up on her when he first meets Bambi. It's even more evident of his attraction when Scully calls him back and he instantly says "Not now" while lying to Bambi about how he always thought insects were interesting. This is really the first time you ever see Mulder "making the moves" on a female, since he sometimes acts less than flirtatious around Scully.
Consequently, not one person who ever saw this episode can deny the jealousy of one Dana Scully. The way Gillian Anderson has Scully saying "Her name is *Bambi*?" over and over in disbelief just had me laughing off my seat. Mulder, who can be so dense at times, doesn't realize this and rambles on about Bambi much to Scully's chagrin. I personally had to rewind the tape several times when Mulder started his little confession about hating bugs with "Can I tell you something, Scully?" The look on her face when she answered "Yeah, sure..." was absolutely precious. It was as though Scully was afraid that Mulder would tell her *everything*, which is NOT what she wanted to hear.
Bobbie Phillips plays Bambi with an attractive aloofness, much like Anderson does with Scully. Bambi allows Mulder go through the awkward attraction between the two, while she concentrates on her cockroaches. She even talks about bugs being an answer to the UFO question. Mulder would probably have laughed it off if Scully had said it, but when a drop-dead gorgeous entomologist tells him, well, it just seems....refreshing. ;-) That could explain why Scully, who up to this point had no interest to leave her abode and acted like a walking medical encyclopedia, suddenly can't pack fast enough to join Mulder when Bambi enters the equation.
By the end of the episode, we're not really sure if the cockroaches killed those people or it was what Scully surmised as accute medical conditions. But this time, the deaths were really not that important. It was the character study of our two favorite F.B.I. agents. Though I wouldn't want *every* episode to be a character study, it's nice to be reminded that they have more depth than what they normally show us every week. Darin Morgan is the only one I've seen able to pull this off (until Vince Gilligan), and it's a shame that Morgan didn't return for a fourth season.
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