The X-files

F. Emasculata
Episode: 2X22
First aired:04/28/95
Written by: Chris Carter and Howard Gordon
Directed by: Rob Bowman

A freaky episode.

Dr. Torrence, while collecting insects, finds the carcass of a wild boar with horrible boils on it. One of the sores bursts splattering him with a puslike substance. The doctor radios for help but he is now covered in the sores. Rangers find him as vultures pick at his body.

A prisoner, also named Torrence, receives a package with a bloody pig’s leg in it. 18 hours later he is quarantined with boils covering his body.

Suspicious of the strange happenings, two convicts, Steve and Paul, escape. Mulder and Scully are brought in to assist in their manhunt but they wonder about the quarantine conditions.

Scully talks to Dr. Orborne from the Center for Disease Control who tells her that 14 men have been infected with a flu-like illness and 10 of them had died. Scully discovers that the dead mens' bodies were being incinerated. One of the sores on a dead body breaks open and gets on Dr. Osborne recoils in horror.

Scully finds a dead insect in one of the sores and finds that the package was sent by drug manufacturer Pinck Pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, Mulder follows the convicts who have been hiding in the house of Paul’s girlfriend,. Both are already ill and Steve infects her. Mulder and agents find Steve dead and Paul gone.

Osborne admits that he works for Pinck, not the CDC and was financing exploration of new rain forest species and received samples of the parastoid F. Emasculata - a bug carrying the disease-causing parasite, which attacks the immune system.

Mulder talks to Skinner and tells him they have to warn the public. The Cigarette Smoking Man says that they must control the disease by controlling information and preventing panic.

Scully tests her own blood to make sure she’s not infected. She comes back to see Dr. Osborne among the dead bodies. One of the medical workers tells her that no one will believe her story.

Mulder talks to Paul’s girlfriend who admits that he boarded a bus leaving for Toronto. Scully warns Mulder that this convict may be the only evidence of the disease.

Mulder finds the bus but Paul notices him and takes a boy hostage. Suddenly Paul is shot and killed by a sniper and Mulder and the boy are whisked away by a quarantine group.

Mulder wants to go public but Skinner says to leave it alone and that it is just the beginning.


Important Quotes:
Scully -- "According to the briefing, prisoners escaped by hiding in a laundry cart."
Mulder -- "I don't think the guards are watching enough prison movies."

Mulder -- "I thought this was about escaped prisoners..."
Scully -- "It is."
Mulder -- "Then who are the men in the funny suits?"

Scully -- "Where are you going?"
Mulder -- "To see if I can get in the way."

CSM -- "The truth would have caused panic. Panic would have cost lives. We control the disease by controlling the information."
Mulder -- "You can't protect the public by lying."
CSM -- "It's done every day..."

Scully -- "There'll be a time for the truth, Mulder, but this isn't it."

Skinner -- "Agent Mulder. I'm saying this as a friend. Watch your back. This is just the beginning."


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