Season 1, Episode 3—Squeeze
“Is there any way to get it off my fingers quickly without betraying my cool exterior?” —Mulder, after coming into contact with bile.
A string of murders in Baltimore, Maryland, implies a certain X-Files motif after the bodies are discovered without their livers. What’s more bizarre is the fact the culprit is able to enter and leave each victim’s home undetected, and in some instances without unlatching the locks. Mulder is shunned by local agents after theorizing the killings are the work of a 100-year-old mutant with a penchant for livers—that mutant being Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchison), an animal control worker with the ability to squeeze his body through the narrowest of openings, such as inches-wide air vents.
The first of what would be known as monster-of-the-week episodes—any self-contained ep that doesn’t directly tie-in with the mythology/alien storyline—”Squeeze” is a terrific way of introducing audiences to the natural form of what the show was all about: superb dialogue, moments of humor, and some good, old-fashioned scares. Hutchison would become one of the show’s iconic poster boy creatures and delivers a cold, unnerving performance as Tooms.
Rating: 👽 👽 👽 👽
