The 9 Greatest X-Files

Detour

Sometimes, agents Mulder and Scully happen upon great mysteries, purely by chance. Such is the case with episode four of season five, in which a tedious road trip to a dreaded FBI ‘team-building’ seminar is interrupted by a roadblock. Travelling with two other agents – whom Mulder finds intensely annoying – Mulder and Scully decide to investigate the problem that has apparently unfolded on this forested road.

What they walk into, is the search for Michael Asekoff (Alfred Humphreys) – a local man who disappeared in suspicious circumstances while hunting with his son, Louis (Tyler Thompson), and their dog. Louis reported hearing shots fired after his father instructed him to run away, following their discovery of a bloodied jacket. Local officer Michele Fazekas (Colleen Flynn) is at a loss to explain what could have happened.

Mulder and Scully take the opportunity to bail on the ‘team-building’ seminar and stay to help in the investigation. The Asekoff residence is attacked under cover of darkness, with the mother being lured away while a creature with red, glowing eyes tries to reach the child. Strange humanoid tracks on the property lead Mulder to conclude that they are searching for camouflaged, forest-dwelling creatures that are protecting their territory.

Further searches of the forest lead to confrontations with the creatures, and to Mulder and Scully being trapped in an underground chamber, with other victims. Here, they get their first, real look at the perpetrator when Scully shoots and kills it. As they are rescued, the agents discuss their conclusions – wrapping up another case in which there is no tangible evidence to be had. Mulder hypothesizes that the creatures are, in fact, descendants of the Spanish Conquistadors that settled in the forest long ago, and perhaps evolved into the creatures just seen.

Having no way of knowing how many of the creatures there are in the woods, Mulder becomes concerned about Scully’s safety in her motel room and, as they are leaving, we see a pair of glowing eyes under the bed…