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Five Thoughts On The X-Files‘s “Ice”

By | July 4th, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

With summer quickly approaching, pretty much every show worth watching is coming to an end. That makes the summer the perfect time to binge watch what you missed along with some old classics. That’s where the Multiversity Summer TV Binge comes from. One of my personal favorite shows ever is The X-Files, and it is my mission in life to make everyone ever watch it. This summer, I’ll be looking back at season one. This week we look at “Ice,” and early classic for this series.

1. The Premise

“Ice” begins with a huge murder suicide at a scientific outpost in Alaska. For some reason, all the scientists took part in this horrific act and the F.B.I. has been called in. Mulder and Scully are accompanied by a pilot named Bear, Dr. Hodge, geologist Dr. Murphy and toxicologist Dr. Da Silva. Once there, they have to figure out why this happened and if it’s something they can prevent. “Ice” is partly genius because it does involve a very simple idea that becomes something far bigger and it has the space to explore so much great character stuff because the premise is simple.

2. Influenced But Not Copied

It becomes very obvious, very quickly that “Ice” is influenced by John Carpenter’s The Thing. However, despite this influence, “Ice” really stands on its own because it is written for Mulder and Scully. It is written with them at the center of this and in the end, you know that they will make it out alive and in tact. This forces the story to move away from homage because what works for The Thing doesn’t necessarily work for these characters and that’s why it succeeds.

3. And Then Things Get Weird

Shortly after arriving at the outpost, things get really weird and tense very fast. One of the things “Ice” does very well is settle into the plot and atmosphere. Like any good thriller, things never feel okay right from the get go. There is a sense of uneasiness the moment we see the aftermath of what happened to these scientists. Nothing ever feels right and when this group steps into the lab, that uneasiness rises. As the story goes on, we’re shown that this is being caused by a parasitic worm that doesn’t act like a usual parasite. It attaches to the brain, causing violent reactions and this is when things get dicey in such a truly amazing way.

4. When Paranoia Takes Over

“Ice” is basically defined by the paranoia infused into the episode. Very quickly it becomes apparent that no one can be trusted but the real interesting mistrust is between Scully and Mulder. It’s still so early in this series but it’s very apparent how deep this relationship goes on a professional level. “Ice” almost deconstructs that as they stand on opposite ends on what to do about this parasite and they don’t trust each other when what this parasite causes becomes clear. This makes for great drama but what makes “Ice” special in regards to building this relationship is the way that they get over this. They work their way back to each other and overcome paranoia and mistrust. These two are intelligent and deeply respect each other and as I’ve said over and over, the biggest reason The X-Files works is because of the Mulder/Scully relationship. This is a perfect early example that can be used to define it.

5. Somber Ending

One of the things “Ice” does is put a limit on Scully’s inquisitive nature. Scully is a scientist and an investigator and because of this, she’s not the kind of person who backs off of something before she gets to the bottom of it. At the end of “Ice,” Scully has hit a limit. After the site is cleaned out by the government, Mulder says that the parasites are still underground. Scully says to him that they should stay there. There’s a real fear in that statement and it’s not something we see from her very often but what works here is that it doesn’t feel out of character. Scully is motivated by different things but she also acknowledges that maybe there are things in this world that we should leave alone. If anything, this episode actually makes her look like the more intelligent one in this pairing (she is, by far) and it also forces her to acknowledge that there are things like this that exist in the wild. Mulder might not be so crazy after all.

“Ice” is one of the most highly regarded “monster of the week” episodes. What do you think of it? Come back next week as we look at “Space.”


//TAGS | 2017 Summer TV Binge | the x-files

Jess Camacho

Jess is from New Jersey. She loves comic books, pizza, wrestling and the Mets. She can be seen talking comics here and at Geeked Out Nation. Follow her on Twitter @JessCamNJ for the hottest pro wrestling takes.

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