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 “Squeeze,” the first real monster of the week episode and a early fan favorite episode. As usual, there will be spoilers throughout.
1. Show Us What You Got
The first two episodes of The X-Files introduce the bigger alien mythology plot but there was never a chance that the show could be just that. It wouldn’t have gone the length it went because eventually, people would get tired of that. What Chris Carter and company decided to do with this series and part of why it is now so legendary, is that they took the police procedural and gave it a supernatural/paranormal twist. “Squeeze” is a one hour story just like the one you’d get in any episode of Law & Order, except that it involves a guy who eats livers, hibernates for 30 years and can literally squeeze into little tiny places to attack his victims. “Squeeze” had a lot to do in terms of setting the pace, tone and weirdness for this show and it does it very well. This is creepy in all the right ways.
2. Cops Are Dicks
“Squeeze” is also the first episode to introduce us to other F.B.I agents and unsurprisingly, they are jerks. Even as adults, many of these guys are bullies and Mulder is their target. Mulder has a reputation for being the weird kid, earning the nickname Spooky Mulder thanks to his dedication to the X-Files. When Scully is brought onto this case, Mulder follows and honestly does a better job than any of the other agents but is met with ridicule during the polygraph test and in other aspects of the investigation. Mulder is not respected and it’s really sad to watch this but all this does an amazing job at illustrating he and Scully’s place in the bureau. They are outsiders and cops are still big babies with guns.
3. Pick A Side
Dana Scully is the G.O.A.T. because in all this bullying and childish behavior, she gets pushed to take a side by a former friend played by a very young Donal Logue. As the investigation goes on, she becomes a really important part of it because of what she can offer forensically and in regards to her profiling abilities. As Mulder gets discredited and pushed out, we see just how much Scully cares for him on a professional level and continues to work with him and listen to him. Mulder at one point even acknowledges that they see things differently but she respects what he does as an investigator. It’s a hallmark of their partnership and bears repeating. Scully eventually remains with Mulder and they are the ones who put this all together in the end.
4. A Villain To Remember
Eugene Victor Tooms, played by Doug Hutchison, doesn’t have that much screen time but he’s so good with that time. Tooms is menacing in a very quiet sense. He’s not the guy you’d suspect to be this sadistic and violent but it’s there, in his eyes. His cold looks and uncaring reactions are pretty basic as far as telling us that he’s a serial killer but it’s still effective. He becomes instantly memorable in just one episode and is the early benchmark for what the weekly villains should be.
5. Fashion and Bad CGI
The X-Files was filmed in the 90’s and because of this the CGI is not very good. This is the point where this kind of technology is in its tween/teenage stage so it almost gets there but not quite. Tooms’ ability is very weird looking and kind of takes you out of how creepy it should be for the wrong reasons. It ends up looking creepy because the CGI is bad, not because squeezing into little spaces is creepy. Then we have the glory that is 90’s fashion and at more than one point, I considered getting Scully’s exact glasses. It’s good. Bring back 90’s fashion.
What do you think of “Squeeze?” Does it deserve its place as a favorite among X Philes? Let me know in the comments below!
