With all our favorite shows taking their usual break in the summer months, this opens up an opportunity to watch some of our old favorites. That’s where the Multiversity Summer Binge comes in. Last year, I took a look at the entire first season of my favorite show ever, The X-Files and this summer, I’m back with a vengeance covering season two. The first season of this show was more of a prelude. It teased all the things that were to come and spent a lot of time doing the ground work. In the second season, the show really kicks into gear. Truth be told, of the 11 seasons, this is easily top three for me. I’m really excited to be writing about these episodes, particularly the middle of the season. This week, I’m looking at an episode I’ve been eager to write about for a long time. “Firewalker” is Scully’s first case since her disappearance and return but watching this will give you a major case of deja vu in the worst way.
1. The Premise
Scully is back and in her first case she and Mulder are off to Mount Avalon near Bend, Oregon. Dr. Adam Pierce, someone working on the Firewalker, a mobile robot at this mountain, comes to the two of them for their help. Firewalker is constantly broadcasting video and Dr. Pierce saw the dead body of the chief seismologist and a shadow, which he knows can’t be possible. The robot Firewalker then turns off and that’s what brings him to our favorite F.B.I. agents. He doesn’t want to go through normal channels with the risk that the whole thing could be shut down but things quickly go from bad to worse for everyone when Mulder and Scully arrive and discover that there’s a fungal infection festering here that can kill them all.
2. We’ve Seen This Already
“Firewalker” is basically the exact same episode as season one’s “Ice” and “Darkness Falls.” It’s closer to “Darkness Falls” than it is to “Ice” because at least “Ice” was directly paying tribute and acting as an homage to The Thing. “Darkness Falls” is a solid episode all on its own because at that moment, it was an original idea. There’s nothing original about “Firewalker” and it’s honestly garbage that this ends up being Scully’s first case back. The writing of Mulder and Scully is solid and I’ll talk about that but there is nothing worse than sitting down to watch something that you’ve seen before but this time there’s fire. It’s lazy and even the worst episodes of this show still feel like new ideas. Even the ending of this episode is the same as “Darkness Falls” and that’s absolutely insane to me.
3. Like Aliens, But Not Really
At the center of this whole thing is a barely keeping it together crew and a sort of spore thing that ends up being some kind of monster that bursts out of people like in Aliens. If you’ve already watched “Darkness Falls” then all the scares and anticipation here is gone. There are monster of the week episodes that don’t give a ton of explanations but this one is kind of built around science and the idea that this could be explained. Instead, it isn’t and we’re left feeling very cold about this plot and this supporting cast, who absolutely will grate on your last nerves.
4. “I’m Ready”
Scully is back in “Firewalker” and she’s ready to get to work as soon as possible. Scully coming back while Mulder worries about her is the best part of this episode and frankly the only reason to watch it. Scully steps into her old role very easily with no fear. This case is much more dangerous than their usual work but she takes it all on in stride. She almost dies about three times and narrowly avoids the spores at the end of the episode. Her trust in Mulder is still there but what returns is their back and forth that you really missed while she was gone. Mulder constantly confronts her about coming with him but he ultimately backs off and trusts in her and stops worrying about her as if she’s not capable of handling herself. Despite the episode being incredibly messy and a copy, this all works.
5. The Great Unknown
I sound like a broken record here but the similarities are just too hard to ignore but “Firewalker” has a similar ending to “Darkness Falls” and it’s one of the things I do like about it. To be fair it’s what I like about “Darkness Falls” cause it did it first. “Firewalker” ends with more secrecy than it began with as Mulder and Scully have to undergo a month quarantine after what they’re exposed to. Everything that happened at the mountain also gets completely covered up by the government with Mulder’s report being the only thing that exists from the events of those two days. I like this aspect of The X-Files because this plays into Mulder’s ongoing paranoia and distrust. The fact that there is stuff out there that exists but it’s purposely covered up makes my brain go into overload so I like when this happens on this show.
