| "Blood" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The X-Files episode | |||
Violent messages appear on electronic devices in "Blood". |
|||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 3 |
||
| Directed by | David Nutter | ||
| Teleplay by | Glen Morgan James Wong |
||
| Story by | Darin Morgan | ||
| Production code | 2X03 | ||
| Original air date | September 30, 1994 | ||
| Running time | 43 minutes | ||
| Guest stars | |||
|
|||
| Episode chronology | |||
|
|||
| List of season 2 episodes List of The X-Files episodes |
|||
"Blood" is the third episode of the second season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It first aired on September 30, 1994. It follows F.B.I. Agents Scully and Mulder's investigation into a series of killings in Franklin, Pennsylvania. All the suspects appear compelled to murder after seeing violent messages on electronic devices.
Contents |
The episode opens at a postal center in Franklin, Pennsylvania. Edward Funsch (William Sanderson) sits entering zip codes into a mail sorting machine. The machine jams and he nicks his finger on an envelope. He seems mesmerized by the small drop of blood. He sees the words "Kill 'Em All" on the machine's digital display.
At the Franklin Civic Center, a middle-aged man in a crowded elevator sees "No Air" displayed on the elevator's LCD. He is the only one who can see the message. Sweating and obviously claustrophobic, he again glances at the LCD. This time it flashes the words "Can't Breathe" and then "Kill 'Em All."
Agent Fox Mulder arrives at the civic center after what looks like a massacre. Bodies lie on the sidewalk and in the foyer. The local sheriff explains that the suspect murdered four people from the elevator with his bare hands. His rampage ended when he was shot by a security guard. Sheriff Spencer is mystified. Franklin is a quiet farming town. But in the last six months seven individuals have murdered twenty-two people. Mulder inspects the elevator and notices that its electronic display has been damaged. He examines the dead suspect, noting a green residue on the man's fingertips.
Agent Dana Scully reads Mulder's initial report back at Quantico. Mulder believes the Franklin incidents are spree killings but the suspects all seem to be normal people, unlikely to fit a criminal profile. The only connection he can see is that the suspects all destroyed an electronic device at the time of the murders.
Meanwhile, Bonnie McRoberts drops by a repair shop to pick up her car. A message on an engine diagnostic display warns her the mechanic is going to rape her. She becomes violent and kills him with a knife. When Mulder and sheriff Spencer question Mrs. McRoberts' the next morning, her kitchen microwave instructs her to kill them. She grabs a knife and attacks Mulder. Sheriff Spencer stops her with a bullet.
At Quantico, Scully performs an autopsy on Mrs. McRoberts' body. She discovers high levels of adrenaline, physiologically signs of phobia, and the same substance found on the elevator killer. She hypothesizes that the substance, when combined with other neurochemicals, produces a LSD-like reaction.
While Mulder and Scully build a case, Ed Funsch becomes more psychotic. He continues to see violent messages on electronic gadgets. Blood is associated in some way with each incident: An ATM displays "Kill 'Em All" after Ed notices a boy with a bloody nose. A volunteer asks Ed to donate blood at a department store. Seconds later, he sees violent images flash across a sales display of TV sets, followed by a message to get a gun from the sporting goods department.
While jogging, Mulder sees a city worker dump dead flies along the roadside. He takes a sample to the Lone Gunmen, who suggest that the flies have been sprayed with LSDM, a pesticide that invokes a fear response in insects. Mulder returns to Franklin that night and investigate an orchard. He's sprayed by a crop-dusting helicopter and has to go to the hospital. There, Mulder sees the message "Do It Now" on a TV. He realizes that when people exposed to the pesticide see these subliminal messages their phobias are exacerbated enough to cause them to kill. For Mulder, it's evidence that a controlled experiment is happening in Franklin.
A city councilman agrees to stop the spraying and blood test the community—under the guise of a cholesterol study. Neighborhoods are canvassed. A few names pop up on a list of people who have not been tested. Ed Funsch's is one of them. Mulder and Scully arrive at Ed's house to find it strewn with smashed electronic devices. A nurse collecting blood samples visited Ed's house earlier in the day. Mulder deduces that blood is Ed's phobia and that he's seen the subliminal messages. An empty rifle case signals that Ed is going to act on his paranoia if they can't get to him first. The hunt is on to find Ed before he becomes the next unwitting killer. Ed takes to a clock tower overlooking a blood drive and starts shooting at random people. Mulder overpowers Ed and Ed is seen being taken away on a stretcher. Mulder receives a phone call from Scully, while seeing a message that says, "All done. Bye-bye!" Scully calls out to Mulder but he is speechless.
The genesis of "Blood" was Glen Morgan's own hematophobia,[1] combined with the controversy over malathion spraying in Southern California and a note between writers Morgan and Wong that simply read "Postal Workers".[2] The 1966 shooting massacre at the University of Texas was the inspiration for the story's climax,[1] which was filmed in both the University of British Columbia and a replica of its clock tower's interior as no firearms were allowed on location.[3]
The episode marks the second appearance of the Lone Gunmen in the series, as well as a guest appearance by porn actress Ashlyn Gere. Gere plays Bonnie McRoberts, the woman driven to attack Mulder after seeing a subliminal message on her microwave. Glen Morgan joked that The X-Files was so cutting edge that they used an adult film star who was still working in the industry—an allusion to an NYPD Blue episode that guest starred retired adult film actress Ginger Lynn.[1]
"Blood" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.1, with a 16 share.[4] Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B+, considering that despite the "convoluted plot" the episode "pays off in white-knuckle tension."[5] Reviewer Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club described the episode as "a memorable episode, due in no small part to its humor", praising the "simultaneously absurd and frightening" story and William Sanderson's performance, and noting the ending was "the punchline at the end of Mulder's deepest fears, a group so secret that you never be sure they exist at all".[6]