| "Quagmire" | |||
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| The X-Files episode | |||
Fox Mulder and Dana Scully during an investigation |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 22 |
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| Directed by | Kim Manners | ||
| Written by | Kim Newton | ||
| Production code | 3X22 | ||
| Original air date | May 3, 1996 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of season 3 episodes List of The X-Files episodes |
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"Quagmire" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of The X-Files television series. "Quagmire" features Mulder and Scully investigating a series of deaths at a lake in Georgia that Mulder believes were caused by a "sea" monster, Big Blue.
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In Millikan County, Georgia, biologists Paul Farraday and William Bailey discuss the decreasing frog population. Bailey goes looking for a missing beeper and ends up getting dragged into the lake by an unseen creature and killed.
Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) drive down to Georgia to investigate. Scully is forced to bring her dog Queequeg with them due to the short notice. Mulder tells Scully that a Boy Scout Troop Leader has also disappeared near the lake. Scully soon finds that Mulder believes 'Big Blue', a dinosaur-like cryptid is responsible. The agents talk to Dr. Farraday and visit a local bait and tackle shop that sells Big Blue merchandise. Soon afterwards the half eaten body of the Scout Leader is found.
The bait and tackle shop owner walks through the swamp in boots, making fake dinosaur tracks but is attacked and killed. Mulder wants the lake to be closed but the local sheriff declines and says he doesn't have enough men to cover the 48 miles of shoreline. Two teenagers, previously seen in the episode "War of the Coprophages" head to the lake and see a diver attacked and partially eaten. Scully still is skeptical of Big Blue being the killer, thinking a boat propeller was responsible. A photographer, Ansel is also attacked and when the Sheriff feels something in the water after falling into the lake, he orders the lake closed. Scully takes Queequeg for a walk while Mulder looks at Ansel's photographs and the dog ends up running off and disappearing, becoming the latest victim. Mulder realizes that the Big Blue sightings have been occurring closer and closer to shore.
Mulder and Scully rent a boat and head out onto the lake, which is quickly struck by something and sinks. The two find a large rock to climb up on and talk for a while about Mulder's quest to catch Big Blue, and the book Moby-Dick. When Dr. Farraday walks by the two realize they're close to shore. Mulder thinks the drop in the frog supply has caused Big Blue to move closer to shore and seek alternative food sources. Farraday is soon attacked but manages to make it out alive. Mulder chases the attacker into the woods and fires at it, revealing it to be an alligator. Mulder is disappointed that the killer ended up being an alligator and not Big Blue. As the agents leave, Big Blue swims nearby in the lake, unnoticed.[1]
Darin Morgan provided assistance on Kim Newton's script for this episode.[2] Scully's dog Queequeg, which first appeared in the episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" was killed in this episode. Story editor Frank Spotnitz stated that the dog was brought back in this episode simply to kill it, seeking to incorporate it in an episode in grisly fashion.[3] Millikan County, where the lake in the episode is located, is named after casting director Rick Millikan.[4] Heuvelman's Lake is named after cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans.[4] Mulder's discussion about having a wooden leg in this episode is a reference to the book Games People Play.[4] The boat that Mulder and Scully ride on in this episode, the Patricia Rae, is named after the mother of director Kim Manners.[5] The episode was filmed around Buntzen Lake, north of Coquitlam, British Columbia and Pitt Lake, north or Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.
Director Kim Manners said of the episode "Not a great show, but a good one. It's a lighter show. There is a lot of humor in it, but I think it's a hit with fans because there is some wonderful Mulder and Scully's relationship stuff. The entire third act is just the two of them talking, which is actually kind of interesting.[6] The scene where Mulder and Scully talk while stranded on a rock included approximately 10 pages of dialogue. Gillian Anderson said of the scene "I loved that. That was so much fun, and I think it was written really well... It was just neat to have us separated from everything and stuck on this island where we could wax philosophical and kind of tell the truth to each other in strange ways."[7]
The scene of Big Blue at the end of the episode was originally intended to be a rubber sea serpent pulled through the water by a boat, but the producers were unhappy with how it turned out. They originally worked on enhancing the image digitally but were still unhappy with it so the entire scene was scrapped and Big Blue was created entirely by digital effects.[7]
This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.2, with an 18 share. It was viewed by 16 million people.[8]