Deep Throat - S1 Ep2 (Part 1)

Hello fellow X-Philes!

Welcome to part one of my rundown of episode two of the first X-Files season. Deep Throat, but before we start….

FUN FACT

Whilst it’s not been confirmed, it is thought that the name of the episode, Deep Throat, comes from the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to reporters from the Washington Post in 1972. This information implicated the then US President Richard Nixon in what is known as The Watergate Scandal. The informant that is introduced in this episode is given the same pseudonym by Mulder and Scully.

We travel to Southwest Idaho, specifically near Ellens Air Base.  Many heavily armed military police officers are surrounding a house in what appears to be a quiet residential area. When a clearly distressed woman runs over, saying it’s her house. One of the officers confirms her identity, then tells her that her husband has violated base security and is believed to be armed. 

Soon after, the police storm the house and search the rooms, finding a man in the bedroom. One of the officers calls it in, a look of confusion, or disbelief on his face as he says they’re going to need a doctor. We wonder why this is until we see a man huddled in the corner, shaking. He is wearing just his underwear with what looks like a severe rash or burns all over his body. 

Queue Music

This is the first episode that we see and hear the now infamous title sequence, and the haunting music composed by Mark Snow.

We move from Idaho, back to Washington DC. Scully, with a new hairstyle from the pilot episode, is sat at the bar, reading something we can assume to be a case report. She checks her watch and looks around, clearly waiting for someone to arrive.

Seconds later, Mulder appears from out of nowhere, surprising Scully. He offers her a drink, which Scully turns down, saying it’s only 2pm in the afternoon. Mulder tells her he needs to show her something and suggests they find a table. Now, how they managed to do this in a packed DC bar at lunchtime, I’ll never know, but they do. As they walk off, the camera lingers on a man at the bar, who is clearly watching them. 

At their table, Mulder shows Scully a case file on Colonel Robert Budahas. Mulder tells her that he’s a military test pilot, based at Ellens Air Base, and that four months ago, he experienced a psychotic episode for which he had to be hospitalised. 

When Scully asks about his condition, he tells her that the military won’t comment on his status, his condition, or anything about him. Mulder explains that his wife hasn’t seen or heard from him in four months. When the military refused to answer her questions, she contacted the FBI and reported it as a kidnapping.

Scully asks why the military would want to kidnap one of their own pilots, which is when Mulder points out that Colonel Budahas is one of six pilots to go missing from Ellens Air Base since 1963. He adds that all the military will say is that those pilots accepted the risks of flying experimental aircraft. 

He has been tracking the Budahas case since he became aware of it, but there has been no investigation and the case has been shelved. Scully asks if this is linked to an X-File, as those are the only cases he is usually interested in. He says the case has a "paranormal bouquet" before excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Scully watches after him, releasing a big sigh. I like to think that she thought "Here we go again," or something similar.

Back to Mulder, he is washing up in the men’s room when he sees an older man watching him from near the door. It’s the same man we saw watching them from the bar. When he turns, the man tells him to leave the case alone, and that the military won’t put up with an FBI investigation. Mulder asks who he is, and is told that he can be of help, and has taken an interest in his work. He also says that he is in a position to know a lot of information. 

When Mulder asks again who he is, he just tells him that it’s not important, and that he is exposing himself and Scully to unnecessary risk, and that he should drop the case. They exchange a few more words before the man leaves. Mulder follows, but by the time he gets back into the bar, the man has gone. When Scully asks if he is okay, he shrugs it off and says he’s fine. 

We head to FBI HQ where we see Scully scrolling through microfiche. She stops on an article with the headline:

"Ellens Air Base Mecca for UFO Buffs”

Shortly after, she calls Mulder, who we assume is in his apartment cooking soup. They briefly talk about the case, and it’s clear Scully has some reservations and believes Mulder is leading her on a UFO goose chase. While they talk, Mulder hears some clicks on the line, and when glancing out of his window, he sees a man in a blue van parked outside. Clearly suspicious, Mulder tells her he will talk to her on the flight and ends the call.

Next stop, the Budahas residence. After the agents hear, but don't see, jets flying overhead, Anita Budahas opens the door and Mulder introduces himself as FBI

Anita tells them that she notices changes in her husband about two years ago. The rash started to develop, but they assumed it was a reaction to paint stripper, as they were renovating the house at the time. She then says he became unpredictable, and his personality changed, mentioning an occasion when he sprinkled fish food all over his food at a dinner party.

When Mulder asks about his work, she said it was never discussed. She says her husband was loyal to his country and now the military is treating them like strangers, adding that she just wants her husband back. Scully comments that the government isn’t above the law, and after some further probing, Anita says that one of her neighbour's husband went “kinda crazy” but he got to come home. 

Cut to a man who is working on bait for fly fishing, using his own hair. Scully and the man’s wife, Verna McLellan, watch on. She tells Scully, he has been like that for around two years, but as the wife of a test pilot, she just thanks god to have him home alive. Mulder asks her if anyone has been able to explain his condition.

She says that she assumes it’s stress, and the military has looked after him, offering his therapy and treatment. She turns to berate Anita for bringing the FBI to her house before leaving the room. Back outside her house, Anita gives Scully a list of numbers she’s called, and Scully tells her they are staying at the Beach Grove Motel if she needs anything. 

As they walk away, Mulder asks Scully, what she made of ‘Uncle Fester’ and Scully launches into one of her rational, scientific explanations before asking Mulder if he has heard of the Aurora Project. Scully tells him that the Pentagon has all but admitted to flying a sub-orbital spycraft over the Western US and posits that Budahas and the neighbour are washouts from that project, which Mulder dismisses almost immediately. 

Mulder and Scully head back to the hotel and start going through the list of numbers given to them by Anita. Mulder has no luck, and Scully says Colonel Kissell will meet with them, a week from Friday. Mulder scoffs at that, then grabs the phone book. 

Before you know it, they’re parked outside the Colonel’s house and approach him when he arrives home. When Kissell realises who they are, he refuses to speak with them and closes the door in their faces. Scully jokes that they still have the appointment when they are approached by a man identifying himself as Paul Mossinger. 

He says he’s a reporter for the local paper and lives near Verna McLellan. When he mentions Colonel Budahas, they walk off, but he follows them to their car, but Mulder refuses to comment on the case. Mulder asks him outright if he’s ever seen a UFO, to which he says he hasn’t. He then asks if he wanted to speak with a "UFO nut" where should he go. An exasperated Scully looks on, hands on hips as she rolls her eyes. 

Off we go to the Flying Saucer diner. Mulder and Scully are sitting at the counter as a jet flies overhead. The waitress makes some comments about the pilots, which causes them both to smile, and Mulder asks who the photographer is while indicating some photographs on the wall behind her.

The camera pans across and we see a lot of blurry images of supposed UFOs. The waitress tells them that they were taken by different people, but points to one that she claims to have taken herself from her back porch when she was taking out the garbage. 

She takes it down and passes it to Mulder, who glances at Scully, who just closes her eyes and shakes her head. She takes it from Mulder as the waitress tells them she is selling prints for $20 a piece. Mulder tells her to add it to the tab, causing Scully to lean in and call him a sucker, and I have to say, I am in full agreement with her. I mean, here’s Mulder, a very intelligent, educated man buying a grainy image of a triangle? 

Really?

Anyway, I digress. Mulder asks the waitress where he might get to see a UFO, which causes Scully to get up and say she’ll meet him outside. She’s clearly had enough. A few moments later, Mulder joins her, as she is trying to find the air base on a road map, but not having much luck. This time it’s Mulder’s turn to call Scully a sucker when he hands her a napkin, with a map and directions drawn on it.

Off our intrepid duo go, and the time we see is 6:04pm. They turn right off the main road, where they pass a sign, warning them they are entering a restricted military installation.

They drive alongside a gated fence, topped with barbed wire. Mulder stops the car and gets out, retrieving something from the boot of the car. Scully asks him what he hopes to see, to which Mulder replies he doesn’t know before heading off.

 Scully, obviously not happy, shouts to Mulder if the reason they’re there is to chase UFOs, saying it’s going to look great on her field report before she slams the boot shut. It seems Mulder has a habit of pissing off Scully, and we’re only on the second episode. 

Several hours later, it’s now dark and Scully is asleep in the car. There’s a low rumble, and the eyeglasses on the dashboard begin to move. A light appears outside, before the rear window of the car smashes, causing a now-stirring Scully to scream. An excitable Mulder comes to the car and opens the door, grabbing Scully by the hand and dragging her out of the car, telling her she needs to see something. 

The clock tells us it's now 9:13pm and the agents watch as two lights appear to dance in the night sky. Scully says they can’t be aircraft, due to their maneuverability. They discuss what they might be, with Scully suggesting lasers, before the two lights go upwards and then vanish. Another light appears, but Scully tells Mulder that it’s a helicopter. They look at each other before they see two kids appear out of nowhere. 

Mulder shouts out to them, but they run off, and the agents pursue them through the trees. They catch up to them, and the kids deny doing anything. When the helicopter gets closer, the four race off and hide amongst the trees. When it vanishes, Mulder tells the kids, they’re coming with them.

They take the kids to a diner, where they talk about what the kids were doing there, and they begin to tell Mulder and Scully about all kinds of rumours and stories that they’ve heard. It’s clear that Mulder believes them, but Scully is taking what they say with a huge pinch of salt as she just watches Mulder, watching them. You can almost see the major eye roll before it happens.

As they talk, a car pulls up outside and says that he has a twenty, meaning he has located whoever he is keeping an eye on. We discover his code name is Redbird, meaning he is clearly military.

The four of them continue to talk in the diner, with the guy telling Mulder and Scully what he thinks the lights in the sky are. He is so enthusiastic about what he’s saying, he even gets a smile out of Scully. Mulder takes out the photograph he bought earlier in the day and shows it to him, asking if what he saw looks anything like the photo. The guy tells him that what he saw looked exactly like the supposed UFO in the photo.

The following morning, the kids leave and Mulder and Scully talk in the car. Scully asks Mulder if he believes it all, and he asks why wouldn’t he? Scully points out that both of the kids were stoned and they would have told him anything he wanted to hear.

Undeterred, Mulder pulls out a file and shows Scully a photo that was alleged to have been taken in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. He goes on to say the Ellens Air Base is supposedly one of six bases where wreckage from the Roswell incident was shipped. Scully asks him if he’s suggesting the military are flying UFOs, to which he responds he thinks they’re flying planes made from UFO technology.

Scully stares at him for a moment before smiling. Mulder knows that smile means she’s not buying it, so he takes the photo he bought from the diner and compares it to the one allegedly taken at Roswell. Scully still dismisses it, saying he’s going out on a limb. Mulder asks her to tell him there isn’t a remarkable resemblance between the two photos, to which Scully asks him how he knows they’re even authentic.

They talk a bit more before Scully tells Mulder, he’s crazy, and none of what they’re discussing explains what happened to Colonel Budahas. 

Jump back to the motel, and Scully is in the reception checking their messages. She runs across the parking lot, and Mulder sees her. He opens the door, quipping that she's come to raid his mini bar, which is when Scully tells him they have a message from Anita Budahas.

Her husband is home!!!!

And that’s where we leave part one. Join me again soon for part two of Deep Throat. 

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