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S01.E03: Squeeze

HalcyonDays

By HalcyonDays
in The X-Files [V]

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joelene

joelene

Eugene Victor Tooms - what an icon! It's kind of surprising that the first monster of the weekisode is about a man who elongates himself to crawl through air ducts and eat livers to hibernate for 30 years, instead of something standard, like, ghosts or werewolves ('course these showed up soon enough thanks to season 1's everything but the kitchen sink approach). It showed a flair for originality.

Fantastic episode. And runner up in our elimination game!

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queequeg

queequeg

This may prove to not work well, but I'm live posting as I watch...  so here goes...

 

Oh the creepy, crawly sound effect... I love it!  What happened to that later on?  I feel like it only got used in a handful of episodes in Season 1, but then that's it.  It's so classic. 

 

Colton is such an ass.  Maybe she wants to be Mrs. Spooky, huh Tom?   And, oh Mulder... "I have a reputation?!"  "Do you think I'm spooky?"  And Mulder's spiel about reticulans.  He's such an endearing dork; although, my heart breaks for him a little bit too that he's treated with such disregard.  And the "...sometimes the need to mess with their heads, outweighs the millstone of humiliation." 

 

a015A.jpg

 

I think what really strikes me about this episode, aside from Tooms just being a really awesome iconic X-Files "monster," is that they finally feel like partners in this episode.  Scully has decided to stick with him, she's not just there to complete her field reports, and Mulder seems to recognize and acknowledge that. They're a team now!  Daaaawwww.

 

But how is it that Tooms can't get out of those handcuffs? 

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joelene

joelene

Hah, never thought of that. Maybe he can but his process seemed to take some effort and with M/S standing right over him he might've thought it wasn't worth trying. They'd just shoot him.

I like that none of the victims we saw Tooms stalk were women. That's usually the case in these tv situations. Instead we had two middle aged men. They could've shown him stalk and kill that young girl they mentioned had been a victim (in her bedroom, I believe), but they didn't. Made me think how much I appreciate that The X Files rarely tried to be "sexy".

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HalcyonDays

HalcyonDays

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I like that none of the victims we saw Tooms stalk were women. That's usually the case in these tv situations. Instead we had two middle aged men.

 

Maybe because the older gentlemen had more fatty livers, and therefore much more tasty (read: fois gras). God, I grossed myself out typing that...

 

This is a great episode - one of my favourite. Tooms is perfectly creepy (Doug Hutchison did a good job)  but then can swing to young and seemingly innocent. Mulder almost being in his head, knowing exactly what Tooms was doing.

 

Mulder really is a dork hidden behind the fine form of David Duchovny. But that is what's endearing and very admirable about him - he has his beliefs and won't let peer pressure shoot them down or change them. I love that about Mulder. And Scully sticking by Mulder's side - awesome. Especially her shooting down Colton. Great episode.

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janestclair

janestclair

Mulder really is a dork hidden behind the fine form of David Duchovny. But that is what's endearing and very admirable about him - he has his beliefs and won't let peer pressure shoot them down or change them. I love that about Mulder. And Scully sticking by Mulder's side - awesome. Especially her shooting down Colton. Great episode.

 

I was going to say the same thing about Mulder. He could care less about what other people (aside from Scully) think about him.  I love how he messes with Colton about Reticulans in Usher's office. 

 

I love that this is only the 3rd episode of the entire show. It showed that it was about more than aliens and government conspiracies.  Tooms was creepy as hell, and perfectly played. 

 

I do have a couple of minor nitpicks, though.  Scully's obvious plot device necklace was obvious, even though that scene was pretty excellent.   Something about the timeline of the murders was wonky - just how old was that sherrif supposed to be? He looked pretty spry for a 90 something year old, unless my math is wrong.  Why exactly DID Tooms go back to the office building?   

 

All that aside, awesome episode, and one of my favorites from the season, and probably the series as well.

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Taryn74

Taryn74

The more I rewatch this show the more I wish I could have seen some of these episodes live for the first time, in order.  Squeeze is one of them, mostly because it would have been nice to see their relationship evolving as it happened rather than in retrospect.

 

Doug H. REALLY brings the creepy.  Eugene Tooms is right up there with Donnie Pfaster IMO.

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GirlyGeek

GirlyGeek

(edited)

I'm late to post here, but I've been meaning to ever since I started my re-watch.  I have the greatest story about Doug Hutchinson and this thread reminded me that he was awesome.
My first real convention experience was 1996 in Burbank(ugh, might've been Pasadena con, I can't remember and I was too young to drive there)  LOL
Me and 3 friends were driven there for an overnight stay and 2 days convention. We were 14 or 15.  However, 2 of my younger sisters snuck into the back of the van and it wasn't for many, many miles that they jumped out and surprised even my mom.  So... they got to come with us, last minute.
We had pre-bought tickets and I believe it was sold out.  So they couldn't go into the convention.

BUT, they were hanging out in the lobby of the hotel having lunch when Doug Hutchinson walked by and saw them.  They had XF shirts on so that they would not be out of place.  He asked them what they were doing away from the Convention and they told him they didn't have tickets.

 

So, Doug H walked them up to the ticket office, bought them both *better seats than we even had* and got them in for the weekend (with my mom of course. )  And took photos with all of us.

Later that day in the convention, my sister got called on stage with Nic Lea and was the beneficiary of a signature and a kiss on the cheek.  I was *so jealous!*  LOL

 

Still makes me laugh.  For the rest of the weekend, Doug H would chat with us and my mom and was super cool.
Just wanted to share.  :)

To this day, my sisters remember Tooms and these episodes as super creepy! Doug H was great as this monster

Edited by GeekGirlnb
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mledawn

mledawn

Just went through the thread again due to the rewatch. I did see these episodes live, and this one scared the crap out of me. I'm not much for horror so it begs the question how I became an XPhile from the hop, but wow.

 

AntiBeeSpray, if you haven't seen the show Terriers, you need to check it out. Sadly only one season but Donal is great in that, the writing is terrific.

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AntiBeeSpray

AntiBeeSpray

Just went through the thread again due to the rewatch. I did see these episodes live, and this one scared the crap out of me. I'm not much for horror so it begs the question how I became an XPhile from the hop, but wow.

 

AntiBeeSpray, if you haven't seen the show Terriers, you need to check it out. Sadly only one season but Donal is great in that, the writing is terrific.

 

Thanks for the rec, mledawn! Will have to check it out.

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SparklesBitch

SparklesBitch

I hope it's okay to resurrect such an old topic, but I just watched this one again.

 

Eugene Victor Tooms remains one of my most favorite X-Files monsters ever (so deliciously creepy!), and this episode is one of the ones that make me wonder what the hell my parents were thinking when they let me watch this at the ripe old age of nine. =)

 

That being said, I still love this one from beginning to end. Mulder is so genuinely excited about this case, and he's such a lovable dork. Scully defending him to her academy friends is the best, and Tom Colton is a major jerk. The exchange between him and Scully when he gets their stakeout canceled is one my my favorite Scully moments ever. "Then I can't wait 'til you fall off and land on your ass!"

 

This episode also reminded me that nearly 23 years later, I still want Scully's claw foot bathtub.

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wanderingstar

wanderingstar

A few years back, I started a full-series re-watch, but I got stuck at this episode. It still scares me so much. I started watching it, and within 20 minutes, I was sneaking looks at my radiator to make sure nothing was squeezing through it.

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