S01.E08: Ice

[HalcyonDays]

Episode synopsis: Mulder and Scully are sent to investigate when a team of geophysicists, stationed at a remote Alaskan outpost, is killed by a parasitic alien life form.  Written by: Glen Morgan & James Wong. Directed by: David Nutter.

 

[joelene]

Just to put this on the front page.

Watched this a couple of weeks ago and guess what? Still great! The only thing not great is the CG worms. It's a pretty great homage to The Thing too, which is one of my favorite movies (the Carpenter version).

And the guest cast is so great. Xander Berkley! Future Oscar nominee Felicity Huffman! Jeff Kober! Kenny Banya! What other X-Files guest stars have won/been nominated for Oscars? Besides Lily Tomlin.

Edited November 11, 2014 by joelene

[Taryn74]

I watched it a couple of weeks ago too.  It's better than I remembered it being (just never have been able to get into it that much) but I kind of wish they had taken the time to get to know the others that were there with M/S a little bit better.  I didn't care about any of them, I don't remember their names or even what they look like.  I think that's why I have a hard time getting into the episode.

[joelene]

I think they were developed fine in the timeframe that was given, but I understand if people didn't think much of them. I think the actors did good with the material and sold the paranoia. I always chuckle at the end when DaSilva starts to shriek like the mad person she is.

[queequeg]

OK, just finished watching this.  While the other characters aren't that well developed, for some reason I really, really like Murphy and I'm sad they killed him off.  The other two, DaSilva and Hodge, I'm pretty meh about.

 

But overall I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this episode.  "We're not who we are" is just awesome and now that I've given up how awesome I think it is, I guess I can scratch that off my list of quotes to use.  lol.   Mulder continues to try to be a funny dork from "Bring your mittens" to checking Scully's ID to "Before anyone passes judgement, may I remind you we are in the Arctic."  He also throws out helpful non-encouragement to Scully such as, "Don't forget, the spots on the dog went away."  Um, yeah... thanks, Mulder.

 

Tundra Scully is adorable... and very, very short.

 

 

Scully continues to be badass in this episode from tackling Bear to ditching her arsenal of weapons (I guess she took Mulder's gun which is why she has two?).

 

Also, the tension between Mulder is Scully is off the charts in this episode.  I dunno what Chris Carter was going for with that storage room check each others back scene, but yeah.... that's not how you sell platonic, Chris.  Just sayin'.

 

This is also the first episode, even more so than previous episodes, where I feel it solidifies the us vs them of the X-Files.  From them inspecting each other to Mulder's "I want to trust you."

Oh, also.... how did DaSilva get infected?  I've never figured that out.

[Bastet]

This episode fires on all cylinders, all the more impressive for only being the eighth episode.  I think both Gillian and David have called this the series' first really great episode, and I have to agree.  It helps that it's an episode in which Morgan and Wong wanted to focus on Scully, and her trust in Mulder more than his in her.  And it's the first one to put them in isolation, which is almost always a good thing.

 

I think the other characters are about as well developed as one-offs are going to get, and between the storyline and the casting I care about the group as a whole.

 

Speaking of casting, I have no idea who Xander Berkeley is other than this role and the foster dad in T2 ("It's an emergency, I'll get right on it").  But he's great as the prickly Hodge. 

[joelene]

Besides T2 and Ice I mostly know him through Candyman (a great horror where he's the protagonists jerk husband who eventually gets his comeuppance), Safe (great little movie with Julianne Moore) and 24. Not much more than that except guest starring here and there but those roles has made him very memorable to me.

[janestclair]

Ice is my favorite episode of the first season and one of my favorites of the whole series.  Love it from start to finish. Although...the CGI worms could use a little work. And how exactly did the two worms get from the dog's hypothalamus to be passed in its stool?  That's not how anatomy works. Hah.  I also don't know how DaSilva got infected or how she managed to kill Murphy.  It's such a great episode that I don't even mind all of that at all.

 

I liked Murphy too - "just what's around the keg" and was sad he got killed off.  Hodge was a jerk, so I guess that's why they didn't kill him.  

 

queequeg - I thought about using "We're not who we are..." as my quote too.