E.B.E.

"E.B.E."
The X-Files episode
Deep Throat at the end of the episode, after telling Mulder more about the supposed government conspiracy
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 17
Directed by	William Graham
Written by	Glen Morgan James Wong
Production code	1X16
Original air date	February 18, 1994
Guest stars
Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike Dean Haglund as Richard Langly Peter LaCroix as Ranheim/Frank Druce Allan Lysell as Chief Rivers
Episode chronology
← Previous "Young at Heart" Next → "Miracle Man"
List of season 1 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"E.B.E." (short for Extraterrestrial Biological Entity) is the seventeenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 1994. It was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong, and directed by William Graham. The episode introduced the recurring characters of The Lone Gunmen, played by Bruce Harwood, Dean Haglund and Tom Braidwood; and saw Jerry Hardin reprise his role as Deep Throat. The episode is one of those which helped to explore the series' overarching mythology. "E.B.E." earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.2, being watched by 5.8 million households in its initial broadcast; and received positive reviews from critics.

When FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the possible smuggling of a crashed UFO and its inhabitant across America, they find themselves being spied on and face doubts over the motives of a secretive informant.

Plot

An Iraqi fighter pilot shoots down a UFO near the Iraq–Turkey border. Later, in Reagan, Tennessee, a truck driver named Ranheim shoots something in the dark as a UFO flies overhead. Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigate the sighting the next day, but Ranheim is quickly let go by the local authorities, who do not want to cooperate. A woman briefly borrows Scully's pen as they head back to Washington.

Back in Washington, Mulder introduces Scully to the Lone Gunmen, whom he describes as an extreme government watchdog group. After returning to FBI headquarters Scully discovers a surveillance device within her pen. Meeting with Deep Throat, Mulder is provided with documentation of an intercepted Iraqi transmission where the UFO was shot down. Scully, having done some further investigating, reveals that two thousand pounds of extra weight had been added to Ranheim's truck, and that his real name is Frank Druce.

The truck heads towards Colorado, but before Mulder leaves Deep Throat meets with him at his apartment, providing him with a photo of a UFO at Fort Benning, Georgia. Mulder thinks the truck is a decoy, but further analysis reveals that the photo is a fake and Deep Throat has lied to him. Mulder confronts Deep Throat, who admits to lying to him and that the earlier transmission was real. Mulder and Scully escape their pursuers and head towards Las Vegas.

Mulder and Scully catch up with the truck, and while pursuing it encounter strange weather. The truck stalls, but when they head inside it they find Druce gone, as well as the extraterrestrial biological entity (E.B.E.) that was inside. With help from MUFON and NICAP, Mulder tracks Druce and the E.B.E. to a power plant in Mattawa, Washington.

With assistance from the Lone Gunmen, Mulder and Scully are able to obtain fake identification and head inside the power plant. Their unfamiliarity soon gives them away, but Mulder flees from the guards through a restricted area and is about to approach the creature when armed guards stop him. Deep Throat appears and calls off the guards, telling Mulder the E.B.E. is dead. He reveals an agreement made between multiple countries after Roswell that any living E.B.E. found would be killed, and that he is one of three men to have executed an E.B.E. Afterwards Deep Throat lets Mulder and Scully go free.

Production

This episode was the first mythology-centred episode written for the show by writers Glen Morgan and James Wong. Morgan claims that the tone of the episode was inspired by the movie All the President's Men. Some of the scenes were inspired by photographs sent to Morgan and Wong by location scouts of a BC Hydro power station, which was used a shooting location in the episode. The empty "lab" area which had held the episode's eponymous entity in the final scene was in fact a research facility used for testing electrical current events.

The episode also introduced the characters of The Lone Gunmen—conspiracy theorists John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Richard Langly (Dean Haglund) and Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood). The characters, who were used to help Mulder appear more credible, were originally meant to only appear in this episode, but due to their popularity on the internet, they returned in the second season episode "Blood" and became recurring characters. The inspiration for the Lone Gunmen came from a group of men that writers Glen Morgan and Marilyn Osborn met at a UFO convention in June 1993. The trio would eventually feature in the spin-off series The Lone Gunmen. Tom Braidwood, who plays Lone Gunman Melvin Frohike, was the first assistant director for the series, and became Frohike after passing by the office where the producers were casting the roles of the Gunmen. Braidwood's name had been used in several episodes, including this one, as an in-joke due to his assistant director role.

Broadcast and reception

"E.B.E." premiered on the Fox network on February 18, 1994, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on January 19, 1995. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.2 with a 9 share, meaning that roughly 6.2 percent of all television-equipped households, and 9 percent of households watching TV, were tuned in to the episode. A total of 5.8 million households watched this episode during its original airing.

Writer James Wong was disappointed with the episode, feeling that he "didn't do a great job on the script. We wanted to do a show that's all about paranoia and a conspiracy theory, but at the end I felt like we didn't really gain a lot of new ground or learn a lot of new things. I think we played a lot of texture instead of substance." Series creator Chris Carter on the other hand claimed the episode was one of the most popular first season episodes and thought the teaser and the scene with Mulder meeting Deep Throat at a shark tank were memorable. He also praised Jerry Hardin's performance in the episode, finding that he lent the show the "believability" that it needed.

In a retrospective of the first season in Entertainment Weekly, the episode was rated an A, being called "dense, dazzling, and dark", with the introduction of The Lone Gunmen being praised. Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club, described it as "occasionally clunky but generally fun", finding the revelations of Deep Throat's motivation to be a highlight. Matt Haigh, writing for Den of Geek, felt that the episode was a good example of the series refusing "to show its hand too early", saying that it would even have worked well as a season finale. The plot for "E.B.E." was also adapted as a novel for young adults in 1996 by Les Martin.

Footnotes

References

• Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316218081. 
• Gradnitzer, Louisa; Pittson, Todd (1999). X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 1551520664. 
• Hurwitz, Matt; Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. ISBN 1933784806. 
• Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 080651745X. 
• Lowry, Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053309. 

External links

• "E.B.E." on The X-Files Wiki, an external wiki
• "E.B.E." at the Internet Movie Database
• "E.B.E." at TV.com