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E.B.E. (The X-Files)

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"E.B.E. (The X-Files)"

"E.B.E." is a 1994 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the seventeenth episode broadcast in the show's first season. E.B.E. dealt with Mulder and Scully's pursuit of the occupant of a crashed U.F.O.

Plot

An Iraqi fighter pilot shoots down a U.F.O. In Reagan Tennessee, a truck driver, Ranheim shoots something in the dark as a U.F.O. 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 don't 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 U.F.O. 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 department, providing him with a photo of a U.F.O. 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 get 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.[1][2]

Production

This episode was the first U.F.O. themed episode written for the show by writers Glen Morgan and James Wong. The episode features the first appearance of the Lone Gunmen, who were used to help Mulder appear more credible.[3] The inspiration for the Lone Gunmen came from a trio of men that writers Glen Morgan and Marilyn Osborn met at a U.F.O. convention in June 1993.[4] Tom Braidwood, who plays Lone Gunmen Melvin Frohike, was the first assistant director for the series, and became Frohike after passing by the office where the producers were casting the parts of the trio. [3]

Morgan claims that the tone of the episode was inspired by the movie All the President's Men.[5]

Reception

This episode is most notable for the first appearance of the Lone Gunmen: John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood), Richard Langly (Dean Haglund) and Melvin Frohike (Tom Braidwood). The characters 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.[4]

Writer James Wong was disappointed with the episode, stating "I really felt we 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."[5] 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.[5]

This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 6.2, with a 9 share. It was viewed by 5.8 million households.[6]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Lowry,Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. pp. 138–139.
  2. ^ Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel press. pp. 86–87.
  3. ^ a b Hurwitz, Matt and Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. p. 49.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Lowry,Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. pp. 139–140.
  5. ^ a b c Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. p. 66.
  6. ^ Lowry,Brian (1995). The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. p. 248.
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