Revisiting The X-Files: season 1 episode 6

6. Shadows

Ever thought it might be nice to have a guardian angel? Somebody you were close to in life who, once they’ve passed into death, comes back to protect you? Well you were wrong. As this episode clearly points out, the only thing that happens if a loved one comes back to haunt you is that a constant need arises to replace broken light bulbs and re-position the furniture in your house that keeps zooming across the room and slamming into the doors.

Given that the ghost haunting the young woman in this episode fills her bath with blood, repeatedly smashes her windows and lamps and kills everyone she meets, you can understand why she’s desperate for the ghost just to sod off.

So, Mulder and Scully are on the scene once more. This time, they’ve been asked to help decipher what’s going on with two dead bodies found on the streets, both of which have managed to maintain their body temperature more than six hours after their deaths. Mulder’s initial theory is that the bodies have been charged with energy as a result of telekinesis - or a poltergeist. “They’re heeeere,” Scully taunts. Really, why is she still so sceptical? She really needs for some sort of giant monkey-fish monster hybrid to get slapped in her face - maybe then she’ll cling less to her scientific theories. I hope there is an episode coming up with a monkey-fish monster, otherwise I might lose all my faith in the franchise.

The story unfolds, and we learn that the woman is being protected by the ghost of her ex boss, who committed suicide. Having little contact with her own family, he was like a father to her, and she a daughter to him. However, we learn that he did not in fact kill himself, but was done over by his business partner, who is involved in all sorts of shady dealings and terrorist organisations. These terrorists track down the woman when she threatens to tell this secret to the authorities. Luckily, her poltergeist protector turns up, crushes the throats of the bad guys, and later throws a supernatural hissy-fit in the office of the woman’s crooked boss that sends papers and books flying in the air Ghostbusters-style. The boss is sent down, Mulder and Scully solve the case, and the young woman finds she has finally put the ghost to rest.

I was glad this did indeed turn out to be a ghost story and not something to do with telekinesis. There was a distinct increase in the amount of on-screen action here, as things exploded, shattered, got smashed up or flew around in the air, which makes for fun viewing, if not massively impressive by today’s CGI standards. With characters we could care about and a far more rounded plot, this proved one of the better episodes so far. I still wouldn’t call it a particularly brilliant one, though, either.

 Check out Matt's revisit to episode 5 here.