Case 04, File 08: Tunguska

AKA: Not Approved By The Russian Tourism Bureau

For the longest time, whenever someone asked me what my favorite Myth arc episodes are, once we discounted the Duane Barry trilogy (which is more about Mulder and Scully's relationship than the overarching plot), I would answer the Tunguska/Terma duo. Partially because it felt nice to have an answer (and prove I'm not totally anti-myth arc) and partially because it sticks out in my brain pretty strongly. And since part of the point of this project is to interrogate my memories of my favorite show, this is one review I've been looking forward to.


Our episode kicks off in media res with Scully in front of a Senate subcommittee who demand to know where Mulder is. We then flash back to several days earlier and after another brief cold open (lukewarm open?) in which a diplomat is stopped by airport security and the TSA agents accidentally gets infected by the Black Oil he was carrying, we then cut to Mulder and Scully are on another case t hunt down a horrible monster: A right wing militia planning a terrorist bombing. Hm, little too real that.

Anyway, as they take down the terrorist group, it's revealed that the man on the inside who was passing Mulder information is none other than our good friend Alex Krycek, who claims he has information about another bomb and also info that could expose the Cigarette Smoking Man. So they hit up an airport and come across a guy carrying a diplomatic pouch. He books it when Mulder and Scully confront him, but leaves behind his pouch which...contains a rock. Okay.

So they decide to keep Krycek on hand in case he might be useful later, but also decide to stash him at Skinner's (if you recall, the last time they met, Krycek beat the shit out of him) so Skinner decides he's out for some revenge and locks him out on the balcony. The next morning, when Skinner goes to work, the guy with the pouch shows up at Skinner's looking for it and Krycek pulls him over the railing to his death.

"Hm. This suspicious character told me this was a biohazard...best handle it with my bare hands."

While all this is going on, Mulder and Scully see a scientist who tell them that the rock might contain fossilized bacteria from Mars and Cancer Man shows up to tell Skinner that he wants the pouch back. Mulder tells Scully to find out what she can about the rock while he gets Krycek and then goes to see Marita Covarrubias about the pouch and she tells him to head out to Russia. He initially plans to leave Krycek in the car (no, really) but it turns out he knows Russian so he takes Krycek with him.

Back with Scully, the core sampling of the rock has gone about as bad as they possibly can, with the scientist getting sprayed by Black Oil and ending up in a coma. Before Scully can do anything about that, she gets called in to talk to a Senator about Mulder's location. Mulder's location, incidentally, rapidly moves from outside the site of the Tunguska Event (look it up) to inside a Gulag, to being experimented on with the Black Oil in the space of about 5 minutes. And there is where our episode leaves him, ending on a cliffhanger.

As always, the ultimate test of a two part episode is to see how it resolves itself in the second episode (which is integral enough that I almost considered starting to review two-parter episodes as one, but decided against it because I'm lazy) but this episode is about as good of a setup as any episode could hope for. It's a great little thriller, with some solid plot and character work and it ends on one of the best cliffhangers in the entire goddamn series.

"This is the coolest thing I've done in the series so far!"

The central element of this episode is its action, which is honestly on the rare side. From the opening scene where the FBI raids a warehouse (Mulder and Scully actually wearing proper armor this time) to the final moments when Mulder and Krycek are chased down on horseback (no really, that happens) this episode is more action focused than a lot of previous ones. This means the episode doesn't have the usual level of plot stuffed into it that most first part episodes do, but it also keeps the pace, which means that this episode is more engaging to watch on repeat viewings than a lot of other two parters.

This is also the first episode in a while to include Krycek and he spends a good portion of this episode getting the shit beaten out of him by various people he's betrayed or hurt before. I've joked in the past that Krycek breathes treachery instead of air (and given that the plot of this episode kicks off because Krycek is betraying the Right Wing group he's working with, that continues to be the case) and it's kind of entertaining to me seeing everyone who's been screwed over by him finally just getting sick of it and just knocking his head in every time he pipes up. It doesn't work (he still betrays Mulder at the end) but it's nice to see growth from our characters.

Outside of that, the episode is what we've come to expect from X-Files two parters; Lots of motion, drips of information, Cancer Man makes an appearance, some people get hit by the Black Oil. It's good stuff, if not exactly new and the finale where Mulder is trapped and getting the Black Oil poured on him is one of the best final scenes in the series history. I can't imagine what this episode would be like seeing it the first time, but I have to imagine the 18 million people who watched this the first time were insane waiting for the next episode.

"Wait, I changed my mind, THIS is the coolest thing I've done in the series so far."

If the episode has a flaw, it's that it can't find much for Scully to do. As Monster of the Week joked about a different episode, the usual division of labor in these episodes is Mulder goes on globe trotting adventures while Scully stays home and fights personal demons, but here they can't even do that much. Her main story element is to get the core sample (read: Black Oil) from the meteorite, but that gets dropped early on for her to get interrogated about Mulder's whereabouts which... it's sweet that she's playing tight lipped, but does she even know? Honest question. What with being questioned the dude Krycek dropped off his balcony, even Skinner has more to do this episode.

But whatever, that's a minor issue and Mulder's intense plot more than makes up for it. I seem to recall that I have similar affection for Terma, the follow up episode, but we'll find out in a few days. For now, Tunguska is one of the better Myth Arc episodes and a great addition to Season 4. A lot of Season 4's Myth arc stuff are a relentless downer, but this one just makes me feel pumped up.

Case Notes:

• As always, these reviews are supported by Patreon. I'll be beginning a live stream of The X-Files: Resist or Serve in a few weeks, so please consider supporting my Patreon so I can that started as soon as possible.
• Opening with Scully getting interviewed in a Senate Subcommittee about Mulder's whereabouts and reading a resignation letter at it is a hell of an in-media-res starter.
• I'm kinda disappointed they didn't bring Senator Matheson back for a cameo in this episode. It'd be a nice touch.
• The guy transporting the black oil that the TSA holds is doing his damndest to be suspicious. I'm not surprised he gets strip searched.
• That said, the TSA agent needs to be more careful. Why are they opening it without any protection and how can you be so careless that you just drop it?
• Mulder and Scully are following leaked info to track down a possible terrorist bomber. In other words they're doing real FBI work. It's weird to me too.
• They're even wearing the SWAT gear instead of just going in in their usual clothes. It's almost like they're real law enforcement officers!
• The actual tactics on the raid are ludicrous (they just walk straight at the warehouse) but it's very exciting.
• Kyrcek shows up and has already betrayed the group he's with. Seriously, his blood is 90 percent treachery.
• Krycek and Mulder's conversation is mostly just to get us Krycek's current motivations but I gotta say "You destroy the destroyers ability to destroy" is a pretty clumsy line.
• I'm not totally clear on how the bald guy got down off the airplane ramp and 40 yards away in 10 seconds. Is he an alien?
• Skinner is RIPPED, goddamn.
• I like Krycek hanging off the balcony and pulling the guy to his death. Dunno where he got the upper arm strength, but it's a good scene.
• Scully, I love ya, but you're choosing NOW to worry about how far Mulder will go to expose the truth? He hasn't even reached a seven on the Crazy Mulder Scale.
• I dunno much about geology, but I find the core sample scene ridiculous.
• I'm sure we've all had dreams about Agent Mulder, showing up at your door at night, needing help...I'm sorry, what are we talking about?
• I love how Mulder knows all the cities nearby Tunguska. Never change Mulder.
• The scene with Marita is one line of dialogue away from being a Cinemax sex scene.
• Krycek suddenly busting out the Russian at the last second to insult Mulder feels kind of contrived, but hey, it keeps our buddy cop story going.
• What's the point of having a barbed wire fence if you can just dig under it?
• I like Mulder's little mini-lecture about the Tunguska event.
• Doesn't Mulder have like, a gun? And UN credentials? Why is he running from the Russian horsemen? Gosh, that's a silly sentence when I think about it.
• The gulag scenes are mostly good, but there's very little to comment on, so I'm kind of at a loss here, except to say that Krycek betrays Mulder because that's what he does.
• The scene at the end with the people locked in the wire getting infected by the Black Oil scared me to death as a kid and its still pretty freaky to this day.

Current Celebrity Watch:

Fritz Weaver, who plays the Senator who interrogates Scully, is a well traveled actor who was Nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the lead role in the 1978 miniseries Holocaust.