Case 03, File 17: Pusher

AKA: Push It Real Good

Way back in the day when I first discovered that Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, wrote for The X-Files, I went back over the episodes he wrote to see if there were any connections. And while there is a fairly obvious one I won't talk about until a Vince Gilligan penned episode WAY down the line in Season 6, I always found this story, about a man with terminal cancer who decides he's going to live out his final days doing illegal things and being a dick about it to have some connection to Gilligan's masterpiece.


Our story kicks off with our villain, Robert Patrick Modell (what is it about 3 names man?) hanging around at a grocery store, when he is swarmed by FBI Agents, let by Frank Burst, who knows him from calling in to clam responsibility for unsolved crimes under the name Pusher. While being taken away in the police car, he starts talking about how cerulean blue reminds him of a summer breeze, and the driver of the cop car pulls out in front of an 18 wheeler with the name Cerulean Blue on it. Dun dun dun! Oh and he escapes mostly unharmed.

Burst enlists Mulder and Scully to help him, indicating that Modell's crimes were ruled suicides and that he has some way on influencing people's minds. Mulder immediately recognizes that the word Modell left on the side of the cop car is "Ronin" backwards. Mulder and Scully go digging through back issues of American Ronin magazine (that's not a thing, right?) and, after a brief interaction with Holly, an FBI Agent who was mugged earlier, they discover a recurring ad where a guy offers to solve problems, followed by the Japanese word for Pushing.

So they hang out at the pay phone which connects to the ad, until Modell calls them and gives them their next clue, which sends them to a golf driving range. When they arrive, Modell manages to get one of the cops alone and, some persuasion later, gets him to light himself on fire. But, while everyone else is dealing with the, you know, fire, Mulder finds Modell barely conscious in his car. But don't fret that the episode is over, when he's in front of the judge during his arraignment he, as Mulder puts it, puts the whammy on him and is set free.

This seems like something only the most desperately insecure person would own.

Scully arrives with some exposition about Modell (he tried to join both the Military and the FBI, but got kicked for lying and not, you know, having empathy) while Modell sneaks into the FBI headquarters to stalk Mulder. He is captured by Skinner, but Modell convinces Holly (remember her?) to attack him. This finally convinces Scully his theory is correct and sends them all heading to Modell's apartment.

Modell has bolted when they arrive, leaving them with only an ocean of meds for Mulder to refine his theory: Modell got his power from his terminal brain cancer. Modell gives them a ring at his apartment and talks Frank Burst (remember him?) into a heart attack over the phone...it's cooler than it sounds. Mulder and Scully track Modell down to a hospital, before Modell captures Mulder and lures Scully in for a game of Russian Roulette, but Scully breaks Modell's hold over him and Mulder shoots him, and the episode ends with Mulder musing that Modell must have liked the way his powers made him feel big, and Scully suggesting they should just forget him.

After a string of atypical monster episodes (darker, religious themed or parodies), plus some mythology episodes, it's been a while since we had a straightforward Monster of the Week episode, probably since The Walk, so it's nice to return to form like this. But don't take my description of it as straightforward as a criticism, it's an incredibly well written, well acted straightforward Monster of the Week, an episode that takes a simple premise and elevates it. It's a fantastic example of the series firing on all cylinders.

"I knew I should have stayed home today."

The core of the episode is the performances, since it's an episode about being mind controlled, and everyone acquits themselves nicely. Robert Wisden as Modell is one of the all time great X-Files psychos, putting equal amounts of cruelty and weird playfulness into his performance. Vic Poilzos also does great as Frank Burst, playing his growing resentment towards Modell with a measured intensity.

But the best performances come in the mind control sequences. The scene with the FBI Agent lighting himself on fire is fantastic, the agent's sobbing, terrified performance making it feel incredibly real. And the Russian Roulette climax of the episode is one of the best scenes in the season, maybe the series. All the parts are working perfectly. Anderson plays up Scully's desperate panic while Duchovny pushes Mulder's quietly boiling fury, and the entire scene is edited and scored to perfection. The first time I saw it, I was on the edge of my seat and to this day it grips my attention like few other things.

The entirety of the episode is pretty well put together, with a great script from Vince Gilligan. His previous script, Soft Light, had a lot of good elements but wasn't able to assemble them into a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts, but he have that issue here. The episode moves like a finely tuned machine, moving at a great clip and using every plot point to its fullest, and our director, Rob Bowman, does a great job bringing the script to life.

I skipped the bit about how Modell has to drink energy drinks to recharge after mind controlling people, partially cause it's just set dressing, but mostly cause it would make me question my own energy drink consumption.

Okay, that's overselling it a little bit, it's not 100 percent perfect. The plot point with Holly goes by pretty fast, but it's a little obvious that it's setting something up, one of those minor scenes that can't help but draw attention to itself as a setup. And while Modell's scene in the FBI headquarters is fun, it does kind of muddy how his powers work (doesn't he have to talk to make it work?), although I assume he didn't mind control Skinner to let him go because he knew Skinner can't be mind controlled.

But those are minor complains frankly, and when this episode is working, it works like gangbusters. It touches on themes of ego and feeling small, themes Gilligan would explore in more depth in Breaking Bad. But comparing a single 40 minute episode's ability to explore a theme to a 5 season shows ability to explore the same theme isn't fair. What this episode does is what The X-Files does best: Take a simple premise and expand it into an exceptional episode of television. 

Case Notes:

• The camera in the cold open moves a lot, and the first shot is a nice unbroken shot.
• The Weekly World News in the cold open has the Flukeman on the cover. Cute.
• The guy playing Modell does a great job of portraying his sadistic sense of humor and playfulness. That's there in the script (it opens with him singing Misty) but he does a lot of great work too.
• I'm not sure being a white guy who was obsessed with Japanese culture was ever particularly cool, but I have to say, now that we have the word "Weeaboo," large chunks of this episode get a lot funnier.
• Even Modell notices how close Mulder and Scully are, which is fitting given that Scully fell asleep on Mulder's shoulder. Aw.
• Not totally clear on why Collins was going in after Modell alone, but this scene is fucking killer, so I'll allow it.
• Also not totally clear on why they couldn't just hold Modell on fleeing custody when the truck crash happened, but hey, TV law gonna TV law.
• And we are once again hit with a stark reminder of why Mulder should not be allowed in the courtroom.
• I like the scene with Modell, Mulder and Burst outside the courtroom, a nice little mini-drama and confrontation between our heroes and villain. Scully comes in in the next scene with some Modell exposition (which is good, everyone needs some exposition) but I like scenes like that better, that set up our character relationships and conflicts.
• "Please explain to me the scientific nature of the whammy," is an all time classic Scully line.
• Modell's "Pass" badge in his pocket is the most sarcastic thing in the entire episode. 
• I feel like the bit where Modell visits the FBI threatens to become a plot cul-de-sac, but it ties into other elements nicely (like Molly's visit in the beginning) and shows Modell's growing obsession with Mulder.
• Also, Skinner got shot 2 episodes ago and this episode features him getting maced and having the shit beaten out of him. He's pretty blaise about it after but still; Not having a good few weeks.
• Scully agrees with a Mulder theory, the sky is falling!
• It's great how thoroughly the episode sets up Modell's illness throughout the episode, and the reveal of his motivation (to die in a blaze of glory) is a great scene.
• Modell talks a guy into a heart attack. That sounds like it should be funny, but it's actually a pretty chilling scene, and both Anderson and Duchovny play their panic in the scene pretty well.
• It's also fun to see Mulder and Scully on the same page vis a vis what's going on, since it means they're even more in sync than usual.
• Conversation between Mulder and Modell on the phone? Aces.
• Scully looks so very very worried about Mulder before he heads into the hospital and they even hold hands. Vince Gilligan is such a shipper.
• The climax, the game of Russian Roulette in the hospital is genuinely one of the best scenes of the season, maybe the series. It fucking slays.
• I always noticed, even as a kid, how much more Mulder struggles against shooting Scully than himself. And then they end the episode holding hands. Vince Gilligan is SUCH A SHIPPER, GOD.
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