Case 04, File 21: Zero Sum

AKA: DIY Cover Ups With Walter Skinner

Skinner is a difficult character for the series to handle. He's unquestionably one of the most important characters, appearing in more episodes than any other non-Mulder/Scully character, but the first attempt to center an episode around him failed miserably. So, I suppose the thought process went, since one of the more interesting aspects of him is his combative relationship with the Conspiracy and his sparring with the Cigarette Smoking Man, why not center an episode around that?

Our story this time kicks off with a postal employee going into the bathroom to smoke and getting stung to death by dozens and dozens of bees. We then join Assistant Director Water Skinner, who sneaks into the bathroom and night and erases the evidence. He also breaks into the morgue and incinerates the victim's body, and tries to steal the lady's blood from the police evidence (under Mulder's name) but is briefly stopped by the detective in charge of the case, who he tells that there's no evidence of an X-File.

When he returns home, Mulder comes over to tell him all the evidence is missing, and also the detective who confronted Skinner is dead. Skinner, understandably pissed and later that night confronts the Cigarette Smoking Man about it, demanding they end their arrangement, whereby Skinner will help cover up the death in exchange for saving Scully's life. But the Cigarette Smoking Man tells him that he won't allow it. Skinner then realizes that his gun is missing and a call with the Cigarette Smoking Man confirms that his gun was the one used to kill the detective.

So Skinner starts digging into the death on his own, first finding a beehive in the wall of the post office and then taking the bees to an entomologist who Mulder apparently consulted a few months earlier, off screen. Skinner breaks into Mulder's office and gets Marita's info to contact her about it, but Mulder catches him in the office and shows him security cam footage of the guy who talked to the detective before he got killed, which is currently too blurry to use. It's Skinner, remember, Skinner is in that footage.

"Damn conspiracy, making me lug this into an incinerator. Could have given me a hacksaw and some acid but nooooo."

While all this is happening, the entomologist Skinner consulted is killed by a swarm of bees, and his autopsy reveals that he was infected with smallpox by the bees. Skinner goes and visits the friend of the dead postal worker, who was pressured to keep quiet, while Mulder discovers it's Skinner in the picture. Meanwhile, back at the conspiracy, they discuss the bees getting out and how to test them.

The test goes ahead by unleashing the bees on a playground in South Carolina, cause I guess anything else wouldn't be evil enough. Skinner goes to try and advise the doctors there to treat the kids for smallpox, but the doctors don't listen and when Marita shows up to ask him what he knows, he bolts. Mulder confronts Skinner at his apartment about him being on the tape, but Skinner manages to convince him he isn't responsible, even though forensics show that his gun was used in the murder, but the serial number has been filed off so they can't trace it. Skinner confronts the Cigarette Smoking Man, but decides not to kill him, and the episode ends with CSM on the phone with Marita! Dun dun dun!

Zero Sum is an episode that pushes the series in a new direction, basically putting Mulder on the sidelines (and leaving Scully entirely absent) in order to try and flesh out Skinner and his relationship to the conspiracy. It's not an episode that I think should work (and indeed, my memories of it were hazy; I thought the playground scene was from a different episode) but it works because Skinner's motivation, trying to save Scully, is understandable and its structured in a way to make it engaging.

"Aw, it's a beehive? I was hoping it was that goop from Barton Fink, and John Goodman would be here."

Of course it also works because that structure (more on that in a moment) is built around three increasingly nightmarish bee attacks. The X-Files understands that bees are a pretty primal fear and uses them to their full extent in this episode and the series as a whole. The playground scene in particular is a deeply terrifying one, and the makeup and effects team do a great job making the aftermath of all of the bee attacks look exceptionally painful.

That structure also manages to do something really interesting with how it tells the story, essentially posing Skinner as the villain in a regular X-Files episode, while Mulder runs around off screen going through the usual motions of an episode. It's a structure a later episode, that I reference too much as is, would use to great effect, but it also works exceptionally well here because we like Skinner and we sympathize with his goal.

The only major downside of the episode is that, once the third bee attack has happened and its time for Skinner and Mulder to team up, the episode kinds of runs out of steam. It seems to realize either that it's only got a few minutes left or that's essentially out of ideas and just bolts to the finish line (Mulder gets convinced that Skinner isn't the murderer in about 30 seconds). It's not a dealbreaker, but it does draw attention to one of the main issues with the series has always been that it has great setups and occasionally fumbles the landing.

"Wait, John Goodman isn't here."

But that's a minor issue in this episode, and it still has a lot of good stuff in it, even outside the structure. Mitch Pileggi is really good in this episode, showing that despite what Avatar suggested, he can actually anchor an episode. Duchovny is also pretty good, I particularly liked the scene where he discovers that it's Skinner in the footage, selling his shock and horror silently but excellently. And I dunno how much this matters to you, but if you're a fan of the Cigarette Smoking Man and his growled, obtuse dialogue, then this is the episode for you.

I've said that this is the season (along with season 3) where the series began to stretch out and see where it can take The X-Files' formula. And while this is technically a repeat of an experiment from Season 3, it's a far more engaging and successful experiment. And given how much of this episode works, it's an experiment I'm glad they repeated.

But seriously, why isn't Scully in this episode?

Case Notes:

• This episode opens in a mail room and since I'm watching it on Hulu, I thought for a moment I'd accidentally put on Blood.
• I have to imagine that a lot of people who were afraid of bees checked out of this episode around the point that the bees started crawling out of the sink.
• On that note, how did the lady in the bathroom not notice that there were approximately 10 billion bees in the bathroom with her? They make a lot of noise.
• Not gonna lie, getting stung to death looks like an exceptionally awful way to go.
• I am amused that the episode reveals Skinner is at Mulder's desk by showing his nameplate, as if I don't know Mulder's office even in the dark.
• Skinner hiding the evidence might be the most ominous cleaning in television history.
• The morgue Skinner steals the body from has terrible security.
• I honestly don't remember all the details of this episode super well, but I had expected something clever when Skinner was about to get caught, like hiding in a morgue drawer, as opposed to just crouching round the corner.
• Skinner has to lug the body all the way to a garbage disposal. Come on conspiracy, at least provide a storage unit and a vat full of lye. Or a cart, damn.
• Skinner pretends to Mulder to steal the lady's blood, despite the fact that he has 2 inches on Mulder, a completely different facial structure, is wearing glasses and also the infamous Baseball Cap of Baldness. Come on Skinner, at least tell probable lies.
• I like that Skinner steals the blood and proceeds to chuck it in a dumpster 10 feet from the police station. At least cross state lines dude.
• Not gonna lie, Mulder revealing that the cop who confronted Skinner is dead, is a hell of swerve.
• Skinner wakes up on the couch, does no man in this show sleep in a bed?
• I like how Mulder realizes that the blood has been replaced by noticing that the victim's blood is anemic and the replacement isn't. I like it when Mulder is observant.
• The entomologist mentions getting visited by Mulder six months earlier, but I can't find if that actually happened in an episode or off screen. I guess that would have been around Herrenvolk but they never visited an entomologist in that episode. The next scene is of some shots of that episode, so I guess that's it.
• Skinner is a terrible, terrible liar.
• Skinner is also terrible at covering shit up, all of his actions have just brought Mulder closer.
• The scene on the playground is also really really good. This episode is really good at escalating the bee attacks.
• The episode kind of peaks after the playground scene, being mostly tying up lose ends, but I do love the confrontations between Mulder and Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man and Skinner.
• This is an episode with a lot of people breaking into people's house's with a gun to wait for someone.
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