Veiled Vesta

My last post of the night because I'm being kicked off the computer! I'll also be back to read your posts tomorrow! GOOD NIGHT!

My looooong post on Ice

(**Personal note**: One of my favorite season 1 episodes! (It’s in my top 3) I love it because it's like a horror movie but compressed into a neat little hour. And even though I normally avoid horror movies, this one is more suspenseful and has some funny moments, as well as some good Mulder/Scully moments to keep me happy. Plus they're the only characters I care that survive and I know they do, so no worries on that front... )

We start in Alaska. At an ice core project. Doggy! I'm bad with breeds of dogs but this one looks like maybe it could be part snow dog, what's it called, a Husky. I'm glad it survives this episode. Does it belong to Duchovny or someone from the crew? I think I heard somewhere that Duchovny's dog appears in an episode or two... The guys in the project seem to have forgotten to pay their light bill. This whole opening scene, in fact a good half of this episode, has very little lighting. I guess it's for mood and because they're in the cold, dark winter but come on - illumination on their faces is all I ask. It gets kind of frustrating but at least the good parts are fairly well lit. As I was saying: it's dark. And quiet. The dog is wandering around and there's at least 2 dead bodies onscreen already. Oh, who's feeding this poor doggy? Hey, there's someone. Oh, he's injured. Badly. And he's armed. That's not good. Time for a camera confessional: "My roommates are such @$$#()%!! Yo, home-boy shot me because I drank his orange juice, which is wack because we all agreed if it wasn't labeled it was up for grabs!"
No, wait. He just says that they're not who they are and it "stops right here". Yes, that makes more sense. Suddenly he gets tackled! Ouch. There's much shoving and punching and illegal wrestling moves going on in here. You just don't mess with a guy's juice. Slam! Shattering glass! And the gloves come off. Both guys have guns in their hands and it's all about who's quicker on the trigger. Except neither is quick. In fact they take their sweet time as they walk closer to each other and play what I can only assume is a bizarre game of Simon Says, without anyone saying “Simon Says”. One points a gun at himself, and the other follows suit. Nope, not Simon Says; the new name of the game is Strange Suicide and we have no winners as the shots ring out...

Worst Big Brother episode ever.

Opening Credits! Does the show Big Brother have an opening song? If so, does it have lyrics? I know that The Real World has a sort of opening and I was about to use that instead of the Big Brother joke but I figured more people were familiar with BB than TRW.

We're now watching footage of the last few days the Alaskan Ice Core team spent and we see that they're drinking beers. That could explain alot. They've been doing some digging and drilling into ice sheets and it seems they set some kind of record for how deep they drilled into that hole. Many high fives are exchanged between these "scientists". Alright, so Mulder got a hold of this tape and is currently explaining to Scully how everything was going fine with these scientists until a week later when it all, you know, went to Simon Says hell. Last transmission was that confessional from the pre-credits. I guess I should change it to beer instead of orange juice. Nah, I'm too lazy for that. No one's been able to reach them since then, and as luck would have it, Mulder and Scully get the assignment of finding out: "Obviously, they think we’re either brilliant or expendable." So it looks like Mulder and Scully are going to Alaska, but not without some expert help. They're meeting up with three scientists who are familiar with that whole ice core project and they've got three days to get in, get their answers, and get out before an arctic storm hits. Mulder suggests Scully bring mittens in this silly sing song voice. Oh, this trip is gonna be fun.

Our intrepid duo make it to this little airfield where they're going to take some little cargo plane up to the remote Alaskan location. First up, they meet Prof. Murphy, geologist and pre-taped sports fan. I'll call him Sportsman Murphy to remember his name. Then the other two, Dr. DaSilva the toxicologist and Dr. Hodge the medical doctor appear. I don't know why they need these two; Scully is just as good a doctor and toxicologist as they are. DaSilva is the only other woman in the group but the guy who gets my attention is Hodge. With all his asking for I.D (Oh haha, he just wants to make sure "they are who they say they are." I sense a repetition of a certain line!) and his overall tone, he reminds me of this smarmy lab tech from CSI. I shall call him Smarmy Hodge. Last guy to join the group is their pilot, Bear. I don't need a snappy nickname for that name. (Bear and Fox. Pretty funny.) The pilot's got attitude and when he snuffs Smarmy Hodge on his credentials query, I laugh. Time to head to the that icy cape and get the horror started. (Special shippy note: Mulder's hand goes to Scully's back as they leave for the plane. Just wanted to let ya'll know. )

Well, there they are. The scene of the crime. The little cabin of winter weirdness. It's dark, of course, and the flashlights help but I'll be waiting for someone to turn on the generator (I believe that someone is Bear.) They see the dead bodies and start on the evidence collecting, Scully manning the flash bulb camera this time and Mulder looking around. He checks a freezer and spots some ice cores that are melting. Sportsman Murphy wants to preserve some samples and we finally get some light in the place. And that's when they hear the dog. You'd think it would've attacked earlier when it's prey was more vulnerable, I mean don't animals have better night-time vision than humans? In any case, poor doggy has gone so long without food that it's thinking Mulder looks rather tasty (and I don't blame him. ). The guys try and get the dog off but it’s tougher than it looks. It takes three guys to subdue the dog, Bear doing most of the subduing, but not without suffering a nasty bite in the process. They manage to sedate the dog, and ladies, it looks like our first victim is the tough-talking pilot. Drat. Now the group must figure why the dog acted all crazy. Rabies? No. Hunger? Probably not. Bubonic plague? Umm... maybe? Scully finds these black nodules/spots on the dogs armpit, and an irritation on it's neck reveals that there's something freaky inside the dog A weird bump crawled under it's skin for a moment! That gave me goose bumps the first time I saw it. Everyone saw this except for the pilot, who is in the bathroom and, oh crap he's got the black nodules/spots under his armpit - he's infected!

Meanwhile Scully concludes that the scientists killed each other but didn't have any weird black bumps so maybe, Bear thinks, that wasn't the cause of the deaths. What an optimist. But Smarmy Hodge, ever the optimist killer, announces that the black spots are gone. Wow that was fast. Time to pack it up, haul out the bodies, bag the evidence, and briefly read some disturbing, repetitive writing on a clipboard. Mulder asks Sportsman Murphy about the ice since he's a geologist and all. To make a long explanation short, the men had been digging into a meteor crater. Yeah, you *know* thats got Mulder's attention. Meanwhile, somewhere in the makeshift lab area, Smarmy Hodge is being arrogant as Scully explains that she found ammonia in the blood of the camera-friendly dead scientist. Hodge is sure she's wrong because ammonia vaporizes at human body temperature. Sportsman Murphy gets their attention when he says that there's ammonia in the ice core samples, way more than usually found in nature. Mulder jumps to the conclusion a "foreign object" carrying ammonia must come into earth and leaked it all into the Alaskan ice. Oh, and one more thing: there's little parasitic worm-like organisms in the ice core sample. Eww. So the monster of the week appears to be tiny worms. D'oh! I would've bet good money on the abominable snowman. Do they ever get a case like that? It'd be awesome if they did.

Scully and the smarmy doctor squabble over what exactly the worm is before Bear interrupts more than ready to get out of that creepy ice cabin. Mulder, however, thinks that they should find out more about that weird worm. It could've infected the dog and the men and if they're not quarantined, they risk infecting the whole population. Thanks for looking out for us, Mulder. Bear gets grouchy when they point out the sick dog bit him and tries to bring Mulder down by saying the dog attacked him too. I don't like you anymore Bear. Scully, the calm level-headed one (for now...) suggests they do a test to see if they're infected. Blood and stool samples are required from everyone. Leave it to Mulder to make a joke about it. And Bear makes some lame pun about dropping cargo but I don't really care since he's gonna die anyway. What? You all knew it. I'm sorry, I know as a spoiler-phobe I should be more considerate... So, Big Bad Bear refuses to get tested; he’s ready to get on the plane, and ain't no one gonna stop him! Except the two FBI agents who have guns. They even have a little vote whether to force Bear to get tested. Majority rules and it seems to be going fine until ole' Bear smashes his stool sample jar over Mulder's head. Get him, Scully! He hurt your man! She makes me so proud with that tackle. There's some Smamry Hodge comforting DaSilva which I never noticed on the first viewing but I do now. Blustering Bear is now tied up and ready for prodding but wait, what's that on his neck? The same crawly bump thing on the dog is now in the pilot! Smarmy Hodge demands a scalpel and they try to remove it, whatever “it” is, from his neck. I didn't cringe as much as my friend did when she saw this episode with me. Once again, thank you CSI! (Last mention of CSI, I promise!) They pull out a wriggly worm from his neck, all bloody and spurting weird black goo. I must say, they really went all out for this effect, didn't they. Lovely.
Mulder decides it's time to radio for help and asks for air pick-up and quarantine procedures, over. If I know my horror movies, they aren't getting that help... yup. Apparently the storm hit early. "Welcome to the top of the world, sir." Urge to kill, rising... No wait, someone's already been killed. Looks like their pilot didn't make it. So they're stuck there with no pilot in a storm, and no one will be able to reach them for days. It appears they're screwed.

A look at the weird worm pulled out of Bear and it's determined that it's got tapeworm characteristics and it attaches to the gland that secretes hormones but they don't know how it's transmitted. Also, all the dead scientists were infected, and they got one other worm from one of the bodies so now they've got a total of two worms still alive. A theory is formed: the weird worm feeds on a hormone secreted from the gland it's attached to, the same hormone that causes aggression. The worm basically makes you want to kill other people and if you try to remove it, you die. Yeah, that theory sounds about right. Mulder concludes that the two guys from pre-credits killed themselves to protect anyone else who might go up there. Nice job, pre-credit guys.

As the physical storm goes on outside, an emotional storm is about to brew inside. Involving Mulder and Scully; alright! Scully is tired, Mulder is wired and when she says she wants to kill the evil worm, Mulder gets all preservationist on her and thinks there's much they can learn from this creature that can survive in sub-zero temperature and ammonia. Scully brings up some good points. Mulder brings up some fanciful points involving aliens. I like this little line Scully says: "Mulder, if we don’t kill it now, we run the risk of becoming Richter and Campbell with guns to our heads." I smell FORESHADOWING!
They bicker in a separate room while Smarmy Hodge and DaSilva sort of listen in:
"Blah blah, Mulder, that worm is a menace and can bring about the end of the world... Blah blah, what the hell is wrong with you? ... Blah blah, You got a fetish for aliens or what?"
"Scully, blah blah, we cannot destroy something so astounding and revolutionary... Blah blah, why are we always arguing about Every Little Thing? ...Blah blah, if I make a crack about probing Uranus are you gonna you slap me?"

It's at this point that I'm thinking DaSilva must be itching for some hot and heavy arguing herself because she's all "Is it hot in here or is it just me?" (And it's not totally farfetched what with the comforting from earlier and her being so eager to please.) Thank goodness it's not a pick-up line because honey, you can do better than Smarmy Hodge. Way better. You're a future Desperate Housewife for God's sake! Smarmy Hodge tells her she doesn't have a fever and the heater's kicking into overdrive. They can't open the window because it's a stormin' outside. Plus a Yeti could come in. Can't forget about the Yetis. Smarmy thinks Mulder and Scully knew all about the contamination. Seriously? So not only is he smarmy and condescending, he’s paranoid to boot? (And not the cute kind of paranoid).
Some more arguing goes on, with no physical action to come from it, and soon the others interrupt to ask what's up. Smarmy finally gets on Scully's nerves when he's insinuating she looks "stressed out" (aka: infected). Kick his butt, Scully! You can take him! Mulder actually tries to be the voice of reason and suggests they get some sleep. Smarmy Hodge thinks they should do another test and Scully, eager to prove she's got nothing to hide, suggests they the "tests" in front of each other.

Oh Dear God. I’m sorry but Smarmy Hodge undressing cancels out Mulder undressing. Through my semi-closed eyes I hear Mulder making a joke about how cold it is in the Arctic. That helps get my mind off the Hodge, and I thank you, Mulder. Scully and DaSilva are in a separate room from the men... it seems all is well.
Time for bed. Mulder says goodnight and reminds Scully that the black nodules/spots on the dog went away so just because they don't have the spots doesn't mean they still aren't infected. Should've stopped at goodnight, Spooky. In each of their rooms you can see the stress getting to them. Frazzled Scully blocks her bedroom door with the freakin' dresser (I'd suggest it if she hadn't done it), Sportsman Murphy is listening to his sports tapes and watching the door like a hawk (also something I'd do), DaSilva cries in her bed (hmm... not very productive), Smarmy Hodge is writing a list of different ways the others could be infected (okay, productive but sooo smarmy) and last but not least, shirtless Mulder (woo!) keeps his gun handy while watching his door...

Then he falls asleep later on but wakes up when he hears a noise. This is one of those crucial scenes where it would help if there was more light but I get the gist of it. Mulder gets up to investigate the noise (I'm shouting at him to stay where he is but he does not listen because he's reckless and stubborn). He passes Sportsman's empty room and makes his way to the lab where he finds Sportsman... dead in the freezer. Damnit! I liked Sportsman Murphy! Why couldn't it have been the smarmy doctor? Now who should appear to see the lifeless body and a gun-toting Mulder? Everyone else. Apparently Scully, Smarmy, and Silva all got up at the same time and managed to sneak up on Mulder. Okay, why not. Scully asks what he's doing, and Mulder tells them that Sportsman is dead. Thank you, captain obvious. Smarmy Hodge immediately thinks Mulder did it and DaSilva agrees (I thought was soft spoken at first but now I see she's kind of spineless. BTW: My opinion of her will keep changing as you all know from watching the episode). So everyone thinks Mulder killed the Sportsman except for Scully. That's sweet of her. Smarmy still instigates and Mulder is getting agitated. Scully isn't doing so great either. Basically it all leads up to Mulder flipping out. Yeah. BTW: Mulder's reaction surprised me the first time I saw this episode but after seeing more seasons I'm thinking with Mulder's inherent paranoia, coupled with the stress and isolation, well, it's a wonder he didn't flip out sooner. If they had tinfoil in that cabin you can bet he'd be making himself a nice hat for protection against the aliens or worms... or alien worms. And a pretty crown for Scully. None for the others because really, after this episode we'll probably never see them again. But I digress. Again. (I do that alot! ) Mulder's waving his gun around and saying they're all out to get him. Typical Friday night stuck in a snow cabin with an insane killer among your group. Smarmy Hodge gets ready to attack from the side but Mulder catches him and aims the gun his way (shoot him, shoot him!) But this time it is Scully who interferes and Smarmy doesn't get his comeuppance. (Damn it.) She's got her gun on Mulder and he's got his gun on her! It's a very familiar stand-off, not because of future episodes but because of Scully's words from earlier. Her FORESHADOWING words. Remember? In any case, Mulder's all: "Scully! For God sakes, it’s me!" She answers that he may not be who he says he is. That's the magic phrase; he puts down his weapon and gets confined to a storage room. Mulder's parting words? "In here, I’ll be safer than you." Erm, yeah that's not creepy. Not creepy at all. Don't forget the deadbolt on your way out, Scully! To her credit, after Scully locks him in, she looks kind of remorseful. So not only is she more of a pro than I am, she's a better friend. I know if my friend pulled a Jack Torrance I'd be quick on the trigger and I'd skip away as I locked the door. Man, I suck.

Scully goes back to the lab area where DaSilva is sleeping and she checks her neck looking a bit nervous. However, Smarmy Hodge stops her and wakes up DaSilva - that fool, he's doomed them all! - and starts guilting her into getting rid of her gun. Scully does so, throwing the bullet clips out into the storm so now no one's safe should the still unknown killer decide to strike again. I suppose she could still pistol whip 'em. Smarmy Hodge feels safe enough to say they shouldn't turn on each other. He's only saying that because he's among the only 2 women of the group and he likes to manhandle them. Scully is adamant that they help Mulder, whether he's infected or not, and Smarmy Hodge just doesn't want the killer cooties on him. Scully radios an S.O.S but of course gets nothing but static. Meanwhile Dr. Smarmy and his assistant Nervous, Spineless DaSilva start making themselves busy by doing some more blood analysis. Spineless DaSilva accidentally puts a drop of infected blood on a slide of infected blood and gets chewed out by the Smarmy doctor because he likes to do that to feel like a big man. I guess stress could be a factor but I stick by my reasoning. DaSilva grows a bit of a spine and tells him that she actually ain't his assistant and he can go to hell. Scully watches them argue, noting it's not nearly as hot as when she and Mulder argue, and then she takes a look at the microscope and sees that the bungled blood slide is showing a peculiarity. There are two microscopic worms in there and boy are they mad. They're attacking each other pretty viciously... and now they're dead.

Light bulb moment! Scully puts the 2 full grown worms that are in separate jars, next to each other, and when they see each other (do those worms even have eyes?) they go crazy, Mulder-style! Looks like two worms in one body kill each other and that's pretty much the cure. Yay Scully! See, she's the best doctor/scientist of the bunch. If they left behind Smarmy and Spineless, we probably wouldn't have the problem we have a the moment, or at the very least, Mulder and Scully would get more alone time after the first death. Like in the upcoming scene which is my favorite of the whole episode! Before that though, they've got to put their theory to the test and they put a worm inside the starved doggy's ear. The special effect of the worm crawling into the dog's ear is not as impressive. Now the dog starts twitching and whimpering inside it's cage where it's been this entire episode, in case you were all wondering. A bit more whimpering before the dog stops. But he's alive, and what's more he seems okay! Scully finally feeds our poor canine friend and it's determined that the dog passed the worms in it's stool. So definitely a cure found.

Alright, here we go! Scully wants to talk to Mulder alone (*wink wink*) and she tells them if anything happens come inside and get her. She doesn't want to put the worm in Mulder against his will. She steps inside, the door shutting behind her. It's been so long since he's seen the outside world... or you'd think that with the way he flinches at the light and all. He says it's one of them (not giving it a single thought it could be Scully. Very nice.) and she tells him that no one has died since he's been locked up. That's not a very sound argument. Mulder refuses the worm because he's not infected and Scully whispers that if it's true, then why did he make such a big fuss about being inspected? He says the sweetest line I've heard thus far, a confirmation of what we all pretty much know; "I would have but you pulled a gun on me! Now I don’t trust them. I want to trust you." Awwww! He wants to trust her! So much progress from the Pilot where he though she was a spy. Alright, so we have two FBI agents on edge, there's trust underneath all that nervousness, they're isolated from the outside world in a dark storage area... man, a fanfic could not give you a better set up than this but, well, let's just see what happens, shall we? He turns and exposes his neck for little pony-tailed Scully (I haven't mentioned how cute she looks in this episode, shame on me! She looks so adorable when she isn't in her sharp business suits. I wonder if Mulder agrees) Scully yanks down his shirt and when her hands touch his neck, I'd like to think she's getting him back for all that touching and lovely violation of personal space the past 14 or so episodes. I'm timing it and she goes on for a good 10 seconds. And when I say good, I mean gooood. She starts to turn but you know Mulder likes any excuse he can get to feel up his favorite partner (whom, I gotta reiterate, he totally trusts). He freaks her out at first, you know because he could've been wanting to snap her neck rather than caress it. No worries, though. He pulls down her shirt and gives her the closest thing to a neck massage I've ever scene. Good God this episode may be called Ice but I'm seeing some heat up in the Arctic Circle! And then they stop. They both get out and announce they're uninfected. Oh yeah... they were checking for bumps. Never has checking for a killer alien virus been so sexy.

The two FBI agents conclude it must be one of them who's infected. I say take no chances and kill 'em both. But no, Smarmy wants to be diplomatic about this so he acts like he's fine with doing another exam but that Smarmy S.O.B gets Mulder when his back is turned and Spineless DaSilva locks Scully in the storage room/former room of hot neck action. Bastards! Dr. Smarmy, S.O.B has a chokehold on Mulder and DaSilva is about to inject him with a sedative or something while little Scully tries to get out of the storage room by banging a big metal drill part against the door. That's not really working. Now they've forgone the sedative and just decide to put the worm in him and get it over with. But wait! This episode's got a twist for you, because the real killer is... DaSilva! Who knew Spineless chick had it in her to kill? And why didn't she freakin' kill the smarmy doctor, for goodness sake!? I'm still thinking she's got a thing for the S.O.B doctor. Spineless and a bit of a masochist? Hey, I'm not here to judge. Smarmy Hodge actually does something not smarmy when he realizes it is DaSilva who is infected and shoves her. Summoning the strength one has when you're crazy and infected by an alien worm, DaSilva makes a run for it, while Mulder gets up and frees his partner. Now it's on. All three are running after DaSilva. Smarmy Hodge has the worm in hand and DaSilva does a pretty good job acting crazy, she out-crazies Mulder, that's for sure. She messes up the lab, grabs a gun and gets tackled by Mulder. Man, this woman is gonna be bruised like hell when she gets over this. Mulder and Scully hold her down while Doctor Smarmy gets ready to put in the last worm. Scully reminds Mulder that if they do this, there won't be any left, and as their earlier argument indicated, Mulder wanted to preserve the worm for study (and he's got a fondness for using alien masks in kinky foreplay). Oh, yeah, he gives the go ahead and the worm is put inside. She sounds awful with all her moaning and groaning and twitching. It looked cuter on the dog. Scully, echoing the words of the scientist from pre-credits says: "It’s all right. It’s all over. It all stops right here. Right now." Repetition really gets the point across.

Well, looks like the decontamination guys finally got there. Even though the dog and the Spineless one seem to be cured, they're still gonna be quarantined. Smarmy Hodge is happy their tests showed they weren't infected so they're free to go. Mulder doesn't want to go. Because he's an idiot. Okay, he wants to study the ice some more, this time better prepared to check out the mysteries of the crater and ice samples. Maybe they should bring some birds with strong stomachs. And booze if he's dragging Scully back there. (The good stuff, Mulder!) But he won't be able to do that because the love/ice shack has been burned down. Secret covert government strikes again! Smarmy Hodge finally gets off my screen and I'm hoping that the secret covert government does me a favor and has him killed because they think he still is infected. What? They've killed men for less. Mulder muses that "it's" still there, "200,000 years down in the ice." Scully pretty much channels the thoughts of all the sane viewers when she suggests he leave it there and starts walking. Mulder follows her after a beat, perhaps hoping he can convince Scully to check his neck again when they get back to D.C, while he wears those popular-in-the-90s moon boots. Oh Mulder.