Veiled Vesta

Thank you, I'll check out that recommendation when I get back from school, Cindy! Maybe this will be the chance to brave an 'R' rated fic. I think I can handle 'R' rated... I'll also post the last two recaps after I come back from school. Meanwhile, heres my thoughts on the next episode:

Darkness Falls

(**Personal Note**: I remember this episode. The main thing that stuck with me was that this was like Ice only I didn't like it as much. Probably because our poor duo nearly dies at the end, but also because they got much of the elements of Ice except for the most important one: the groping in a darkened room. Anyway, the episode is good but I shall always think of it as the lesser version of Ice: isolated in a cabin with others, threatened by a gross little "animal", and a Mulder and Scully argument - not a gun pointing argument but still...)

There's a bunch of burly men in a forest, two of them are arguing. Something, apparently, is set to kill them all and they want answers. One of them has to hike out for help but there's a possibility that they won't make it to the road until nightfall which is likely when "the thing" attacks. Are they talking about Jeff Probst? I kid, I kid. The rumors that he sacrifices his contestants to assure his cushy TV job are wholly unsubstantiated. Heh. So, one of the guys in the argument thinks they should all split up and take their chances. This guy has clearly never seen a horror movie in his entire life. And neither have the other guys, it seems, because they all agree and there's a free for all as they scatter in different directions. The two guys who were arguing earlier aren't going to make it. Especially when one of them trips over a log and breaks an ankle. How cliché is that? Didn't Daphne pull that in an episode of Scooby Doo? They totally deserve to get sacrficed to the weird killer fireflies that are coming their way.

BTW: Survivor needs more women in it's cast. I bet if a woman was there, she'd whip out the bug spray that she's sure to carry and kill those suckers.

Opening Credits! Did anyone get deja-vu from all those Survivor jokes I made in the pre credits? In Ice I also made some pre-credit reality TV show cracks - my goal is to get in couple of similar observations going in this episode You may be wondering why. Boredom and opportunity but mostly because I amuse easily.

Well, this is familiar. We're now watching slides of the doomed men from the forest. Mulder says that they're rugged loggers who were doing some tree chopping in a Washington forest. Scully is not sure what she's supposed to be looking for. He asks if she sees anything "strange, unexplainable, unlikely" maybe a boyfriend. Hey, he said it not me. Some of them are cute but Scully doesn't need a handsome, rugged outdoorsman when she's got a handsome, spooky genius beside her. He finally tells her their next case: find out what happened to the thirty loggers that disappeared (as so aptly illustrated by a blank slide that Mulder puts up onscreen. Good one.) There's some suspicion that their disappearances was caused by eco-terrorists: tree huggers who have gotten aggressive. The FBI has been asked ot investigate and Scully thinks that if it's eco-terrorism, then it's not exactly supernatural but Mulder tells her of a similar disappearance case in the 1930s. Could it be Bigfoot? Mulder thinks that Bigfoot couldn't eat that many loggers, plus all that flannel is hard to digest. Too bad we didn't get Bigfoot in this episode. He's like the Abominable Snowman of the forests. Mulder tells her it'll be a nice trip to the forest. Famous Last Words!

Our intrepid duo, looking like a cute camping couple, drive up to this ranger station and... Scully's ponytail is back! Gimmie a moment to obsess over the cuteness... Okay I'm done. They meet up with Ranger Moore who's ready to give 'em a ride into the forest. They notice a bullet hole in his windshield and Ranger Moore alludes that the eco-terrorists may have done that because they have a beef with "Freddies". That's what they call employees of the Federal Forest Service? Really? Well, then I'll call them "Shaggies" because they don't shave and probably have long hair. They're like evil hippies, an oxymoron I thought I'd never have to type. Then they meet up with a second member of the party, logging representative and hater of the evil hippies, Humphreys. I think I'll call him Harried Humphrey. After the introductions, it looks like they're in for a long drive. Mulder and Scully talk more about the Shaggies, with many disparaging comments coming from Harried Humphrey. Suddenly the tire blows out. Looks like a spike planted by a Shaggy (aka: a "Monkey Wrencher". I like "Shaggy" better.) Now the group must hike the rest of the way. Maybe they can play "I Spy" to pass the time.

Well, they finally get to the big campsite. The little cabin of horror, forest-style. No one is there, of course but they still look around. Food's still on plates and the place looks messy. The vehicles outside have been "monkey-wrenched" so there's no usable car, and even the radio is busted. Ranger Moore finds rice in a generator, and that's just a waste of perfectly good rice that could feed starving orphans. So the Shaggies care about the trees but not about the starving children? What jerks. While Harried Humphrey tried to get the generator working, Mulder, Scully and Ranger Moore explore the forest. Mulder finds a big cocoon on a tree. A really big cocoon. The two men must rig a pulley to get Scully up there. That resourcefulness would be great on [u]Survivor[u], no wait, they'd do even better on Amazing Race! Scully sees fingers peeking out of the cocoon, and when they get it down, they realize it's a human inside that huge thing. Ranger Moore thinks some kind of spider or bug did this even though that's just about impossible... at least for a normal insect to do so.

Back at the camping cabin, Harried Humphrey hears a noise and gets his shotgun ready when he inspects it. It's a Shaggy! His name is Doug Spinney (heh, like a spider. You know, a spider "spins" webs? Spin? Spinney? Okay then.) He shall be dubbed: Shaggy Spinney. So Harried Humphrey catches Shaggy Spinney eating the food and threatens to shoot him because he thinks he and his other fellow Shaggies did something to his loggers. Shaggy Spinney denies that he's a murderer and soon the rest of the group come in. Mulder asks what's going on and Shaggy says they need to get the generator working because darkness is their enemy. Cryptic! Outside, Mulder wants to know what that means, and Shaggy's says that something comes at night, something that can kill a man whole. Then he says he needs food and that ends the story, for now. Harried Humphrey doesn't believe him but they mention the cocoon in the woods with the dead guy. Inside, Shaggy tells them about his other friends who are camped two valleys over and how he drew the short straw to hike over and steal a battery for their broken-down truck. Harried Humphrey gets all harried about how the evil hippie is all evil and the evil hippie counters with a spiel on how it's more evil to cut down trees. Both of these men are annoying me. They're the worst of either side of the environmental argument. Shaggy Spinney goes on to say that the loggers have been cutting down old trees that they weren't supposed to. Trees that were marked. This angers Harried Humphrey who doesn't believe the crazy story about the bugs who attack people at night because they fear the light. Ranger Moore is more sane, and thinks the story might be plausible but Harried Humphrey feels like tempting fate and he goes outside to mock the insects. Ten to one he doesn't make it past the next commercial break. I think the bug zapper is what's keeping them from eating up that smug, harried guy.

In the morning, the group goes out to look at more trees. Seems that Shaggy's story about the loggers cutting down the older trees is not untrue. They find one stump with a weird ring in the middle so they decide to take a core sample. (Remember that ice core sample ice? Okay, maybe I am stretching the similarities...) Harried Humphrey wants to know why they aren't interrogating that Shaggy guy and doesn't like it when Mulder says he doesn't think the guy is a murderer. Some proverbial fist shaking and grumbling, and the rest are finally left alone when Harried Humphrey goes back to the truck to call for people who'll "take some action". He's gonna get his for pissing off the fates. Or Mother Nature. Or both.

Back at the camping cabin, Ranger Moore finds tiny bugs in that weird ring. Eww. These aren't ordinary wood mites because bugs usually attack the living part of the tree, not the dead part. Mulder theorizes they've been living in that wood for hundreds of years. Shaggy thinks those bugs are what killed his friend and the loggers. A good theory, sir but that doesn't explain the cocoon... unless they can make web cocoons too. I though only spiders could make that. So they have all the flying abilities of winged insects, the web-creating glands of arachnids, and the pretty green glow of fireflies? A deadly combination, indeed. This is why I don't go camping.
Over in the forest, the harried blowhard is enjoying his last scene. It's getting dark and he can't get the car started. That's when the weird noise starts. At first he thinks it's a "monkey wrencher" ("Shaggy" is a cooler name, dude) but then he them. The bright green bugs of doom! He rushes into the car and actually gets it to start but then his luck runs out. He hits a rock in front of him and the bugs come rushing in through cracks and the ventilation, all swarming him and he can't escape because his door is jammed against another rock! One down, two to go. (You can't kill of Mulder and Scully, you evil fireflies! They have the protection of being the main characters. Plus it's only season 1 and they have 8 more seasons to go, including a second movie.)

Ranger Moore is worried about Harried Humphrey up in the camping cabin. Scully notices that the bugs in the dead tree aren't moving and Shaggy Spinney says it's because they don't like the light. Time for some Mulder-style wild theories. Blah blah blah, climactic changes can affect a tree and it's tree rings, blah blah blah, Mt. Saint Helens volcanic eruption released radiation, blah blah blah, brain sucking amoeba, blah blah blah, there we go: ancient insects lying dormant in the tree until their home was cut down. Shaggy Spinney calls it poetic justice, I call it a yet another reason to hate Mother Nature's creepy crawlies. Worms, mites, bees. Oh yeah, you all know about the bees. This time, Shaggy is the one to give the ironic "Sweet dreams" after the dangerous situation is uncovered. Lovely.
In the morning, our ominous Shaggy friend is taking their gas can and is about to steal a truck battery to hightail it outta there. Good thing Mulder's an insomniac because he catches him in the act, and has his gun pointed at the evil hippie thief. Shaggy Spinney says he needs to save his friends and promises to come back as soon as he gets his jeep fixed. Mulder trusts him much more easily then he trusted Scully in the Pilot but you know how these life or death situations can skew your rationality. Plus going twelve hours without sleep has got to affect a guy, I'm guessing.

Later on, Mulder manages to get the radio to work. Hoorah, let's hear some Spice Girls! I tell you what I want, what I really really want... no, wait, that's not the Spice Girls, that's just static. Meh, same thing. Trying to call for help doesn't seem to do much. I think he'd settle for that chick from Doolittle Field and her poorly-timed jokes. Suddenly their power goes out. Ranger Moore turned it off to conserve energy and he wants to know where their gas can went. Mulder must admit that he let the eco-terrorist take their remaining gas plus a battery, with only the guy's word as his guarantee. Mulder believes that their chances for rescue are higher with Shaggy gone for help but Ranger Moore disagrees as the generator is running fairly low on gas and they need every drop of energy to keep the light on when darkness falls... Yeah, I used the title. Time for some heated words to be exchanged! No physical storm outside but the electricity these two are about to create can surely power the cabin for weeks, yowza! If only you could harness it... She starts in with her faintly aggravated, "Mulder" and he quickly cuts her off, saying she should just let it go, what's done is done. Well, that's a lousy opening defense. They don't exactly have any solutions and Scully starts speculating on the deaths of the other loggers. It's looking like Scully's potential suitor and his pals are all dead in cocoons. Mulder tries to be optimistic, Scully tries to be realistic. Mulder asks what she'd have done in his position and she points out that his stupid decision affected everyone and now they're pretty much screwed. Well, her tone implies the "stupid" and "screwed" part. His voice rises, not willing to admit he might've made a boo-boo. Scully counters that there's a good chance they're gonna die, loudly. Mulder finally backs down because she's got a point so now they have to seal up the camping cabin to keep the bugs out (he touches her like twice after the little argument which I thought was kinda cute). Looks like they have something to do until nightfall.

So it's night time and the trio are watching the light bulb; the only light bulb that works. Scully is the first to notice the green bugs inside the cabin, crawling around in the shadows. She tells the other two and they walk over to see the insects in the dark shadowy corner, and looking down at herself proves to be a horrible idea because she's got bugs on her! EWWW! Professionalism be damned as she reacts like I would if I saw killer bugs on me; she screams like crazy and tries to get them off her. They won't come off that easily and that just freaks her out even more, so much so that she knocks into the light bulb; no, Scully! Don't break your only working bulb! Mulder tries to get her to stop flailing around while Ranger Moore grabs for the light bulb. Mulder, you have no choice but to pin her down! Use your height and weight advantage to tackle her and get her mind off the bugs the only way tou can, G-man! He... doesn't exactly take my implied advice. He does grab her shoulders and yells for her to calm down, saying that the bugs are everywhere. That's not reassuring or sexy. I think this is the closest we're gonna get to an Ice-style grope session. The light is indeed the only thing keeping the bugs from swarming and killing and while the generator is running dangerously low outside, things seem to have calmed down from Scully's earlier freak-out inside. They sit really close together, Mulder asks if she's okay and she answers that she is, not sounding very convincing. Then the two bug watch. Romantic? Not exactly, but I take what I can get. The light flickers and Scully wonders what'll happen if their generator goes. Mulder actually says something reassuring; the sun will rise soon and they'll be safe for another day. Scully knows that they can't hike out for help because they won't make it past nightfall, and Mulder still holds out hope that someone heard their earlier radio call and if not, maybe their Shaggy friend will come back for them. Scully does not smack him upside the head, as I would have. At this point the generator has generated for the last time and the bulb goes out. That would be bad if it weren't sunrise. They survived the night! Now what?

Looks like they're gonna try and fix up their truck with the tools at their disposal. Desperate times calls for desperate measures. Outwit, outplay, outlast! They take a spare down tire to the truck and that's where they see the dead, web covered Harried Humphrey. So much for using that truck. It seems like all hope is lost when suddenly they hear a jeep. So Mulder actually trusted the right guy. Okay, okay, sorry about all the flack I've given you but it did seem like a boneheaded move at the time. Plus you don't exactly get away scott free. Shaggy Spinney tells the trio that he's radioed for help and his friends didn't make it. They all get in the jeep and start driving. It gets dark and foggy which pretty much guarantees that something bad is going to happen. Sure enough, the jeep hits an eco-terrorist spike. Now *that's* poetic justice with a dash of irony. Too bad it had to happen with the innocent Ranger and our favorite agents in tow. Shaggy gets out to check on the tire and that's the last we see of him as he's now covered in computer generated green bugs of doom. He runs off leaving the bugs to fly into the car through whatever crevices they can find. Despite the fakeness of the bugs, I can understand their fear and helplessness. I hate bugs! Eww!

In the morning, the jeep is found with their bodies inside, all cocooned and covered in webbing. Oh crud. But wait! Looks like Scully is still alive! Oh good.
A high containment facility awaits our pair, with all its white and sterile comfort. Ranger Moore seems to be doing alright, I think. I hope. A guy in a hazmat suit looks over Scully who is also doing as good as can be expected. Mulder is actually up and walking. Their charts are alright except for some chemicals they might have inhaled. Mulder starts in on some guilt when he muses how he told Scully that was just "going to be a nice trip to the forest." You gotta be wrong sometimes, Mulder. He asks the hazmat man how they're going to get rid of the bugs and the guy says that they're trying controlled burns and pesticides to kill the suckers. Sounds good. Mulder, feeling particularly gloomy and pessimistic, wonders what's going to happen if that doesn't work. What the hell kind of question is that? If killer bugs can't be destroyed with freakin' fire and poison, then I'd say everyone around the forest and beyond is irrevocably screwed! Now go stay by Scully's side like a good boy until she wakes up. Hmph.