Veiled Vesta

This is why I don't read movie spoilers. All this depressing talk about Mulder and Scully possibly not being together in the movie is... well depressing. I'm going to think of happier times, one of them being the next episode we saw on the viewing party list: Irresistible. Okay, maybe "happier times" is not a good description for what Scully goes through here but I'm talking MSR happy times so I'm sorry Scully but what you're going to go through is for the greater good. The greater good being MSR. I'm going to read some serious fic after this.

Irresistible

(**Personal Note**: A nice dose of Scully angst to counterbalance the Mulder angst from the previous recap. Oh joy! And just know that no matter how creepy Donnie Pfaster is in this episode, it could've been worse. Necrophiliac vs. Death Fetishist? Talk about Sophie's choice! On to the recap.)

We open in a funeral where a girl is in mid-eulogy. They'll really miss her. The people in the funeral home start to got after the speech ends. We see an employee near the door of to the side. He looks way to interested is what's going on for someone who's supposed to be working. His boss comes in and tells him they're keeping the body overnight. As Scooby Doo would say: Ruh-roh. The way too interested employee, who I may as well identify as Donnie Pfaster, aka Freaky Pfaster or Demonic Donnie or He Who Ruined Mulder and Scully's First Date. It's that last moniker that makes me want to scream and hit things. So he goes to the coffin of the dead girl, says she's beautiful, strokes her hair and closes the lid. Oh, that's just all kinds of creepy. Later on at night, the funeral home boss is walking into a room when he hears something. He asks who's there and he gets more sounds: a coffin closing, possibly footsteps. He sees the shadow of some kind of demonic thing and when he quickly turns on the light he sees that it's actually Freaky Pfaster. The boss asks what he's doing and Freaky Pfaster says he's working. Yeah, working on the little dead girl. He's cut off her pretty hair and who knows what else. The boss is appropriately outraged as he tells him to get the hell out and don't come back. So... is it cool for him to get unemployment? Why else would Freaky Pfaster be smiling like that as he got fired? That was a rhetorical question, by the way.

Opening Credits! But he's irresistible / Up close and personal / Now inescapable / I can hardly breathe... Nineties and popular? What else we got? You're irresistible - natural, physical / It's indefinable - magical, illogical / So make-you-mine-able, you're mi-i-ine... Never heard of that one. Hmm, next one. Wish I didn't need you so / But you're irresistible... Okay, that's enough linkage! Feel free to take your pick of today's opening song in honor of the episode title. I'm actually fond of this one. They may look like hybrid clones, but they're decent dancers!

We're now at a graveyard with Minneapolis Detective/Agent Moe Bocks, as well as Mulder and Scully. Bocks laments that he got the call to get on this case because it was weird and he's apparently the expert on weird cases. His people obviously don't know Mulder very well. Bocks suspects their case has something to do with alien activity, and he called the Mutual UFO Network to get some info. Mulder, for once, doesn't agree with the alien theory. Their case is about an unearthed grave with the body's nails and hair cut off. Mulder and Bocks do most of the talking while Scully looks at her first desecrated corpse. That is a lousy first. Mulder is not nearly as shocked as Scully; see that's where years in the Violent Crime Section pay off. Mulder does some dead-on profiling, saying their suspect may have worked in a cemetery or a funeral home, may have been busted on his freakiness and is basically a creepy collector. Bocks feels stupid for thinking aliens were behind this and our two agents take their leave. Mulder noticed how quiet Scully's been so he asks if she's okay. She says she is but can't help wonder what kind of person would do that and why. Mulder says no one really knows why and agrees it's pretty freaky. Scully noticed he's way too blasé about the whole thing and he tells him he suspected it wasn't alien-involved from the start. When she asks him why they flew all the way there when there’s no X-File to investigate, Mulder pulls out his trump card: two tickets to the football game at the Metrodome on the freakin' forty yard line. Be still my beating heart. Even if I hated football I'd swoon and show him *my* endzone.

Now to snap us out of that lovely "possible first date" mood, we join Demonic Donnie who's applying for a frozen foods delivery job. The lady who's conducting the interview asks him some routine questions. Demonic Donnie says he used to work in cosmetology then he lays on his creepy soft-spoken charm by complimenting her hair. She smiles at that and when he says he needs the job to pay for his night classes, she asks what he's studying. Demonic Donnie says he's studying comparative religion with no trace of irony in his voice. The woman lets him know that the delivery boss feels strongly about religious backgrounds and likes honesty in his employees. Demonic Donnie asks her to put that in the application and she obliges with a wink. Ugh. You don't flirt with a guy who knows specifics about a woman's hair. He'll end up being either gay or having some kind of horrible dark secret. You can guess which one applies to him.

So Bocks is in his office watching that Vikings vs. Redskins game that holds MSR promise. And... we've been screwed once again because Mulder and Scully get called in from the game after more bodies were found dug up. I feel your pain, Mulder. Scully is all business as usual while Mulder tries to check out the game on TV. Once again, the corpses were found with their hair cut off, and the fingernails were even pulled out from the third body. Ouch. Well, if they were alive, I mean. Scully does not handle the news as professionally as before. Mulder watches her from the corner of his eye as he tells Bocks o send out a memo to PD informing them of an escalating fetishist. They'll need more security around cemeteries, funeral homes, and hospitals. Maybe they can project all this info on the Goodyear Blimp. Bocks doesn't want to alarm these people and Mulder just says they can tone down the gruesome aspects but the information needs to be released especially since the guy's compulsion is growing and he might resort to murder to get the corpses he desires. This is why Mulder is the psychoanalytical one. Sometimes just the one half of that. Bocks must now round up back up that will take a while in getting there because they're all at the football game, presumably. Scully has already left the office and made her self comfortable on a hallway chair mid-way through this scene. She looks perturbed. Mulder joins Scully and says he'll cancel their flight because they have work to do there. When he tries to get Scully's attention she just tells him she'll be right there and continues looking perturbed. Mulder chooses not bring up the ruined first date which is reassures my common sense side but still ticks off my shipper side.

Later on, Scully is doing a long-winded voice over on the nature of death fetishists, which would be alot easier for her if they actually had a psychological profile or something on those types of killer/maniacs. (BTW: Killermaniac would be an awesome name for a rock band. If anyone on here uses it, let me know!) She does some profiling of her own while on the computer, saying the their suspect is likely to be a white male who's got average to above average intelligence. She says stuff about how this guy is a cold-blooded inhuman monster who preys on the living to scavenge from the dead. Looks like someone is just as pissed as I am that her date was interrupted.

And here's the inhuman monster now. Freaky Pfaster is cruising for some street hookers and he strikes upon a blonde gum-chewing chick. He wants to take her home and she obliges, not having any idea od the horrors that shall await her. Her annoying gum smacking is going to kill the little sympathy I may have for her. The two enter Freaky Pfaster's apartment and she notices that it's freezing in there. He says the heater is broken and runs to draw her a bath. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Freaky Pfaster has got way too many shampoo bottles for a normal man and he asks her about her hair. He needs to know if her hair is chemically treated so she can use the correct shampoo. The street hooker has surely seen some pretty weird things in her life, but her face tells me that this is by far the weirdest. She hesitantly agrees when he offers her more money and the phone rings so Freaky Pfaster leaves her alone to get into the tub. Looks like Freaky Pfaster has got the frozen foods delivery job and he'll be starting right away. The street hooker quickly rushes in, saying that the water in the tub is ice cold. And that's when the proverbial freaky factor jumps up a few notches; she sees funeral wreaths in his bedroom. Dozens and dozens of flowers meant for cemeteries. Did he buy them or steal them from his victims. Something tells me I'll be just as creeped out no matter what the answer. Freaky Pfaster keeps his cool as he hangs up and starts walking towards his doomed street hooker. She backs away slowly, yelling for him to get away but when has that ever worked? I mean, if a crazy guy started coming at you and you told him to stay back would you really expect him to change his mind and be all "Oh, alright. Since you told me to stay back, I'll do that." Street hooker will become dead hooker by the next scene.

And it's the next scene. We're in an alley and another street hooker is called to identify the body, which you all know is dead hooker, aka Satin. Hmm... I don't think her parents gave her that name. The dead hooker's friend is in hysterics and Mulder and Scully are on the scene to figure out if this was the work of their death fetishist. The dead hooker not only got all her hair cut off, but she got her fingernails and some of her fingers taken too. Thank you for not showing us. Scully's reaction says it all.

Demonic Deliveryman Donnie is making his rounds. This particular stop is home to Mrs. Blabbermouth Idiot. He delivers her frozen foods while she makes idle chatter about their old deliveryman and how close they were with him. I suppose she thinks it's safe to be friendly with this new guy but *come on*. I'm not asking for nervous paranoia – we've got Mulder for that – but a little caution wouldn't hurt. Mrs. Blabbermouth Idiot introduces him to one of her daughters, she's got three you know, and Demonic Donnie just smiles creepily at the daughter, her mother totally oblivious. He excuses himself to wash his hands in the bathroom and he finds a hairball in the waste basket. Of course he's going to take the hairball and rub up on it. We obviously haven't been creeped out enough. He pockets the hair and gets going, but not before Mrs. Blabbermouth Idiot tells him that they always leave their back door open in case he's ever at their house when they're not home. She also gives him a list of her daughters' fears, their school schedules, and recommends their dark soundproof basement should he ever want to use it for any reason, no questions asked. And the most surprising thing of all this? She's not a victim and neither are her daughters. She gave Demonic Donnie three young bodies on a silver platter and we never see this family again. That is what I refer to as a red herring, or a Carter Mindfreak. Why do you feel you must mess with our heads, Carter? I hope a bee stings you.

Scully must autopsy the dead hooker and she must also do some more angsty voice over because this is the Scully Angst episode and we haven't got nearly enough Scully Angst. She says stuff about the forensics aspect of solving a murder. Different techniques serve their purpose to find the cause of death and motive, Scully feels that the dead hooker died a wrongful death. If it helps, I'm pretty sure she was already dead inside. Okay, that was a bit mean but I've watched CSI and never watched Pretty Woman so you must forgive me if I'm not championing for the dead hooker's rights as hard as Scully is. She is typing all of this on her computer so I am left to wonder if she's going to offer this highly non-subjective monologue as her field report. Mulder is reading it, which doesn't help to clear up my confusion. Scully does add in some autopsy findings, like the cold water slowing down the body's decay and the puncture wound that severed her pulmonary artery. Scully states, for the record, that this murder is just on par with child homicide in it's disturbing and heinous nature. Really? A guy who messes up corpses is as bad as a someone who kills little children? And you want to go on record with that? Hmm...

Mulder joins Bocks at the station where they're questioning one of the hookers who saw the guy who picked up her dead hooker friend. She says he looked like an ordinary guy and thinks he may have been driving a white car. Bocks sends her on her way, promising they'll catch the guy and Mulder makes a quip about her taking the paid vacation her boss owes her. Heh. He makes me feel less guilty about my hooker remarks earlier. That is one of the many, many reasons I love him. Bocks wonders how they're going to catch this fetishist, saying he read Mulder's profile on the guy and thinking maybe he can't "make it with women". Mulder says it's not about sex, it's about trophies and his hatred of women which cause him to defile the female corpses. On behalf of the girls here on may I say a big "Screw you" to Donnie Pfaster. Thank you. Mulder suggests they call up psychiatric facilities for any guys who have a hatred of women.

Freaky Pfaster is at his night class learning about mythology. He seems more interested in the short-haired blonde sitting in front. She scratches her neck showing of her pretty nails and it looks like we got ourselves our next target. I notice that the professor is linking Disney fairytales with death. This class needs to be offered at my college ASAP. I love Disney and... well, I don't love death but I watch forensic shows so I'd make a ton of connections in the first class alone. Possible thesis: 'The Trauma of Death in Bambi and the Lion King: Why Kids Today Are Screwed Up By Disney.'
After the class is over, the short-haired blonde makes her way to her car and who should surprise her but Freaky Pfaster. He tells her that he's in her class and asks for the homework assignment. The short-haired blonde relaxes a bit and gives him the chapters to read then tries to get back in his car. Freaky Pfaster is holding onto her car door and tells her not to go. She gets freaked out when he tries to get closer and totally defends herself. He knees him and punches him and I must thank her for doing what many of us wanted someone to do to his creepy butt. She clearly learned those moves in the Rape Prevention seminar that is so prevalent at my campus. You learn alot at those things and if you're lucky, you even get a little entertainment when the "reenactment" accidentally incapacitates the pretend attacker (at least, temporarily). The guy was the only one who was not so lucky because we all thought he was a very convincing actor (we could almost feel his pain as her knee connected with his red speedo area). But don't worry, he was a good sport about it. He recovered fairly quickly – by the end of the seminar thing – and once he was back in top form, he didn't let the opportunity pass to make the pretend victim blush in embarrassment. Good times.

Over in the autopsy bay, Scully walks to a corpse under a sheet on the autopsy table. She removes the sheet only to recoil in horror because she sees herself on the autopsy table! And there's a crazy demonic shadow standing above her. Suffice to say this is a freaked out Scully's dream. She gets woken by the phone. It's Mulder who says they may have caught the death fetishist. Scully is on her way over.
At the jail house, Bocks is giving Mulder some background info on the guy they captured: he's got a history of assault and he got hurt by the girl who attacked him. We see the guy in the cell and it's... not Donnie Pfaster. A Carter Switcheroo, the lesser cousin of the Carter Mindfreak. This guy was cut by a street hooker and Mulder is not sure this is their guy. However, the cell across from this guy houses none other that Freaky Pfaster. So the short-haired blonde managed to get him arrested. Good for her. Scully's in the jail and Freaky Pfaster sets his freaky sights on our poor, nervous Skeptic. Not good for her. She soon realizes she's being watched and looks at him briefly before leaving the jail, looking kind of rattled. She wants to talk to Mulder. Alone. Scully tells him that she'd be a better help to their case if she focused on the evidence and brought the body back to Washington. Liar, liar trench coat on fire! Mulder wants her to tell him if she's having trouble on the case. Scully insists she's fine. Mulder continues his reassurances; his voice soft and sweet, his eyes kind, his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of understanding... why oh why did their date get interrupted? In the end, Mulder realizes he can't prod Scully any further so he agrees with her and she leaves him to tend to the case with Bocks. Mulder watches her go with a pensive look on his face. You know who else watches her go? Freakin' Pfaster. He sure knows how to snap me out of the moment. He asks the guy who was roughed up by the street hooker what he's doing there. The guy says that he was mistaken for a freak who digs up corpses. Freaky Pfaster then asks if he knows the names of our two FBI agents. The guy only knows Scully's name. How convenient. And here comes the jail guard to let Freaky Pfaster out because his short-haired blonde target dropped the charges. To this I say: what the hell!? Stupid plot contrivance.

Scully is at the FBI lab trying to pull a print of some fabric. The lab tech thinks he might get something from the body and asks how long Scully will be there. She's supposed to catch a flight back to Minneapolis but she might cancel because she's afraid of a death fetishist. The lab tech just promises to do all he can to help and Scully leaves. She makes her way to the "Employee Assistance Program" office. She's going to talk to a shrink? That's... well, that's a breakthrough in itself. Way to go, Scully. She tells the FBI shrink about her supposed clinical detachment to death and how the FBI trained her to see the worst of the worst cases. You'd think she could handle it but she can't. Corpse molesters = pure evil. The FBI shrink asks Scully why she feels so vulnerable and Scully is not sure of the answer. The FBI shrink suggests maybe there's a trust problem with her partner but nothing could be further from the truth, lady! Scully tells her so but refuses to confide in him because she doesn't want to feel like he has to protect her. She doesn't want to be vulnerable in front of him. Awww. The FBI shrink brings up her dead father and her mysterious abduction as factors that could've contributed to this uncertainty and vulnerability. Scully is near tears as she tells the woman that she knows there's evil in the world and she's in her line of work to make a difference, something that gives her faith to do what she does. Now she's lost that faith and she need it back. Bravo. That is some fine Scully angst right there.
After this emotional purge, Scully is ready to get the lab results. She's got herself a fingerprint, news that warrants her to call Mulder. The lab tech tells her that an agent called for her before but didn't leave a name so he told this agent no-name that Scully was going to fly back to Minneapolis later. This lab tech needs to meet up with Mrs. Blabbermouth Idiot. Maybe form a club and give out way too much information to complete strangers. I get dibs on their credit card numbers. Scully tells Mulder that they got a print, and he relays this to Bocks before asking if she's going to stay in Washington. Scully will not, ready to face her demon and saying Mulder could use her help. He smiles and says "Always." So cute. She quickly asks if he or Bocks called her earlier and Mulder says no. How a little red flag didn't pop up in his overly paranoid mind is beyond me.

Officers break down the door of Donnie Pfaster's apartment. They find the cemetery flowers and human hair but no sign of him. Bocks puts out an APB on their guy and shortly afterward they find some fingers in the freezer. Lovely.
Scully arrives and gets her rental car, all the while being watched by Demonic Donnie. I think we can all see safely predict that he's going to follow her, run her car off the road, and kidnap her. While all this happens, Mulder just waits in Bocks' office and wonders where Scully is. His little red flag finally got around to waving and he is not pleased when someone comes in to announce that Scully's car was found with no Scully in it. They all get to the road where the car crash happened and Mulder takes a look at the car. I think it's safe to say that car will need more than a new coat of paint.

Freaky Pfaster is in a dark house, on his way to the bathroom. He's filling up the bathtub with all the fruity shampoos surrounding it. Seriously, is he like, a little gay? He walks to the closet and we see poor Scully tied up and gagged in there. When she takes a good look at her kidnapper she sees the demonic figure from earlier. I never quite understood if he could physically shift into that form or if it was all in Scully's (and the funeral home boss') mind.
Mulder and Bocks are rounding up info on the Freaky Pfaster's car. A few phone calls later and Bocks gets some specifics on the car's paint as well as approximate size. Meanwhile, Mulder is trying not to argue with the rental car agency. I would've liked to see him tear them a new one but I realize he must keep his cool if he's going to find Scully. Well, he tries to anyway. He gripes that people tape police beatings and see Elvis across the country everyday but where were these eagle eyed camera people when a pretty woman was run off the road? Mulder called her pretty. Mulder must use all his profiling skills to get into Freaky Pfaster's head and get a clue as to where Scully is. After some back and forth between Bocks and Mulder, they determine that he's at his mother's house because even though he probably hates her, it's the last place anyone would look for him. Yeah, sure. That's plausible.

So Demonic Donnie takes a look at Scully's nails before cutting her feet free. Scully is not grateful and yells for him to get away. Suddenly he starts morphing into all these different men that I presume are evil. What do these faces mean to Scully? Dates gone bad? Mean teachers? Relatives of CSM and Krycek? Your guess is as good as mine. Demonic Donnie's last transformation is, of course, the demon and when he's back to "normal" he tells Scully not to be afraid. Except he's going to kill her and take her hair and nails so she should be terrified. He leads her to the bathroom and asks her about her hair. Does his evil know no bounds? Scully edges back and when he moves towards her, she shoves him into the tub. He stumbles out and chases after Scully, calling her a girly girl. What the hell kind of insult is that? He continues with his stupid yet creepy taunts as he walks around the house in search for Scully. He opens a door and gets blasted with bug spray. Girly girl indeed, demon boy. She makes a break for it while his clawing at his eyes but he catches up to her by the stairs and they both fall down, causing Scully to lose the gun I was not aware she had. I didn't think Demonic Donnie would have let her keep her gun when he tied her up. He's kind of a crappy "monster of the week". Demonic Donnie gets on top of her but doesn't do much because that's when PD busts in and saves the day. Not a moment too soon. Mulder's got his gun out and I have no doubt he would've shot Demonic Donnie if he had the chance. The cops haul Demonic Donnie away while Mulder checks on Scully. He calls for paramedics but she resists, saying she's fine, she just needs to get untied. Mulder wants to make sure she's okay and Scully keeps up her pro facade by saying she's fine. She won't look him in the eyes though, and when he tilts her head up to meet his eyes the Scully Angst overflows and the walls come down, if only temporarily. She starts to cry as she reaches for him and he wraps his arms around her, one around her waist, stroking her hair. Soon she's got her arms around him and they're holding each other tightly, like there's no one else in the world. A wonderful resolution to this week's Scully Angst.

The last scene sort of wraps up the case. This time we get a Mulder voiceover as he talks about what makes a normal child a demonic fetishist and blah blah blah, there's no mention of hot Scully comforting so I've pretty much zoned out for the night. Hope Tanith and the other Minneapolis lurkers keep their eyes peeled for guys who are a bit too interested in women's hair. My advice is to always aim for the groin, though you should probably make sure the guy isn't an actor pretending to be an attacker for educational recreation purposes. Or gay. Other than that kick some butt.

(An extra recap coming tomorrow. Then I'll vote on the season 3 episodes. Yay!)