Veiled Vesta

Aww, Victoria, I missed you around these parts. Feel better, hun. Glad you all liked the last recap in which David was totally gyped and I was surprised you gals actually agree with the theory I heard from Neel. Cool! I'm going to try and get two recaps posted tonight. After TPMP, we'll be reading a special guest recap. Can't wait! (Hope you're doing well with it, Tanith! Oh, and how were the tornadoes?)

Detour

**(Personal Notes: Seminars, Moth Men, and Forest songs, oh my! This is one of many episodes that make its audience want to cower in their room and never set foot outdoors again. We get many adorable teasing moments between these two, plus some singing that only a mother, or a smitten but wisely silent partner, could love.)**

In the humid forests of Florida (and here I though Florida only had palm trees and pot plants) two environmental guys are walking around with equipment and taking pictures for their Yearbook scrapbook. No, actually their job is legit. They're surveyors taking inventory of plants and stuff before it gets destroyed for a mini mall or maybe middle-income housing. They've got walkie talkies and everything. The one snapping the photos, Marty, is a nature lover and the one with a pole to mark/measure territory, Sloan, is not a big fan of Mother Nature's bountiful bug harvest. That means that he'll be the first to die because The X-Files is nothing if not respectful of the environment. I never knew Carter was such a hippie but then again, I was under the impression that hippies embraced free love and expression, something he wouldn't let our poor sexually frustrated pair act out for many a year. In any case, another forest episode, another bunch of deaths/disappearances. Sloan's surveyor’s pole is stuck in the mud and when he touches the dirt in which it's stuck, he finds blood. Glowing red eyes greet him and he screams. When Marty runs over to see what's going on, he disappears and we see the glowing red eyes again. A tree spirit, I suppose. That spirit needs some Visine.

Opening Credits! Anyone know any good environmentalist/hippie songs? I wish I went to Woodstock or paid attention to any songs Al Gore played when he gave his speeches. I could look up some songs but I can't muster enough interest to do so. In fact, let's forego the environmental song (and I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner) because today's honorary episode song is 'Joy To The World' by Three Dog Night

Now we see a father and son, plus an adorable hunting dog, walking around the forest and learning about the wild. Leaves of three leave them be, leaves of four eat some more. They stumble upon Marty and Sloan's equipment. The father takes their hunting dog over for a closer look and that's when he sees the blood on a jacket. He hears something and tells his son to take the dog and go straight home. Or, how about you both go straight home and call the police. I guess the father thinks he'll be safe with his shot gun. The boy and his dog run off, pausing momentarily when he hears some gunshots but then he keeps running. Bo is an adorable name for a dog. Just wanted to say that little thing before we move to the next scene.

So here we are driving along a road, a balding male FBI agent is talking about a personal revelation he had at the last team seminar. His partner, a blonde female agent, marvels over the greatness of teamwork and stacking office furniture to make a tower. You never know when that skill will come in handy in the field (And I know that sounds flippant but Mulder and Scully actually do use that knowledge later on in the forest. Who knew?) Speaking of our favorite male/female agents, we see them sitting in the back seat, and it seems Mulder hates team work exercises more than I do – I believe his exact words to Scully were: "Kill me now". Oh no, you're not ditching Scully on that seminar, mister. The male agent asks if Scully's ever been to one of those team work seminars but she says she's only been to the mandatory "constructive problem solving course" when she first joined the FBI. The two agents in the front seat talk about the game where you can't use any negative words and how difficult it is. Mulder can understand perfectly the challenge of not saying anything negative. I think the Sarcasm King would fail at that team work game. When the female agent asks if Mulder has ever been to the team seminar, Mulder cracks that "unfortunately" when that time rolls around he finds he developes a severe hemorrhoidal condition. Scully's pro mask is really cracking with all his sarcasm. She's smiling like crazy and really close to laughing but she knows that would only encourage him. The two agents talk about the importance of communication and then get stopped at a road block. Mulder takes the opportunity to get out of the car and stretch his legs. How far do you think he could run back home before he gets tired and tries to hitch a ride? Not too far with eagle-eyed Scully on his back. A woman, the wife of the hunter in the forest earlier, asks for Mulder's help and explains that her husband was teaching their son how to shoot when shots were fired and later on a bloody jacket was found. Mulder promises to find the person in charge and get some information. Scully, who's been watching him the whole time, gets out to follow him without saying a word to the inquiring 'team work happy' agents. The balding male agent notices a tree stump on a post with some dates marked on it and he makes a remark about how old it is. The blonde female agent complains they're going to be late for the wine and cheese reception. Ah, I think I understand some of the eagerness now.

Mulder finds the female officer, an officer Michelle Fazekas, in charge and he tells her he's FBI. She asks who called in the FBI and he says they weren't called in officially, he just got stopped at their road block and he'd get on his knees and thank her if he didn't think he'd get a bizarre reaction. Or a death glare from Scully. He asks about the shots that were reported and officer Fazekas says there's no evidence of a shooting but they did find the surveyor's equipment and a set of tracks that weren't human or animal. Scully is a few feet away, waiting for Mulder to satisfy his curiosity and after a bit she calls his name but he asks for another minute to find out where the father's footprints led and clarifying that the unknown attacker was not just a panther or a bear. Well gang, looks like our duo has got ourselves another mystery to solve. Mulder asks for a good motel nearby and Scully steps in to remind him they have a conference. Mulder wonders how he can break the news without using any negative words. Heh. Scully correctly guesses that he wants her to tell the other two agents that he's not going to be joining them for this year's seminar and Mulder grins, grabbing her upper arms and declaring they don't need some seminar to know what the other is thinking. Then he leaves and Scully just shakes her head. Sometimes it seems she knows Mulder better than he knows her. Anyway, later on at night we're at the Asekoff residence. We see the boy who was out hunting with his dad earlier, Louis, dozing in front of a black and white movie. His mom comes over to kiss him goodnight and turn off the television. Louis wakes up and says his dad isn't coming back because he's a good shot and would've killed whatever attacked him and been home already. His mom tells him to be brave and get some sleep. She goes downstairs to clear away some dinner plates and we see their hunting dog makes worried whimpering noises.

Mulder is doing research on a laptop in his motel room when Scully knocks in his door. She brought some cheese and a small wine bottle but all Mulder can do is make a silly joke about "cutting the cheese". Scully starts saying that since they "won't be making it to the conference", and Mulder finishes her thought declaring "Partay!" Oh yeah, that's definitely their unspoken communication. Scully feels the need to reminds her that they breaking rules by spending time together in the same room and drinking liquor. Mulder jokes that if she tries to make a move on him he'd totally kick her ass. Hah! I think everyone here agrees that Scully's ass-kicking prowess is superior to Mulder's. If anyone is getting their ass kicked, it would be Mulder and what's more he'd probably enjoy it. Enough banter, Mulder is ready to talk about their creature which is an oddity in that it attacks the strongest prey and leaves the weakest to escape. Scully is confused because she thought Mulder just took the case to get out of going to the team work seminar. Mulder says they've stumbled upon an X-File involving a primitive creature wandering the woodsy, Sunshine state. He leaves to check something out and Scully remarks that he does need to work on his communication skills. Mulder gives her a boyish smile that no woman can resist and promises when he returns, they can build a tower of furniture. I think she'd get more pleasure challenging him to an ass-kicking match. When he leaves she drinks some wine and perhaps gives my idea some thought. Come on Scully... loser has to show up to the basement office wearing a red bathing suit! How about it?

We're at Louis' house again and the family hunting dog, Bo, is barking at something outside the glass door. The mother goes down to check outside the window, then unlock the door and find out why Bo is barking. He rushes outside and she follows the dog. She sees rustling in some bushes and gets startled by Bo. She wants to take him back inside but he growls and barks at some strange presence around so she decides she'll go back inside alone. Too bad the door managed to lock itself when she went outside. She starts pounding at the door and yelling for Louis. He gets up and walks out into the hall. That's when he sees some kind of shadowy creature with red eyes. The tree spirit! Are there any abused house plants inside? He runs downstairs to the back door and crawls out the little doggy door. Mulder is outside ready to grab his shoulders and freak him out. He asks Louis what's wrong and the boy tells him "it's" inside the house. The next morning, Scully is checking out Louis' bedroom while Mulder and some police officers are with Louis and his mom. Scully goes down and asks how the boy is, and Mulder says he's still kind of freaked out. She thinks his overactive imagination coupled with the black and white movie he saw last night, The Invisible Man, made him think he saw that creature that attacked him. Mulder says it can't be because the creature had glowing red eyes. Good argument, Mulder. More proof is the door locking all by itself and mysterious tracks with five toes that aren't human according to weight distribution (the creature walks on the ball of its foot). Scully thinks he's yanking her chain and he says he's not because as a former Indian Guide he knows about these kind of things. Googling a search for 'Indian Guides' showed me many Native Americans in loin cloths and if that was the uniform Mulder wore when he was an Indian Guide, I'd like to amend the losing conditions of that ass-kicking match earlier. Officer Fazekas joins them and agrees with Mulder about the not quite human, not quite animal tracks. Mulder nods and Scully makes a face. Mulder suggests they find their red-eyed creature before it finds someone else.

Our FBI agents and officer Fazekas are out by the forest road with local techie, Jeff. He has a device that detects body heat at 300 yards, it's called a FLIR (Forward Looking InfraRed). Officer Fazekas explains that inside the forest they won't be able to use cell phones. Seriously? A few extra trees ruins their other wise unbelievably excellent service? Well, plot devices aside, officer Fazekas says they should stick close stay on their walkie talkies and if they get lost, just stay put until someone finds them. Scully finishes on her phone before she has to enter the forest. She heard from the local PD that their suspect in the forest attacks is a drifter but Mulder scoffs at that just like the police must've scoffed at Mulder's idea of the primitive predator. Mulder suspects they're looking for two creatures who are smart enough to divide their prey and attack. He brings up the environmental part of the episode, saying they're attacking because people are moving into their territory and they're fighting back to protect their home. Jeff is using his FLIR and Officer Fazekas is laying down white pebbles as they walk into the woods. Jeff doesn't get any readings, not even normal animal sounds. Scully asks him his theory on what could've killed the surveyors and the hunter to which Jeff responds with the predators' need to survive and the beauty of nature blinding us to it's cruelty. Scully is impressed but he just got that from the FOX Network's 'When Animals Attack'. I think I saw that episode. It was beautifully natural and then cruel and violent when that lion went straight for that guy's crotch. We see that the white stones that officer Fazekas left behind are being taken by the tree spirit. This is just like the Blair Witch Project only not atrociously boring.

Alot of walking into the forest before Jeff finally gets something on the FLIR. Mulder and Scully draw their guns and Jeff says the creature is just sitting there a few yards ahead. Then suddenly, looking at the radar we see it's up and moving. They chase the creature with Jeff shouting directions and then he realizes there's two of them moving in opposite directions. Officer Fazekas and Scully chase one of them and Mulder and Jeff chase after the other one. I don't think the women will have much seeing their creature without Jeff's FLIR. The two men don't do so well either as they lose the creature after a while. Jeff is stumped at how quickly it vanished from his screen. Over with Scully and officer Fazekas, Scully realizes that they were purposely separated by the creatures and the two women need to get back to Mulder and Jeff. With officer Fazekas in the lead, they go back slowly. We see a the tree spirit with it's creepy red glowing eyes and suddenly officer Fazekas falls down. Scully calls her name and tries to look for her but it's like she just vanished. Scully then calls for Mulder who hears her distress call right away and manages to find her. She tells them she doesn't know what happened to officer Fazekas and Mulder says the creatures got her because she was leading the group and presumed to be the strongest. Just so you know, the creatures take Jeff next and leave Mulder and Scully last. What does that say about our two agents, huh? That's gotta hurt the ego, if only a bit. Jeff gets worried about her disappearance and says they need to get out of the forest to call for back up. Mulder is reluctant to leave but Jeff insists they stick together just like officer Fazekas said earlier. It's called team work Mulder, not that you'd know much about it. Scully is the one who convinces him they should go because they're also ill equipped to keep looking in the forest. Mulder tells Jeff to lead the way. Oh, I see what he's doing. He must really dislike Jeff.

On the walk back, Mulder and Scully get into a conversation about animals that can regulate their body temperature (maybe that's how it disappeared from the heat sensor) and soon Mulder tells her about primitive men with piercing red eyes attacking a West Virginia town about 30 years ago. They were known as Moth Men and Scully cracks that maybe the moth men file would be found next to the "cockroach that ate Cincinnati". Mulder just smiles and says that Moth Men would be filed under 'M' not 'C'. Jeff interrupts to tell them that the white stones officer Fazekas used to mark the trail are gone so he thinks they're going the wrong way. Mulder argues that they're following the same path they used to enter the forest and Scully stops the argument when she sees something out there. Mulder and Scully take out their guns and Jeff initially sees nothing on his FLIR but after a moment he has it behind them. Mulder rushes forward and at Scully's suggestion Jeff has no choice but to shout directions and guide him to the Moth Man tree spirit. It hides in a tree and Jeff loses sight of it but Mulder sees it and fires his gun several times. I don't think he got it. Scully sees it and fires her gun about the same amount of shots Mulder fired. I don't think she hit it either. Jeff has run off because he's an idiot and he disappears just like officer Fazekas. Now it's just Mulder and Scully alone in the Florida forest. Mulder asks Scully how many shots she fired and thinks the creature is trying to get them to waste all their ammo. Smart Moth Man tree spirit. Suddenly Mulder falls and Scully runs towards him. Did he disappear like the others? What the hell, Moth Men, we all know Scully is the toughest of the group! The glowing red eyes have made them blind. She calls his name and he groans her name loudly. She finds Mulder, a Moth Man tree spirit on top of him, and she fires four times at the spirit but it just runs away. Scully checks on Mulder who's bleeding from his shoulder. That spirit has sharp spirit nails. He claims he's okay and he should consider him lucky that Scully's quick on the trigger.

Ah, the night time forest scene. Innuendo and singing plus one last reference to Scully's cancer this season. Scully is trying to get a fire going by striking two rocks together. You know, that doesn't work with just any old rocks. Mulder is watching her, half lying down against a log. His Indian Guide experience doesn't help here. You think he made it all up to impress Scully? Well she decides to get resourceful with her gun, attempting to ignite the gun powder in the bullet. She's sitting next to Mulder who says that maybe it'll start raining weenies and marshmallows. Scully calls him on his negative attitude and says they need that fire, especially for him because he's gone into shock. Mulder suggests the best way of getting warm would be if two naked people crawl into a sleeping bag together and he not so subtly rolls his head onto Scully's arm. Heh. Where's his Tailhook rhetoric, now? Scully says if it rains sleeping bags maybe he'll get lucky. Nice! After a moment Scully is ready to get serious and she recounts her struggle with cancer and how it made her life more important. She says that life is alot like that struggle. Mulder offers his two cents about Nature's disregard for our lives and how people are lucky if they make it to eighty years old, especially if they haven't lost too much of their hair. Scully laughs lightly about how life is alot like Vegas where the house always wins. And look at that, she gets her bullet open and gets ready to ignite her gun powder. Mulder gives he a "Go girl" as encouragement and tries to strike up a conversation about the Flintstones. The gunpowder ignites for about a second then goes out. Mulder can't help but give her a look while he has a silly smile on his face and Scully brings up the Moth Men. She sits down beside him and tries to get Mulder to rest his head on her lap. He weakly jokes that he doesn't want to wrestle (under normal circumstances he'd be singing a different tune, I just know it). Scully says that in lue of a sleeping bag she'll have to keep him warm by wrapping her arms around him fully clothed. He'll take it. Mulder sort of lying on her lap as he mumbles that one of them has to stay awake and Scully volunteers since he's the injured one. Mulder wants her to sing something so he'll know if she's awake or not. Scully protests, saying she can't carry a tune but Mulder says it doesn't matter and after a long stretch of silence with Scully looking around and Mulder getting comfy on her lap, Scully begins with the lyrics: 'Jeremiah was a bull frog... was a good friend of mine'. I think if she put more effort into it she'd sound decent. Mulder's eyes shoot open at the first line and he gets a funny look on his face but she doesn't notice so she continues: 'Never understood a single word he said but I helped him drink his wine...' She stops but Mulder's eyes are now closed and he urges her to continue with the chorus. She does. 'Joy... to the world. All the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.' The camera takes us away from the lovely scene, showing us the glowing red eyed spirit nearby, possibly being kept at bay by Scully's singing. I can't believe we didn't get to stay and hear her sing the second part of the song: 'If I were the king of the world, tell you what I'd do. Throw away the cars and bars and wars, And make sweet love to you' What a gyp.

In the morning, Mulder wakes up and sees he's alone. He calls Scully's name and she makes herself shown a few feet away. She was eating some wild berries she found. Eat your heart out former Indian Guide. Mulder is uneasy but Scully walks towards him, and assures he was never out of her sight. And now she's out of his because she disappears. Mulder gets up and runs over, calling her name several times. She yells out to him that she fell down a hole. Well that's a little embarrassing. He looks down and asks if she's okay. She says she's alright and describes what's down there. She finds a few bodies hanging down there in the hole along with officer Fazekas who's just barely alive. Mulder asks if there's a way out and she says no, then tells him she's not alone when she spots a Moth Man tree spirit. She lost her gun on the way down so Mulder tosses her down his gun and there's something rustling behind him. Scully picks up his gun then about a second later nearly avoids being crushed by him when he falls down and joins her. I guess he really missed Scully. He's in pain once again and Scully asks if he's alright. He tries to play it off and when she helps him up, he points out the creature heading towards them. Scully fires at it and finally gets it! The body she sees doesn't look very spirit-like. It's a wooden body. Scully is confused but tries to think of a dozen different scientific explanations to disprove the Moth Men theory. That's our Skeptical Scully.

Time for some team work. Mulder and Scully start building a tower of furniture, minus the furniture. They're using the bodies they found in the hole. Lovely. Mulder jokes that 20 more bodies and they'll win the honey baked ham. Let the real team work enthusiasts save the day, Mulder. The balding male Agent from the car shows up and sees them down in the hole. He asks what they're doing down there. They're baking chocolate chip cookies; what does it look like they're doing? Mulder tells him they've got injured people down in the hole and Scully tells him to get a ladder. He complies and we see a whole rescue team getting closer with the blonde female agent in the lead. Did they stay in Florida that whole time or did they get to the seminar and come back, using their FBI learned team work powers to find Mulder and Scully? Either way those annoying agents were actually useful.

Officer Fazekas and the Louis' father get loaded into an ambulance. Where's Jeff and his FLIR? Louis' mother is relieved and hugging her son as they watch the hunter get taken away. Everyone is congratulating the male balding agent who manages to get to Mulder and apologetically tells him they're getting the credit for Mulder and Scully's work. Mulder actually takes it in stride, saying he deserves it and they would've never even gotten involved if not for him stopping at the road block and all. The two male agents are looking at the tree stump on the post from earlier and Mulder remembers that there was something carved down in the hole they fell into. 'Ad noctum', meaning 'Into darkness' was carved down there, and he notes that the Spanish Conquistadors used to carve that into trees, implying the spirits attacking people were around the age of Ponce de Leon (over 400 years ago). The balding agent thinks Mulder is just making that up because he works on the X-Files and wants to write off his motel room. Well if he can manage to do that, wouldn't it icing on the supernatural mystery cake? The blonde female agent comes by and says they couldn't find Jeff or a second creature. Why was the officer spared and not the techie? Anyway, Mulder says that the creatures would attack anyone who they perceived as a threat, so anyone who entered the forest like the kid and his dog, could very well be chased back to their home by vengeful spirits. By the way, where's Scully? The blonde agent tells Mulder that Scully went back to the motel to pack for both of them (Aww, they know each other well enough to pack each other's things. Heh. No wonder someone brought up the idea that Scully might steal one of his boxers). Mulder excuses himself then gets to the balding agent's car and drives off. The balding agent mentions that his jacket was in that car. Woo hoo, free jacket! That's what you get for stealing Mulder and Scully's thunder, baldy!

Scully is packing up Mulder's things when Mulder pulls up in a hurry and starts banging on her room. She peeks out of his motel room door and asks what's going on. He joins Scully inside and hands her a suitcase, before taking his own. He tells her they should get going. Scully is fine with that and she leaves. Mulder looks around suspiciously before closing the motel room door and leaving as well. What do we see under the bed? The glowing red eyes! Well, they were under Mulder's motel room bed so haha. But still it was really sweet how concerned he was about Scully's safety. She should buy him a sleeping bag to thank him.