Please explain to me the scientific nature of the Whammy.
'Pusher' was yet another brilliant and disturbing episode, ending with one of the tensest and most unsettling scenes in the series so far.
At one point during this episode, I commented that the writers must have just watched the movie, Phenomenon, since the ability that Pusher was exhibiting as a result of his brain tumour was similar to that of the main character in the movie. Which would have been an excellent theory had 'Pusher' not aired four months before Phenomenon was released in theaters.
OK, so I guess not.
But while this episode was extremely tense and disturbing, it interestingly focused on the idea that the otherwise ordinary man, Pusher, became extraordinary and refused to give up the thing that made him so, even if that would eventually lead to his death.
Obviously, he was also disturbed, because he used his ability for evil. This episode seemed like it was framed very much as a supervillain/superhero origin story - the premise actually reminded me of the less-than-impressive Unbreakable, in which a supervillain hunts for his arch nemesis by setting up situations that will draw him out. Here, Pusher is searching for someone able to match him and even resist him, as Mulder appears able to.
But he sought out Mulder specifically. Not just any worthy adversary. Mulder. He wanted the profiler. The man who could get inside his head, because no one else could - they were too easy for him.
Mulder clearly requires all of his concentration to perform Occlumency, or rather, simply to resist the power of Pusher's suggestion. I think this further confirms what I thought about 'Grotesque', where Mulder was able to get into the mind of the serial killer without becoming the killer. He can compartmentalise, which makes him far less susceptible to mental suggestion than someone who can't just shut off certain parts of his brain.
I can't even begin to describe how incredibly tense the scene between Mulder and Pusher was. The fact that they were just sitting there doing nothing, saying nothing, and somehow able to still convey all that tension, was pretty remarkable. The greatest action in the episode was no action at all. Until Scully showed up and pulled the fire alarm anyway. It's an amazing standoff, though. A battle of wits fought entirely in their heads.
And as if that wasn't creepy enough, there was the scene inside the FBI with Holly and Skinner that was terrifying. I guess a reasonable amount of time must have passed since 'Apocrypha', because Skinner seems remarkably fine as he tries to physically resist Pusher, and Holly kicking the crap out of him doesn't appear to do any lasting damage.
Oh, right, and because the writers still weren't content to leave it at that, Pusher also murders Frank Burst (great name!) by convincing him to have a heart attack. I think that may be the creepiest killing of all, because he's not just willing someone to take some action with his thoughts, he's actually forcing someone's body to behave in a particular way. Holy crap, that's terrifying.
All of this does an effective job of setting up Pusher's ability to manipulate people's thoughts and actions, so long as he concentrates, which is the key point, because when Scully breaks his concentration for just a brief moment, it gives Mulder the opportunity to shoot him and end his reign of terror.
I really liked that Skinner, and even Scully seemed to start to believe in Pusher's ability, or at least understand what Mulder's talking about, even if they're still somewhat skeptical of its origins.
And even more importantly, Scully is scared for Mulder, and back to being very unnerved by the idea of possibly losing him to Pusher, so it looks like at least she's fully over 'War of the Coprophages' and 'Syzygy', because I'm pretty sure right after those episodes, she'd have willingly sent him in there by himself anyway. But here, she's not particularly willing to, and the connection between them seems to be back to normal.
This episode reminded me a lot (remember that I watched these shows in the wrong order!) of the Fringe episode, 'Bad Dreams'. I'm not surprised - I'll do an alliterative Friday Feature about that show at some point, because this obviously isn't the only episode that had a clear influence on Fringe.
And one last note about geography. Hahahahahahahaha. No, really, I mean. Hahahahaha. OK. *breathe*
I live in (and grew up in) Fairfax County and I work in Loudoun County. Granted, most of Loudoun County is pretty rural, but the parts by Fairfax County are very well developed, at least now, so that struck me as a little strange. Possibly not in 1996, though.
But there is no 12000 'block' of Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax*. However, in the 4000 block or so, there is a fire department, and there is an Inova Emergency Care Center a little ways away from it. And 123 becomes Ox Road not much farther beyond that, but if this is what they were going for, they didn't do too badly. They've done worse, at least.
*It's not technically Fairfax County, but the City of Fairfax, because Virginia is weird.
OK, that's enough about the local geography. It's just cool to see Mulder and Scully working in an area I'm very very familiar with.
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