When I first saw the description of 'War of the Coprophages', I was rather concerned about the notion of killer cockroaches. I'm not good with bugs. Like, at all. I've been known to unload entire cans of RAID on stink bugs and spiders before. I think the presence of actual cockroaches in my home might induce a desire to use a small nuclear device.
But then the episode turned out to be really really ridiculous and funny?
OK, so it turns out that this was written by the same person who gave us the brilliant 'Humbug' and 'Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose'. Now it all makes sense. But this was the first of those episodes that I found to be really explicitly funny. It was kind of a farce, really, and pretty constantly hilarious and bizarre, whereas the other two were more poignant with funny moments.
I mean, right from the beginning, we get what looks like an entomology professor lecturing about cockroaches (and philosophising about them rather gratuitously) and it turns out to be ... an exterminator. So that pretty much set the tone right there.
There's also the bizarreness of Mulder and Scully's interactions and the general framing of the episode. But in a good and amusing way! It's bizarre, but fun.
We see Scully relaxing at home - well, being at home, I'm not sure that cleaning one's gun or dog is necessarily relaxing - but she is eating and watching TV and reading Breakfast at Tiffany's (apparently a reference to David Duchovny's appearance on Celebrity Jeopardy), too. Also, she sits on the floor and eats from the coffee table? If I'm doing that, I'll at least sit on my couch. But the point is, she's completely external to the case, and to whatever Mulder's doing, at least at the start of the episode.
Also, there's the dog, in a nice bit of continuity from 'Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose'.
And Mulder keeps calling her, suggesting that she needs to come up to help with the investigation, but then ending up leaving her hanging? And she seems genuinely disappointed by this. Also incredibly jealous when he's working with a female entomologist from the USDA. Wait, jealous? So this is pretty much the first time the show has been more than slightly implicit about her interest in Mulder, isn't it? I always got hints before that they both kind of liked each other, but jealousy is usually a much more direct and obvious sign.
Plus she waits by the phone. And sleeps with the phone on her pillow. And has an incredibly sad and scared look on her face when Mulder, after talking about Bambi (Her name is Bambi?) says he has something to confess to her. Holy shit, Gillian Anderson is good at face. But poor Scully. At least he didn't confess he'd slept with Bambi or wanted to sleep with Bambi or anything like that. Scully did at least seem to soften slightly when Mulder's only confession was that he hated insects.
Otherwise, I can't possibly recount all the strange humour in this episode, there's just so much of it - I'd be here all week, and I'd probably have to watch the episode a dozen times just to pick up all the subtlety (though I did notice the people in orange hazmat suits casually walking past behind the news reporter saying there was no cause for panic). Plus, I don't know that I could do it justice, even then.
For an explicitly comedic episode, this one does touch on one important aspect of our culture, which is paranoia and panic. Mulder even is able to confirm that all the victims of the supposed cockroach attacks died of otherwise explainable causes, which is exactly what Scully suggested initially. It seems that even with the roaches present, they were not the cause of death for any of the victims.
So the people panicked for no good reason, which I guess is usually the case in mass panics. Look at the shelves of any grocery store in the D.C. area just before a forecast of more than 4 inches of snow, and you'll find them devoid of bottled water, bread, milk, eggs, and toilet paper. Probably not bug spray or chocolate or pantyhose, though.
Probably.
Overall, I actually found this a lot easier to watch than I expected. And obviously I enjoyed it far more than I ever thought I would an episode about cockroaches. Sure, they're gross, but maybe they bother me less than some of the bugs I actually do see in my house from time to time?
So yes, count this as another outstanding Darin Morgan episode. He's three for three so far.
(Her name is Bambi?)
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