The Host (23 Sep. 1994)
"The X Files" The Host (original title)

With the X Files still shut down, Mulder is re-assigned from wiretap monitoring to a murder investigation. He finds himself in the sewers of New Jersey and assumes that Assistant Director ... See full summary »

Director:

Daniel Sackheim

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Chris Carter

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi

Cast

Episode cast overview:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Mitch Pileggi	...	Walter Skinner
Darin Morgan	...	Flukeman
Matthew Bennett	...	Workman #1
Freddy Andreiuci	...	Inspector Norman
Don MacKay	...	Charlie
Marc Baur	...	Agent Brisentine (as Marc Bauer)
Gabrielle Rose	...	Dr. Zenzola
Ron Sauvé	...	Ray (as Ron Sauve)
Dmitri S. Boudrine	...	Russian Engineer
Raoul Ganeev	...	Dmitri (as Raoul Ganee)
William MacDonald	...	Federal Marshall

Storyline

With the X Files still shut down, Mulder is re-assigned from wiretap monitoring to a murder investigation. He finds himself in the sewers of New Jersey and assumes that Assistant Director Skinner is again trying to get him out of the way. Scully offers to perform an autopsy on he dead man and finds a rather large fluke worm attached to the his liver. As the investigation continues, Mulder discovers a human-like creature in the sewer system and Sculley believes it is trying to reproduce by finding human hosts. Mulder is also receiving cryptic phone calls from someone stating that he has a friend in the FBI.

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Plot Keywords:

autopsy | port a potty | bare chested male | night cityscape | flatworm | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

23 September 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, North Shore Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Scully states that the autopsy number is "101356." October 13, 1956 is Chris Carter's birth date.

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Goofs

The tanker truck that the "Flukeman" stows away in belongs to A&A Anderson Tank Service. A&A Anderson Tank Service is a real tanker service owned and operated out of Richmond, British Columbia, where much of the X Files series was shot. According to the plot, New Jersey is the site of this episode. In addition, the phone number "277-1628" you can see on the passing tanker truck is the real phone number of A&A. Lake Betty Park, where the "Flukeman" first enters the tanker truck, is an actual campground located in New Jersey.

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Quotes

Scully: Somebody shoved this under my door. I guess you really do have a friend in the FBI. And, Mulder, when you see Skinner to hand in field report, I hope that you know that I'd consider it more than a professional loss if you decided to leave.

User Reviews

One of the best

"The Host" is an amazing episode, and it comes as sort of a mild surprise that it is so great every time one watches it simply because it doesn't have the popularity and status of something like "Home" or "Bad Blood". It not only features one of the best, weirdest, most memorable and most gruesome monsters on the show (played by Darin Morgan, who would go on to write some of the show's best episodes), but is very interesting in terms of the continuing storyline of the X-Files being closed and the politics behind all that, Mulder & Scully's relationship, and in terms of character writing (which is related to the plot, of course). It's not just a great episode because it's got a great monster, it's a phenomenal script which accomplishes something in all different aspects of "The X-Files" as a series.

This script by Chris Carter was quite possibly his best up to this point. The idea itself is intriguing and well-executed, and this has to be just one of the most disgusting monsters on the show but also one of the most interesting and one of the best-developed. In addition to the quality of the monster and case, the episode is packed with witty banter, quirky guest characters, exceptionally well-done gross-out moments, stunning makeup work, a nasty end for the monster, and there's even interesting conversations between Skinner and Mulder and the introduction of Mr. X.

When it comes down to deciding which my favorite standalone episodes are I tend to go for the ones which are most inventive and different, as well as ones with exceptional writing for the characters and particularly notable dialogue. "The Host" actually manages to be all of those things with writing that extends beyond the case and characters into the overall mythology as well. Creepy, funny, intelligent, entertaining, and lots of fun, "The Host" is a real classic and one of the best episodes of not only season two but the whole series.

10/10