SQUEEZE

   

 

                Okay Mulder.....This is the work of a 100 year old serial killer who is capable of overpowering                                                        a 6ft 2 inch businessman.

 

The episode starts with a businessman (George Usher) leaving a presentation and returning to his office late one evening....however as he leaves to get into his car he is unaware that he is being watched from a storm drain  by a pair of yellow coloured eyes....Usher makes it back to his office and calls his wife, telling her he is going to be late home. Meanwhile a screw from a narrow airvent is loosened....apparently from the inside....and what leaves the vent proceeds to maul and kill the businessman - before leaving from the same point of entry.

We the switch to Scully, who is enjoying lunch with a colleague who she had trained with (Tom Colten). Colten tells her about the case in which a number of people have been murdered - and that the only connection is that there would appear to have been no point of entry for the murderer. He adds that each victim had their liver ripped out and that no cutting tools had been used. Colten asks that Scully assists with the case and she agrees that she and Mulder will attend the last victims apartment to take a look - although Colten does not seem keen on Spooky Mulder attending. The apartment is in Baltimore and whilst at the scene Mulder finds traces of a substance under the air vent, and finds some form of finger print on the vent. It would appear that this killing links to previous X-Files - with similar prints being found in the 1930s and 1960s - and that in each year five people were murdered and the point of entry was never found. Mulder suggests that with three people dead - the killer requires two further victims before he (or she) reaches their quota. Scully on the other hand remains a little skeptical, suggesting a 100 year old serial killer was highly unlikely....

On further investigation Mulder finds that the X File actually dates back to 1903, and that he would still like to investigate. Scully deduces that the killer is between 25 and 35 years old and has a superior knowledge of buildings and entry points, and that his removal of the liver suggests some form of obsessive compulsive disorder. She adds that the killer may return to previous sites in order to experience the emotional high of the kill, and assists Colten and his men in staking the place out.

We then switch to crime scene. Scully is positioned in basement car park - and Mulder turns up. Mulder feels that he has already beaten this place through entry, yet as he leaves he hears a noise in the vents and alerts Scully. The male scurrying about in the vents is captured and taken to FBI headquarters - revealing his name to be Eugene Victor Tooms, and employee of Baltimore Animal Control. Tooms is subjected to a lie detector test and passes all conventional questions - however when asked questions relating to his age and previous involvement in murders (forwarded by Mulder) he clearly lies - however for Colten Tooms is not the murderer and he is released. Back at the office a despondent Mulder looks again at Toom's fingerprints - and finds that by stretching the prints they are a perfect match for previous murders committed half a century ago. Tooms meanwhile returns for his fourth victim by squeezing through a chimney.

Mulder and Scully attend the crime scene of the murders fourth victim -and Colten is not happy with Mulders presence. Mulder discovers that Tooms removed something from the victims home - perhaps a trophy. They leave the scene and return to the office with Mulder suggesting that they trace Tooms whereabouts through the census and births, deaths registration. This turns up no records other than the name and address of the investigating Police Officer in 1930. They go and see the ex cop, Frank, and he tells them that he was well aware the man who murdered in the 1930s was also responsible for the deaths in the 1960s. He provides the agents with a box of evidence, including of photographs of Tooms in the 1930s and an address - 66 Exeter Street.

Mulder and Scully go to the address, which is empty and derelict. In Room 103 - Mulder removes an old mattress and there is a hole behind it - they go through and into a cellar. In this location they find a host of trinkets taken from the apartments of victims. Mulder describes how he perceives the accumulation of newspaper to be a nest, and that he feels that this is where Tooms hibernates. What if some genetic mutation could allow a man to wake every thirty years - and what if five livers could provide sustenance for that period - a 20th century genetic mutant. Scully leaves the scene to get a surveillance team whilst Mulder remains....yet neither notices that Tooms had been present the whole time, and that he had removed a trinket from Scully.....his next victim.

No sooner does the replacement surveillance team arrive than Colten calls them away - branding it a waste of time. Scully returns home, unaware that Tooms lies in wait. However she detects his presence and rushes for her gun, quickly seeing Tooms attempting to squeeze through an air vent. Mulder, who sees Scully's necklace in Tooms collection - rushes to Scully's apartment, and the two apprehend him. We next see Tooms being held at the FBI office, and beginning to build himself a nest in his cell. As Mulder and Scully leave we see Tooms looking at the eyehole that has been left open.......can he squeeze through???

 

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Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1X03
Directed by Harry Longstreet
Written by Glen Morgan
James Wong
Guest Stars Doug Hutchison,
Donal Logue,
Henry Beckman,
Kevin McNulty,
Terence Kelly
Original Airdate  
Theme(s) Genetic Mutations