Eugene Victor Tooms

Xfiles character


name=Eugene Victor Tooms
affiliation=None
first=Squeeze
last=Tooms
portrayer=Doug Hutchison

Eugene Victor Tooms was a fictional character on the TV series "X-Files" played by Doug Hutchison. He appeared in the episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms". Moreover, he has been described as a "fan favorite" and used as a representative character of the series. [ web cite |url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-03-02-scary-tv_x.htm|title=Five classic episodes give viewers a healthy scare(USA TODAY 3/2/2004)|author=Robert Bianco|journal=USA TODAY|accessdate=2008-08-21 ]

Fictional character biography

Tooms was a genetic mutant cannibal. After eating five human livers every thirty years, which is the only sustenance he needs, he was able to go back into his "nest", located in the wall of a root cellar inside a condemned apartment building in Baltimore, Maryland, to hibernate for another thirty years. Tooms was also able to "squeeze" and elongate his body in ways that are impossible for a normal human, and therefore able to reach his victims from tight spaces, such as ventilation shafts, chimneys, and toilets. After he killed and extracted (with his bare hands) his victim's liver, he usually stole a belonging as a trophy of sorts. Whenever the lust for food overtook him, his eyes would turn yellow in color, as a result of overproduction of bile. Tooms seemed to be more like an animal in behavior, attacking people only to sustain himself.

Mulder believed something unnatural was afoot when he noticed X-files murder cases with similar MOs, that were committed in 30-year spans, in 1933, 1963, and finally 1993 (later, a 1903 incident was linked, implying that Tooms was over one-hundred years old). The fingerprints found were unnaturally long, so when Tooms was caught during a stakeout by Mulder and Scully in an airduct, he was let off (Tooms' alibi was that he was sent by his animal control agency, a job he returned to every time he resurfaced). It was only discovered later, after he was freed, that despite the size difference, the fingerprints matched. Tooms, who only needed one more liver, set out to kill his fifth and final victim, Scully, but was stopped in time by Mulder.

Months later, Tooms was freed from a sanitorium, due to lack of evidence linking him to any murders, much to Mulder's protest. Mulder kept a close eye on Tooms, who then tried to frame Mulder for police brutality. Tooms later killed his counselor, his last victim, and went back to his nest. Mulder and Scully followed him down to his dwelling (now underneath a shopping mall), from which the cannibal emerged and attacked Mulder. The FBI agent managed to lead Tooms, who was covered in bile, to an escalator, where he was apparently crushed to death.

Powers

Tooms was a mutant capable of hibernating for 30 years at a time, and possessed a unique skeleton that allowed him to contort his body through incredibly small spaces.

Reception

Roger C. Aden wrote in his book "Popular Stories and Promised Lands" that " [Fox] Mulder...attemps to act an agent of change, but such agents of change... are defined as threats to progress by the general inspection area of the panopticon." Aden goes on to say that this is "reinforced through the naming of the villains." He compared that using the full name of Eugene Victor Tooms, for example, "activates images of how men such as John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and James Earl Ray extinguished the lights of charismatic leaders widely believed to be the agents of hope and progress." [cite book| last = Aden| first = Roger C.| title = Popular Stories and Promised Lands| publisher =University of Alabama Press | date = 1999| location = | pages = 158 | isbn =0817309381 ]

References

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