Squeeze (The X-Files)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Squeeze


Caption = Tooms on the hunt
Series = The X-Files
Season = 1
Episode = 1X02
Air-date = September 24 1993 (Fox)
Production = 03-103
Writer = Glen Morgan
James Wong
Director = Harry Longstreet
Guests = Doug Hutchison,
Donal Logue,
Henry Beckman,
Kevin McNulty,
Terence Kelly
-
Prev = Deep Throat
Next = Conduit

"Squeeze" is a 1993 episode of "The X-Files" television series. It was the third episode broadcast in the show's first season. "Squeeze" was the first "monster-of-the-week" episode of the series, as the two previous episodes had dealt with alien abduction and UFOs.

"Squeeze" concerns a series of serial murders in the Baltimore area, and a human mutant with the ability to squeeze into small spaces. The episode features the first of two appearances by one of "The X-Files"' most popular "monsters" (and one of only three to appear twice), Eugene Victor Tooms, who reprises the role later in the season in "Tooms". "Squeeze" was also the first episode of the series to be written by Glen Morgan and James Wong.

Plot

The episode begins one evening in Baltimore, Maryland, when George Usher, a middle-aged businessman, arrives at his office building to work late. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched by someone with un-natural yellow eyes from a nearby storm drain. Soon after Usher makes it to his high-rise office, it is shown that someone seems to be climbing the cables in the building's elevator shaft. When Usher leaves his office to make a cup of coffee, the screws in the office's vent begin to unscrew from the inside. When Usher comes back to the office and closes the door, an off-screen struggle insues, and the door is damaged in the process. Usher is killed in the attack, later revealed to have had his liver removed. His unseen killer returns to the ventilation shaft, rescrewing the vent's lid behind him.

The following day in Washington, D.C., Agent Scully has lunch with Tom Colton, a fellow agent and old acquaintance from the FBI academy. Colton tells Scully about his investigation of three mysterious murders in Baltimore, the latest being that of George Usher the previous night. All of the victims had their livers taken out of their bodies, but they were found in rooms locked from the inside, with no obvious points of entry for the killer. With no idea where to go with the investigation, he asks Scully for help. When Scully suggests bringing along Mulder, Colton agrees only reluctantly. Colton, it turns out, seems to be only interested in the case because solving it may give him "a bump up the ladder" and advance his career.

Later Mulder and Scully arrive at 66 Exeter Street, and make their way to Tooms' apartment. Upon entering the room, Mulder senses the feeling of evil described by Detective Briggs. The agents find a hole in the wall behind a mattress, which leads them to a crawl space beneath the room. Down there, they discover a small pile of Tooms' trophies from his previous murders. They also find a large paper-mache-like structure, composed of old rags and newspapers, with a small hole as an entryway. The structure is covered with a slimy substance that Scully deduces to be bile. Mulder theorizes that the structure is a "nest" of sorts that Tooms hibernates in after each murder spree. Upon leaving, Scully seems temporarily snagged by something, but manages to easily pull herself free. It is revealed, however, that Tooms had grabbed her necklace -- as a trophy -- with his arm.

Mulder stops Tooms from killing Scully and he is sent to the mental asylum. A food tray is given to Tooms by way of a slot through the cell door. The episode ends with Tooms grinning calmly at the slot.

Production details

* Origin of Idea: "What if we were working here late at night and some guy came through that thing?!" - Glen Morgan to James Wong upon looking at a large ventilator shaft outside their office.

Guests

*Doug Hutchison as Eugene Victor Tooms
*Donal Logue as Agent Tom Colton
*Henry Beckman as Detective Frank Briggs
*Kevin McNulty as Agent Fuller
*Terence Kelly as George Usher
*Colleen Winton as Lie Detector Technician
*James Bell as Mr. Johnson
*Gary Hetherington as Mr. Kennedy
*Rob Morton as Mr. Kramer
*Paul Joyce as Mr. Werner

Trivia

* Agent Fuller (Kevin McNulty) returns as the same character in season 3's "Apocrypha", and McNulty appears in numerous other episodes playing other characters, notably, in "Soft Light" he plays the man who locks Dr. Banton in the particle accelerator.
*The episode bears some resemblance to Stephen King's novel "IT." Both are about an entity that kills people and then sleeps for thirty years. However, the novel was about a paranormal creature, while "Squeeze" is about a mutant.
*The scene of Mulder and Scully first entering through Tooms' apartment door is the same shot seen in the opening credits of the show.

External links

*X-FilesWiki|Squeeze
*imdb episode|0751208|Squeeze
*Tv.com episode|493|Squeeze