that was the most creepiest episode of the series that I have ever seen. I have never seen Mulder that driven before. She was of a demon than he was.

Looks like I'm first. Well, by the time I'm done typing, three or four others should be up ahead of me. :-)

Why is Mulder asking to use Wayne's phone, when he carries a cellular phone around like it's a Borg implant? And how on Earth does the baby monitor pick up *both* ends of the conversation M&S then have? (Unless the monitor is itself possessed ...)

Okay, Laura loses her baby, and wakes up with her nightgown soaked in blood. The next night, we're supposed to believe she's asking her husband where that same nightgown is, presumably so she can wear it to bed. Does this seem more than a bit odd?

I cackled when I heard Mulder tell Scully "I'm not a psychologist." Wasn't that what he studied at Oxford, when he wasn't performing unnatural acts on Arthur Conan Doyle's grave?

Did I hear completely wrong, or did I hear Wayne's second wife refer to him at one point as "Ed"? This would seem a sensible thing for a polygamist to do, wouldn't it, to have totally different identities with each wife? Apparently, though, he doesn't.

Once again, our intrepid heroes enter a dark house with flashlights blazing, and don't think to hit a light switch.

We had a clear example of Phil's favorite medical nit: shocking the flatline heart. They *said* something about her being in fibrillation, but the monitor showed she wasn't. Even better, this smart crew has devised a technique for delivering their electric shock right through clothes! And the best part was the EMT calling for a neurology consultation! Boy, is the ER doc going to be annoyed at going over his head like that!

About the nightgown: I thought that was a bit strange. Does Laura own only one nightgown? Most women I know have more than one.

Actually, I think the baby monitor could have picked up the conversation. Just not very clearly. Unless it was possessed, of course. :-)

Think about it. Wayne, who almost kills Laura while leaving no evidence, can be taken down by mere bullets?

So...Wayne wanted a "normal" baby, and got rid of the "demon spawn", while Betsy wanted the exact opposite. Did I get it right?

Frankly, after all the lighter episodes, it is nice to be horrified again!

My only thing from this episode is a direct contradiction from "Pilot." When in the hospital, Mulder claims "I'm not a psychologist...", whereas in "Pilot", Scully rattles off his credentials as being "...an Oxford-educated psychologist..."
Going to Oxford was definetly not one of the things the creators "revised" between "Pilot" and "Deep Throat", because in "Fire" we meet Mulder's ex-grave desecrator who he met at Oxford! So... either Mulder has forgotten his schooling, or he actually went to Oxford to study some...one (thing! To study something!) else!

Scully says "I'm not sure I believe in demons." Why not? She's already fought TWO previously! How much more proof does she need?

The scene with Wayne carrying the poisoned milk upstairs to his 2nd wife was a homage to Hitchcock's "Suspicion", starring Cary Grant.

I doubted Wayne could have died from the bullets. He was just wounded...when he suddenly started doing the flip-flops, and heaving (none of the docs notice...but nobody noticed Wayne doing the el sucko on his wife), I thought that was either Betsy killing Wayne or maybe the Big Boss Downstairs punishing Wayne for his lack of drive.

Anyway, nits:

1. Hasn't Wayne ever heard of adoption? Or he could marry someone with kids. Unless he's obsessed with having his kid himself.

2. So is this right--if your kid is a demon or a normal one depends on who the father is? Because Wayne had all demon kids, but Betsy had a lot of normal ones.

3. Um, just what are these demons' jobs? Do they really have time to go around marrying people, seducing them, and having kids?

4. We got some hints that Wayne was possibly immortal (I mean he hasn't seem to aged much). Does this mean he constantly moves around or that nobody seems to notice? And did he kill all his wives?

5. How come Wayne's wife didn't die when he sucked his life force out? God intervening, another demon intervening, Wayne didn't get the spell right? And why doesn't Wayne just suck out Mulder's life force? It's not like he's trying to keep a low profile.

It was a good episode, and despite their lack of time, it was good to see Mulder and Scully team. While it was serious subject matter, I thought it had a tongue-in-cheek quality at times ("What are you doing, Wayne?", how Spender files X-Files, Mulder arriving at the scene with the taped up case file, Mulder stalking Wayne and annoying him, etc.)
I do wish it wasn't so obvious. While Betsy's involvement was jarring, Wayne was pegged from the get-go. I wish he was just a harmless bigamist, while someone else was the true evil. By the way, it wasn't the cop who shot Wayne at the end--it was Chris Carter. He was stopping Wayne from spilling the entire plot (must keep some secrets)!

An episode which started well but went downhill in the last two acts. Like "Kitsunegari", it's unsettling to have a mystery woman of whom we have no precious conception suddenly be the real victim. Also, the mouth-to-mouth effect (which physically looked a lot like the 'tuning' from "Dark City") was a little bit clunky and should have been left implied. The episode was well-cast, though- I thought Betsy had remarkable eyes even before they turned red!

Well, at least nobody dreamed about giving birth to a giant fly larva.

Why was Scully interviewing Mr. Ginsberg (Allan? Maury?) at the Dept. of Agriculture?

It's a little ridiculous that Mulder thinks he can solve this case completely in secret. If arrests are made and reports are filed, his name must get mentioned!

Scully learns from the doctor that the husband seemed upset at the child's loss, the wife not at all, leading her to suspect a willful abortion. Why was that, exactly?

Did anyone else thought Mulder concluded that Wayne was the Devil a little easily?

Let me get this straight. The women see demons because they have hallucinogens in their systems. So why is it that they both dream the same thing exactly?

Not only was the scene of Wayne bringing Betsy milk straight out of "Suspicion", it looks like they did the same thing Hitchcock did - put a lightbulb in the milk.

Finally, Wayne's not very good at this. He's married to two women in the same city? His history can be easily accessed by spending some time in the hall of records?

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was personally disgusted by this episode. In fact, I only made it through the teaser before I had to turn it off because it bothered me so. This episode ranks up there with Home as episodes that should have never seen the light of day

I agree, it did seem to go downhill at the end.

Also I didn't quite like the plot.

A couple of good moments, like:
-Mulder racing Wayne.
-And the kids playing in Wayne's car.

Also Since I live only a hour or two from Ronoake, we watch Ronoake news, and we heard, that the city/county of Ronoake won't let the X-files shoot the episode there. I assume so they don't get a bad reputation.

ANP

Nobody got the obvious joke: When Bruce Campbell was killing his first wife, he "swallowed her soul," a fate he was often threatened with in his Evil Dead trilogy.

Why, if Wayne was bothered and Laura wasn't, did they arrest Laura and not Wayne? It would seem to me that it would make more sense that Wayne slipped Laura the mandrake (assuming he's not a demon, of course), so that he should be busted.

-12-

These two evil demon people lived in the same town for years wihtout noticing??
Or did she knew of Wayne in the town but she just didn't know which one he was so she started doing everyone until they hit each other??

As if it's not going to be hard to find a woman driving a red Camaro convertable with a DEMON BABY sitting in the passenger seat?? Block off all state lines!!!

I. Was Not. ALLOWED TO WATCH THIS ONE!!!! I had to go to bed early! And my parents
refused to tape it! They said it was too gross! WAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Please, somebody,
tell me it was the most abysmal ep in the history of TV, and that it added nothing to
the show. Ohhh, WHY couldn't I have missed Home instead?!?!
Ok, tantrum over. <sniff>
Hey, did it have any good MSR?
Can someone do a in-detail synopsis for me? I know I'm asking a lot, but I will never
again flame you, and i'll be really nice to you.

It wasn't the best episode...it was good, it was worth watching.

Here's an acceptably brief synopsis--It kicks off with a young married couple, Wayne and Laura, at their doctor. Laura is pregnant, and the doctor is a bit disturbed by the fact that there are abnormal growths at the head and behind of the baby (I think...something like that). Wayne takes it very hard despite the doctor's claims that it could be nothing.

That night, Wayne gives Laura a drink, she drinks it, and she sleeps. In the middle of the night, she wakes. The bedroom is afire, flame all over, and a large demonic figure grabs Laura's baby, which appears to be...gasp! A Devil Baby (TM)! She rolls over to Wayne, but he's not there! Suddenly, Wayne snaps her out of her 'nightmare'. He says she was just dreaming, but he looks, and Laura's covered with blood! She's not pregnant!!!! Ahhh!!!

After the opening credits, we come to Agent Spender (Boo! Hiss!), who is talking with a cop (a very familiar character actor). The cop relates what we have heard, and says he is concerned about rumors that his sistser is a witch. Spender says he will investigate, but files the cop's case in a paper shredder (The slime!)

But our good friend Mulder (Yay! Cheer!) arrives on the scene, with a taped-up case from the shredder. The cop graciously shows him around, to the distraught Wayne and Laura. Mulder listens, and calls Scully (Yay! Cheer!), who is doing "grunt work" at the Department of Agriculture.

Mulder claims it is a classic case of "demon fetal harvest" (??). Scully does the old It-Has-To-Be-Something-Rational bit, while Wayne listens upstairs, the baby monitor picking up the conversation.

That night, we find that sly Wayne burning something. He claims it is just "leaves". (Surrre) Mulder is suspicious of Wayne, thinks he's The Devil, but Scully thinks that the mother has had an illegal abortion, using herbs that could cause hallucinations. While Mulder investigates this, Wayne sneaks off to see--(gasp!) another wife! Who is also pregnant! (Boo! Hiss!)

Wayne returns home, and we find that Mulder and the cop are arguing over who is really to blame. (This is out of order, but--) Wayne gives permission to let the cops search the place for herbs or what-have-you. He tells Laura, though, that there was something he didn't tell the cops. He had gotten up in the night, and when he returned, he found the baby born, covered in blood, and dead. That was what he was burning that night. Suddenly, the cops find the gruesome discovery in the backyard. Laura is arrested.

Mulder thinks Wayne's to blame, and stalks him, while he is on his way to his other wife, Betsy's house. Since he can't go there with Mulder following him, Wayne is forced to stop at a client for his insurance job early. Mulder harasses him a bit, until Wayne calls in a complaint to AD Kersh.

Next, Wayne visits Laura in prison. Laura has noted some inconsistances in Wayne's story he told her, and she has remembered that the demon in the story shares a physical similarity with Wayne. Wayne shakes his head sadly, and wishes that she was the one. He then proceeds to suck her life force out...but to his surprise, she is still living, in a coma, and is rushed to the hospital.

Scully is on the scene, and she can find no evidence of poisoning on Wayne's part. Now, some comings and goings ensue with Wayne sneaking off to his other wife; Mulder doing some research on Wayne, and finding that he has had many wives, and hails from Czechoslovakia, in a region known for devil-worship; and the cops digging up Wayne's backyard to find dead babies all over.

Mulder surmises that Wayne is a demon who is mating with women in an attempt to get a normal baby and start a normal family. "Bigger gene pool [in the U.S.]," he notes. At Wayne's other house, we find that Betsy is pregant, and her baby has the same abnormalities as Laura's. Wayne slips her the drink, and in the night, she has the same frightening vision. HOWEVER, Betsy simply grabs the demonic figure, and yells "What are you doing, Wayne???"

Mulder and Scully, trying to figure out where Wayne's other wife is, find Betsy on the road, in Wayne's car. She has blood all over her, and says that Wayne took her baby. Naturally, the police converge on Wayne's house. There, in the backyard, Wayne is there, complaining that Betsy lied to him, and is urgently digging UP something. He also says that Betsy was nothing like Laura, as Betsy was (BANG! BANG!) Whoops, the over-zealous cop has blown Wayne away in revenge for his sister.

In the hospital, the cop doesn't want Wayne next to Laura, but there is no room. Both are in bad shape. Suddenly, Wayne starts doing hideous flip-flops, and dies. The life force returns to Laura, and she is fine again.

Betsy and Wayne's house is dug up, with kids around, these ones with NO defects. Mulder guesses that Betsy had similar goals as Wayne, although she wanted a DEMON baby. We end with Betsy driving Wayne's car, looking warmly at her baby, who is an obvious demon. Her eyes turn brown, and we end with EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: CHRIS CARTER. The horror! The horror!

Why does Agent Spender shred the demon baby file anyway? Couldn't he just file it away and conveniently forget about the case? How does Mulder manage to retrieve the shredded file?

He obviously thinks the cop is a nutcase, and the story is idiodic. Spender doesn't REALLY want to do the X-File work, and besides, I bet Spender is having a lot of fun sitting in his office all day long. What does Spender do all the timne anyway? Bond with daddy through evil?

I think his job is to intercept any xfiles cases coming into the bureau and dispose of them.

Does Spender report to Skinner or Kersh?

I can't believe that a place like the FBI would be content with a straight shredder. Most offices with concerns about sensitive documents use cross-cut shredders, which reduce paper to tiny 1/2" by 1/2" squares. Not even Mulder would have the patience to glue that together.

Spender has a fast reputation. He's only had the X-Files for about a couple months or so, and already the cop seems to be familiar with him.

If Nyla is under 16, I would agree with her parents that she shouldn't have seen this episode.

By the way, when did Scully become qualified polygraph examiner?

I still haven't been able to figure out WHY a demon would want a normal child, but then maybe I just haven't seen enough demon-possessing-women-to-impregnate-them shows...

But my main concern is...in a small town, having a profession that brings him into contact with many people, how come folks don't connect Wayne's two lives?

My Dad brought up an interesting point...he watched the trailer with me (and was equally disgusted, but that's besides the point) and said that that was very similar to the part of the Book of Revelations where a demon stands poised at the side of the Virgin Mary, ready to steal/devour the newborn Christ as soon as it comes out. Any thoughts on whether this was intentional or not

Did anyone recognize the song that showed up in this episode? Well, I know, cause I own the CD! The song is I'm Only Happy When It Rains, the band is Garbage. I say this cause it's gonna show up in a trivia book somewhere someday.

Anyone who has listened to the radio before knew that...

Matt, the verse your dad was talking about is Revalations 12 1thru 6 and it was a giant dragon.I think it was symbolic of evil trying to subvert the innocent. Could it be said though that perhapps Betsy's baby could have been the future antichrist?

Scully wasn't reading a polygraph, she was looking at a sonogram. Which is like a blurry picture.

2 Reasons a demon might want a normal child:

1--A normal child could pass undetected in society and grow up to wreak all sorts of havoc in the world from within a la Damien in the Omen movies (which didn't seem like what Bruce wanted), or

2--A normal child would just be a normal child and live a normal, storybook life like everyone else (hence Bruce's line, "I just wanted what everyone else wants.").

This episode seems to go out of their way to make sure every viewer will be offended at least in one level. We have:

1) selective breeding through infanticide (both Betsy and Wayne get rid of babies who do not meet their ideals)
2) the fact that Laura basically undergoes a third-trimester abortion, without her knowledge or consent.
3) demonic spawning
4) bigamy
5) a baby riding in a front seat. Bad idea, Betsy! Don't you want to protect your little rugrat? (then again, maybe the car did not have a backseat. I did not notice.)
6) changed premises (Mulder is not a psychologist? Scully does not believe in demons?)
7) a possible double standard (Mulder describes Betsy as "more evil" than Wayne. I thought their actions were equally abominable. Is Betsy more evil because she is competent or lucky enough to get away with her evil-doing?
8) the forces of evil get away scot-free. Maybe Betsy should get together with Mrs. Paddock from "Die Hand Die Verletz".

That someone takes SO MUCH effort to make sure I am offended...<sniff, sniff> I don't deserve this honor!

The fact that Wayne lives in a small town instead of a big city, where bigamy and crime can be more discreet, suggests that he really does just want a regular family, picket fence, etc.

Why, Murray, your theory sounds sensible.

Why does Scully get in trouble with Kirish, because Mulder is investigating an X-File? This just makes no sense to me.

Come to think of it, it really was poor thinking of Wayne to marry a woman who's brother is the local law enforcement, now isn't it?

Maybe he observed the intellect on this officer....do I hear redneck?

However, the officer did blow a few holes into Wayne in the climax, meaning he's not harmless!!

That scene alone proves how stupid this guy is...

The cop should have been busted for an illegal shooting. Wayne wasn't threatening anyone, he didn't even have a weapon!

-12-

Okay, I'm back! Mike, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU, and if I knew your address I
would send you freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies sans chips, those being my
specialty. It Takes A Village, (can you pick a shorter handle--or were you making a
point?) well, you've disappointed me <sob> but you've made my mother realize that
not *all* Netizens are evil, demented perverts who are out to get me. XPS, I'm
curious: where did you get your handle? I belong to XPA, XPFC, XA, LOMIG, YCS (Young,
Clean Shippers) and half a dozen other acronyms, but I don't get your name. Oh, and I
listen to the radio and I've never heard Garbage. Well, I've heard it, but they didn't
admit it ;-)

Nyla: Here's a few more Garbage songs played on the radio.

Push It
I Think I'm Paranoid
Queer (as in weird)
Stupid Girl (despite what the title tells you, the song had a point)
#1 Crush (from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack)
Special
When I Grow Up

I have both their CDs (one that's self-titled, the other is called Version 2.0).

was I the only person who thought that when Wayne started doing the fish flop, he was dying ON PURPOSE? that he was suicidally depressed at his failure to "have a normal life" through a marriage to a human woman and a human child?
That he decided to give Laura her life back?
(after all, he told her he'd wished she had been the one-but maybe he says that to all the girls)
Would it be ironic that letting go of his own wishes so that another could live really be the only humane thing he finally accomplished? Maybe that's just me being a sot.

Nope, KellKan, I thought that too. After he turned his head and gave his ex-wife The Look, I figured he was going to sacrifice himself.

Uh, thanx, Bwebber, but I probably will still never hear them, as I like precisely 3
modern rock songs: Flower Man by Tonic, Walking After You by the Foo Fighters and
Kiss By A Rose (I don't know who did it.) Now, if it's country or classic rock or classical
or liturgical, I'm your girl. (Not literally. I have a boyfriend. ;

Kiss by a rose is by 'Seal'

KND, exactly how old are you that your parents wouldn't allow you to watch this episode? I'm sure it doesn't matter... My parents don't screen my X-Files watching, if they did, I wouldn't be allow to see it, either, since I'm only 16...

What kind of parents do you guys have? The X-Files is tame compared to some of the stuff I've been allowed to watch since I was four. I was watching Dream On (if you've had HBO, you know the show) when I was 9. Man I miss that show.

In Canada, on the Comedy Network, the show is on eeeeevery night

Thanx, Anon. (And without further...) Aaron, my parents have a BIG sign posted by the
computer. It reads, "1. Do Not reveal your full name online. If you do WE WILL
THROTTLE YOU!
2. Do not reveal your exact age online, or WE WILL THROTTLE YOU!"

..and so it goes, along with address, the usual things--and they WOULD do it, too.
They're very conservative. Suffice it to say that I haven't exactly been around on
God's green earth-- let me rephrase that. I haven't been stomping this filthy,
disgusting mess we've made out of God's green earth long enough to drink. Or smoke.
Or do anything remotely interesting, like drink twenty Dews and stay up to watch
'The Exorcist.'
Sigh.

To: Nyla

My point was serious. I believe this episode generally was not appropriate for children or adolescents, and if a parent decided not to allow his/her children to watch that episode, I would agree with his/her decision.

As for my handle, it is a spoof of First Lady Hillary Clinton's book of the same name. I suppose I could be Village for short.

Oh, OKAY, Village. I'm interested: what did you think of Home or Sangunarium? I
watched both of those. However, I wouldn't watch Home again unless the alternative
was a Barney marathon, and I spent most of Sanguinarium (now *there's* something
you don't type everyday) with my head in a pillow, going "Eww! EEWWWW!" My dad
thought it was ok for me to watch; if Mom had been there, we wouldn't have been,
believe you me. Are you new? I haven't seen your name before.

Anon: You get the edited version! You're missing out on so much.

The first 5 minutes was fun. The Spender/Mulder/Cop/Shredder/Conspiracy bit. The last 55 minutes was more gross than 10 Steven King novels. Sorta like watching "Home" 24 times, it was that bad.

Nyla-when this repeats, ask your parents to let you watch the first 10 minutes. The last 50 minutes are just a waste of time, IMHO.

Charles: Hmmm. Bwebber: what exactly do you mean by THAT?! ;-)

To: Nyla

I'm not familiar with either of the two episodes you mentioned so I can't comment on them.

To: Village

Both "Home" and "Sanguinarium" are fourth-season episodes. In "The Nitpicker's Guide for X-Philes" , they made Phil's list of Least Favorite Episodes. Neither episode should be watched if you are squeamish. Some may argue that neither episode should be watched, period.

Home takes place in a small town in Pennsylvania. It involves a trio of violent, grotesquely deformed brothers and other disgusting and bloody shenanigans.

Sanguinarium involves a plastic surgery unit where doctors are causing patient deaths (in a very grisly manner). Eevil (tm) forces are involved.

I didn't think Sanguinarium was too bad, it was just gross. Home is my least favorite.

the final scene of


The next to last scene of Sanguinarium gave me the willies.

There isn't a synopsis on the "Sanguinarium" board, what was that one about?

ANP

very short synopsis: Plastic surgoun uses black magic to kill his patients while he is in surgury with them. I wont give away the scene I was talking about because its inapproiate for this board.

What movie is that on the TV in this episode in the climax? I think it's a Gregory Peck one.

Given the downbeat tone of the episode, I thought Wayne's death and the transference of life force to Laura might have been him abandoning his damaged body and taking over Laura's. Yes, it could just be him giving her her life back, but as we don't see what she's like after that scene, there's no way of telling.

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