Sunday Mornings with Mulder and Scully – Humbug

Humbug was the first genuine comedic episode in the series written by Darin Morgan who would go on to write five more episodes along the same comedic tones. They all rank among my favorites in the series and I’m forever grateful for his take on the show. 

Mulder and Scully investigate a series of murders in a retired circus sideshow community and Mulder believes that they were the victims of the Fiji Mermaid. Scully, ever the skeptic, calls this myth a hoax and believes the deaths were done by someone in the community.

The episode, while a comedy, deals heavily with how these people are viewed as freaks instead of human beings. Actor Michael Anderson who plays Mr. Nutt, a little person and hotel owner, in the episode often monologues to Mulder and Scully about how people judge the moment they look at him because how could someone like him manage a hotel? In an ironic moment, he tries to prove a point by pointing out Mulder’s looks and how he assumes Mulder is an FBI agent. The look on his face when he realizes that his assumption – meant to prove how assumptions are often wrong – is actually very accurate is one of the best moments of the episode. Anderson also appeared in multiple David Lynch projects including Mullholand Drive and Twin Peaks. Just one of so very many ties between The X-Files and Twin Peaks.

Vincent Schiavelli stars as a man with a conjoined, deformed twin. The twin looks like it has no life of its own but can, in fact, detach itself and is the culprit for the deaths that the agents are investigating. Schiavelli’s performance is heartbreaking as he can’t turn in the twin without turning in himself even though he was not responsible.

There’s also a tattooed man covered in jigsaw puzzle pieces who calls himself The Conundrum and a man who does not feel pain who calls himself Mr. Blockhead. The episode offers each of these characters as red herring killers and this fits the theme of not judging a book by its cover.

Fun Fact: Gillian Anderson putting that cricket in her mouth during this episode was something she just did. It was unscripted and Chris Carter loved the moment so much he kept it in the show. She did not swallow the bug, but did chew and kill it before spitting it out offscreen. And that, my friends, is why I love Gillian Anderson.

I credit this episode as the reason I gravitate toward movies and television told from this perspective. Director Tod Browning made three films about people relegated to the fringes of society and end up in freak shows or as circus performers. Most famously, his film Freaks (1932) which told the story of a beautiful woman who pretends to love a little person and gets him to marry her so she can have his money was banned at the time for daring to show circus performers as human beings. The film was perceived to be too explicit showing people with such drastic physical deformity.  I view the film as an exploration of “otherness” much like this episode of The X-Files.

I also credit this episode when I see other series bringing this these themes to the forefront of their storylines. In American Horror Story, Ryan Murphy created an entire season surrounding circus freak show performers. While Freakshow gives its freaks multidimensional personalities, it also shows what people perceive as beautiful humans as being ugly on the inside. Even Jessica Lange’s character pretended to be “normal” when, in fact, she had both legs amputated below the knee. Sarah Paulson portrayed conjoined twins and explored what happened when one of them died after the other tried to have a life outside of her. Grace Gummer portrayed a woman who ended up getting her face tattooed grotesquely for having the audacity to fall in love with a freak. Honestly, it’s my second favorite season of that show.

Tim Burton often explored themes of “otherness” in most of his films including Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. One of my favorite quotes is Winona Ryder stating, “I, myself am strange and unusual.” In Big Fish, a man spent his life listening to his father tell outlandish tales which left him feeling like he never really knew his real father. At the funeral, the man sees all of these people his father told tales about and realized it was all true. Exaggerated, but true. And his father accepted these people, strangeness and all.

Like I said, this episode was the first of the comedic episodes peppered throughout the series. I look forward to reviewing the others as I get to them, especially the one guest starting Luke Wilson. You know the one.

Until next week, the truth is out there.