Early episodes of The X-files were often homage to classic horror movie staples The show had varying degrees of success with it, but it hit more often than it missed. As the series makes its downhill journey, it makes a sad bit of sense the homage to horror staples would silde into bad stereotypes. “Medusa” is a perfect example of how to string together movie cliché to make a script. See if you can identify them all.
an undercover cop in the Boston subway system is attacked by a strange man. His body is discovered a short time later with half his flesh eaten away. Scully and Doggett are called in after the CDC gives the all clear to look for a culprit in the subway with a suspected biological agent. The impatient head of the transit authority is a shortsighted bureaucrat who is going to open the subway for rush hour traffic whether every passenger gets eaten away to the bone or not. Doggett is part of a task force, including a family cop, a loose cannon, and a CDC operative even though the CDC has already given the okay to go in.
The CDC is wrong, of course. There is a bacteria that when mized with se water becomes a flesh eater. The family man cop is the first to become infected. He did not show the rest of the team a photo of his wife and kids first, but you can fill in that gap yourself. The scene was probably cut for time. The CDC operative leaves the subway tunnel with him. She survives, which is the only surprising element of the episode. She is black, and everyone knows the black character is the first one to take the eternal dirt nap,.
Their departure leaves Doggett and Loose Cannon to discover several dead bodies with their flesh eaten away wrapped neatly in plastic in a side tunnel. A ha! A government conspiracy to hide the truth from the public so the subway can keep running! Both Doggett and Loose Cannon are infected. Even though he knows it is a contagion, Loose Cannon insists upon finding a way out of the subway so he can be medically treated. He and Doggett fight over this idea.
Meanwhile, passengers are lining up to use the train because the transit authority cannot hold off on rush hour traffic. Flesh eating bacteria, be darned. Oh, for the halcyon days of pre-9/11 naivete. Or the total ignoring of the sarin gas incident in the Japanese subway system a few tears prior, for that matter.
Two really convenient factors emerge. One, yet another CDC representative shows up with the idea electricity will kill the bacteria. Two, a kid in the subway tunnel leads Doggett to the source of the bacteria meeting seawater. Where did the kid come from? Who knows? In the end teaser, Scully says he was handed over to social services, so I guess he was an orphan living down there. Or he was with those other people who were infected. I do not know. It is never clarified. Someone needed a quick way to get from point A to B and decided to introduce a kid without explanation. Everyone loves plucky kids who are survivors like newt from Aliens.
The subway car loaded with passengers starts up in the middle of all this. It is about to cross a puddle of the bacteria when Doggett tosses some electrical equipment he is carrying in it to kill the bacteria. He saves the passengers. Apparently, without much explanation, cures himself and loose Cannon of the bacteria, too. All evidence is removed, so in the end, Scully and Doggett are depressed all has been covered up so the trains can run on time. Just like Mussolini, accept it is a myth Mussolini got the trains to run on time. But I digress.
If you are into mindless action movies, “Medusa” is probably right up your alley I engage in the occasional dumb actioner myself., so that helps save this one from the cellar. As does the improvement of the working relationship between Scully and Doggett. That is to say she at least pretends to care about his well-being without radiating her contempt he is not Mulder. But otherwise, you have seen this a million times before. There is no compelling reason to watch The X-Files indulge.
Rating: ** (out of 5)
Early episodes of The X-files were often homage to classic horror movie staples The show had varying degrees of success with it, but it hit more often than it missed. As the series makes its downhill journey, it makes a sad bit of sense the homage to horror staples would silde into bad stereotypes. “Medusa” is a perfect example of how to string together movie cliché to make a script. See if you can identify them all. 
