Familiar (''The X-Files'')

"Familiar"
The X-Files episode
Episode no. Season 11
Episode 8
Directed by Holly Dale
Written by Benjamin Van Allen
Production code 2AYW09
Original air date March 7, 2018 (2018-03-07)
Running time 43 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

"Familiar" is the eighth episode of the eleventh season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode was written by Benjamin Van Allen, and directed by Holly Dale. It aired on March 7, 2018, on Fox.

The show centers on FBI special agents who work on unsolved paranormal cases called X-Files; focusing on the investigations of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) after their reinstatement in the FBI. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate the brutal animal attack of a little boy in Connecticut, while suspecting darker forces are at play.

Plot

At a park in Eastwood, Connecticut, a little boy named Andrew sings a theme song from a children's show while playing with his "Mr. Chuckleteeth" toy. While Andrew's mother, Diane, is distracted by a phone call, the boy spots a life-sized version of Mr. Chuckleteeth meandering in the forest. When she turns around, Andrew has disappeared. As Diane frantically searches for the boy, Andrew has followed Mr. Chuckleteeth into the forest. A few hours later, a group of police investigators, including Andrew’s father Rick, discover Andrew's mangled corpse.

Because the killing of a law enforcement officer's child puts the case under FBI jurisdiction, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate. While Mulder initially suggests that the culprit could be a coywolf or, more exotically, a hellhound, Scully observes during the boy's autopsy that the neck injuries which killed the boy were most consistent with being shaken to death. Mulder finds a substance resembling sand or salt on the boy's ankle. While the town gathers to mourn the death of the boy, Mulder goes to the house of Chief Strong, head of the local police. Mulder notes they have several books on the town's history, which includes witchcraft trials. He interviews the chief's daughter Emily, who was with Andrew at the park. Emily tells Mulder and her mother Anna that she saw Mr. Chuckleteeth in the forest before Andrew was killed.

Back at the police department, Rick searches the sex offender database and finds a man named Melvin Peter. When Scully and Chief Strong look for Rick, they spot him racing away in a patrol car. Chief Strong and Scully chase after him. Rick reaches Peter's house and breaks in, brandishing a gun. Mulder, Scully, and Chief Strong find that Peter is not home, but discover numerous pictures of Peter performing as a clown at children’s parties. Peter's closet contains a caged monkey, clown costumes, and a Mr. Chuckleteeth mask and shoes. Meanwhile, Emily is lured outside her house by a character from one of her children's programs standing on her lawn. She is later found dead, murdered in the same manner as Andrew. Mulder notices a salt circle around the body, suggesting use of witchcraft.

When Peter returns to the neighborhood, Rick attacks him and forces him into the back of his patrol car. Mulder confronts Chief Strong and forces him to admit that he knows witchcraft is involved and that Peter is not their suspect. At the park, a crowd gathers to watch Rick brutally beat Peter, who denies killing the children. The police arrive and try to disperse the mob; when they fail, Mulder fires his gun into the air. Rick is taken off of Peter, but suddenly pulls his service weapon and shoots Peter in the head. After Rick is put on bail, he goes home to confront Diane about an affair she had with Chief Strong. Diane leaves the house and drives to a freeway. There, she runs into the hellhound in Andrew's form and flips her car when swerving to avoid it.

Rick breaks into Chief Strong’s house, where he sees the Mr. Chuckleteeth doll running around and finds a television playing a demonic version of the show. Rick chases a Mr. Chuckleteeth to the front of the house, where Chief Strong is pointing his gun. Mulder and Scully arrive to find that Chief Strong has shot Rick dead. Chief Strong follows what appears to be Diane into the woods, failing to notice her mauled corpse. The agents visit the park and head into the woods, where they find Anna standing in a salt circle with her casting spellbook, and a hellhound kills Chief Strong. Mulder and Scully rush over to stop Anna, with the hellhound also behind them. Anna casts another spell, causing her to suddenly burst into flames and die. Afterwards, Scully asks Mulder to leave the town, fearing something else will occur. As they drive away, a piece of playground equipment starts spinning on its own.

Production

Filming

Filming for the season began in August 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the previous season was filmed, along with the show's original five seasons.[1] The episode was directed by first-time X-Files director Holly Dale, who was announced as a director in August 2017.[2]

Writing

The episode was written by staff writer Benjamin Van Allen, his first writing credit for the series. He served as a writers assistant in season 10.[3]

Van Allen spoke of his inspiration for this episode in an interview:

"I've always been creeped out by children's television show characters, like Teletubbies. There is another show I saw that kind of inspired the Bibble-Tiggles, as we call them in the show, called Boohbahs. A lot of kid's shows like that, when you watch them, you're like, 'Holy shit. How am I letting my kid watch this? It's so weird.' Kid's TV shows have always really creeped me out. I really just wanted to make a classic X-Files episode. It's a monster-of-the-week episode, but not all MOTW episodes actually have a monster. I really wanted to have some recognizable monster for the episode. That's where the Mr. Chuckleteeth guy came in. Like the classic X-Files feel, I definitely wanted to set it in a small town. I wanted to start the episode in the town with Mulder and Scully, and end the episode in the town with Mulder and Scully. As much as I love all the X-Files lore, I didn't want to see the X-Files office, I didn't want to put Skinner in this episode. I just wanted it to be a very classic, standalone monster-of-the-week episode."

Van Allen's idea for "Mr. Chuckleteeth" came from an old British kids TV series called Jigsaw, where one character is named Mr. Noseybonk.[4]

Reception

"Familiar" received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 71% with an average rating of 6.38 out of 10 based on 7 reviews.[5] Matt Fowler of IGN called the episode "a solid, self contained monster-of-the-week creep out, that went really dark at times, but faltered a bit under unnecessary, and muddled, messaging" and scored it a 7.4 out of 10.[6]

In its initial broadcast in the United States on March 7, 2018, it received 3.46 million viewers, which was up from the previous episode, which had 3.23 million viewers.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Mooney, Harrison (August 3, 2017). "David Duchovny, X-Files return to Vancouver as shooting for 11th season begins". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  2. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (August 7, 2017). "The X-Files Season 11 Update: 2 Female Directors Join Fox Revival". TVLine. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  3. ↑ Ausiello, Michael (June 26, 2017). "The X-Files Season 11 Writers Revealed: Who's Back? Who's Missing?". TVLine. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  4. ↑ Wax, Alyse (March 7, 2018). "Exclusive: Writer Benjamin Van Allen explains Mr. Chuckleteeth and previews upcoming episodes of The X-Files". Syfy. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Familiar". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  6. ↑ Fowler, Matt (March 7, 2018). "The X-Files: "Familiar" Review". IGN. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  7. ↑ Porter, Rick (March 8, 2018). "'The Goldbergs' and Riverdale' adjust up, 'Chicago PD' and 'Life Sentence' down: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
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