"Ice"
Written by Glen Morgan and James Wong
Directed by David Nutter


In which Mulder and Scully take a nice little trip to the Arctic, and discover something very, very bad has been released from some very old ice…and it’s looking for a home

Synopsis - Analysis - Memorable Quotes - Observations


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"Stop, damn it! I don't want to play 'Wrath of Khan' anymore!"


Synopsis

The episode begins in Icy Cape, Alaska, where the Arctic Ice Core Project is located. Under a heavy snowstorm, with the temperatures well under freezing, a dog comes out of hiding and walks up to a body on the floor, then past another. A severely wounded man named Richter, gun in hand, stumbles over to the radio console and begins speaking. His words are odd: “We are not who we are.”

Suddenly, another man comes up from behind and tears Richter away from the console. They fight, obviously trying to kill each other, until finally they end up pointing guns at each other’s heads, at nearly point blank range. They pause and lower their weapons as they take each other’s measure, and then, one after the other, they put the guns to their own temples and fire.

Back in Washington, sometime later, Mulder shows Scully a videotape of the AICP team as they celebrate the deepest ice core recovery yet, soon followed by the final transmission, which was sent out a week later. Mulder informs Scully that they have been assigned to meet with three scientists familiar with the project to determine the cause of the incident.

At the airfield in Nome, Alaska, Mulder and Scully meet the other three scientists: Dan Murphy, a professor of geology and football nut; Dr. Hodge, a very suspicious medical doctor; and Dr. DeSilva, a nervous toxicologist. Hodge demands to see everyone’s identification, including the pilot: Bear, a disagreeable type with an attitude to match.

When they arrive at Icy Cape, they discover the bodies lying on the ground, and immediately begin canvassing the crime scene. The temperature in the room is above freezing; the ice cores have begun to melt. Bear manages to get the generator working again. DeSilva and Mulder walk into one of the rooms, and Mulder is attacked by the dog, which is still alive. Bear grabs the dog off of Mulder, and the dog bites his arm.

As Bear walks off to treat his wound, the others hold down the dog and notice that it has large black nodules, indicating swollen lymph nodes. There is also an irritation on the back of the neck, where the dog has been scratching. As they inspect the wound, they see something move under the skin. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Bear doubles over in pain. When he recovers enough to look himself over, he finds similar black nodules under his arm.

Scully’s examination shows that the men killed each other, with evidence of strangulation. There was also evidence of fever. Bear is worried that the black spots might have had something to do with it, but Scully can’t tell. The spots on the dog are already gone. Hodge speculates that it could be an early symptom of the disease.

Sometime later, after the dead bodies have been bagged and prepared for departure, Mulder brings over the satellite photos indicating ice depth to Murphy. Mulder points out that the data for the AICP shows an ice depth twice as deep as the satellite photos. Murphy agrees, suggesting that they might have been drilling into a meteor crater.

Mulder walks in on Scully and Hodge arguing over blood sample results. Scully contends that there are traces of ammonium hydroxide in the blood samples from the victims, which shouldn’t be present. But Murphy tells them that ammonia is in the ice core samples. Mulder theorizes that it might have come from a foreign object introduced to the ice during the time the ice formed.

Looking at a blood sample from another victim, Mulder notices a strange, skeletal worm into the blood. Scully mentions it is also in Richter’s sample. Scully suggests that the organism in the blood might be the larval form of a larger creature. Murphy wonders if it might have come from the ice core. Hodge and DeSilva balk at the idea something could live that long in those conditions, but Mulder points out that the ice could be the creature’s natural environment.

Bear suggests that they leave with the bodies. Hodge agrees, since he sees no reason why anyone would be infected. DeSilva, though, points out that Bear was bitten by the dog. Bear immediately reminds them that the dog jumped on Mulder as well. Scully breaks the argument by pointing out that they should all be tested before anyone leaves. Hodge reluctantly agrees, suggesting blood and stool samples.

Bear, however, refuses to cooperate, and stalks off to prepare the plane. While he’s gone, the others take a vote on whether or not to confine Bear until he agrees to an exam. When Bear returns, Mulder draws his gun, and informs the man of their decision. Bear seems to agree, but as soon as Mulder slides the gun back into its holster, Bear smashes a jar over Mulder’s head and runs. Scully tackles him, and Mulder runs over to help her. Murphy grabs a rope at Mulder’s insistence, and they slam Bear against a counter as they tie him up.

Without warning, Bear begins to spasm, and they notice something moving under the skin of his neck. Hodge decides to get whatever it is out, and despite Mulder’s protest, soon extracts a worm out of the back of Bears’ neck. Mulder runs over with a jar, and Hodge drops it in. He hands the jar to Murphy, and then calls for help over the radio. He is soon informed by the airfield that an unexpected heavy storm is making any kind of retrieval impossible. When Mulder tells the others the bad news, Scully informs him that Bear is dead.

After the worm extracted from Bear is analyzed, Hodge informs them that he cannot be sure of how the “infection” is transmitted. Scully confirms that the other dead bodies all had worms, but none of them were alive. More than that, the worms were wrapped around the hypothalamus gland in the brain, which regulates acetylcholine release. Acetylcholine triggers violent and aggressive behavior. Hodge and Mulder believe that this was the cause of the violent behavior from the research team. Mulder wonders if the last two researchers killed themselves to save whomever came to investigate.

Sometime later, Scully is re-checking the dead men, looking for further clues. Mulder stops by, and when Scully comments that she wants nothing more than to find a way to kill the worms, Mulder seems to feel differently. Scully is shocked, but Mulder tells her about the information from the satellite photos. Mulder thinks that it might be the perfect opportunity to study alternative forms of life, especially if they could be extraterrestrial in origin. Scully reminds him of the rapid effects of infection, but Mulder is confident that there are larger benefits to study.

As the agents continue their argument, DeSilva mentions that it’s becoming warmer. Hodge mentions that the heating system is malfunctioning. When DeSilva wonders what the argument could be about, Hodge comments that it’s probably the truth about their investigation. Hodge also mentions that Bear’s infected blood got on Scully. DeSilva counters that it also got on Hodge.

As Mulder and Scully take their argument into another room, they are confronted by the rest of the team. Everyone appears to be getting stressed out, and Mulder suggests rest. Hodge objects, demanding that they all allow themselves to be examined for the black spots first. They all examine each other, and none of them have the spots. They each go their separate ways, taking refuge in the abandoned rooms of the dead researchers. None of them actually sleep well.

Mulder is startled out of a restless doze, and hears a door closing out in the hall. After inspecting the lab, he notices blood dripping out of the freezer where the ice core samples were being kept. He opens the door, and Murphy falls onto him, his neck slit. As Mulder recovers from the shock, the others run in. Mulder lamely tells them that Murphy is dead.

Hodge and DeSilva immediately point the finger at Mulder. Mulder vehemently denies responsibility. When Scully asks Mulder to give them a blood sample, he begins to get agitated. When Hodge threatens to attack Mulder, Mulder pulls his gun on him. Scully draws her gun, trying to convince Mulder to comply. He points his gun at her, screaming for her to put her gun down. But Scully reminds him that he may not be himself.

Finally, Mulder relents, and allows Scully to lock him in a storage room. When she returns to the lab, she notices that DeSilva is sleeping. She attempts to look at the back of the woman’s neck, but Hodge stops her suddenly. Hodge objects to the fact that Scully is the only one with a weapon, so she removes the clips from each of her guns, tossing them into the Arctic night. Hodge insists that Mulder is infected, leaving Scully to fight for his life.

As Scully attempts to call for help from the airfield again, Hodge and DeSilva wearily continue their work on the blood samples. When DeSilva makes a mistake, it turns out to be a critical victory. When the larvae of two different worms come in contact, they fight to mutual destruction. When the two living worms are tested, they attempt to attack each other through the glass of the sample jars.

Testing Scully’s theory, they place another worm in the dog, and after some convulsions, the dog appears to be healthy. A little later, Hodge confirms that the dead worms passed through the dog’s system, flushing away the infection. Obviously at the insistence of the others, Scully goes to Mulder to explain what they have planned. She also wants to be sure that he is in fact infected, since they only have one worm to work with.

In the storage room, Scully convinces Mulder to let him inspect her. Mulder also checks Scully. Neither of them is infected. When they leave the storage area and tell the others, Hodge suggests they return to the main building for another group inspection. But as Mulder and Scully pass, Hodge tackles Mulder to the ground, as DeSilva tosses Scully into the storage room, locking her in. DeSilva attempts to sedate Mulder, but his thrashing prevents it. As Scully tries to break open the lock from the inside, DeSilva grabs the worm and comes close to his ear, preparing to infect him.

At the last moment, Hodge notices movement under DeSilva’s skin, and knocks her aside. DeSilva immediately goes crazy, running into the lab, smashing equipment like a raving lunatic. Mulder lets Scully out of the storage room, and along with Hodge, they go after DeSilva. DeSilva attempts to attack them using the functional gun from one of the evidence bags, but they manage to tackle her to the ground. They infect DeSilva with the last worm, ending the threat.

Back at Doolittle Airfield, DeSilva and the dog are taken in quarantine. When Hodge tells the agents that a plane is ready to take them wherever they need to go, Mulder expresses a desire to return to the site. He wants to study the organism completely. But Hodge tells him that the site has been torched. Mulder wants to know who, but Hodge shrugs, saying that Mulder ought to know, since it was his people. As Hodge walks away, Mulder turns to Scully, musing that the organism is still there. Scully tells him to leave it there.


Analysis

This episode stands as one of the true classics of the series. Even though it is clearly a spin on a very old premise, explored in several films and other genre series, this particular version works well through the characterization of Mulder and Scully.

Mulder’s latent paranoia, to this point played for clever laughs or personal tragedy, takes on a more disturbing tone. We also see just how far Mulder is willing to go to get some kind of definitive proof of something alien or otherwise paranormal. Though we’ve already seen that he is willing to put his own life at risk to find that proof, this is the first time that we see how that lack of self-preservation threatens others. His behavior in this episode gives the audience some insight into why the Bureau might be justified in treating him with care. Were it not for the conspiratorial demands to keep him in his position for other purposes, it’s likely he would have been fired long ago.

At the same time, we begin to see the depth of Scully’s strength and her dedication to Mulder as a partner. Scully understands Mulder’s reasoning, and even when she has a completely different opinion, she respects his point of view. When the time comes to use the last remaining worm to save DeSilva, even as Mulder struggles to place it in the woman’s ear, Scully reminds him of his earlier desire to study the organism.

It’s clear from this episode that Mulder trusts Scully, even if she has been assigned to the X-Files to debunk his work. At the core, he respects Scully for her willingness to hear him out and resist the kind of blanket dismissals he must have been used to. Even under these strained circumstances, even when they wind up pointing guns at each other, there is a trust that exists between them. Scully only forces the issue when it is her only option, and then reluctantly.

Beyond the subtle character issues, this episode seems to stand alone from the overall mythology. But in the end, it’s hard not to see the eventually similarities, and wonder if this episode served as a reference point to the later writers on the series. Much like the later black oil, there is an organism buried underground (here, ice) which seems to be a worm. It enters the body and wraps itself around the hypothalamus, controlling the infected host. It shows itself in the back of the neck, a later staple of the series for all “alien” beings. And finally, it arrived via a meteor strike, several hundred thousand years ago.

It wouldn’t be hard to believe that the conspiracy would be aware of the location of the AICP, and would have made certain that Mulder and Scully were assigned when something out of the ordinary took place. After all, if there was any suspicion that the location of the AICP might yield a different form of the black oil organism, the altered behavior of the research team might have looked like a possible infection by that virus.

Even if the conspiracy had no such advance suspicion, they could have been the ones to contain the situation afterward. If the site was simply burned to the ground, that doesn’t stop anyone with covert capability from returning to the site and finding new samples from additional ice core sampling. If Scully’s report mentions the effect on the hypothalamus, the conspiracy might wonder whether or not the worm could be used to develop a resistance against the similar effects of the black oil. Given that at least one form of the black oil’s effect on the hypothalamus appeared to block the transmission of acetylcholine, leading to a comatose state, the worm could have been studied to determine whether or not the stimulation of acetylcholine release might counter that effect.

Of course, none of that actually took place during the series run, making those details pure speculation. But the apparent similarities between the organism in this episode and the later mythology practically scream for some kind of deeper thought. Given the mountain of lost opportunities during the series run, perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised.

With or without the larger implications, this episode remains one of the most tense episodes of the series. Even after watching the episode several times over the years, it still packs a punch. Having come so early in the series, this episode would come to serve as a benchmark for future episodes. Few episodes outside of the mythology would manage to reach the same quality.


Memorable Quotes

RICHTER: “We’re not…who we are…we’re not…who we are…”

MULDER: “Obviously, they either think we’re brilliant or expendable, because we’ve pulled the assignment…”

MULDER: “OK, anyone got the morning sports section handy?”

MULDER: “Before anyone passes judgment, may I remind you, we are in the Arctic…”

MULDER: “Scully, get that gun off me!”
SCULLY: “Mulder, you have to understand!”
MULDER: “Put it down!”
SCULLY: “You put it down first!”
MULDER: “Scully…for God’s sake, it’s me!”
SCULLY: “Mulder…you may not be who you are!”

MULDER: “In here, I’ll be safer than you.”


Observations

- Easily one of the best teasers in the history of the series!

- So I guess Alaska is a lot colder than Antarctica, based on the clothing and their reaction to the weather…

- Why aren’t they all wearing gloves during the investigation of the crime scene?

- How exactly was DeSilva controlling herself so well, right up until she went completely nuts when they saw that she was infected? In the other cases, the murders only happened when the people went bonkers, but Murphy was dead long before that.

- Did anyone actually destroy the lab…or did they just tell everyone that it was sterilized?

Overall, this is easily one of the best episodes of the series, even if it is essentially a retread of many previous productions. The character work is especially well-done, and the direction heightens the tension beautifully. Even with some minor nits here and there, this ranks as one of the series’ finest hours.

I give it a 10/10.


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