Summary
I remember my husband and I turning to one another during a commercial break and saying, "Well, that was twisted!" (This remains his personal favourite episode.) I never knew at the time the sort of commotion that this one would ultimately create, despite having said that. While it was indeed violent, sick, and perverse, it still remained true to the X-Files in both story and characterization. I mean, if you ask anyone about this ep, they'll likely tell you that — beyond the "ickiness" — it was a very well done episode from the standpoint of Mulder and Scully. It was one of those "hidden gem" sort of shows that left viewers with a lot of background character stuff.
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| Who would have guessed that the first "Uber Scully" would end up being given away? |
Morals of this story: 1) always lock your doors, 2) always turn on your lights when you investigate a noise at night, and 3) if you're law enforcement and you're going for the gun, don't opt for the bat.
I liked that Mulder was disturbed enough by the events of this story to want to secure his hotel room door and to have more backup the next day before they storm the Peacocks' house (great line: "that was just a little bit too Chuck Bronson for me"). He's not usually one to look before he leaps.
I decided to rewatch this one because I actually haven't seen it all that many times. I had it on tape back in the day, but it wasn't something that I took out to view with any regularity, like I would other episodes. It is not an episode that I find scary, but the violence of it is unsettling. In any case, I think that today — i.e., circa 2013 — I find the content less shocking because there are actually so many strange and weird things happening in real life right under our noses. Would three brothers necessarily be that depraved and violent? Well, with a mother like that, who knows? And I can't say with any certainty what might be considered acceptable or unacceptable behaviour in the back woods of wherever.
By the way, wandering through that house would have been freaky enough without it being booby-trapped in such gruesome ways. To pull off a story device like that, you need to depend on unrealistic luck (i.e., Mulder and Scully not falling prey) and sacrifice a redshirt (the deputy), and in this case, it really wasn't needed.
This may have been the only X-Files episode where I was thankful for the dark lighting. Didn't need to see much more than what we saw. Cinematically speaking, Home was a great achievement for weekly episodic television. It wasn't an x-file, but in terms of raw story telling, it deserves an uptick in rating.
Picayune Peculiarities
Do M&S travel with those earpiece thingamajigs? (Because you don't mean to tell me that the quaint little place of Home actually has such technology. I had a hard enough time believing that they had bullet proof vests.) Anyway, how fortuitous that they packed more than two.
You would think that all that inbreeding would make it more difficult to conceive, but how old is Ma Peacock and she's still pumping them out like that?? The oldest son was said to be 42! (Maybe that's the x-file.) And why ever did Scully jump to the conclusion that the younger sons must have been fathered by the oldest? (Dad didn't die until the car accident about ten years ago, right?) Big brother would only have been about 12 at the time of the birth of son #2.
Best or Worst Moment
Yes, it was an interesting conversation on the bench, full of that lovely flirtatious stuff that used to thrill, prior to the onset of darkness caused by the cancer diagnosis. And I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Christmas Carol/Emily and Requiem notwithstanding, I still don't see Scully as a mother.
Original Rating: * * *
Revised Rating: * * * *
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