AIR DATE:  October 14, 1994
Written by Chris Carter
Directed by Chris Carter

	It has been at least 3 years since I've watched "Duane Barry" and
I thought it was a pretty good episode at the time.  As I am rewatching it
I now realize what an intense and exciting episode it was.  "Duane Barry" 
is an edge of your seat episode that ends with a bang with Scully
screaming for help into Mulder's answering machine.  It makes me
appreciate the second season even more and how they intelligently worked
around Gillian Anderson's pregnancy to their advantage.  Who knows what
direction X-Files might have taken if they hadn't had to work around it? 
The show could have continued business as usual with Scully and Mulder
investigating one X-Files case after another, but instead we get all these
episodes such as "Duane Barry" leading up to Scully's abduction.  Scully's
abduction gave the X-Files people some focus and it shows in the 8
episodes arc.

	The episode deals with Mulder and his desire to believe in alien
abduction at the risk of his own life since he has a strong desire to
believe in Duane Barry especially when he starts asking Barry about what
they do to little girls.  Barry is a slightly deranged man who claims to
have been abducted by aliens over and over with the help of the
government.  Barry's lost his family and has been ridiculed by others for
his belief.  Which is the same thing that has happened to Mulder where his
family was broken apart by Samantha's disappearance and he is ridicule for
his beliefs though he hasn't gone to the extent Barry has in this episode.
It isn't any wonder Mulder could relate to Duane Barry since he sees this
connection and believes he can talk Barry out of what he's doing.  When he
first arrives on the scene he doesn't understand why he's there for a
hostage situation since he has never dealt with a hostage situation before
so he says what they tell him to say to Barry.  It isn't until his first
talk with Barry that he realizes there is more to this than he's been told
and decides to do it a different way since he knew Barry wouldn't fall for
the usual line.  Who does Mulder go to for the information he wants but
Scully, the only person he trusts.  It is Scully who convinces him not to
fall for Barry's story and gets Mulder to trick Barry into going to the
door so they could shoot him.  Scully knows Mulder and where he is going
with Barry in his neverending quest to find abductees and how they relate
to his sister.  It isn't until she gives him Barry's history that Mulder
questions Barry on his truthfulness and realizes that he isn't helping
anyone by feeding into Barry's claims.  We can see the hurt in Mulder's
face and voice when he tells Barry to go lock the door knowing he is
sending Barry out to be shot.  One can't help think that Mulder feels he
betrayed Barry by making him go to the door, but Mulder knew it was the
only way to end it. 

	"Duane Barry" ends with Mulder's worse nightmare and that is the
kidnapping of Scully by Barry.  If there was one thing that has always
been there for Mulder it has been Scully who gives him hope and someone to
trust when he needs it the most.  It was perfectly set up by the previous
episodes on how much Mulder had come to rely on Scully from her being
there for him in "Little Green Men" to trying to get him not to quit the
F.B.I. in "The Host".  Mulder had become very dependent on Scully being
there for him and this kidnapping has a devastating effect on him.

	Now for some miscellaneous comments on "Duane Barry":

- Man's best friend indeed.  The second those alien creatures show up that
dog makes a b-line for the door.  Barking at the alien ship outside
Barry's house just doesn't cut it.  Next time Barry should get a doberman
for some protection.

- One of the strangest things they did on the show was to first date stamp
it as present day at the mental hospital where Barry is, and then date it
August 7, 1994 when they go to the hostage situation.  Just one of those
weird date things they do when it wasn't really necessary to date stamp it
at all.  Oh yeah, if it is supposed to be August 7 I doubt very much
Scully would be wearing a trenchcoat.  I lived in Maryland for 3 summers
and it gets very humid in the summertime.  Well, we always knew Scully was
cold blooded.  Trenchcoats and desks are the best ways to cover up a
person's pregnancy no matter what time of year.

- Poor Ratboy, no one gives him any respect.  First he gets ignored by
Scully in "Sleepless" and now in "Duane Barry" Agent Kazdin (CCH Pounder)
ignores him.  Krycek gets the ultimate insult when he trys to kiss up to
Kazdin after Mulder storms off and pisses off Kazdin, and Krycek asks if
there is anything he could do and she tells he can get her coffee.  Maybe
this is why Krycek turned out to be such a rat because throughout his
whole life he has been treated with disrespect and contempt.  More likely
people can sense his ratness and treat him like one.

- Loved the joke of having Barry going to a travel agency to find the
place where he has been abducted.  At least it shows Barry still has some
kind of logic left in him.

- We see the don't mess with Scully mode in "Duane Barry" when she
basically tells that F.B.I. agent she isn't leaving until she gets what
she wants and that is to get into the situation room so she can somehow
talk to Mulder.  These other F.B.I. agents still haven't learned not to
mess with Scully when it comes to Mulder.  I liked the awkward way Scully
said they used to work together when Kazdin asked how Scully got involved
in the case.  It was as if she still had a hard time believing they still
weren't working together.

- One of the interesting aspects of "Duane Barry" is how Kazdin called
Mulder to the hospital where Barry was being taken care of because she
wanted to show him what they pulled out of Barry.  It was nice to see an
agent who showed enough respect for Mulder that she would bring him in to
show him there might be some validity to Barry's claims.  This is what she
is doing and even if she doesn't quite believe in all of it she knows
Mulder will want to know.

- I kept waiting for the supermarket clerk to ask Scully if she wanted
plastic or paper, and Scully must shop there a lot because she didn't even
ask her for any I.D. or a customer courtesy card.  Also, I loved how after
Scully puts the inplant through the price scanner and the scanner goes
nuts she puts on her best I didn't do anything look to the supermarket
clerk after the clerk asked her what happened. 

- I always wondered why if they wanted to split Scully and Mulder apart
why didn't they assign one of them to the West Coast or Alaska.  Nothing
like 3000 miles apart to make it harder for people to work together.  But
if they did that then it wouldn't have been any fun for us.

	"Duane Barry" is an excellent first part that brings together some
of the best elements of X-Files.  It had the alien abduction scenario,
Mulder getting involved because of it and Scully helping him out in a
tense situation.  Chris Carter did a fine job for his first time
directing.  An exciting episode that has made me anxious to see the second
part "Ascension" even though I've already seen it and know what happens.

Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

9/15/97 

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