AIR DATE:  January 5, 1996
Written by Darin Morgan
Directed by Kim Manners

	After "Humbug" and "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" I thought
writer Darin Morgan would be due for a bad episode, but he does it once
again with "War of the Coprophages".  It was humorous and creepy at the
same time.  Of course anything dealing with cockroaches (any insects with
me) is going to be creepy and the phone conversations between Mulder and
Scully were priceless. 

	Usually when Mulder and Scully are separated during most of an
episode the show ends up missing something, but this time it worked.
Morgan has to be one of the best writers to understand the characters of
Mulder and Scully and their relationship with each other.  The
conversations he wrote for them were right on target from the first one
where Scully is explaining once again to Mulder how aliens are not
visiting earth and he breaks her familiar speech by asking Scully what
she's wearing to the last one where Scully responds to Mulder's
explanation of aliens sending down mechanical cockroaches that he's been
in this town too long.  The old rapport that has been missing in the last
few episodes is back and it was good to hear.

	There must be an evil streak with the people over at the X-Files
because what insects do people hate the most other than cockroaches.
Cockroaches are not pretty and are just plain creepy looking.  Notice they
made sure they got the nice big cockroaches and not the smaller versions.

	Points and pondering on "War of the Coprophages":

- The disappointment in Mulder's voice every time Scully gave a logical
explanation for the cause of death of each victim was terrific because it
shows she doesn't even have to be there to debunk any of his wild ideas.
After the second victim (the drugged out teenager) you really hear the
disappointment in his voice when he goes "Nah, you're probably right"
because by this point you can tell he really wants her to come up, but not
if it appears he was making her waste her weekend on one of his wild goose
chases.  Contrast this to later on in the episode after Mulder has met Dr.
Bambi and Scully tells him she is definitely coming up and he is
indifferent to her coming up - he just says "whatever" to her decision -
since he knows that her presence will hamper his moves on Dr. Bambi.

- Forget about a headless body or a fluteworm coming out of a person's
mouth, having cockroaches getting under the drugged out teenager's skin
has to be one of the grossest things X-Files has ever done.  This truly
has to be one of the worse fears people have about insects.  This will
give me weird dreams for weeks to come.  Just the thought of a bug being
able to get under one's skin gives me the creeps. 

- Mulder not being able to sleep with him imaging cockroaches crawling all
over him.  The best part was he thought he had one up his nose after Dr. 
Bambi mentions that cockroaches have been know to go up people's noses.
Who does he call when he can't sleep, but Scully.  If we note this is the
first time Mulder has called Scully since he first met Dr. Bambi and we
see that she has fallen asleep with the phone next to her waiting for him
to call since the last time he talked to her he had cockroaches all over
him.  Gee, what Scully will put up from this man.  Think about it, half
the time he was on the phone with her he hung up without explaining what
was going on which would only make her worry about what kind of trouble he
was getting himself into.

- A funny moment was Scully asking Mulder if he was thinking of
trespassing on another govt. facility and commenting on how he has done
this before without great results just as we see him actually doing what
he always does to get into trouble.  Shows how much Scully knows Mulder
that she knows this is the kind of bonehead impulsive move he would do.

- Mulder picking up the cockroach and having us see from the cockroach
point of view Mulder saying "Greetings from planet Earth".  This was a
great shot and it was the last thing I expected Mulder to say to the
cockroach. 

- Mulder's building manager should hire better fumigators since Mulder
found that big cockroach in his apartment.  Just the thought of how gross
that cockroach would look like after he squashed it gives me the creeps. 

- "Die Bug Die" has to be one of the best and funniest fake product names
I've every seen because it got to the heart of what people expect a
pesticide to do. 

- The panic of the public in the convenience store was hilarious since
these people were running scared of killer cockroaches.  It reminds me how
busy supermarkets and the like get crowded with people who are trying to
stock up on stuff whenever there is a report a major snowstorm heading
their way.  Scully trying to calm them down was great because by this time
they were too far gone to listen rationally to anything Scully was saying. 
Of course, this is classic Scully trying to get people to see the
illogical ways of their thinking.  Remember her conversation with the
woman at the counter when she asked if the woman had seen any cockroaches
and the woman's response was "No, but they are everywhere."

- Dr. Bambi dropping Mulder like a hot potato once she meets Dr. Ivanov a
person she finds more interesting than Mulder.  Mulder who was quite taken
with her was shocked that she would suddenly forget he even existed, and
Scully joking on Dr. Bambi and Ivanov having babies so their offspring
could create the mechanical insects beings to greet aliens put Mulder in
his place.  Mulder's reaction to Scully's joke by telling her that she
stinks was a polite way for him to tell her to shut the hell up.

- Scully taking out her gun and checking her ammunition clip in front of
Dr.  Bambi when she finally reaches Mulder at the alt. waste plant was
great body language towards Dr. Bambi.  It was her saying to Dr. Bambi
that Mulder might find her attractive, but it is me who he can depend on
to protect and be there for him so don't mess with me little lady.
Especially after Bambi who only has known Mulder for a day calls him
"Fox", no doubt Scully notices the name use.  Also, notice how Scully
suddenly wanted to go up and "help" Mulder once he mentioned Dr. Bambi's
name.

	The acting from Duchovny and Anderson was excellent as usual. 
Duchovny was great in that he had Mulder not missing a beat when Mulder is
talking to Dr. Bambi for the first time and his cellular phone rings and
he answers it by saying "Not now" because he knows it's Scully and he
continues talking to Dr. Bambi like the phone never rang.  His timing was
excellent because if it wasn't the scene wouldn't have worked.  I already
mentioned the scene with Scully in the convenience store, but when she is
talking to Mulder the way Anderson inflicts Dr. Bambi's name to Mulder
says so much on what she thinks about Dr. Bambi. 

	"War of the Coprophages" has what we expect from the X-Files: 
good writing, directing and acting.  Darin Morgan has a real knack for
writing these kind of episodes where humor and creepness mixed well
together.  A thoroughly enjoyable episode though I don't think I'll ever
quite forgive them for using cockroaches. 

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

1/7/96

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