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Season 4, Episode 2, Aired Oct 11, 1996

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8.7

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A baby is found buried alive in shallow ground and appears to have birth defects resulting from generations of inbreeding, leading Mulder and Scully to a reclusive family who have a history of inbred children.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR Tucker Smallwood

Sheriff Andy Ta...
GUEST STAR Sebastian Spence

Deputy Barney P...
GUEST STAR Chris Norris

Edmund Peacock

David Duchovny

Special Agent F...
Gillian Anderson

Special Agent D...

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Fan Episode Reviews (35)

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A "Wonderful, Wonderful" episode

10

"Perfect"

By MattMTRUSTNO1, Aug 13, 2011

Mulder and Scully are sent to Home, Pennsylvania to investigate the live burial of a deformed infant, a child entombed in a sandlot under home plate next door to a local family well known for its incestuous ways. This bucolic Mayberry is shattered when Sherriff Taylor and his wife are bludgeoned to death in one of the most horrific death scenes ever shown on The X-Files or any show for that matter. I suspect it was the stunning brutality of their murder, not the theme of incest, that finally brought forth a Parental Guidance warning from the network. Matters escalate as Scully becomes convinced that the horribly disfigured newborn was birthed by a woman held captive by the Peacock recluses, and the agents move in on a house so filled with horror it would have sent Norman Bates screaming in terror.
Chris Carter has made it plain from the beginning that the series is out to scare us at any cost. And if he can't scare us, he will shock us. And these were the scariest and most shocking characters in The X-Files rich history of monsters of the week; thank God and Directors of Photography Ron Stannett and Jon Joffin for wisely putting Mulder and Scully in plenty of sunlight to balance the gloom and corruption of that haunted house.
Every family archetype is trotted out and crucified: the dutiful sons are dim-witted thugs, and their loving mother is a controlling tyrant who sacrifices a family's soul to preserve its decaying flesh. I'm surprised she buried her infant; I expected her to eat it. This unremitting portrait of evil is sharply contrasted against our heroes, whose companionable relationship, intelligence, and bravery highlight this episode.
Morgan and Wong's strong suit has always been characterization, and in this script they deliver some of the best Mulder and Scully scenes, and some of the best secondary character writing to date. Scully takes the driver's seat both literally and metaphorically in this episode. Warm, funny, and wise, Gillian Anderson's "uber-Scully" is a warrior-scientist mother figure who strides across this story like Brunnhilde in a tailored suit. Despite Mulder's insistence that this case is not an X-File, she persists in liberating the helpless woman she is convinced is being held in the Peacock house. She leads the investigation with her head but backs it up superbly with her heart, unwilling to risk leaving a defenseless victim in peril another minute even if it means risking her own life.
The baseball-juggling scene was wonderful, as Agent Mulder tells us more about his boyhood in 8 seconds than the previous three years have revealed. Tucker Smallwood's Sheriff Taylor, is cast from the same mold as Andy Griffith himself: a gentle, peace loving man who loves his small town so passionately it blinds him to the danger at its heart. Karin Konoval gives an impressive performance as Momma Peacock, one of the most malignant characters to ever adorn The X-Files.
A gruesome episode enhanced by some really creepy settings and "wonderful" characters.moreless
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A strange family of inbred freaks wreak havoc

7.9

"Good"

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, May 08, 2011

The second episode this season finds an episode that is filled with some truly scary images and a couple of awesome moments. However, the rest of the episode drags on and goes nowhere, and this isn't an X-File so much as it is an episode following horrific things. If you take away the couple of scenes that were great, you have a sub-par episode without much of a story.

It's important to notice what the episode did a good job with though. That scene where the freaks broke into the Sheriff's house and beat them to death while that old song played in the background.. it was haunting and one of the darkest (if not the darkest) thing that the show has done to date. Also, that final scene where Mulder and Scully break into the house was awesome and shows the show can do great action scenes.

I just didn't like how little mystery there was.. there was obviously moments that we questioned, but we knew right from the first scene what was happening and who was responsible and we also know right away that they inbred. There was no mystery and nothing to question, just a few great scenes with a bunch of expository scenes in the middle.. I will say this though: there was some great Mulder/Scully interactions throughout, something I hope the show does more of in the future.moreless
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Did I find this to be one of the most creepy episodes of the X-Files ever? Yes I did, and here's why...

9.0

"Superb"

By loverslost, Feb 25, 2011

Firstly, there's no unexplainable paranormal activity going on here. The idea of a family inbreeding amongst themselves, shows something that can happen in real life (and probably does for all we know), is what brought chills down my spine as I was watching this episode.

Secondly, it showed the extent to which the Peacock family would go to follow their own traditions, knowing that a change could destroy them, but at the same time, going to any length to make sure they still had their home to do their business. And finally, just the tone that this episode set in such a suspenseful manner made me sit at the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next. The parts where Mulder and Scully enter their home, knowing there are traps set, or when the Peacock brother sneak into the Sheriff's home are scenes were some of the most suspenseful moments that I have seen in a while.

I thought everyone acted really well in this episode, and I can see why this is considered one of the more disturbing episodes of the show.moreless
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What Do You Call A Kid With No Arms And No Legs?

9.0

"Superb"

By Anon67683, Aug 13, 2010

My wife is the squeamish type. She refuses to watch horror movies and she wonders what the heck I am doing watching all of these X-File episodes back to back on DVD. But curious, she decides to join me just this once on the couch for tonight's episode, "Home."

It's a hard sell when the opening scene depicts the painful delivery of a child on a tabletop one dark and stormy night. It's a much, MUCH harder sell when the participants grab a shovel and head outside to dig a baby-sized hole in the wet mud. LOL, what was I thinking? By the time Mulder and Scully wheeled mom out from under the bed in the basement, it was all over and I was alone on the couch, and probably will continue to be alone through Season Nine. ;)

I am in awe at the darkness and utter creepiness of this episode. It was like something out of a Nick Cave album, full of every imaginable sin and trangression against nature and it still managed to get aired on television. Haha! Amazing! I still don't understand why the three amigos decided to go caveman on the Sheriff and his wife but it was a horrifically effective scene, especially as played against the Mathis song. The family photos pasted on the basement walls were a nice touch too.

Answer: Home Plate (I know, I'm bad...:))moreless
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Most Controversial episode

10

"Perfect"

By KennyRogersLove, Aug 13, 2010

Home

-Creepy freakin' teaser.
-Was this before or after Slipknot released their first CD?
-Mulder loves baseball. This episode makes a creepy connection to the American pass-time.
-Every little town has a dark secret.
-Yikes! Creepy eyes under the bed!
-I love the shot of the Sheriff contemplating pulling out his gun from storage before ultimately putting it back. It shows how much he wants to believe that his town is still safe.
-"One good, last look around" True.
-Wonderful Wonderful. This is a great application of situational irony exemplified by music.
-Who would win in a fight, the Peacock Brothers or Chuck Norris? I think they would give Chazz a run for his money.
-This episode is exceptionally well directed. The close-up shots and the expertly executed camera-pans are fantastic.
-There is not very much of a score by Mark Snow in this episode.
-"They really went Cave Man on them." Mulder's comment is more comedic because the Peacocks look like the Geico cave men.
-The Gang-bang scene haunted my dreams for months when I fist saw this.
-"Bah ram ewe." Perfect time for a little comic relief.
-"The War of Northern Aggression." Not just inbreeds, but southern inbreeds.
-Got to love the trunk space in those early model Cadillacs.
-Another X Files episode where the monster/villain gets away in the end.

What can I say about this episode that has not already been said? It is fantastic. This story really pushed the envelope of what can be shown on network TV. Even while re-watching it today--I was wincing. The thought of Mrs. Peacock hiding under my bed gave me nightmares well into December. The murder of the Sheriff and his wife is particularly disturbing as well. I will never (and I suspect that I am not alone on this) be able to listen to Johnny Mathis the same way again. This is probably one of the best-known episodes of the show's entire run. It seems like about once a week someone will come onto the board to ask 'what episode is the one with the mutant family that kills a baby?' There is a certain lack of original score in this episode that maintaining the constant malevolent, dreary feeling. This differs from many other X Files episodes that normally feature the ear pleasing tones of Mr. Mark Snow.

I noticed something about this episode that I had not noticed in prior viewings. There is a sort of a non-spoken, sympathetic connection between the Peacocks and the Sherriff. Both families were afraid of change. They were both entrenched in their traditions and way of life. Each group was also content coexisting apart from each other. The scene where Mulder asks if they could inspect the fetal cadaver in the Sheriff's office with the door locked. He replies, "Oh, everyone knows that I never have my door locked." (Or something like that.)

I am not sure if this episode speaks more toward anti-big business or anti-government. Either way, they both are recurring themes in the X Files universe. The Peacocks were anti-progress and anti-technology. Additionally, the Sheriff seemed to be anti-progress. He seemed happy to let things lie and was reluctant, to say the least, about involving the FBI in the case. He was, to his credit, much nicer than the local small town law enforcement usually is to Mulder and Scully (a la DPO or Quagmire.)

Overall, this is an excellent episode. Part of the appeal for me is that I am sort of a closet gore-hound, not so much the new age torture-porn of SAW and Hostel but classic gore like Hellraiser, Cannibal Holocaust, and Braindead. This episode could have been a great addition to the midnight grind-house classics if it were a movie in the late 1970s.

10/10

I feel sort of anti human by giving this grotesque episode such a high rating. Nevertheless, I think it deserves the style points. Groundbreaking television.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Principal Setting: Home, Pennsylvania.
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- This episode marks the first time Samantha Mulder was mentioned in a context other than abduction - at one point, Fox talks about the games he and his sister used to play.
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- While I realize it added significantly to the plot line, in reality, Mulder and Scully would have simply called in the State Police and officers from neighboring jurisdictions to assist them in arresting the Peacock boys.
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Quotes
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- Scully: The way I think it goes here is that Edmund is the brother and the father of the other two. Mulder: Which means that when Edmund was a kid, he could ground the other two for playing with his things?
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- Scully: You still planning on making a home here? Mulder: Not if I can't get the Knicks game. Scully: Well, just as long as a brutal infanticide doesn't weigh into your decision. Good night, Mulder.
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- Sherrif: We don't have a lab or a morgue, but I do have a room down here might be a bit cleaner.. By the way, this is my deputy Barney.. Mulder: Fife?! Deputy: Pastor!
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Notes
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- The science advisor to the series, Anne Simon Ph.D., points out in her book The Real Science Behind The X-Files that the genetic deformities Scully observes in the dead infant (Neu-Laxova syndrome, Meckel-Gruber syndrome and extrophy of the cloaca) are quite rare, and that she would have had to have been well-versed in genetic abnormalities to have recognized all of these conditions without consulting outside experts. Dr. Simon mentions a standard reference book, Smith's Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation, as something Scully may have had the opportunity to consult before this case, thus familiarizing herself with the information.
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- A scene was cut in which Mulder and Scully jostle each other suggestively in the tight confines of Sheriff Taylor's supply closet/morgue.
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- Glen Morgan named the Peacock family after some former neighbors of his parents.
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