Quagmire

Season 3, Episode 22, Aired
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Episode Summary

When a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances are reported near a lake in a small town, Agents Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate. With local folklore of a killer sea serpent running rampant amongst the locals, the agents must take their search for the truth to the water. But before long the agents find out that there may be more to the legend then they first thought.''moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (14)

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  • Scully: "You're so consumed by your personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that everything takes on a warped significance in your megalomaniacal cosmology." Mulder: "Scully, are you coming on to me?"moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By MattMTRUSTNO1, Aug 13, 2011 Report Abuse
    "Quagmire" combines good characterization with a simple yet bent plot, we get a story that ranks in the top of the third season of The X-Files.
    Mulder drags the very reluctant Scully and her dog, Queequeg, into yet another hare-brained monster-of-the-week story that had all the groan potential of The Invisible Man. People near Huevelman's Lake in the Blue Ridge Mountain section of Georgia are disappearing under circumstances that revive long-simmering rumors of a prehistoric monster living in the remote lake.
    The now-famous Conversation on the Rock opened up more of Fox Mulder than any episode this season. Gillian Anderson was given plenty of material to work with in showing Scully the Materialist broken by the death of her dog. In fact, Scully's grief for Queequeg exceeds the grief she has been allowed to show previously for her partner, her father, and her sister. David Duchovny did a wonderful job of dropping Mulder's boyish mask, allowing him to acknowledge his own fear and vulnerability. In his "peg-leg" speech, Mulder admits to a painfully clear understanding not only of his own obsessive behavior but of how it has warped his life. The only flaw in this otherwise wonderfully fresh look at the partnership was Mulder's hard- hearted reaction to Queequeg's death, as if he is not just unwilling but incapable of relating to Scully's heartache. This is out of character for the normally sensitive Mulder. And as an animal lover, I didn't care for his lack of consoling his partner and friend in her time of grief. I also didn't like how quickly Scully herself seems to get over her dog's untimely death. If they had at least faded to black with Mulder comforting her as they sit quietly in her room, then we could have picked up the story the following night or maybe even two nights later. At least let some time pass. A little more respect for Queequeg is all I ask.
    This is a story about survival: not just the survival of Rana sphenocephalus, or Big Blue, or even our own species. It is a look at what it takes to be a survivor. The answer is surprising, as it rejects the archetypal mold of the hero as lone gunman, standing up single-handed to adversity and overcoming it. That frontier hero mold must give way in these latter days to the urban hero who knows how to cooperate and who knows how to forge alliances. Mulder not only admits he is lost, but asks for directions (a new heroic paradigm indeed). A Boy Scout leader who strays from the group ends up as a floating corpse. When Ansel Bray goes off to photograph Big Blue alone, he gets gobbled up. The message here is clearly that the loner is doomed, and the only safety is in community, union, partnership. In other words, without Scully, Mulder would end up just like Ansel. She is his rock, symbolized by the mysterious, and seemingly out of nowhere, rock in the middle of the lake.

    The real punch line of "Quagmire" is that Mulder, in fact, finds and kills a survivor from the Age of Reptiles. We forget, in our search for the more dramatic and less familiar T. Rexes and Nessies, that their cousins are still here, still surviving, and still hungry. The alligator he shoots is no less a lake-dwelling monster than a plesiosaur would have been. And I will confess that the alligator came totally out of nowhere, for me. It's beautiful. The giant alligator supports Scully's materialistic worldview, yet does not destroy Mulder's own vision of his Questing Beast, his symbol of hope that there is more to the world than appears on the surface. Although all that was sort of ruined by the the final shot of Big Blue breaking the surface. Which I wish they hadn't done. But all in all this quirky X-File, with its ruggedly beautiful setting, clever twist, and strong characters earns it high marks from me.moreless

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  • "I still have the urge to fire."

    8.8
    "Great"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jan 04, 2011 Report Abuse
    Here's a stand-alone episode that has nothing to do with aliens or government conspiracies but succeeds mostly because of the scenes between Mulder and Scully. Sure, there was a pretty cool story behind it all, and there were a few big shocks, but for the most part, I found myself more excited by the chance to see Mulder and Scully have a heart-to-heart with one another and connect more. Here are two characters that seem to be completely different yet connect so easily.

    The underlaying plot involves Mulder and Scully searching for a beast called "Big Blue" inside of a lake that has apparently been killing people. It's a pretty simple idea but it's increased by the way the writers were willing to go in different directions with it. We're never given any concrete proof to lend credence to this beast. People are dying, sure, but there's zero proof. In fact, while there was a clear-cut climatic scene near the end of the episode, the most intense and interesting part of the episode comes from a conversation between Mulder and Scully after they're stranded on a rock. They discuss cannibalism, the relation between Mulder and Ahab and we even get a callback to Scully's father and her nickname (Starbuck).

    For me, this was just a well-written episode that ended in a satisfying enough way. I was pleasantly surprised by it.moreless

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  • "All this moving around from crime scene to crime scene is giving me highway hypnosis."

    8.1
    "Great"
    By BurntSiena, Aug 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    "Quagmire" features Queequeg, Scully's dog, and the title can't be a coincidence. (How many words can you think of with both a "Q" and a "G"?) There is much to love about the episode. Start with the stunning BC scenery. Add the legend of Big Blue, a Nessie wannabe complete with cute likenesses on billboards and atop tourist shops. Plus we get to see Clyde Bruckman's dog again, adopted by Scully and seen also in "War of the Coprophages." Then there is the rapid fire body count... never a dull moment as bodies float ashore and turn up in the woods. And we get plenty of character development as Scully gets exasperated with Mulder and likens him to Captain Ahab (although I could have done without her calling him "megalomaniacal." Mulder? I think not.). The final scene is a great one, tying together both episode themes and the series' themes in one big blue bow.

    This is "X-Files" at its second tier best... "Quagmire" doesn't rate as high as the classics but features all the broad stokes that make this show what it is.moreless

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  • And Mulder didn't get his peg leg

    8.5
    "Great"
    By OnePerCentClub, Aug 11, 2010 Report Abuse
    One of the things that I like from this episode is that we see Mulder and Scully in a different environment, away from the city and enjoying the nature... while trying to solve a case.

    Mulder and Scully had always had a relationship in where many things are left unsaid, silence speaks more than words but we see something different here for a change. They have a conversation where they share so many points of view and that's why they are, to the date, one of the best couples on TV.

    The case was kind of expected, as it is based on one of the biggest mystery ever. And it goes to both ends: what everybody witnesses and becomes tangible proof and the unexplainable that remains unseen.

    Too bad Queequeg died... I really like the dog.moreless

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  • This episode is fairly written but it doesn't have anything special and is to represent about average of third season's episodes.

    7.9
    "Good"
    By arkhyel, Jan 02, 2008 Report Abuse
    This is barely a good episode. There's not much anything special. We got monster on inland lake area and we got the usual investigation. Some interesting supporting characters are involved like the photographer and the scientist. The story advances at moderate rate, but not much surprise is provided. Only scene really worth to remember is conversation on the rocks between Mulder and Scully. In the end, the monster is an alligator, which is not a bad decision. After all I think that this episode is fairly written but it doesn't have anything special and is to represent about average of third season's episodes.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Principal Setting: Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia. Edit
    • Heuvelman's Lake is actually named after Belgian cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans who wrote the massive volume "In the wake of the Sea Serpents" Edit
    • This episode is one of the few notable episodes in which the story line does not deal with any paranormal or supernatural forces. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • The boat that sinks out from under Mulder and Scully is the Patricia Rae, named after writer Kim Newton's mother. Edit
    • Tyler Labine and Nicole Parker return as Stoner and Chick. They first appeared in "War of the Coprophages". Edit
    • Mulder's speech about wanting a wooden leg in order to justify not having to work so hard in life comes straight out of Berne's pop psychology bible "Games People Play". Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Scully: You know, Mulder, you are Ahab. Mulder: You know, its interesting you should say that, because I've always wanted a peg leg. It's a boyhood thing I never grew out of. I'm not being flippant; I've given this a lot of thought. I mean, if you have a peg leg or hooks for hands then maybe it's enough to simply keep on living. You know, bravely facing life with your disability. But without these things you're actually meant to make something of your life, achieve something earn a raise, wear a necktie. So if anything I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg leg I'd quite possibly be more happy and more content not to be chasing after these creatures of the unknown. Scully: And that's not flippant? Mulder: No. Flippant is my favourite line from Moby Dick. Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple dumpling. Yeah. (Scully smiles, finishing the line with Mulder) Scully: What was that? Mulder: I don't know, but it ain't no duck. Edit
    • (Scully's dog starts barking in the back seat) Scully: Nature's calling, I think we should pull over. Mulder: Did you really have to bring that thing? Scully: You wake me up on a Saturday morning, tell me to be ready in five minutes, my mother is out of town, all of the dog sitters are booked and you know how I feel about kennels. So, unless you want to lose your security deposit on the car, I suggest you pull over. Edit
    • Scully: They're fictional creatures, Mulder. Folktales born out of some collective fear of the unknown. Mulder: A folktale that quite possibly ate a biologist and a Boy Scout leader. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Episode Title: Quagmire A quagmire is described as a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot. This would describe the surrounding area where 'Big Blue' was believed to be. Edit

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