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The X-Files Season 8 Episode 4

Roadrunners

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 11/26/00

Scully evades Doggett's help in investigating a vicious murder in a remote area of Utah and she is trapped in the small town by a religious cult that believe a slug-like creature is the second coming of God who needs a human host to survive.

Fan Episode Reviews (11)

Roadrunners

10

By TrueTvWatcher, Sep 09, 2012

Roadrunners was a perfect and very entertaining episode of The X-Files. I really enjoyed watching because the story was pretty awesome and reminded me of The Goa'uld from Stargate SG-1. It was also noteworthy that Scully gets kidnapped and held against her will for the first time while working with Agent Doggett. Lucky for her he is good at what he does and eventually finds her. There was a lot of intrigue, character development and the ending was great. scully and Doggett definitely bonded a little after this. I look forward to watching what happens next!!!!!!!!!moreless
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Scully enters a very weird technology-free town

7.5

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Sep 06, 2011

Usually, I'm always inclined to give Vince Gilligan penned episodes a chance, moreso than if somebody else wrote it (I know, I'm horrible), but this episode wasn't as great as others Gilligan episodes. Although I still think Scully knocks it out of the park on a week to week basis and the show is doing an okay job at building up Doggett, the show is noticeably weaker without Mulder.

This episode involves yet another strange parasite; this time, Scully gets involved after she investigates the brutal death of a man in the middle of nowhere. She ends up in a town with no technology and dozens upon dozens of very strange individuals who seem to have an interest in her. We soon learn that there is a parasite that infects people and that the inhabitants of the town seem to be worshipping the parasite, which takes up residence in the person's spine and works its way towards the person's brain. If the parasite isn't a proper fit, the people in the town beat the living crap out of the person and take out the parasite, inserting it in someone new.

As you may have guessed, the parasite eventually makes its way in Scully, and the tension of the episode comes from whether or not Doggett will find her on time. We really didn't get anything to make Doggett a more likable or exciting character, but Gilligan did a good job of making the second half much more intense.

Not the best X-Files here, but definitely one worth perhaps checking out.moreless
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Sluggin' For Jesus

6.5

By Anon67683, Mar 05, 2011

Another half-baked MOTW episode. The sole purpose of this episode is to have Scully go out alone so that she can get into a lot of trouble only to have Doggett come in to rescue her at the last minute so that he can say to her "Don't ever go without me again" so that Scully will have an excuse to bring him along for the rest of her adventures in Season Eight. Got it? Um, yeah, it's gonna be a long season.....

There's a giant slug that the townsfolk worship as God or something. Why Scully is there in the first place investigating what appears to be a routine murder only the slug knows. At least she wears her yummy white halter top from the previous episode. Small mercies....moreless
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Lots of suspense

7.5

By Aly358, May 03, 2010

Okay I'll grant you that Scully should not have been out there investigating that murder because it did not read as an x-file per se. I mean sure his spine was damaged, but that could have been from a number of things and the first reaction wouldn't be to bring in the big guns.

Other than that I really really enjoyed this episode. I really believed that the infected guy was on the good side, there were loads of suspense and the tone was just right. I feared that because Mulder was gone the series would go downhill but so far we're good.

Plus Scully is wearing her cute top again and she is basically in every scene. What's not to love? :)moreless
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This episode has it all, a slug, blood, danger, violance,...

8.9

By Gilmoregirl999, May 03, 2010

This is a great episode since it has everything from a slug to blood (and lot's of it)

Scully wants to solve this alone, probably to show that she can do fine on herself, without Mulder and that she doesn't need anyone replacing Mulder, but boy was she wrong.

At the end of the episode she finaly seems to accept Agent Dogget as her partner.

I also want to react to the trivia about the miscarrige. You don't misscarry that soon, it all depends on different factors. How far along she is, where that being is crawling, how soon they get to the hospital and the treatment, how strong she and the foetus are,...moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Robert Patrick	Special Agent John Doggett
Gillian Anderson	Special Agent Dana Scully

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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David Barry Gray	Hank Gulatarski	Guest Star
Lawrence Pressman	Mr. Alastair Milsap	Guest Star
Conor O'Farrell	Sheriff Ciolino	Guest Star

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (5)
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- At the beginning of the episode, Scully tells Doggett that they have found the remains of a missing hiker and had contacted his family. Later, she states that the corpse had been beaten to such a degree that even identification via dental records was impossible. So which is it?
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- It seems like Scully underwent a lot more physical strain than a pregnant woman should... as in the previous episode. HOW did she not miscarry?
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- Given that the previous 'owners' of the slug thing became quite quickly unable to walk properly, and Scully's current pregnancy, how come having had a foot long slug up her spine, being pregnant and having an unplanned and not exactly hygienic surgical procedure involving a large and very bloody incision into the back of her neck (which in itself, given Doggett's lack of medical knowledge, could have paralyzed her at the very least) she's up and about in just a week, with nothing but a fairly small surgical dressing to show that she was ever attacked.
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- In the Season 4 episode 'Never Again', we see Scully getting a tattoo of a snake etched onto her back. However, when the townspeople lift up the back of Scully's shirt to put the parasite into her back the tattoo is not there.
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- Scully identifies Gulatarski's convulsions as a grand mal seizure; that term is obsolete. The current preferred term is tonic-clonic seizure, which is more descriptive of the sequence of convulsive events and more properly places it among a spectrum of seizure behavior.
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QUOTES (10)
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- Scully: Can you hot-wire it?
  Doggett: Can I hot-wire it? Gone in 60 seconds, Jack. I'm going to strand these lunatics.
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- Scully: I'm a Federal Agent! At this moment, the FBI is searching for me!
  Bus Driver: They won't find you.
  Milsap: Talk to her.
  Hank: Your life... is about to take a wonderful turn. You're going to become a part of something much, much greater than you are. You're going to be... so loved.
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- Scully: I assume that your phone's still not working.
  Milsap: Sorry.
  Scully: Well, do you or one of your "friendly" neighbors happen to have a car?
  Bus Driver: No one here has a car.
  Scully: No cars?
  Milsap: We could send someone to the state road on foot. All right? We could get them to bring back help.
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- Scully: What the hell is going on here?
  Milsap: Sorry?
  Scully: I get the distinct impression that somebody doesn't want me to leave.
  Milsap: I don't know anything about that.
  Scully: A bus came through here about an hour ago. Where did it go?
  Milsap: A bus?
  Scully: Don't tell me you didn't see it.
  Milsap: Oh, I think I'd have known if a big bus came through. Are you sure I can't help you out with a room?
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- Scully: Hey. Excuse me. You put something in my tank that killed my engine.
  Gas Station Man: What?
  Scully: Where's that gas can? I'd like to see it, please.
  Scully: That's water. I barely even smell any gasoline.
  Gas Station Man: Oh, God, you're right. I'm sorry. I... I left it out. It must have gotten rain in it.
  Scully: Oh, and it rains a lot here, does it? Seeing as how it's basically the desert.
  Gas Station Man: I'm really sorry.
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- Scully: Him? That thing in my spine is a him?
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- Scully: Look, I, uh... I wanted to apologize. I … I left you out of this case, and that was a mistake on my part. It was almost a fatal mistake.
  Doggett: It was. You screwed up.
  Scully: And I won't do it again.
  Doggett: I appreciate it.
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- (Scully discovers big wound on the "hitch hikers" back)
  Scully: How did this happen?
  Bus Driver: (puts hand to mouth pretending to be shocked) Oh my God, I don't know.
  Scully: Uh-huh.
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- Mr. Milsap: (barely able to control his sick excitement) Glory, Amen. Glory, Amen. Glory, Amen.
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- Doggett: The guy had a gun in his pocket and I don't mean he was happy to see me.
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NOTES (1)
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- This episode is one of the most violent and bloody ever of the series. Critics said that in the absence of Mulder, the show was taking on a more gore-filled appearance.
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- Story Line
  
  The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a short story which describes a town that annually chooses one person from the community at random (in a lottery) for the entire town to stone to death. The first scene of this episode is reminiscent of The Lottery in concept, if not in detail (the reason given for the tradition in the story is guaranteeing a good harvest, while in the episode, it seems to be for the sake of secrecy)
  The reason for the deaths in both the episode and the short story are vaguely presented, seeming to leave room for the wider interpretation that man is primal, essentially built to follow social or biological imperatives without consideration for what seems to be the obvious right and wrong.
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- Doggett: Gone in 60 Seconds
  
  Said as he's hotwiring - a reference to the 2000 film, whereby a former car thief is forced to steal 50 cars in 24 hours to prevent his brother being harmed.
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