Sign Up | Log In

Write a Review
Post a Quick Tip
Create a List
Ask a Question
Create a Poll
Create a Community

Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Tv Shows » Reviews » The X-Files: Conduit/Ice

The X-Files: Conduit/Ice

1 rating: 5.0

Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Television TV show

Conduit Original Broadcast Date : 10/1/93 Written by Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon Directed by Daniel Sackheim Mulder & Scully travel to Sioux City, Iowa to investigate the disappearance of a young girl who vanished … see full wiki

Tags: Tv Shows, Television, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy

1 review about The X-Files: Conduit/Ice

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

Two of the best episodes in the X-Files series

Feb 9, 2009

by CharlesAshbacher

Rating:

This tape contains two of the best episodes of X-Files ever aired. In "Conduit", it appears that a teenage girl is the subject of an alien abduction. The supposed abduction takes place at a lake in western Iowa and it turns out that the mother was a witness to a UFO sighting years before. This generates an interest in the case in Mulder and so Scully and Mulder travel to the site.
As they delve into the case, they find that the abducted girl is no angel and they are told that she ran away because she was pregnant. However, when Mulder and Scully find the shallow grave of the man who supposedly got her pregnant, it becomes a murder case and they quickly find the perpetrator. However, at the end, there is physical evidence that the girl was exposed to prolonged weightlessness.
What makes this episode work is that at one point you are certain that it was an alien abduction yet there are events that drive you to believe that it is a simple case of a jealous girlfriend committing a double murder. Such situations are when X-Files is at its best, as you don't know until the end whether there is a normal explanation.
"Ice" relies heavily on the "worms in the ear" plot device used so effectively in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." A scientific team is drilling ice core samples in a glacier in Alaska and their drill encounters a meteorite. When the core sample brings up worms embedded in the meteorite, they reanimate and infect the scientists. The worms cause violent paranoid behavior, leading to the scientists killing each other and themselves. Before the last one of them dies, they are able to send a distress signal.
Mulder and Scully are part of a team flown in to investigate and they discover the carnage and soon identify the worm. When their pilot is infected, they remove the parasite, which leads to his death. This causes all remaining members of the team to become extremely paranoid and suspicious of each other; even Mulder and Scully are at odds.
Mulder discovers the body of a team member and he is suspected of being infected, so he is locked up. When Scully discovers a cure for the infestation, they try to perform it on Mulder. However, he resists because the cure is a second infestation of the host. At the last moment, the team realizes who is infected and all remaining team members are saved.
The tremendous creepiness of the worms crawling in the ear is what makes this episode work, Scenes involving the movement of the worms are difficult to watch; yet they are too attractive to ignore. This episode is one that you can watch several times without finding it dull.

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized