Brand X (The X-Files)
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"Brand X" is the eighteenth episode of the seventh season of the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
''. It premiered on the
Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
in the United States on April 16, 2000. It was written by
Steven Maeda Steven Maeda is an American television producer and screenwriter. He has written episodes of television series such as ''Harsh Realm'', ''The X-Files'', ''CSI: Miami'', ''Lost'', and ''Day Break''. He has also served as a supervising producer on ...
and Greg Walker and directed by
Kim Manners Kim Manners (January 13, 1951 – January 25, 2009) was an American television producer, director and actor best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''Supernatural''. Early life Kim Manners was raised in a show business family. His fathe ...
. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider
mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
. "Brand X" earned a Nielsen household rating of 6.8, being watched by 10.81 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed reviews from critics. The show centers on
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
special agents
Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterrest ...
(
David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as write ...
) and
Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two Protagonist, protagonists in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science-fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anders ...
(
Gillian Anderson Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film ''The House of Mirth'' ...
) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called
X-File In the fictional universe of the television series ''The X-Files'', an "X-File" is a case that has been deemed unsolvable or given minimal-priority status by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; these files are transferred to the X-Files unit. The ...
s. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode,
Walter Skinner FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox. In the science fiction-supernatural se ...
(
Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi (born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland in th ...
) is horrified when the witness who was due to testify against the Morley cigarette company dies mysteriously. After being called in to assist, Mulder and Scully soon discover that a new brand of cigarette has a dangerous secret. Inspired by the 1999 film '' The Insider'', "Brand X" was written by Maeda and Walker to be an exploration of the corporate evil inside the cigarette industry. The scenes featuring shots of beetles crawling out of corpses were shot and filmed using real insects as well as real actors. In one particular scene, over 3,000 live insects were used. Those scenes took up to a full day to film.


Plot

In
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...
,
Walter Skinner FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character portrayed by American actor Mitch Pileggi on ''The X-Files'' and its short-lived spin-off ''The Lone Gunmen'', both broadcast on Fox. In the science fiction-supernatural se ...
(
Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi (born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland in th ...
) is charged with guarding the life of Dr. James Scobie, a former researcher who is testifying against his former employer, the
Morley Morley may refer to: Places England * Morley, Norfolk, a civil parish * Morley, Derbyshire, a civil parish * Morley, Cheshire, a village * Morley, County Durham, a village * Morley, West Yorkshire, a suburban town of Leeds and civil parish * M ...
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
corporation. Prior to his trial, Scobie develops a cough, but shrugs it off. In the morning, Skinner and Scobie's wife find his body on the bathroom floor, with his face ripped away. Morley has created a form of "super-tobacco", which is inhabited by a
genetically engineered Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
tobacco beetle ''Lasioderma serricorne'', commonly known as the cigarette beetle, cigar beetle, or tobacco beetle, is an insect very similar in appearance to the drugstore beetle (''Stegobium paniceum'') and the common furniture beetle (''Anobium punctatum''). A ...
whose eggs can survive the process of cigarette manufacturing and are released in the smoke of the cigarettes. The cigarettes were tested on a range of subjects by Scobie and his colleague, Dr. Peter Voss. Of the four human test subjects,
chain smoker Chain smoking is the practice of smoking several cigarettes in succession, sometimes using the ember of a finished cigarette to light the next. The term chain smoker often also refers to a person who smokes relatively constantly, though not ne ...
Darryl Weaver is the only surviving participant. Prior to his death, Scobie agreed to give Weaver an unlimited supply of cigarettes in exchange for his silence; he subsequently pressures Voss into honoring his "arrangement" with Scobie. A chain of victims soon succumb to the eggs contained in the toxic smoke, all of whom are found with their bodies covered in the tobacco beetles. While interviewing Weaver,
Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterrest ...
(
David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as write ...
) is exposed to the smoke, later coughing up blood and needing his lungs invasively cleared as the beetles begin to hatch. Voss, who had until now been hiding behind his legal advisor, has a change of heart upon hearing of Mulder's condition and tells Skinner of the aforementioned testing. Skinner goes to Weaver's apartment after getting his name from Voss and finds Morley's director of security bound and gagged. When Skinner removes the gag, the man chokes and beetles begin crawling from his mouth. At the hospital, Mulder is in grave danger due to the eggs now hatching in his lungs, and
Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two Protagonist, protagonists in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox science-fiction, supernatural fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anders ...
(
Gillian Anderson Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film ''The House of Mirth'' ...
) attempts to find a way to save him, because he is now "too weak for thoracic surgery." Meanwhile, Weaver attempts to browbeat Skinner, threatening to light one of the toxic cigarettes. As Weaver attempts to leave the building, Skinner shoots his shoulder and the pane of glass behind him, leaving him injured and covered in glass. He drops his cigarette to the floor and Skinner snuffs it out with his shoe. Back at the hospital, Scully realizes that
nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...
might save Mulder's life. She is correct in her solution, noting that the high level of nicotine in Weaver's system didn't allow the beetles to develop. Scully administers nicotine to Mulder, who in turn recovers, albeit with a sore throat, as well as a minor addiction to nicotine, which drives him to buy a pack of Morley cigarettes for himself. Chided by Scully, he throws them out, but then stares at them pensively after she leaves.


Production


Writing

"Brand X" began as a script that explored "the horrifying aspects of over-eating". However, since an earlier season seven episode, "
Hungry Hunger is a sense, sensation that motivates the consumption of food. The sensation of hunger typically manifests after only a few hours without eating and is generally considered to be unpleasant. Satiety occurs between 5 and 20 minutes after ea ...
", had dealt with similar themes, the writing staff decided to take the story in a different direction and examine the "corporate evil that populates the cigarette industry". The episode's writers,
Steven Maeda Steven Maeda is an American television producer and screenwriter. He has written episodes of television series such as ''Harsh Realm'', ''The X-Files'', ''CSI: Miami'', ''Lost'', and ''Day Break''. He has also served as a supervising producer on ...
and Greg Walker, were both admitted fans of '' The Insider'' (1999), a film that examines the tobacco industry, and so the two decided to craft an episode with a similar feel.Shapiro, p. 227 Marc Shapiro, in his book ''All Things: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 6'', notes that the episode's theme was "literally, torn from the headlines"—a rare occurrence for an ''X-Files'' episode.Shapiro, p. 226 Because both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were busy finalizing their own episodes ("
Hollywood A.D. "Hollywood A.D." is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 30, 2000. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" stor ...
" and " All Things", respectively), the writers struggled with a way to create a convincing story that did not require Mulder and Scully to be in every scene. The two eventually decided that causing Mulder to get sick in acts three and four would free up Duchovny for his episode. Walker noted, "Mulder getting sick in Act Two and being in a hospital bed for Acts Three and Four was the direct result of his limited amount of time. It was easier to shoot a bunch of stuff of him in bed than having him have to be in a lot of different locations."


Filming

To match the episode's smoking theme, production designer Corey Kaplan created an overall yellow and brown color scheme for the episode. In this manner, each scene was given "a perpetually smoky look". Kaplan, who worked closely with episode director
Kim Manners Kim Manners (January 13, 1951 – January 25, 2009) was an American television producer, director and actor best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''Supernatural''. Early life Kim Manners was raised in a show business family. His fathe ...
, had the idea to "enhance" Morley Cigarette's corporate offices with "long hallways and sets heavy on texture and grit" in order to complement the aforementioned palette choice. The scenes of beetles crawling out of corpses were shot and filmed using real insects as well as real actors. During one scene in which a victim's body is discovered, over 3,000 live beetles were shot crawling on the body of Mike Hungerford, the portraying actor. Producer Harry Bring later claimed that the bug scenes were tedious and hard to film because "bugs don't take directions very well, so you pretty much have to wait until they decided to get it right." Although the shots of the bugs were considerably brief in the final episode, the scenes required a full day of shooting to get perfect. The sequences of bugs crawling out of Daniel Brimley's mouth and the shots of the bugs being sucked out of Mulder were created by combining CGI imagery with "dummy bugs".


Reception

"Brand X" first aired in the United States on April 16, 2000. This episode earned a
Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...
of 6.8, with a 10 share, meaning that roughly 6.8 percent of all television-equipped households, and 10 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 10.81 million viewers.Shapiro, p. 281 The episode aired in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
on
Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
on July 16, 2000, and received 0.75 million viewers, making it the most watched episode that week. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "Tonight the terror is inside. Deep inside." Tom Kessenich, in his book ''Examinations'', gave the episode a moderately positive review. He wrote that "this wasn't the most riveting X-File I've ever seen and there wasn't a tremendous amount of heart-pounding tension from beginning to end ..but that didn't bother me. Sometimes, just being entertained is enough."Kessenich, p. 129-131 Paula Vitaris from ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
'' gave the episode a moderately positive review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of four. Vitaris concluded that the episode was "not the series' most exciting episode, but a solid story with interesting characters used well in the service of the plot" Kenneth Silber from
Space.com Space.com is an online publication focused on space exploration, astronomy, skywatching and entertainment, with editorial teams based in the United States and United Kingdom. The website offers live coverage of space missions, astronomical discov ...
wrote positively of the episode, saying "'Brand X' benefits from a certain unpredictability in its plot and characters. The menace is unusual, and imaginatively conceived. The tobacco company and its employees display a degree of complexity, rather than merely serving as one-dimensional villains in a public-health morality play." Gareth Wigmore of ''
TV Zone ''TV Zone'' is a British magazine that was published every four weeks by Visual Imagination that covered cult television. Initially, it mostly covered science fiction, but branched out to cover other drama and comedy series. History ''TV Zone'' ...
'' gave the episode an 8 out of 10 rating. Wigmore noted that a "freshness surrounds the whole episode, presumably a result of the writing". Emily VanDerWerff of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' awarded the episode a "C". She called it a "hodge-podge of various elements that have worked in the past but feel beyond tired now". She was largely critical of the episode's story, which she felt was a rip-off of ''The Insider'', as well as the make-up effects for the episode, which she called "fairly fake" looking. VanDerWerff, however, was complimentary towards Tobin Bell's performance, calling him "charismatic and interesting". Rich Rosell from DigitallyObsessed.com awarded the episode 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Tobacco beetles, dismembered noses and some really bad second-hand smoke permeate this installment, but it gets snuffed out with a lazy payoff."
Robert Shearman Robert Charles Shearman, sometimes credited as Rob Shearman, is an English television, radio, stage play and short story writer. He is known for his World Fantasy Award-winning short stories, as well as his work for ''Doctor Who'', and his asso ...
and
Lars Pearson Lars Pearson (born 1973, in Iowa) is an American writer, high school teacher, editor, and journalist. He is the owner/publisher of Mad Norwegian Press, a publishing company specializing in reference guides to television shows including ''Buffy th ...
, in their book ''Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen'', rated the episode two-and-a-half stars out of five.Shearman and Pearson, p. 222 Despite praising the plot, writing "it's a great premise, with lots of gore and larvae", the two lament its loss in direction: "halfway through, once the episode reveals what its concept is, the story is left with nowhere to go."


Footnotes


Bibliography

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External links

* {{The X-Files episodes, 7 2000 American television episodes Television episodes set in North Carolina The X-Files (season 7) episodes Works about the tobacco industry Television episodes about genetic engineering