[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\\
[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E01 1]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E02DeepThroat 2]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E03Squeeze 3]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E04Conduit 4]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E05TheJerseyDevil 5]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E06Shadows 6]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E07GhostInTheMachine 7]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E08Ice 8]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E09Space 9]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E10FallenAngel 10]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E11Eve 11]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E12Fire 12]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E13BeyondTheSea 13]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E14GenderBender 14]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E15Lazarus 15]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E16YoungAtHeart 16]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E17EBE 17]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E18MiracleMan 18]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E19Shapes 19]] | '''20''' | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E21Tooms 21]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E22BornAgain 22]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E23Roland 23]] | [[Recap/TheXFilesS01E24TheErlenmeyerFlask 24]]]]-]]]
'''Season 1, Episode 20:'''
!Darkness Falls
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesdarknessfalls.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Don't let the bed-bugs bite.]]
->Written by Creator/ChrisCarter\\
Directed by Joe Napolitano

->'''Scully:''' An insect is a complex animal. It would take years and years to evolve.\\
'''Mulder:''' Well, then maybe what we’re dealing with isn’t a mutation at all. What if it’s some kind of... extinct insect larvae in that ring, deposited during a period of volcanic activity, brought up through the tree’s root system. Ancient insect eggs. Thousands, maybe millions of years old lying dormant until...\\
'''Spinney:''' Until those loggers cut down that tree.

Mulder and Scully are called out to the Olympic National Forest in [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest northwest Washington state]] to investigate the possible involvement of an ecoterrorist group in the disappearance of a logging crew. There, they meet Larry Moore (Creator/JasonBeghe), a park ranger who's also investigating the disappearance, Steve Humphreys, the head of security for the logging company, and Doug Spinney (Creator/TitusWelliver), the leader of the ecoterrorists suspected in the loggers' disappearance. Instead of ecoterrorism, however, they instead find a new species of insect that was accidentally released by the loggers when they chopped down an old-growth tree, which swarms at night and [[AllWebbedUp cocoons its victims alive]]. And given that the tires on Moore's truck are blown, they're all now trapped in the forest with a dwindling supply of fuel for the generator...
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!!Tropes:
* AllWebbedUp: How the victims are found.
* AnimalWrongsGroup: Spinney and his fellow ecoterrorists. Despite the episode otherwise featuring a GreenAesop about logging, they're still portrayed as assholes who only make the problem worse.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: {{Averted}}; this is one case where Scully has no particular objection to Mulder's theories about what they're dealing with.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Scully asks why they are looking at a photo of loggers.
-->'''Scully:''' Right, but what am I looking for?\\
'''Mulder:''' Anything strange, unexplainable, unlikely... boyfriend?
* TheBigBoard: Mulder's slideshow.
* BugWar
* DontGoInTheWoods
* DoomedContrarian: Humphreys.
* EatenAlive: The bugs suck all the fluids out of their victims' bodies while the victims are still alive.
* FadeToWhite: Fade to ''Green'' in this case, as the last three survivors are swarmed by the insects in a jeep.
* GaiasVengeance: Metaphorical. The bugs attack because they were let out when the ancient (protected) trees were cut down.
* GreenAesop
* GreyAndGrayMorality: Both the loggers—who routinely cut down trees they're not supposed to—and the environmentalists—who sabotage everything including the equipment the survivors need to get out when the bugs are released—are not viewed sympathetically.
* HassleFreeHotwire: Averted. It seems to have taken Humphreys hours to actually get it to work, and that's before you get to the drive that came after it…
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Doug Spinney, which is promptly lampshaded when their escape vehicle is stopped by one of his own {{Caltrops}}.
* HospitalSurprise
* KarmicDeath: Spinney alleges this in the case of the loggers. He himself is done in [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own caltrops]].
* MyCarHatesMe: The pickup truck certainly seems to hate Humphreys. Him not just getting out of the vehicle is justified by the car door being blocked by a rock lying on the road.
* PopTheTires: Ecoterrorists set up a tire spike on a road in the woods. Mulder, Scully, a guy from Federal Forest Service, and a guy from the logging company are screwed up because they have only one spare tire and must hike to the place they were heading.
* PrimalFear:
** [[SpidersAreScary Spiders]]. The bugs aren't really spiders, but they look similar to them, weave cocoons out of spiderweb-like thread, and are even referred to as spiders a few times.
** Darkness. The bugs swarm in darkness.
--->'''Spinney:''' The darkness is our enemy.
* TheSwarm
* TemptingFate: "Come on, Scully, it'll be a nice trip to the forest."
* VillainousRescue: The shadowy government agents show up in hazmat suits to save Mulder, Scully, and Moore before they were completely drained of fluid. The show ends with them promising to use massive pesticides in the region to ensure the bugs are wiped out.
%%* WeakenedByTheLight so DarknessEqualsDeath
* WesternTerrorists: Type VII—eco-terrorists.
* WhatTheHellHero: Scully calls Mulder out on unilaterally making a decision that could easily have killed them all.
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->''[[TemptingFate "I told her it was going to be a nice trip to the forest."]]''