Line #2 Recap/TheXFilesS07E18BrandX


1	[[WMG:[[center:[-'''RECAP:'''\
2	[[Recap/TheXFiles Index]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E01TheSixthExtinction 1]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E02TheSixthExtinctionIIAmorFati 2]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E03Hungry 3]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E04Millennium 4]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E05Rush 5]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E06TheGoldbergVariation 6]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E07Orison 7]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E08TheAmazingMaleeni 8]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E09SignsAndWonders 9]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E10SeinUndZeit 10]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E11Closure 11]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E12XCops 12]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E13FirstPersonShooter 13]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E14Theef 14]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E15EnAmi 15]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E16Chimera 16]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E17AllThings 17]] \| '''18''' \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E19HollywoodAD 19]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E20FightClub 20]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E21JeSouhaite 21]] \| [[Recap/TheXFilesS07E22Requiem 22]]]]-]]]
3	'''Season 7, Episode 18:'''
4	!Brand X
5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfilesbrandx.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:''"His airways have more or less just been reamed out."'']]
7	->Written by Steven Maeda & Greg Walker\
8	Directed by Kim Manners
9
10	->'''Skinner:''' A form of what - "super tobacco"?\
11	'''Scully:''' Which possibly could have created super bugs. I guess the real question is: could they have become dangerous to humans?
12
13	Skinner leads an investigation of a cigarette company who are covering up someone (Creator/TobinBell) who is mysteriously killing people and leaving hundreds of special tobacco beetles in his wake.
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15	!!Tropes:
16	* BrandX: Morley tobacco is a CaptainErsatz of Marlboro.
17	* ADayInTheLimelight: For Skinner. Mulder and Scully are heavily involved in the investigation, but Skinner is actively leading it for once.
18	* EvilIsPetty: Darryl Weaver lights up at a gas station despite being surrounded by 'No Smoking' signs.
19	* FacialHorror: The tobacco beetles hatching out of the victims get out by climbing out and pulling chunks of their ''faces'' off.
20	* IronicEcho: Mulder turns the tables on the Morley board when they ask him a question, after him and Skinner were being stone walled on every question they had.
21	-->'''Skinner:''' Dr. Voss, can you enlighten us as to what Dr. Scobie intended to tell the grand jury? We know it had to do with company research.\
22	'''Lead counsel:''' ''(Interrupting Dr. Voss)'' I'm sorry. Dr. Voss would be in violation of his employment confidentiality clause in answering that question.\
23	''[...]''\
24	'''Lead counsel:''' May I ask where you're going with this, Agent?\
25	'''Mulder:''' [[SarcasmMode I'm sorry, I can't. Answering that question would violate FBI confidentiality due to the sensitive nature of our investigation.]]
26	* LackOfEmpathy: Ashman/Darryl Weaver big time. He becomes aware early on that his smoking is killing everyone around him and can't be bothered by it. Only cares about what he stands to gain. Unlike most fictional examples of human guinea pig characters there is absolutely nothing tragic or redeemable about him.
27	* TheSociopath: Ashman simply doesn't care about anyone or anything but himself and his cigarettes.
28	* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: The MonsterOfTheWeek is a mutant species of tobacco beetle (they even call it by its proper scientific name, ''Lasioderma serricorne''), but the show used the much larger (and easier to get large numbers of) mealworm beetle.[[note]]either ''Tenebrio molitor'' or the "superworm" ''Zophobas morio''.[[/note]]
29	* WhamLine: Not exactly a line, but Mulder suddenly coughing uncontrollably. It turns out that he was infected with the insect eggs from Weaver's cigarette smoke.
30	* WholePlotReference: The episode came out just a few months after ''Film/TheInsider'' and the similarities between the two did not go unnoticed by critics.
31	* WrittenInAbsence: Mulder and Scully's relatively small part in proceedings, with Mulder in particular spending most of the episode bedbound, was to give Duchovny and Anderson time to direct other episodes (Anderson the one before this; Duchovny the one after).
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Context Recap / TheXFilesS07E18BrandX