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Fresh Bones
"Fresh bones. They pay good."
Written by Howard Gordon
Directed by Rob Bowman
Directed by Rob Bowman
"They will only warn you once. After that, no magic can save you."
— Pierre Bauvais
When a Marine employed at a Haitian refugee camp kills himself, his widow calls in the FBI, convinced that his death was no suicide.
Tropes:
- Body Horror: Due to supposed powers of voodoo, the fingers and eventually entire body that pushes through the scratch on Scully's hand which then attacks her.
- Buried Alive: Colonel Wharton is being buried alive at the very end, conscious and panicking. He had it coming.
- Cats Are Magic: Chester Bonaparte, a young Haitian boy, disappears very suddenly near a pier as Mulder is chasing him, a black kitten is seen meowing at the end of the pier. The black kitten appears at the climax of the episode, implying the kitten is Chester.
- Dead All Along: Chester Bonaparte, a boy who befriended Mulder and Scully, is revealed to have been killed a year ago.
- Decoy Antagonist: Bauvais. Although he's initially the obvious suspect, he's ultimately no threat to Mulder and Scully and tries to warn them about what's going on at the camp. In the climax he even comes back from the dead to defeat Wharton.
- Foreshadowing: The boy who was killed in the riot is mentioned early on. This is a tragic but impertinent detail until his name is mentioned offhandedly at the end.
- Going Native: It's implied that Wharton did this during his deployment to Haiti, which is where he learned of Voodoo and met Bauvais.
- Hollywood Voodoo: The basis for this episode's Monster of the Week, but the use of zombie myths and voodoo symbols is quite inspired.
- Just Following Orders: How the Marines at the camp are forced to cope with Wharton's orders involving the treatment of the Haitian refugees.
- Jurisdiction Friction: The evil colonel wants our agents out of the investigation.Colonel Wharton: Since both matters are being handled internally I’ll assume your business here is finished.
- Not Quite Dead: It turns out that McAlpin is actually still alive, because he had zombie powder blown into him, which lowers his vitals to the point where he appears dead.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Wharton's aide, who only helps the Colonel because he believes Bauvais killed McAlpin and Gutierrez.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Howard Gordon was inspired to write this episode after reading an article about American servicemen who committed suicide during Operation Uphold Democracy, the deployment of US troops to Haiti from 1994-1995.
- Semper Fi: A villainous example of the trope in fact. Wharton's efforts to push Mulder and Scully out of the camp are framed as him claiming he's looking out for his men.
- Sigil Spam: Wharton leaves a veve, a symbol representing the crossroads between worlds, wherever he wants to attack.
- Title Drop: From Chester, who says that fresh bones (from the graveyard) can be sold for money.
- Voodoo Doll:
- One is apparently used on Mulder at the climax.
- Scully got one as protection from Chester. It's a Chekhov's Gun that truly helps Scully.
Scully: They're petitioning to have Bauvais returned to Haiti.
Mulder: Too bad it has to be in a box.
Mulder: Too bad it has to be in a box.
