TOOMS Episode 21 Season 1 of The X-Files

Brilliance and Bile 10/10

Synopsis: A court deems the stretchy contortionist Victor Eugene Tooms safe to be released back into the public, Mulder however deems otherwise.

In my last post, Darkness Falls, I touched upon the notion that inspired characters and casting make up the foundations of success for the first season of The X-Files. Enter Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Skinner, acting superior to agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.  As a body to report to, Skinner offered The X-Files an additional dimension, a new barrier to break down with new avenues to explore and an eventual formidable ally. Pileggi’s powerful character’s share in the first season may only be accredited to three scenes however his inclusion throughout all nine seasons of The X-Files and both films bellow his legendary status. This monopoly on the franchise is bettered by no one other than Mulder and Scully and his characters development is tantamount to the growing success of the series.

Skinner’s presence in this episode is primarily to question the practices that Mulder and Scully use to get result with a clear view to closing The X-Files. He conjects that Mulder has a detrimental effect on those that work closely with him i.e. Scully and that Mulder’s conduct is fuelled by stress brought about by his emotional involvement with The X-Files cases and asks in an apparent sincere manor that he steps back from The X-Files. Skinner’s early innocents dictate that his faith be place with the Cigarette Smoking Man however his mounting involvement with The X-Files will eventually lead him to become the equivalent of a good luck charm complete with muscle and an a whole lot of attitude.

This episode is all about change; new meeting old and I cannot give enough praise to Doug Hutchinson’s reprisal of his role as the predatory slim ball Eugene Victor Tooms. This is early 90’s Doug, a small fish in a big pond with little to note on his C.V. playing a role opposite the television pin up boy of the decade. Unadulterated determination to the character could only be born out of an obsession to make it as an actor. Tooms is given much more screen time than in Squeeze and the decision is validated by Doug’s fight for his place in the show tooth and nail, depicting a Tooms hungrier, smarter and more disgusting than before, his underlying menace seeps out past every crooked smile.

The episode in parts plays out like ‘a day in life of’ for Victor Eugene Tooms. We see him at work, stalking his prey and his methods which can only be described as thinking outside of the box. He shows some dry wit when he is told that the new room he will be staying in is small… ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to squeeze in’ Tooms replies ‘I’m sure’. We learn that he enjoys the taste of rotting rodents as he licks the glove used to pick up a dead rat and that he is unperturbed by the thought of travelling through a sewer pipe and gaining access to a property through a toilet pan. His odd behaviour adds humour to the character to the point of feeling pity and perhaps empathy, it is easy to forget that Tooms never asked to be this way and that putting all our eggs in the Mulder basket can blind us to that fact.

Tooms is a worthy adversary for Mulder. His ability to evade capture by out smarting him is something that vexes Mulder and jabs his ego. A personality trait Mulder displays on numerous occasions across the series, ‘Young at Heart’ and 'Pusher' just to examples. This trait is by no means a shortfall, more of a characteristic better described as a quality. It drives Mulder on to apprehend his suspects.

In short Tooms was dead before he ever left that courtroom and that smug smirk aimed at Mulder on leaving the court room is at fault for the excruciating pain in which the death happened. I’m not saying Mulders a murder but perhaps his latest ordeal with Barnett has gone someway to prompting a reaction.

Mulder is unmistakably aggravated by the courts rejection of the implausible truth he presents and of the release of Tooms from the psychiatric prison, biting at Scully’s doubting of his actions and methods in a stern voice he says ‘Look, Scully, if you're resistant because you don't believe, I'll respect that. But if you're resistant because of some bureaucratic pressure, they've not only reeled you in. They've already skinned you.’ In short you are either with me or with them, an ultimatum that Scully agrees with by ignoring Skinners plea to use methods that act by the book. Mulder later snaps at Scully during a stake out as it becomes apparent Tooms journey under his skin has gained mileage. This is one unhappy Fox.

Needless to say agents Mulder and Scully discover Tooms layer, an escalator pit located in the spot of his old hibernating patch. Mulder ventures down the narrow corridor beneath the escalator to find Tooms bile bonded nest. A woken naked Tooms chases Mulder back up the corridor. Mulder’s narrow escape equals Tooms demise as Mulder activates the elevator tearing him to shreds. This ending is one of the most memorable sequences in X-Files history and cause of a particular recurring nightmare of mine when I was young.

Tooms is an abundant feast of scares and humour, refined plot lines and commendable series development and whose only competition for season one best MoW is EVE. I think Tooms just squeezes out in-front. 10/10

Musings: 

• This episode gave me a mutual respect of my toilet, a caution later validated by season two episode The Host. 
• You can see Tooms bum in the escalator chase scene! Hutchison came up with the idea to get completely naked, and I make him right. 
• C.S.M muttering the three little words ‘course I do’ in endorsement of the phenomenon contained in The X-Files. His first words are telling in that he is a believer. 
• Tooms return signals the first of three MoW sequels. Can you name the other two?