F. Emasculata
Encyclopedia
"F. Emasculata" is the 22nd episode of the second season of The X-Files
television series, first broadcast on April 28, 1995. FBI agents Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
are called in after two convicts escape from a prison in Virginia, before learning that the real reason for the manhunt is to stem the spread of a deadly parasite being researched in the prison.
, entomologist
Robert Torrance stumbles upon a decomposing boar
carcass covered with dark purple pustules. As he extracts an insect from one of the pustules, it erupts, spraying him with fluid. By nightfall, Torrance himself has developed the boils and tries to radio for help. When a group of soldiers arrive the next morning, Torrance is dead.
At a prison in Dinwiddie County, Virginia
, an inmate—also named Robert Torrance—gets a package containing a boil-covered piece of meat. He becomes infected and dies thirty-six hours later. Two other inmates, Paul and Steve, escape in a laundry cart after being sent to clean Torrance's cell. Agents Fox Mulder
and Dana Scully
are sent to help the U.S. Marshals find them. They note that the FBI
does not normally investigate prison escapes, and become suspicious as the prison is quarantine
d by the CDC
and the National Guard.
Mulder leaves with the Marshals to hunt the fugitives, while Scully remains behind to investigate the situation in the prison. She learns that the lock-down population is infected with an exceedingly deadly contagion
. She also finds a pile of dead inmates in body bags, stored for incineration in the prison's boiler room. Scully cuts open Torrance's body bag and examines his corpse, but Dr. Osbourne, a member of the CDC team, tries to stop her. A pustule on Torrance's body erupts in Osbourne's face, causing him to flee the room.
The fugitives kill a man at a rest area
and steal his RV. When they stop at a gas station, Paul calls his girlfriend, Elizabeth, looking for shelter. The station's clerk finds Steve, who has become infected with the contagion, in the restroom; he is knocked unconscious by Paul. Scully calls Mulder after the Marshals raid the gas station, telling him that the contagion could spread into the population if the fugitives are not captured. Mulder sees a CDC biohazard
team arrive at the scene, forcibly taking away the clerk in a helicopter
.
Paul arrives at Elizabeth's house, where she tends to Steve, in the late stages of his infection. One of Steve's pustules erupts in her face, killing him. At that moment, Mulder and the Marshals raid the house. They arrest an infected Elizabeth, but find Paul missing. Meanwhile, Scully traces Torrance's package to Pinck Pharmaceuticals, a major drug developer. She also finds an insect in the body of another prisoner. Dr. Osbourne comes forward and reveals that his team really works for Pinck rather than the CDC.
Osbourne, who has become infected, identifies Scully's insect as Faciphaga emasculata, which produces a dilating enzyme
that Pinck is researching. But the insect also carries a parasite that attacks the human immune system
; its reproductive cycle develops boils that contain the insects' larvae
, which burrow into any hosts exposed to the boils when they erupt. Osbourne claims that the insect and its contagion were deliberately introduced into the prison by Pinck as an experiment
. Osbourne tells Scully that since she was next to him when he became infected, she may have contracted the contagion as well.
Mulder confronts Assistant Director Skinner
and the Smoking Man, believing that he and Scully were deceived into taking the case without knowing about the contagion. Mulder is adamant that the public should know the truth about Pinck's actions. The Smoking Man counters that public knowledge of the truth will create mass panic, and will do more harm than good. Mulder tries to take his case to Scully, but she agrees that exposing Pinck's activities may result in a deadly hysteria. For Mulder, Paul is the only remaining proof of the company's crimes.
Mulder and the Marshals finally catch up and surround the infected fugitive at a bus station. A sniper bullet ends the man's life before Mulder can get him to surrender and divulge any information about the package found in Torrance's cell.
of 8.9, with a 16 share, and was viewed by 8.5 million households.
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
television series, first broadcast on April 28, 1995. FBI agents Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
are called in after two convicts escape from a prison in Virginia, before learning that the real reason for the manhunt is to stem the spread of a deadly parasite being researched in the prison.
Plot
In the rain forest of Costa RicaCosta Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, entomologist
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
Robert Torrance stumbles upon a decomposing boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
carcass covered with dark purple pustules. As he extracts an insect from one of the pustules, it erupts, spraying him with fluid. By nightfall, Torrance himself has developed the boils and tries to radio for help. When a group of soldiers arrive the next morning, Torrance is dead.
At a prison in Dinwiddie County, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, an inmate—also named Robert Torrance—gets a package containing a boil-covered piece of meat. He becomes infected and dies thirty-six hours later. Two other inmates, Paul and Steve, escape in a laundry cart after being sent to clean Torrance's cell. Agents Fox Mulder
Fox Mulder
FBI Special Agent Fox William Mulder is a fictional character and protagonist in the American Fox television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence. Mulder's peers consider his theories on...
and Dana Scully
Dana Scully
FBI Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. is a fictional character and protagonist on the Fox television series The X-Files , played by Gillian Anderson. She also appeared in two theatrical films based on the series...
are sent to help the U.S. Marshals find them. They note that the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
does not normally investigate prison escapes, and become suspicious as the prison is quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
d by the CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
and the National Guard.
Mulder leaves with the Marshals to hunt the fugitives, while Scully remains behind to investigate the situation in the prison. She learns that the lock-down population is infected with an exceedingly deadly contagion
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
. She also finds a pile of dead inmates in body bags, stored for incineration in the prison's boiler room. Scully cuts open Torrance's body bag and examines his corpse, but Dr. Osbourne, a member of the CDC team, tries to stop her. A pustule on Torrance's body erupts in Osbourne's face, causing him to flee the room.
The fugitives kill a man at a rest area
Rest area
A rest area, travel plaza, rest stop, or service area is a public facility, located next to a large thoroughfare such as a highway, expressway, or freeway at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting on to secondary roads...
and steal his RV. When they stop at a gas station, Paul calls his girlfriend, Elizabeth, looking for shelter. The station's clerk finds Steve, who has become infected with the contagion, in the restroom; he is knocked unconscious by Paul. Scully calls Mulder after the Marshals raid the gas station, telling him that the contagion could spread into the population if the fugitives are not captured. Mulder sees a CDC biohazard
Biological hazard
Biological hazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can impact human health. It can also include substances harmful to animals...
team arrive at the scene, forcibly taking away the clerk in a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
.
Paul arrives at Elizabeth's house, where she tends to Steve, in the late stages of his infection. One of Steve's pustules erupts in her face, killing him. At that moment, Mulder and the Marshals raid the house. They arrest an infected Elizabeth, but find Paul missing. Meanwhile, Scully traces Torrance's package to Pinck Pharmaceuticals, a major drug developer. She also finds an insect in the body of another prisoner. Dr. Osbourne comes forward and reveals that his team really works for Pinck rather than the CDC.
Osbourne, who has become infected, identifies Scully's insect as Faciphaga emasculata, which produces a dilating enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
that Pinck is researching. But the insect also carries a parasite that attacks the human immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
; its reproductive cycle develops boils that contain the insects' larvae
Larvae
In Roman mythology, lemures were shades or spirits of the restless or malignant dead, and are probably cognate with an extended sense of larvae as disturbing or frightening...
, which burrow into any hosts exposed to the boils when they erupt. Osbourne claims that the insect and its contagion were deliberately introduced into the prison by Pinck as an experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
. Osbourne tells Scully that since she was next to him when he became infected, she may have contracted the contagion as well.
Mulder confronts Assistant Director Skinner
Walter Skinner
FBI Assistant Director Walter Sergei Skinner is a fictional character in the American FOX television shows The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, two science fiction shows about a government conspiracy to hide or deny the truth of Alien existence...
and the Smoking Man, believing that he and Scully were deceived into taking the case without knowing about the contagion. Mulder is adamant that the public should know the truth about Pinck's actions. The Smoking Man counters that public knowledge of the truth will create mass panic, and will do more harm than good. Mulder tries to take his case to Scully, but she agrees that exposing Pinck's activities may result in a deadly hysteria. For Mulder, Paul is the only remaining proof of the company's crimes.
Mulder and the Marshals finally catch up and surround the infected fugitive at a bus station. A sniper bullet ends the man's life before Mulder can get him to surrender and divulge any information about the package found in Torrance's cell.
Production
F. Emasculata and Pinck Pharmaceuticals are fictitious, but pharmaceutical companies do send scientists all over the world looking for plants and animals that could have medicinal use. The appearance of the Cigarette Smoking Man in a stand-alone episode is unusual. Chris Carter didn't like mixing the mythology and stand-alone episodes. The exploding pustules on the plague victims were one of the more disgusting features of the episode. X-Files director Frank Spotnitz remarked, "When we saw the pustule bursting on film, we just laughed because it was just so over-the-top grotesque."Reception
"F. Emasculata" earned a Nielsen household ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 8.9, with a 16 share, and was viewed by 8.5 million households.