Erlenmeyer Flask (X-Files)

In the port of Ardis, Maryland , police officers, after a long chase, pinch the offender's car to a standstill. Having shown stiff resistance, the driver, Dr. William Secare, jumps into the water, being wounded by a pistol and leaving behind him only traces of green liquid on the pier.

Based on a tip from the Deep Throat, Mulder receives information about the pursuit, starting the investigation. Together with Scully, the agent visits the laboratory of Dr. Terrence Berubi, in whose car Sekare tried to hide. That very night, Deep Throat meets with Mulder for the second time and insists that Fox continue to investigate this incomprehensible case to Mulder. A short-haired man comes to the laboratory to work on that night, Berubi, and kills the scientist by pretending to be suicide. While inspecting the scene, Mulder finds an Erlenmeyer flask with a dark red liquid and the “Cleanliness Control” label. Scully takes the flask to Georgetown University , where microbiologist Ann Carpenter analyzes the contents of the vessel. Mulder, scouring Berubi's office, discovers the keys to the warehouse. At this time, Sekare, hiding under water for three days, calls Berubi, mistaking Mulder for his friend. Mulder, not knowing that the Shorthaired Man is listening to the conversation, is trying to find out the whereabouts of Szekare, but he loses consciousness due to a severe wound, and a random passerby calls the ambulance. In the car, when assisting, doctors lose consciousness, since after the introduction of a decompression needle, poisonous gas escapes from Sekare's chest. Sekare himself, waking up, escapes.

After finding out the location of the warehouse on the phone numbers of Berubi, Mulder discovers six large aquariums indoors, five of which are living people, and the sixth is empty. Dr. Carpenter tells Scully that the flask contains a sample of a non-naturally occurring bacterium that can only be of extraterrestrial origin. At the exit from the warehouse, Mulder is persecuted, but he manages to escape. The next day, Mulder brings Scully to the warehouse, but he is completely empty. At the exit of agents, the Deep Throat meets, revealing information about the experiments that Berubi conducted on terminally ill people using an extraterrestrial virus. When the volunteers recovered, but it became known about the Consortium’s intentions to destroy them, Berubi helped Secara escape.

Scully returns to Georgetown University and learns that Dr. Carpenter and her entire family were killed in a car accident. Mulder finds Sekare in the attic of Berubi's house, but the Shorthaired Man who follows him kills Sekare and kidnaps Mulder, who has lost consciousness from the poisonous gas. Deep Throat goes to Scully, offering to exchange Mulder for an alien embryo, which Scully must remove from the strictly guarded science center, which she succeeds. However, after receiving the embryo, the Shorthaired Man kills the Deep Throat in front of Scully and hides, throwing the half-dead Mulder out of the van. Before his death, the Deep Throat, turning to Scully, pronounces his last words: "Do not trust anyone."

A few weeks later, a depressed Mulder calls Scully to inform him - The X-Files is covered. In the meantime, the Smoker places the alien embryo mined by Scully in the Pentagon's huge vault.

Script

Chris Carter wrote the script, which he described as "the result of a one-year experience." Carter tried to create a tough mythology of the series, in which "you can find different paths of government conspiracy, which appeals to something more than just flying saucers." Also, the episode is a moment of revelation for the character of Scully - the agent hears from a fellow scientist that she is dealing with real extraterrestrial materials ^[3] . In addition, the scriptwriters killed Deep Throat, so that it is obvious that any character except Fox Mulder and Dana Scully is a consumable. In turn, the decision to cover up the X-Files was made to separate Mulder and Scully. So the producers were able to beat the pregnancy of Gillian Anderson, which significantly influenced the development of the main storyline of the series ^[4] . The FOX television channel fought against this idea, fearing that the closure of X-Files might make viewers think the show was over. ^[5]

The scene in which poison gas appears from Dr. Sekare’s body is based on the case of Gloria Ramirez, which occurred in California in February 1994 ^[6] . Ramirez, who was suffering from the last stage of cancer, was put in intensive care, and during the operation several hospital employees collapsed, while others experienced shortages of air and muscle cramps. All six employees affected by the incident required hospitalization, while Ramirez herself died that night ^[7] .

The ending repeats the end of the pilot series, including the scenes of Mulder Scully’s call at 23:21 and the Smoker who puts material evidence in the Pentagon’s vault ^[8] . For the first time in the history of the series, the slogan of the episode “Trust No One” replaced the usual phrase “The Truth is Nearby” ^[9] .

Filming

Bob Goodwin, responsible producer of The X-Files debuted on the set as the director, who considered the script “the best” in the entire history of the series at that time, thanks to the combination of “joy and undisguised horror” ^[10] . The auxiliary crew was led by Joseph Patrick Finn, who worked almost independently of the main one. It was he who shot the initial scene of the chase, choosing as an location the abandoned shipyard in the northern part of Vancouver . Goodwin was delighted with this place, calling it "ideal." Subsequently, the same shipyard was used for filming the episode " Modest ". The location of the warehouse, where Mulder finds aquariums with bodies, was also successful. The room was located at 1616 Pandora Street, and the producers decided to leave the name unchanged as a symbol of Pandora's box , which "opens" Mulder ^[3] .

During the filming, difficulties arose both of a technical and other nature. For example, in a scene in the Berubi laboratory, Goodwin wanted the monkeys to "rage" on command, but the animals did not always react to people ^[11] . In the scene with the frozen embryo, the test double was successful, but after the lights were turned on, the doll, used as a hybrid of an alien and a person, began to melt quickly. As a result, it was decided to change the angles of incidence of light ^[10] . Dr. Secare's ascent was made using a crane that lifted the platform on which stood Simon Webb. Although the directors were not able to guess the desired speed of rise, Goodwin considered that the shot was successful at a “different level” and turned out to be “amazing”, although, as a result, this shot had to be re-shot early. At the end of the shoot, the group was surprised to learn that Simon Webb all the time suffered from a fear of water ^[11] .

The premiere of Erlenmeyer Flasks took place on May 13, 1994 on the FOX television channel. Nielsen's rating was 8.8 with a share of 16.0, meaning that approximately 10 percent of all US-equipped households and 17 percent of all households watching television that evening were set to premiere the episode. The number of households that watched the premiere is estimated at 8.3 million, which is the highest value for the first season of X-Files ^[12] .

The episode received mostly positive reviews. The American Mystery Writers of America nominated the episode for the Edgar Award ^[4] as “Best episode of the television series,” but the award ultimately went to the New York City Police Series ^[13] . John Keegan, a columnist for Critical Myth, rated the episode 9 out of 10, calling it “the perfect ending to season one” and a good introduction to the mythology of the series ^[14] . Manuel Mendoza, a journalist for The Dallas Morning News , said the series managed to combine “absolutely chilling” blood moments with “completely stupid” ones ^[15] . Bruce Fetts ( Entertainment Weekly ) concluded that the death of Deepwater made the character “very realistic.” ^[16]

The crew also took the series positively. Chris Carter said the episode “only brings good memories” and “truly completes the round of the first season.” In particular, according to Carter, the episode managed to achieve the main goal, namely to close the X-Files, thereby “shocking” a lot of viewers ^[5] . Goodwin called “everything connected with the episode” “first-class”: acting, artistic images, camera work ^[17] .

• Paul Cornell, Martin Day, Keith Topping. X-Treme Possibilities. - Virgin Publications, Ltd, 1998. - ISBN 0-7535-0228-3 .
• Ted Edwards. X-Files Confidential. - Little, Brown and Company, 1996. - ISBN 0-316-21808-1 .
• Louisa Gradnitzer, Todd Pittson. X Marks the Spot: On Location with The X-Files. - Arsenal Pulp Press, 1999. - ISBN 1-55152-066-4 .
• Frank Lovece. The X-Files Declassified. - Citadel Press, 1996. - ISBN 0-8065-1745-X .
• Brian Lowry. The Truth is Out There: The Official Guide to The X-Files. - Harper Prism, 1995 .-- ISBN 0-06-105330-9 .
• Matt Hurwitz, Chris Knowles. The Complete X-Files: Behind the Series the Myths and the Movies. - Insight Editions, 2008 .-- ISBN 1933784725 .

• " Erlenmeyer Flask ” on the Internet Movie Database