Duane Barry
- Episode aired Oct 14, 1994
- TV-14
- 45m
A former FBI agent who claims he was abducted by aliens takes several people hostage. Mulder agrees to be the negotiator.A former FBI agent who claims he was abducted by aliens takes several people hostage. Mulder agrees to be the negotiator.A former FBI agent who claims he was abducted by aliens takes several people hostage. Mulder agrees to be the negotiator.
- FBI Metallurgical Expert
- (uncredited)
- FBI Agent
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the supermarket scene Agent Scully buys pickles and ice cream. This is an in-joke as Gillian Anderson was pregnant at the time.
- GoofsScully bases the notion of Barry's mental illness on reports of Phineas Gage, who supposedly underwent a personality change after a blasting accident drove an iron rod through his head and out the other side. However, the idea that Gage became violent, immoral, or a pathological liar, like Scully describes him, is an urban legend. Gage lived a productive life for 12 years following his accident.
- Quotes
Scully: Mulder, it's me. I just had something incredibly strange happen. This piece of metal that they took out of Duane Barry, it has some kind of a code on it. I ran it through a scanner, and some kind of a serial number came up. What the hell is this thing, Mulder? It's almost as if... it's almost as if somebody was using it to catalog him... Mulder! I need your help! Mulder!
[shouts]
Scully: Mulder!
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 47th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1995)
- SoundtracksThe X-Files Theme
(uncredited)
Written by Mark Snow
"Duane Barry" is a curious affair in that despite its explosive script there is quite little in the way of explosive action. Steve Railsback plays the titular character and does so to the hilt. A former FBI agent who has been out of commission for thirteen years, Barry believes he is a multiple alien abductee, and escapes a mental institution with his unwilling psychiatrist as part of a plan to prove the veracity of his claims. This leads to a standoff at a travel agency, where the majority of the episode takes place, in which Mulder is called in to do damage control.
The episode primarily serves as a tension-builder for the next episode but is notable in its own right for its proficient guest acting and directing. CCH Pounder is impeccable in her role as Agent Kazdin, who in a world of justice would have been destined to become a recurring character. Railsback is equally competent as the crazed gunman with just enough humanity to reel you in. Chris Carter makes his directorial debut, with some assistance from vet David Nutter, and captures the claustrophobic hostage setting without flaw.
"Duane Barry" would serve as the precedent for various mythology elements in the years to come, in the form of implanted chips and human testing (it's interesting how similarly this was replicated in the "Within/Without" episodes). It also showed that the series was unafraid to raise its stakes by jeopardizing the fate of a main character. As a standalone and as a small part of a big whole it is an essential X-File and remains a classic. And who could say no to Mulder in a speedo?
- DWilliams1089
- Oct 8, 2010
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