Quagmire (The X-Files)
Encyclopedia
"Quagmire" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files
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
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

. It was the twenty-second episode broadcast in the show's third season. "Quagmire" features Mulder and Scully investigating a series of deaths at a lake in Georgia that Mulder believes were caused by a "sea" monster, Big Blue.

Plot

In Millikan County, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

, biologists Paul Farraday and William Bailey discuss the decreasing frog population. Bailey goes looking for a missing beeper and ends up getting dragged into the lake by an unseen creature and killed.

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...

 (David Duchovny
David Duchovny
David William Duchovny is an American actor, writer and director. He has won Golden Globe awards for his work as FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files and as Hank Moody on Californication.-Early life:...

) 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...

 (Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...

) drive down to Georgia to investigate. Scully is forced to bring her dog Queequeg with them due to the short notice. Mulder tells Scully that a Boy Scout Troop Leader has also disappeared near the lake. Scully soon finds that Mulder believes 'Big Blue', a dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

-like cryptid
Cryptid
In cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany, a cryptid is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is unrecognized by scientific consensus and often regarded as highly unlikely. Famous examples include the Yeti in the Himalayas and the Loch Ness Monster in...

 is responsible. The agents talk to Dr. Farraday and visit a local bait and tackle shop that sells Big Blue merchandise. Soon afterwards the half eaten body of the Scout Leader is found.

The bait and tackle shop owner walks through the swamp in boots, making fake dinosaur tracks but is attacked and killed. Mulder wants the lake to be closed but the local sheriff declines and says he doesn't have enough men to cover the 48 miles of shoreline. Two teenagers, previously seen in the episode "War of the Coprophages
War of the Coprophages
"War of the Coprophages" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the twelfth episode broadcast in the show's third season. "War of the Coprophages" surrounds a small town being plagued by deaths related to cockroaches.- Plot :...

" head to the lake and see a diver attacked and partially eaten. Scully still is skeptical of Big Blue being the killer, thinking a boat propeller was responsible. A photographer, Ansel is also attacked and when the Sheriff feels something in the water after falling into the lake, he order the lake closed. Scully takes Queequeg for a walk while Mulder looks at Ansel's photographs and the dog ends up running off and disappearing, becoming the latest victim. Mulder realizes that the Big Blue sightings have been occurring closer and closer to shore.

Mulder and Scully rent a boat and head out onto the lake, which is quickly struck by something and sinks. The two find a large rock to climb up on and talk for a while about Mulder's quest to catch Big Blue, and the book Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...

. When Dr. Farraday walks by the two realize they're close to shore. Mulder thinks the drop in the frog supply has caused Big Blue to move closer to shore and seek alternative food sources. Farraday is soon attacked but manages to make it out alive. Mulder chases the attacker into the woods and fires at it, revealing it to be an alligator. Mulder is disappointed that the killer ended up being an alligator and not Big Blue. As the agents leave, Big Blue swims nearby in the lake, unnoticed.

Production

Darin Morgan
Darin Morgan
Darin Morgan is an American screenwriter best known for several offbeat, darkly humorous episodes of the television series The X-Files and Millennium. His teleplay for the X-Files episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" won a 1996 Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Drama...

 provided assistance on Kim Newton's script for this episode. Scully's dog Queequeg, which first appeared in the episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose
"Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" is the fourth episode of the third season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on October 13, 1996, on FOX. It was written by Darin Morgan and directed by David Nutter...

" was killed in this episode. Story editor Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz is an award-winning American television writer and producer, best known for his work on The X-Files television series.-Biography:...

 stated that the dog was brought back in this episode simply to kill it, seeking to incorporate it in an episode in grisly fashion. Millikan County, where the lake in the episode is located, is named after casting director Rick Millikan. Heuvelman's Lake is named after cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans. Mulder's discussion about having a wooden leg in this episode is a reference to the book Games People Play
Games People Play (book)
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships is a 1964 bestselling book by psychiatrist Eric Berne. Since its publication it has sold more than five million copies. The book describes both functional and dysfunctional social interactions....

. The boat that Mulder and Scully ride on in this episode, the Patricia Rae, is named after the mother of director Kim Manners. The episode was filmed around Buntzen Lake
Buntzen Lake
Buntzen Lake is a 4.8 kilometres  long lake in Anmore, British Columbia, Canada, in the Greater Vancouver area. It is named after the first general manager of the B.C. Electric Co., Johannes Buntzen...

, north of Coquitlam, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 and Pitt Lake
Pitt Lake
Pitt Lake is the second-largest lake in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, being about 53.5 square kilometres in area. It is about 25 km long and about 4.5 km wide at its widest, and is also one of the world's largest tidal lakes, its confluence with the Fraser being only a few miles upstream...

, north or Pitt Meadows, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

.

Director Kim Manners
Kim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...

said of the episode "Not a great show, but a good one. It's a lighter show. There is a lot of humor in it, but I think it's a hit with fans because there is some wonderful Mulder and Scully's relationship stuff. The entire third act is just the two of them talking, which is actually kind of interesting. The scene where Mulder and Scully talk while stranded on a rock included approximately 10 pages of dialogue. Gillian Anderson said of the scene "I loved that. That was so much fun, and I think it was written really well... It was just neat to have us separated from everything and stuck on this island where we could wax philosophical and kind of tell the truth to each other in strange ways."

The scene of Big Blue at the end of the episode was originally intended to be a rubber sea serpent pulled through the water by a boat, but the producers were unhappy with how it turned out. They originally worked on enhancing the image digitally but were still unhappy with it so the entire scene was scrapped and Big Blue was created entirely by digital effects.

Reception

This episode earned a Neilsen rating of 10.2, with an 18 share. It was viewed by 16 million people.
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