The controversial episode is titled “Home” and originally aired on Fox on October 11, 1996. Critics on the one hand praised its plot for its skillful satire of the “American Dream” lifestyle with reference to globalization and analysis of the nature of motherhood. the episode directed by Kim Manners was compared to the work of David Lynch or Tobe Hopper, but many people thought that the episode was far too brutal and drastic.
Episode “The X-Files” so disturbing that it was shown only once
Glen Morgan and James Wong wrote the script for the disputed episode. It is worth noting that this was their return to the series, because they had previously left after its second season. They wanted to make a strong entrance and create something as ambitious and shocking as possible. For this purpose, they were inspired by a murder story told in the documentary “Brother’s Keeper” and a particularly surprising thread from Charlie Chaplin’s memoirs. Warning, there will be spoilers and drastic descriptions in the episode synopsis.
In the small town of Home in Pennsylvania, a woman gives birth to a deformed child. Three similarly deformed men bury a newborn baby during a thunderstorm near their destroyed home. The body is found some time later during the game by the kids from the town. The FBI sends Dana Scully () and Fox Mulder () to the crime scene to investigate.
There, Mulder talks to the sheriff, from whom he learns that the house closest to the burial place is inhabited by the Peacock brothers. As it turns out, their farm was built during the Civil War (1861-1865) and there is no electricity, running water or heating. The police officer is also convinced that the family has been committing incest ever since.
During the autopsy, Scully discovers that the baby suffocated from inhaling the earth, meaning she was buried alive. The agent (with a medical degree) indicates that his deformities may be the result of incestuous intercourse. Mulder thinks it’s impossible, because the Peacock brothers live as a threesome and no woman is known to be in their house – everyone is convinced that their mother died in a car accident a few years earlier. However, Fox suspects that the brothers may have kidnapped and raped a woman.
The agents drive to their farm, which appears to be abandoned. Once there, they discover blood, scissors, and a shovel on the table. Enraged by their invasion, the brothers break into the sheriff’s house at night, where they murder him and his wife. In the meantime, the results of the tests come from the laboratory, which also indicate that the parents of the stillborn baby are members of the Peackok family. The agents, along with a local police officer, go to their farm to arrest them – they are still convinced that they are holding the baby’s mother hostage. On the spot, the officer falls into a trap set by the brothers, as a result of which he is decapitated. Later, the Peacocks tear his body apart.
Meanwhile, Mulder and Scully find a woman under the bed with all her limbs amputated. As it turns out, it is Mrs. Peacock, the boys’ mother. Contrary to suspicion, she survived the accident and still gives birth to incestuous children. She reveals to the agents that she and the rest of her family do not feel pain. The brothers realize that the agents are at their house and attack. A shootout ensues, after which two of them are impaled on the same stake from a trap they set themselves. Scully and Mulder discover that Mrs. Peacock and her eldest son have run away in a car and are planning to start a new family somewhere else.
Screenwriters’ inspirations
Morgan and Wong modeled the Peacock family on the Ward family in the 1992 documentary Brother’s Keeper. William and Delbert Ward lived for years on an old farm that had been passed down in their family for generations and could hardly write – researchers believe the brothers’ IQ was around 68 points. They became famous after William was allegedly murdered by Delbert. However, he avoided a conviction because he convinced the court that the police had deceived him during the interrogation. The writers took the name of the series’ family from the neighbors of Morgan’s parents.
Glen Morgan drew the theme of the limbless mother from Charlie Chaplin’s memoirs. The actor described in the book that once, during a trip to Wales, he happened to spend the night with an extremely unusual family. After dinner together, the host introduced him to a misshapen and legless man he kept under his bed. This one moved on his hands and did various tricks while the family danced and sang – Chaplin recalled it as one of the strangest experiences of his life. Morgan misremembered the description and thought the boy had no arms or legs.
Director Kim Manners thought the episode’s script was classic horror, but the producers thought it was overdone and “tasteless.” The authors of the script were surprised by the criticism, because they felt they had written scarier and more controversial things before. However, Fox decided for the first time not to air the episode again – it was the only such case in the history of The X-Files. Viewers were not able to see the episode again until three years later – the decision makers gave up and allowed it to be broadcast on Halloween 1999. Reportedly, before the episode, there was a message: “Only on Halloween are we able to show an episode so controversial that it was banned from television for three years. Take this as a warning” – “Collider”.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
