The X-Files, Season 1, Episode 5
The Jersey Devil
Mulder: Don't you have a life, Scully?
Scully: You keep that up and I'll hurt you like that beast woman.
Mulder: [as she holds the door open for him] 8 million years out of Africa...
Scully: ...and look who's holding the door.
What an episode! I was thinking over the scenes in my mind today, at work and then driving home, and had a realization. The reason each of these episodes hits so hard: I am watching them a week at a time. This is not a binge!
I am not so old a fogy that I do not binge television shows, especially of the streaming kind. That clarification serves as a segue because the essential difference between a show like The X-Files and, say, Stranger Things, is that the former was produced for weekly engagement.
7 days to mull over what you saw - strange new horrors, strange new pantsuits, strange facial expressions from Mulder - before a taste of something new. Would it be another monster? Would the at-this-point-unidentified tall drink of smoky water lurking around the FBI make another appearance? Would Blevins simultaneously admonish and praise Scully in an expository scene?
I am struggling to pinpoint exactly when shows like X-Files would re-air between the premiere night and the next episode. I am fairly certain it happened, especially on a network like Fox. I bring this up to point out the lack of opportunity for audiences to revisit an episode before the next one dropped. Television has truly changed in fundamental ways since just 20 years ago, shortly after the end of The X-Files, during The Sopranos and The Wire, a few years before Breaking Bad begins breaking; some people alive today never knew a time when tv and movies were temporary, if only for a little while.
The Jersey Devil is the first MOW episode written by series creator Chris Carter, and aside from aliens in general, the first episode to deal with a widely recognized cryptid from the real world. From my reading of the Wikipedia page about this episode, I am surprised to find that its reputation is somewhat lukewarm. One critique from producer James Wong himself is hard to dispute. For me, this was another delicious ice cream sundae of an episode, replete with a cold open set in the past and Scully’s short-lived romantic social life.
I want to be clear that I never intend to disparage the work of the costume department on this show if I point out certain outfits and ensembles. I am in awe of this choice for Scully pictured above. Where would someone find this type of clothing in 1993? Not where my mother was shopping, or at least not the racks from which she was pulling. What a look! Collarless, windowpane plaid in that Santa scarlet. Gillian Anderson pulls it off, as only she can. Few performers tied to a single role for so long have managed to execute the emotional and physical range we see in Dana Scully over the course of this series. Speaking of the series-
We open in 1947, year of this writer’s father’s birth, in a car ride akin to A Christmas Story. Hearing the Bingo song made me ponder how long it had been since I heard it last - a song that felt ever-present in parts of early childhood. Evidently, the song in some form has existed since as far back as the 18th century. Intentional or not, there are multiple levels of folklore in play here, with both the folk song and the cryptid who’s about to ruin this family’s weekend. I wondered if songs like this would continue to stand the test of time or have they already been phased out? We no longer need the distraction of communal singing on the family road trip.
Speaking of The aforementioned Sopranos, dad is changing a flat tire near the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, the location of one of the most well-known and loved episodes of the mafia drama. Sadly, it did not employ the same creepy point-of-view camera looking through foliage. Why am I such a sucker for this type of camerawork? I am the Leonardo DiCaprio-pointing-at-the-tv moment from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I am pointing at a type of shot. I love this shit.
Post-credits, we flash forward to the present day where Scully is slicing through the office pool in a fairly conservative suit but rocking a fun salmon top. Her hair is exceptionally buoyant as always. She is the one bringing an X-File to Mulder’s attention: a body has been found in…New Jersey. The arm and shoulder of the body? They’re missing.
Naturally, our man Fox Mulder is reading Hanky Panky magazine - a pillar of staunch journalism, no doubt. His proclivity for print pornography will pepper the episodes to come. In it, he has of course found his way to the testimony about aliens from one of the gals. I would like to live inside this scene, if only for a moment. Before we can dig deeper into how hanky the panky really is, our agents abscond to Atlantic City.
We find ourselves in familiar surroundings - a morgue. The medical examiner assures the agents that this was not the work of an animal. Before too long, the local police detective interrupts and obstructs. Detective Thompson advises that since the FBI is not investigating in any official capacity, he has been more than polite in allowing them to be here at all and would they please leave immediately. Wayne Tippit as Detective Thompson is, not surprisingly, a well-seasoned bit of spice to the ensemble, channeling our intrinsic resentment for the mayor from Jaws as he single-mindedly attempts to cover up the murders in his jurisdiction to protect Atlantic City’s tourism business. Tippit’s final IMDb credit is for an episode of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!; a man born between World Wars, appearing on everything from Barnaby Jones to Tim and Eric to a role in Oliver Stone’s JFK as an FBI Agent. Talk about breadth.
What a prick!
It is hard to tell, but Mulder is also outfitted in a wide plaid-print blazer, rather than a suit. I still hypothesize this is a budgetary constraint that becomes an unintended benefit to the look of the show. So what if Mulder is eventually seen in more generic-yet-stylish suiting - the early days show us a guy eschewing the typical bureau aesthetic to assert his individuality.
Mulder and Scully diverge here - Scully has plans back in DC. Mulder is quick to ask with unmasked unease whether she has a date. She does not! Just a birthday party for her godson. With that weight of his shoulders, Mulder decides to stick around and make a weekend of it. In what I can only assume is a beautiful mistake of television filmmaking, Mulder gives the strangest half-hearted wave to Scully as he walks away into Atlantic City, fading into the casinos and cigarette butts like a Springsteen character from an experimental album as yet unreleased.
Fox acquaints himself with a local ranger and heads into the wilderness to look for details of the devil. Michael MacRae appears as Ranger Peter Brullet, all jowls, paunch, and surly sympathy. He and his mustache have seen “a lot of weird stuff” on the job. One can only imagine the untold story here and I am certain Mulder does.
A few notable credits from MacRae include 2000’s Battlefield Earth, John Travolta’s maligned passion project based on L. Ron Hubbard’s book of the same name, 1987’s Mark Harmon vehicle Summer School, and 3 episodes of MacGyver as 3 different characters.
Stray thoughts…
This much masculine energy can be anticipated once Skinner is a regular fixture on the show.
I love to imagine how Mulder’s footwear is working out for him in the rough and tumble undergrowth of the Jersey forest. If you have not been to New Jersey, it is full of beautiful nature, fairly dense at times.
Like I am a slut for creepy POV through foliage, I am a simp for a necktie worn with an outfit that does not include a blazer or suit jacket. It seems to only exist in movies and tv.
Meanwhile, Scully is conjuring The Boss herself at the birthday party with her vest and t-shirt fit.
I am fully and completely here for all of these interludes to spend time with the characters in their real lives. Scully is having a ball running after kids and helping her friend host the party. I am certain Tamsin Kelsey as Dana’s friend Ellenn is representative of a larger social circle of Scully’s, a group of imaginary women that I want to meet. They have incredibly lived-in banter for two people who may have met that day. Of course, Ellenn wonders when Scully will make time for herself, and with whom, and perhaps maybe that guy at work is a possibility? “He’s a jerk,” Scully says, reflexively, before revising her response that Mulder is actually just obsessed with his work. Dana corrects herself as much as she is clarifying for Ellenn.
No worries, Ellenn, your little one has a friend with a divorced dad named Rob, and boy does he take a moment to really look Scully up and down when he arrives to collect his kid. Andrew Airlie as Rob is like a dopier Jere Burns, and if you know what any of that means, it is not meant to insult Andrew Airlie. I would replace so many people with Jere Burns if I could. Burns will show up on the X-Files way later, hang tight!
We return to Mulder, the text on screen telling us that this is the “Outskirts of Atlantic City,” which made me laugh out loud. Although this appears to be another exterior shot somewhere in Vancouver, the overall look is reminiscent of a high school theater production depicting “skid row.” I love it, though.
The X-Files ages in surprising ways. One could even say that the most recent seasons are more jarringly dated than the pre-1995 ones. What resonates with me most watching this episode in 2025 is how Fox looks for help among the most marginalized and disenfranchised community, and once he receives it, he treats his guide with humanity and respect. The whole sequence ends with levity as Mulder gives his new friend the key to his hotel room and guy asks, “Hey, they got HBO?” Fox takes every eyewitness at face value, in good faith, to a fault but also to dig a well of unending sympathy from the audience.
Not for nothing, but that drawing ends up being pretty accurate. Mulder almost finds that out when he chases a shadowy creature, but is unfortunately arrested mid-pursuit.
You just know Detective Thompson wants to double-tap Fox right in the forehead when he hands him this picture.
Thankfully, he does not, and Fox calls up Scully for a ride home from the Atlantic City drunk tank. Scully’s typical skepticism is well-founded, made manifest in a neat little detour to meet her old anthropology professor, Dr. Diamond. Brought to charmingly intellectual life by Gregory Sierra, Diamond is open to Mulder’s outrageous suggestions, but tempers them with a paternal concession: a missing link in the woods of New Jersey was extraordinarily unlikely even if remotely possible. Good enough for Fox!
This time, Dana has to get back to DC - and it is for a date! What is that feeling, Mulder? Is it jealousy? Heartbreak? Are you still hungry despite the two plates of diner food?
We get two restaurants in The Jersey Devil, the second with Scully and Rob on their date. Scully is wearing this gorgeous lace number with her hair up - I don’t mean to gush but come on:
Rob definitely can not hang.
He is a nice enough guy but pretty bland. Scully might not know it yet but she is already trapped in the strange and spooky allure of Fox Mulder, even if only platonically. She actually receives a page mid-meal from Mulder. Ranger Brullet found the body of a wild man in the woods and believes it could be the Jersey Devil. The way Scully reassures Fox that it was ok for him to interrupt her has an extra shade of warmth to it, like she is relieved for the escape.
The agents round up Brullet and Dr. Diamond, heading to the morgue to examine the body, only to discover that it has mysteriously vanished. Mulder posits that the female they are tracking is the deceased wild man’s mate, sojourning to the city for food. Does that mean offspring?
Our makeshift monster squad investigates an abandoned building, and there is an incredible bit of cinematography to set the scene. The camera captures the ground floor of the empty warehouse, panning all the way up as Mulder is crossing a catwalk into frame. Well-executed craft and technique can transcend its format, every time.
Detective Thompson shows up with the SWAT team, who are fairly ineffectual, with the She-Devil escaping out a second story window after an intimate run-in with Fox.
Mulder is absolutely smitten, insofar as he excitedly recalls that Ms. Jersey correctly identified him as a non-threat, leaving him not-unscathed but safe from mortal harm. Fox made contact, even if it was not an alien.
Before the Devil skips town, Ranger Brullet tags her with a tranquilizer dart, and she is pursued into the woods by the agents, ranger, and authorities en masse. To my surprise and disappointment, SWAT finds our missing link first and murders her, in a chilling reminder of what this show is really about - authoritarian overreach. The villainous detective tells Mulder she was killed the same as any rabid animal, despite an autopsy finding no prehistoric bone structure.
The implications of the climax and resolution call to mind a relatively mainstream school of thought among sasquatch enthusiasts, that the government’s reason for covering up their existence is due to the fact that it would require establishing personhood and perhaps citizenship for an entirely new species of human.
The Jersey Devil may run out of steam and walk to the finish line in predictable fashion, an average X-Files episode is still pretty damn good. The bones of a better story are here in the callous law enforcement and wounded curiosity of Mulder. The silver lining is a brief moment with Scully, taking a call from Rob, who just thought she might like to join him and his dumb kid for some sporting event. Guess what, Rob, there is only one man for Scully, he is taller than you, and she is going with him to the Smithsonian to talk to an anthropologist!
We are left with an epilogue, if not quite a coda, following a father and son into the woods. One of the two thinks he hears something, and though they brush it off to continue their hike, the camera pans perfectly once again to give us a brief glimpse of The Jersey Devil: The Next Generation.
Next up: Episode 6, Shadows