Season 3, Episode 7
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: John Shiban
The X-Files “The Walk” is a brutally efficient horror show. Relying less on gore and more on atmospheric terror, the episode combines the sad reality of war with a revenge drama. At the end, you don’t support the actions of the killer, but you certainly can understand his actions as motivated by the kind of anger that cannot be satiated. As such “The Walk” wins by focusing less on Mulder and Scully and more on the victims of war as they begin to lash out against each other.
We open with an injured war veteran having just recovered from his third suicide attempt. He claims that “he” won’t let him die, but we aren’t immediately who the “he” is. Seizing an opportunity, the vet runs into hydrotherapy room where he prepares a scalding hot bath and anchors himself down with weights. Just as he’s about to plunge into the tub, a voice calls out to him and various events follow that alarm hospital staff. Terrified, the man jumps into the tub but is quickly rescued, horribly disfigured. Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate and find a pattern of similar incidents where family members of a military officer are killed, the officer left to suffer as long as possible before committing suicide. Other murders begin happening, admittedly in a seemingly random pattern, before General Thomas Callahan’s (Thomas Kopache) own family dies. All military murders are traced back to quadruple amputee Leonard Trimble (Ian Tracey) who, after losing his legs, garnered the ability to astrally project his soul, allowing him to commit the murders without ever leaving his bed. When Callahan confronts Trimble, he is unable to shoot him, drawing him into his astral state. While defenseless, Trimble is suffocated by the disfigured veteran from the prologue.
Personally, I loved much of the episode. Before confirming the astral projector murders, “The Walk” has the feeling of an old-fashioned vengeful ghost episode, which technically it is with the exception of the killer technically being alive. There are multiple tense scenes that are well-staged and eerily effective – particularly the death scene of the General’s child and the pool death sequence that resembles last spring’s It Follows. I did have two minor quibbles with the episode. First, there is a subplot about Trimble making a connection to his victims through some stolen mail. This plot point didn’t really hold water for me as I didn’t see the purpose in following it through. Why does Trimble need to make that connection? If he could project his body, then wouldn’t he be able to go anywhere? Why introduce that into the story at all? Next, Mulder’s closing voice over, which underscores the connection between the pains of war and the recent crimes, feels incredibly obvious and too on the nose. The connections were already present in the episode organically without requiring an additional voice over to drive it home.
Otherwise, “The Walk” was a fine for what it was. I’m even willing to overlook the complete absence of a really strong acting presence after so many great guest performances thus far. These days, after such turgid and convoluted mythology episodes, I’m much more likely to cut the “monster of the week” episodes a tiny break.
We all needed a tiny break.
