![]() These ideals are echoed through the Peacock brothers, their whole operation revolving around punishing those perceived as trespassers and having their own unique brand of family love. Their homesteads and territories are integral to their way of life, and the bonds of the ties of blood are paramount. Both films place an isolated family, one completely separate and removed from what would be considered ‘normal society’, in the role of antagonist. What makes ‘Home’ stand apart from so many other episodes of The X-Files is the way in which it so perfectly evokes the foreboding nature, energy, and on occasion ferocity, of horror films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977). The episode was a homecoming for writers Glen Morgan and James Wong after their departure from the show to develop Space: Above and Beyond. Fox trades on the notoriety of The X-Files episode ‘Home’ (S4, Ep2), promoting a repeat of the episode three years later for Halloween 1999. Mulder and Scully quickly realize that things on the Peacock farm are far from normal and a war between extreme family values and modern-day morals ensues. A group of brothers, the Peacocks, who have lived in isolation on their family farm since the passing of their parents a decade earlier, are the prime suspects. The episode sees FBI Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) called to Home, Pennsylvania, by Sheriff Andy Taylor (Tucker Smallwood) to investigate a case of infanticide. Furthermore, shortly after airing, Fox banned the episode due to the sensitive and taboo topics it explored. The lack of supernatural explanations, combined with its unsettling concepts, prompted it to become the only episode in the show’s history to receive a TV-MA rating in America. The sliding scale of how intense or spooky an episode was, varied dramatically, but it’s safe to say that even though there had been dark and scary episodes prior to ‘Home’, this was the one that shocked the fans the most. ![]() The X-Files was as frightening as television got. This was a period before shows such as American Horror Story, Hannibal, and The Walking Dead became the norm. ‘Home’ truly tested the limits of television for the time. I’ll be honest, by the end of the teaser I already regretted my choice, but worse was still to come. Blinded by my love for the show, I ignored the words and sat down to watch it, undeterred. Out of routine, the handing over of the ‘Home’ cassette came with a stark warning and encouragement to skip it. The weekly ritual was that as I got in from school, she would hand over the tape and I would race off to see what Mulder and Scully were facing that week. Due to the show airing on a school night, I would watch it the next day on a recording made by my mother. Of the 202 episodes of The X-Files that I watched whilst growing up, ‘Home’ (S4, Ep2) is the one that I can still vividly recall watching, primarily because of how terrifying it was. Warning: This article contains spoilers for The X-Files episode ‘Home’ (S4, Ep2).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |