Pusher

"Pusher"
The X-Files episode
A police officer setting himself on fire
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 17
Directed by	Rob Bowman
Written by	Vince Gilligan
Production code	3X17
Original air date	February 23, 1996
Guest actors
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner Robert Wisden as Robert Patrick Modell Vic Polizos as Agent Frank Burst Roger R. Cross as SWAT Lieutenant Steve Bacic as Agent Collins Don Mackay as Judge Brent J.D. Sheppard as Prosecutor D. Neil Mark as Deputy Scott Kerber Julia Arkos as Holly Meridith Bain-Woodward as Defense Attorney Ernie Foort as Lobby Guard Darren Lucas as Lead SWAT Cop[1] Dave Grohl as Background Character[2]
Episode chronology
← Previous "Apocrypha" Next → "Teso Dos Bichos"
List of season 3 episodes List of The X-Files episodes

"Pusher" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox Network on February 23, 1996, and was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Pusher" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.8, being watched by 16.2 million people.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate a serial killer, who goes by the pseudonym "Pusher", who can convince people to do whatever he says.

Plot

Robert Patrick Modell walks through a supermarket, buying a large supply of energy drinks. Before he can leave, Modell is surrounded and arrested by FBI agents. While being escorted away in a police car, he repeatedly talks about the color cerulean blue. Modell's talking seemingly causes the driver to not see an approaching big rig of that color, causing a collision. Modell flees the scene.

Frank Burst, the only surviving agent of the crash, tells Fox Mulder and Dana Scully about his pursuit of Modell— nicknamed "Pusher"—who has committed a series of contract killings over the past two years, making the acts appear to be suicide. Mulder spots the word "ronin" written at the crime scene, and tracks down Modell's classified ad in a mercenary magazine. Mulder believes that Modell has the psychic ability to "push" people to do his will. Using the phone number in the ad, the agents track down Pusher to a golf course, where he makes a SWAT lieutenant douse himself in gasoline and light himself on fire. Mulder finds Modell exhausted in a car nearby, arresting him.

During his arraignment, Modell uses his skills to make the judge let him go. The agents look into Modell's past and find that he applied for the FBI, but was refused after failing a psychological examination. Meanwhile, after writing the word 'PASS' on a piece of paper and putting it in his shirt pocket, Modell is able to pass security and enter FBI headquarters. He "pushes" an agent there, Holly, into looking up information on Mulder for him. When Assistant Director Skinner arrives, Modell convinces Holly that he was a man who mugged her, causing her to spray Skinner with mace and beat him. Scully is unable to explain how Modell has his power, but now agrees with Mulder's theory that he can push people into doing whatever he wants.

Agents burst into Modell's apartment but find it empty. They find cans of energy drinks in the fridge and medicine for epilepsy. Mulder suspects that a brain tumor has given Modell psychokinetic ability, but that it burns up a lot of energy, forcing him to constantly consume the energy drinks. Mulder believes that he is dying and wants to go out in a blaze of glory. Modell calls, and talks agent Burst into a heart attack over the phone while they try to trace him. The agents track Modell down to a hospital and Mulder heads inside.

At the hospital Modell gets a technician and guard to kill each other. Mulder realizes that Modell has been coming here due to a brain tumor, but is found by Modell. Scully heads inside and finds the two sitting at a table with the dead guard's revolver. Modell forces Mulder to play Russian roulette with him. Despite Scully's pleading, Mulder pulls the trigger first at Modell and then himself, the hammer falling on an empty chamber both times. Modell then makes him aim the gun at Scully, and he is on the verge of shooting her. At the last instant she sees a fire alarm in a mirror and pulls it in desperation, breaking Modell's concentration. Mulder instantly switches his aim to Modell and pulls the trigger; the bullet is fired and Modell is severely wounded.

Visiting him in the hospital afterwards, the agents discuss the fact that his tumor was operable but he refused treatment due to the ability it gave him. Mulder says he was just a little man, but this was something that made him feel big.^[1][3]

Production

Vince Gilligan wrote the episode seeking to have a tense cat and mouse game between Fox Mulder and Pusher, concluding with a scene of Russian roulette in the final segment. This scene met some resistance from the network, but ultimately remained in the episode.^[4] The Flukeman, from the episode "The Host" appears on a tabloid in the opening scene.^[5] Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl appeared as an uncredited extra during the scene where Modell enters FBI headquarters.^[6]

Rob Bowman said of Robert Wisden's performance "I thought Robert Wisden was great as Pusher. He is a very energized kind of confident actor with lots of ideas of his own. It took me about a day and a half to get him into it, and then I never had to speak to him again, because he had that look in his eyes. I would walk up to talk to him about the scene and I could see that he was already there.^[7] Mitch Pileggi was disappointed in the fact that the episode featured his character, Walter Skinner, getting beat up, something which had occurred in multiple episodes already by this point: "I was feeling a little uncomfortable with him getting his ass kicked so much, and I think the fans were, too."^[8] The character of Modell would later return in the fifth season episode "Kitsunegari".

Dave Grohl, the leader singer and guitarist of the Foo Fighters and former drummer for Nirvana, made a small cameo in the episode during the scene wherein Modell sneaks into the FBI building.^[2] Grohl, who has an active interesting in UFO lore,^[9] called the episode "his acting debut".^[2]

Reception

This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.8, with an 18 share. It was viewed by 16.20 million people.^[10]

Entertainment Weekly gave "Pusher" a B+, writing, "Much inscrutable warmth between Mulder and Scully parallels some inscrutable detective work. But the climactic mental tug-of-war between Mulder and Pusher makes up for any lapses in logic".^[11] IGN named it the third best standalone X-Files episode,^[12] while Den of Geek listed it as their seventh best episode.^[13]

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Edwards, Ted (1996). X-Files Confidential. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316218081. 
• Lovece, Frank (1996). The X-Files Declassified. Citadel Press. ISBN 080651745X. 
• Lowry, Brian (1996). Trust No One: The Official Guide to the X-Files. Harper Prism. ISBN 0061053538. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: TXF Season 3

• "Pusher" on The X-Files Wiki, an external wiki
• "Pusher" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Pusher" at TV.com