“Blood” is episode three of season two of The X-Files.
The episode opens in a postal centre in Franklin, Pennsylvania, where a man is typing in zip codes as envelopes pass him. The machine jams and he gets a paper cut. The supervisor comes over him and speaks to the man, Ed, and tells him it’s just a paper cut. And he needs to speak to him. The conversation is as expected; Ed is going to be let go. He’s good at his job and well liked, but he’s the lowest man on the pole and there are cutbacks. They’ve collected $100 for him and he can stay until the end of the week. Ed returns to his post, and continues. Then the LED display on his machine shows ‘KILL’. It returns to showing a number. Then shows ‘KILL ‘EM’ and ‘KILL ‘EM ALL’.
In a crowded lift in the Civil Centre in Franklin, a man is looking uncomfortable. The LED sign in the lift shows ‘NO AIR’ then ‘CAN’T BREATHE’ then ‘KILL ‘EM ALL’.
Mulder arrives at a crime scene. Sheriff Spencer thanks him for coming, as he knows that, normally, the FBI profiles murder suspects who are at large. Not one like theirs, where they are dead. The sheriff is relieved the bureau honoured their request, because they are in way over their heads. The suspect’s body is outside and they are holding the security guard who shot him. The other witnesses from the lift are at the hospital. The businesses have been closed for the day and the scene preserved. Mulder asks if the, now broken, LED display ion the lift was damaged during the incident.
Spencer says that things like this are not supposed to happen in Franklin. Mulder replies that 42-year-old real estate agents murdering 4 strangers with their bare hands is not supposed to happen anywhere. Since colonial times, Franklin has had 3 murders. In the last 6 months, seven people have killed 22. Per capita, that’s worse than Detroit, LA and DC combined. All the suspects had to be shot to stop them. The autopsies showed no signs of substance abuse. Mulder wants to see the killer, who the sheriff knew, and sees a substance on a finger, which he wants analysing by the FBI.
Ed is at an ATM and hears a woman behind him, who is treating her daughter’s bloody nose. The ATM states ‘SECURITY GUARD’ and ‘TAKE HIS GUN’ and ‘KILL ‘EM ALL’. Ed pounds on the machine and runs away.
Scully is in Quantico, reading a report Mulder has written. He classifies these attacks as spree killings, not serial, but the killers are, statistically, more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than perpetrators. Mulder is convinced an outside factor is responsible. The residue was an undefined nontoxic organic chemical found on plants. Mulder mentions UFOs – Scully wondered when he would get to that – but then continues that there is no evidence that this is the case. At every scene an electronic device was destroyed. Mulder has never found it more difficult to develop a profile.
A woman has come to a garage at night to collect her car. The mechanic is saying he has found more problems. She is clearly nervous and wants to leave. Then the diagnostic machine says ‘LIAR’, ‘HE’S A LIAR’, ‘HE’LL RPAE UOU’, ‘HE’LL KILL YOU’ and ‘KILL HIM FIRST’. So, she does. At the scene, Mulder finds the worksheet and tracks the woman, Bonnie McRoberts, down. However, when he and the sheriff visit her home, the microwave tells her to kill them, she grabs a knife and the sheriff is forced to shoot and kill her. Scully does her autopsy and finds the same substance that was on the lift killer and speculates that it could provoke a reaction when combined with something else. Ed, meanwhile, is getting more messages and is told to buy a gun. Which he does.
Mulder notices dead flies being dumped and takes one to The Lone Gunmen to take a look at. They mention a CIA camera small enough to be placed on the back of a fly. Also, that the fly in question is of a type that damages apples and cherries – which Franklin grows – and irradiated ones are often used to control them. This one has been. There’s also a chemical compound, LSDM, an experimental insecticide. It provokes a fear response in insects and they leave the plant alone. Mulder wants to borrow Frohike’s night vision goggles. Frohike wants Scully’s phone number.
Mulder gets the goggles – it isn’t clear if Frohike got what he wanted – and observes the orchards at night. He sees a darkened helicopter spraying the trees, and gets a good dose himself. Which worries him substantially. Ed is still getting more messages, but so far has managed to hold out from acting on them. That’s probably not going to last. Something is bound to make him snap eventually.
So, is the insecticide responsible? Are the messages genuine, or a hallucination? If they are genuine, who is sending them?