“D.P.O.” is episode three of season three of The X-Files.
The episode opens at night and a car is parked outside a video arcade. The arcade is quiet, with one person playing Virtua Fighter 2. Another comes over to him and says he was playing that. The man currently playing isn’t interested. Another comes over and tells the player that it was the other’s game. The player grabs up the one insisting it was his game and throws him down. The power of the entire place goes off, then a Wurlitzer comes back on and starts playing. The kid stands back up and asks if it’s his turn now. The player decides to leave and gets into his car. His radio is playing the same song. He tries driving off, but sparks come from the car. There’s a flag on the car which catches fire, then the driver starts jerking, before collapsing, dead and smoking. The kid was watching him and returns to the game.
Scully is examining the body of the dead man, Jack Hammond, at the Lloyd P. Wharton County Building in Connerville, Oklahoma. The coroner thinks it’s death by electrocution, that lightning hit the car and killed him. Scully asks about the other victims, because this is not the first. The coroner says it’s pretty clear that lighting killed the kids. Scully points out that lightning kills 60 people per year across the country; five of them in this town.
Sheriff Teller enters and he isn’t happy to see them. He corrects it to four deaths, not five. Teller enjoys flaunting the fact that there is a nearby lightning observatory and that he speaks to the scientists who work there in the diner every morning. He clearly thinks this makes him an expert. Mulder doesn’t say a word during this, and after Teller leaves, Scully thanks him for his support. He doesn’t have a theory, but he doesn’t think it’s lightning. Scully wants to know what he’s expecting to find. After everything they have recently been through – referring to the events of the previous three episodes – Scully hopes Mulder doesn’t think it’s government conspiracies or UFOs. He doesn’t. Mulder does point out that the lightning has a definite preference, killing males aged 17-21. He suggests they go to the scene.
At Hammond’s car, they work out that the only place likely to have been open was the amusement arcade. Inside, the probable killer’s friend is counting money. He, Zero, was working last night but claims he doesn’t recognise Hammond and didn’t see anything. Scully tells him he must have seen something, and when pushed he admits he knew about Hammond. Mulder has been wandering around and has found the fighting game filled with high scores from ‘D.P.O.’ He asks Scully who the only survivor was. Darren Peter Oswald. And his high score shows he was there last night.
Darren is currently working under a car when a woman enters. She’s looking for her husband, Darren’s boss as it happens. Darren appears to be rather fixated on her. The husband, Frank, returns; he was towing Hammond’s car. And mentions that the FBI are coming to see Darren. Darren claims he saw nothing; when he is in his game, he is in his game. Mulder asks Darren if he thinks he’s lucky. After all, he survived being struck by lightning. The only one who did. Scully notices smoke coming from Mulder’s pocket. Specifically his phone, which has suddenly got very hot.
Darren is at home, changing what his mother is watching on television, when Zero arrives, and says the FBI were there. Darren thinks Zero must have said something for them to find him. Meanwhile, Zero should get somewhere else, because Darren feels like barbecue. And he calls down lighting, which knocks him down but doesn’t harm him.
Teller is supervising the removal of three dead cows when Mulder and Scully arrive. He flaunts more knowledge of lightning, but it doesn’t go so well this time, because Mulder does know about lightning. Including what a fulgurite is, which Teller had pointed out, clearly expecting them not to know. Teller thinks their business is finished and Scully wonders if he’s right. Mulder has unearthed the fulgurite, and says it’s the first time a lightning strike left behind a footprint. Scully uses this to cast a mould, and also finds a viscous substance that she thinks is antifreeze. Suggesting Darren.
Darren is at a billboard overlooking a junction, flicking the lights to try and cause a crash when Zero joins him. Zero thinks they should hit Vegas. Darren will not go anywhere without Sharon Kiveat, his boss’s wife. Zero mentions that she is married. Not if Darren fries him. Darren finally causes a crash.
Mulder and Scully arrive at the Oswald house and Darren’s mother tells them he wouldn’t hurt a soul. Which is definitely not true. They search his room and Scully looks in the closet whilst Mulder flicks through an adult magazine. Darren wears the same size shoe as the one that left the fulgurite. And she thought Mulder would have already read the magazine. He has, but he found a photo that appeared to be from a yearbook in the pages. Which they identify as being from Sharon Kiveat.
Darren is definitely obsessed with Sharon Kiveat, and now has powers enough to be dangerous about it. The lightning hasn’t made him smarter, though. Teller’s behaviour goes from uncooperative to obstructive, which does not help matters. He is under the delusion he’s an expert on all things lightning.