“Duane Barry” is episode five of season two of The X-Files.
The episode opens at night in Pulaski, Virginia, on June 3rd 1985. It’s night and there’s a television on. A man is in bed asleep and a dog joins him, lying down to watch the television. The picture turns to static and the dog is unhappy with something, growls and leaves. The man wakes and says he can’t breathe and, around his bed, humanoid shapes – Greys – are pressing up against something. He says not again and screams. The dog is outside and the house is ablaze with light, coming from a beam from something above it.
At the Davis Correctional Treatment Centre in Marion, Virginia, in the present, the man, with restrained hands, is being taken to a room by an armed guard. In the room is a doctor, who says it’s nice to see the patient, Duane. Duane replies the same. Duane – who refers to himself in the third person as Duane Barry – hasn’t been taking his drugs, because he doesn’t like the way they make him feel. The doctor, Hakkie, tells Duane they are being given to stop him from hurting anyone again, and asks if he is still hearing voices.
Duane says he isn’t crazy and isn’t like the other patients. They are coming to take him again, he can feel it. Hakkie tries reassuring him that no-one is coming, and goes to get some medicine to calm him down. Whilst the doctor’s back is turned, Duane rushes out of the room, assaults the guard and steals his gun – is it really a great idea having guns in this sort of institution? – and demands that Hakkie give him his car keys. The alarm sounds at this point and Duane takes Hakkie hostage.
In DC, Krycek is at a swimming pool where Mulder is swimming. He tells Mulder that there’s a situation and they want Mulder. For a hostage negotiation. Not Mulder’s forte. A patient has escaped from a mental institution and taken four people hostage. He thinks he’s being controlled by aliens.
At the scene, Agent Lucy Kazdin (CCH Pounder) introduces herself. Duane has a gun with 9 rounds and they believe he will use it and isn’t afraid to die. He wants safe passage for himself and Hakkie to an alien abduction sight. He doesn’t know where it is, so stopped at a travel agent. Warped logic. Mulder isn’t familiar with hostage negotiation but Kazdin and Agent Rich will talk him through it. Duane needs a friend, someone who appears to understand him. Mulder wants to know about Duane’s abduction experiences. Kazdin doesn’t know what they are, nor is she interested in them. They are here to save lives and Mulder’s job is to keep Duane on the phone talking.
Mulder calls Duane inside the building, reading from a script. Duane isn’t impressed, and knows the list Mulder is working off. Mulder says he knows people with similar experiences. Duane says he isn’t being taken again. He hangs up. Mulder wants to know who Duane Barry is. Is he FBI, because he knows the list? Former FBI. Mulder thinks that little bit of information is something that should have been shared. Duane has been out of the bureau since 1982 and institutionalised for about a decade. Mulder thinks if all they need is someone to read a script, they don’t need him. Yes, this might work in other cases. Abductees are afraid, though, and they might have to alter their approach.
Scully is watching the news when Mulder calls. The media isn’t saying anything about Duane being an abductee or former FBI. Mulder wants Scully’s help digging into Duane’s past. Then all the lights go out where Mulder is and a bright light shines through the window. Duane starts firing wildly. Mulder rings Duane; it seems they need a doctor, because he accidentally shot someone.
Mulder is given comms and a medic’s uniform. He’s told his job isn’t to leap into Duane’s beliefs. Agent Janus, a trained medic, will be going with to treat the hostage. The snipers just need a clear shot.
Inside, as Janus works on the injured man, Mulder tries to get Duane to let two of the hostages go. He asks about the light and if it was them, because they lost time. Mulder tells Duane he believes his story; Agent Kazdin isn’t happy about this method. Janus says the hostage will die without a hostage. Duane agrees to let him go, but Mulder has to stay.
Mulder does manage to convince Duane he knows something about what he’s talking about. Kazdin warns Mulder he may push Duane over the edge – although Mulder’s words do seem to calm him down. When Scully calls Mulder back he, of course, isn’t there. Is Duane Barry telling the truth? Or is he simply disturbed thanks to being injured when he was in the FBI?
The story continues in the next episode, “Ascension”.