“Fire” is episode twelve of season one of The X-Files.
The episode opens in Bosham, England, 70 miles southwest of London and an older man is saying goodbye to his younger wife. As he walks towards his Rolls Royce, he greets various staff working on the garden. The man, before entering the car, turns to wave – and his arm is on fire. He quickly gets enveloped in flames and collapses on the lawn. Most rush to help but one, greeted as Cecil (Mark Sheppard), simply watches with a slight smile.
In DC, Mulder and Scully are heading towards their car. Mulder is carrying a stack of paperwork and Scully says she forgot what a day in court was like. According to Mulder, that’s the advantage of hunting aliens and genetic mutants; you rarely get to press charges.
The car is unlocked, even though Mulder is sure he locked it. Inside, Scully asks what something is. The something is a cassette tape on the dashboard and Mulder states he told her he locked the car. The tape is put in the player and a woman’s voice says how, 6 months ago, a British MP received an audio cassette in a similar manner, and when he put it in the player, he armed a device. When he tried to exit the car, the explosion was heard five miles away and he could only be identified by dental records. If only he hadn’t reached for the door handle and triggered the detonator, but how was he to know he was sitting on enough plastic explosive to life the car 40′ in the air and deposit the engine on the top of a three-story building. At this point, Mulder’s door is opened from the outside and Scully jumps.
The woman who opened the door is someone Mulder knows; he refers to her as an old friend. But, given comments that his sense of humour was one of the few things the woman didn’t drive a stake through, the relationship may have had problems. Although the woman, introduced to Scully as Phoebe Green of Scotland Yard, does kiss Mulder.
Phoebe is in the U.S. because someone has killed three ranking members of parliament. An arsonist, not the car bomber mentioned earlier. There is no evidence at the crime scene and the last one died on his front garden with his young wife watching. No, they don’t believe it’s the IRA; the killer likes to send love letters to the victim’s wives. He sent one to the wife of Sir Malcolm Marsden a month ago and a few days later Sir Malcolm narrowly survived a fire in his garage. The Marsdens are renting a house in Cape Cod. Mulder promises to run it by the arson specialist. Afterwards, Mulder explains he knew Phoebe when he was at school in England; he was over his head and paid the price. Scully winds Mulder up a bit; she doesn’t believe that Mulder won’t end up helping.
The arson specialist, Beatty, is a bit too fascinated by the images of the fire. He wants to know what the incendiary device used was and is told the victim’s body. No, it doesn’t appear to be spontaneous human combustion, but no evidence was left of how the body caught fire. Beatty thinks it’s peculiar. An understatement. He mentions some recent cases of fires so hot they couldn’t be put out with water; rocket fuel is believed to be involved, as it burns so hot nothing is left. Mulder suggests pyrokinetics.
At Cape Cod, a man is painting as a limo arrives and the Marsdens get out. The painter – Cecil – welcomes them to America and puts a cigarette in his mouth. Which lights itself. Cecil introduces himself as Bob, the caretaker; outside, ‘Bob’ gets the Marsdens’ dog to stop digging at something. The something being a human hand.
Mulder explains to Scully that he is afraid of fire, and why. Phoebe knows that, but she likes playing mind games and shows up with a case like this.
‘Bob’ is admiring Mrs Marsden when he hears coughing. The driver is smoking and Bob asks him if he wants anything, as he’s heading to town. Cough medicine.
In town, Bob is in a bar and the woman next to him moves over. He stops her from lighting her cigarette, instead producing a flame from his finger. She turns to get others to look, but when she turns back, Bob’s entire arm is on fire. Which he uses to light the bar on fire too.
Mulder and Phoebe are at Boston Mercy Hospital; no body was found. Even though the bar was across the street from the fire station, it burned down before the fire service could put it out. The woman from the bar doesn’t want to explain fully, so Mulder gives her a minute. Afterwards, she says the man had an English accent.
The Masrdens’ driver doesn’t sound so good and Bob, to himself, comments that it might be the cough syrup. It probably is.
Scully decides to start poking into the cases herself, and to write up a profile of the arsonist. Bob agrees to help when the Marsdens’ driver is unable to drive. Bob is also repainting a lot. Phoebe gives the impression that she might want to… rekindle her relationship with Mulder. Mulder, of course, will have to confront his fear of fire. The British characters are very poor. If they had a dimension added, they would be one-dimensional caricatures.