“Home” is episode two of season four of The X-Files.
The episode opens in a run-down house at night. Inside, someone is in pain’ it’s a woman and she’s having a child. Three men who do not look right are assisting, and they are not doing it in a hygienic way. After the birth, the three leave and go into a field near the house. They dig a small hole for the baby and bury it in it. The baby was still crying when they did so.
Possibly the next day, some kids arrive in a field and one drops a piece of wood on the ground. This is identified as being Home – then as Home, Pennsylvania; there was a brief impression that Home simply referred to home plate as this is a baseball game. The batter hits the ball and it lands inside a fence surrounding the rundown house. The kid who went for it tells the others it went in the Peacock place. No-one suggests he go after it or teases him into doing so. Instead, another kid says that he has a ball. The batter is digging his foot in the ground when blood wells up and a baby’s hand sticks out. They decide it’s time to leave.
Mulder finds the baseball and starts playing with it as Scully is examining the grave. He looks towards the property as three men come out and stare across. Scully fills him in about the hole Mulder is still playing with the ball. He’s clearly not paying attention, so Scully tells him she’s quite the FBI and become a spokesperson for the Ab Roller. Mulder starts reminiscing about his sister and how he’d like to retire to a place like this. Scully asks him if he really wants to live in Mayberry.
The sheriff, Andy Taylor, arrives. It’s just him and his deputy and he’s never had anything like this happen before; he doesn’t even carry his gun. The population is only a few hundred and everyone knows everyone. Nobody pregnant has lost their baby either. Mulder asks about the house and the sheriff explains that the Peacock family is just three boys. Well, men. He guesses you could call them human. Their folks were in a bad car wreck and he supposes they died. The boys came and took them and no-one has seen them in the 10 years since. So, they suppose the parents died. The Peacocks have no modern amenities and raise and breed their own stock. If they get what he means. Taylor knew that eventually the outside world would find his home town and change it for ever, but he’d prefer it didn’t. He knows the jurisdiction is iffy regarding the FBI, but the Pittsburgh field office, when the sheriff described the victim, told him to see Mulder.
At the sheriff’s the body is being kept in the fridge. They lack a morgue or lab. The deputy is Barney (Sebastian Spence) and he says no, not Fife but Paster (The Andy Griffith Show is set in the town of Mayberry and features a Sheriff Andy Taylor and a Deputy Barney Fife). He’s clearly been asked that before. The place the sheriff has to do the autopsy is in the toilet. He’d prefer if others don’t see the body. Scully is shocked when she does; she says the baby has every birth defect known to science. Mulder says they can rule out murder as a cause of death then. No, they can’t; Scully confirms the baby was alive when it was buried.
Outside, Scully is concerned. Mulder thinks it’s still a matter for the local authorities. According to Scully, the defects and mutations go back generations. The Peacock boys, given their implied inbreeding, may not be able to get many dates. The mother is dead and there’s no sister. Scully tells Mulder that the instinct to propagate is strong and a woman gave birth to that child. Possibly not willingly. Kidnapping is a bureau matter, Mulder agrees.
The Peacock place, on closer examination, is not a great looking place. There’s no answer and Scully says there’s no probable cause for entry. Mulder shines a torch through the door and they see the bloody table where the woman gave birth. That’s probable cause. The imprints in the blood on the floor match some at the burial site. Mulder thinks the Peacocks have bolted and they should get a warrant issued and trace the Cadillac that was outside. However, someone seems to be watching them.
That night, Taylor speaks to Scully on the phone as Mulder is trying to get his television to work. He’s issued warrants but they get a lot of abandoned vehicles. After the call, the sheriff takes out his gun and checks it, before putting it back in its box. The Peacocks are putting stuff into the Cadillac. Scully leaves Mulder in his room, saying the lock is broken. People may not lock their doors, but Mulder decides to wedge a chair under the handle. The Cadillac starts and the Peacocks drive off. The sheriff’s wife comes out to get him and he goes inside. He didn’t lock his door. He’s likely going to really wish he had, and that he’d kept his gun too.
This is a majorly icky episode, though one of the highest rated, and for years many channels have refused to show it again. It covers all sorts of horrendous themes and, rather jarringly, most of the horrid stuff happens on beautiful sunny days.