“Rush” is episode five of season seven of The X-Files.
A car pulls up in some woods at night in Pittsfield, Virginia. A teenage boy gets out and calls for Max. Max lights a cigarette next to him and says he’s late. Max is with a girl, who suggests the first boy, Tony, isn’t cut out for this. Max tells Tony he can’t tell anyone what he sees, even if someone dies. Then a police car pulls up. Max and the girl are gone. The deputy is checking up on Tony when Tony hears a noise from the man. He goes to check and finds the deputy’s torch on the floor. And him dead, his face caved in.
Scully meets Mulder at St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital in Pittsfield. She read the police report and didn’t see anything unusual. Mulder says there’s more to it; he believes Tony is wrongfully believed to be the killer and he wants Mulder to take a look at the body. Even Scully is shocked by the damage to the face; it looks like the dead deputy was hit by a sledgehammer. No; a police flashlight. One blow. And take a look at the back of his head. The man’s glasses have been driven through the rear of his skull. Tony’s tox screen was negative. Scully suggests adrenaline. The sheriff, Harden, arrives and asks how long they will be down; this is an open and shut case. Mulder wants to talk to Tony.
As they arrive, the girl who was with Max is leaving, having seen Tony. Tony tells them that between the deputy screaming and him finding the body was 10 to 15 seconds. He’s sticking to the story that he was the only one there, though.
Outside the room, Mulder says if Tony was guilty, surely, he’d have made up a more believable story. Scully agrees that Tony probably didn’t do the murder, but is covering up for the person who did. Mulder suggests poltergeists. Scully would like to start with Tony’s friends. Pretty please.
The girl, Chastity, is doing her midterm when Max comes in just before the end of the test. He wants to take it right now, and completes it correctly in under a minute. Showing off his powers. After the test, Mulder and Scully are waiting for Chastity. She says Tony didn’t kill that cop; he doesn’t have it in him. Max shows up and tells them they can’t talk to her. Mulder asks what Max’s father, the sheriff, would say about Max interfering in a police investigation. Mulder spotted they had the same last name. Then Scully gets a call.
The murder weapon is gone and Sheriff Harden has nothing on the video footage showing who took it. Mulder has found something on the floor. The sheriff says that maybe he didn’t give them the warmest welcome, but he’d welcome any ideas. Mulder wants to look at the tape. He plays it slowly and shows Scully a blur in one frame.
With the evidence gone, Tony is brought home by his mother. She doesn’t want him seeing Max and Chastity, even if they are his only friends. They moved here to get away from bad schools. After she leaves, Max throws pebbles at Tony’s window. Max has stolen a car and, in it, he tells Tony that Chastity said it would be fine. Tony doesn’t think it’s fine. Max drives the car fast, then disappears from the driving seat. The car impales itself badly on a pole, and there’s no way Tony would have survived. He’s outside the car, though, cowering, and doesn’t know how it happened.
Chuck has been called to take a look at the photo. He says no ghosts were involved. Scully comments that ghosts don’t leave synthetic polymer on the floor; the substance Mulder found. Chuck did an image match on the shape. The closest was a Soviet Akula-class submarine. Scully thinks that can be ruled out. Chuck also managed to show that the blur cast a shadow. And only solid objects cast shadows. He runs something that adds colour to the blur, and Mulder recognises the colours. Those of Chastity, Max and Tony’s school.
Tony seems to be having second thoughts and Chastity doesn’t seem happy either. Max is using his powers, which seem to be superspeed, and doing so pretty obviously. They’re also dangerous and he’s looking increasingly unhealthy.