The X-Files: Brand X (7.18)

Brand X is an episode that probably required a little work. There are a ton of strong ingredients here, but somewhere along the line they kind of bottomed out in execution. It does have an interesting central conceit, though: powerful tobacco companies and the greed-fueled desire to alter tobacco itself, in the process creating super-sized tobacco beetles that infect people's lungs and eventually make them explode with insect-y goodness. There's also a neat contrast between the polished interiors of boardrooms and science labs with the run-down poverty of the test subjects smoking this new form of tobacco, but the story eventually peters out midway through the hour.

Tobin Bell is always pretty great, and here he develops another growly antagonist. Darryl Weaver is jaded, slovenly and unsympathetic, but there's an element of badassness to him, too. He's so over political correctness in relation to smoking, and is beginning to enjoy his evolution into some kind of dangerous weapon as a result. Not only is his passive smoking harming others, he's literally infecting everybody around him with bug infestation. It's a cool idea.

But Brand X eventually succumbs to predictability. Mulder is infected, leading to some half-assed tension while Scully tries to save him, while there are a few too many stand-offs all over the shop that end up tiring you out. It's an episode that could almost be pretty fantastic, but struggles to move past its obvious problems along the way. In the end, it's pretty disposable. C

Credits
Guest stars Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner); Dennis Boutsikaris (Dr. Peter Voss); Richard Cox (Daniel Brimley); Tobin Bell (Darryl Weaver); Mike Hungerford (Thomas Gastall); Shannon O'Hurley (Anne Voss)
Writers Steven Maeda, Greg Walker Director Kim Manners