The First Appearance of the Black Oil

The Black Oil in Piper Maru

The alien virus known as the Black Oil or the Black Cancer first appears in the third season episode "Piper Maru." The Black Oil as it appears in this episode seems to act as a sentient, controlling agent that uses humans as hosts. It is transmitted from person to person, only infecting one host at a time. Its mode of transmission is unclear, as the episode only shows the before and after of infection. The primary indicator of infection with the Black Oil is a cloudy black appearance to the eyes. After the Black Oil has jumped hosts, it leaves a residue of oil, indicating (though perhaps this is only clear in hindsight), that the virus uses oil as a medium for transportation. The Black Oil also can cause intense radiation burns in those exposed to, but not infected by it. Those infected are unharmed by the radiation. It seems that the Black Oil can control this release of radiation, as it can travel in hosts through public spaces without affecting the general population; rather, it emits radiation in controlled, intense bursts. The Black Oil is generally reticent, but is capable of controlling speech, and even understanding humor to an extent, as after Krycek is infected, he tells Mulder he feels "like a new man." The Black Oil can also manipulate its hosts to travel long distances, though its motives remain unclear, aside from that they are somehow related to Mulder's investigation of government conspiracy.

In "Piper Maru" it becomes clear that the Black Oil has existed at least since World War II, though this information is transmitted to the audience through flashback. One striking difference between the flashback and the present expereicnes with the Black Oil is that the men on the ship seem to be infected over time, becoming sick progressively, while the Black Oil radiation in the present seems to produce instant, more intense effects on its victims. While initially there is no reason to doubt Commander Johansen's memories, the Black Oil only appears in the flashback after he makes the decision to lock the commanding officer, who has been infected, below deck. This means that Commander Johansen did not actually witness the appearance of the Black Oil. Is this flashback then to be taken as accurate? Does Commander Johansen imagine that the captain is infected, or is the flashback truthful historically, supplemented by Johansen's narration?

Pick A Side: How the Pilot Kicks it Off

Initial Rationale

The X-Files has had a lasting impression on me. Part of my fascination with the show while I was growing up was that it was scary, that it was science fiction, and that it was a TV show which did not condescend to the viewer. Instead of giving away a hard and fast plot or villain for Mulder and Scully to solve or beat, the show excels by keeping the viewer in the dark, particularly in the earlier seasons.

Admittedly, I have never been much for the conspiracy episodes. While watching them in their original airings I was frustrated by the infinite tangles of almosts and maybes. However, in revisiting these episodes ten years I find the overarching narrative to the series to be just as intriguing as any of the stand-alone creature episodes.

In this blog I would like to further investigate the relevance of the episodes which compose the mythology arch of the series. Like many other fans, I have always been fascinated by the way that the X-Files positions the human search for truth. As a scientist in a class on post-structuralist theory I found the methods and ideas concerning modern notions of truth to be almost overwhelming, and I think that the X-Files is an ideal medium to focus such an analysis. The issues addressed in the X-Files which I would like to focus on are the ways that the show problematizes the notion of truth. I felt that the X-Files is one of the most elegant and effective demonstrations of a sort of crisis in theory of knowledge that has arisen due to the proliferation of postmodern theory.

Being of a scientific bent, there is a part of me that is motivated to believe that truth is a real thing that relies on objectivity and empirical facts. That while there is a multiplicity of perspectives and interpretation, there is still always a truth which is divinable based on objective evidence. However, the validity of this view is challenged by postmodern thought. As a neuroscience major, I have found that postmodern notions of truth (or challenges to it) actually co-exist within traditional scientific thought better than I might have originally thought. I would like to explore these areas of overlap in this project. I am not interested in “de-bunking” or legitimizing per se. My primary objective is to try to analyze these concepts as they arise in the X-Files. I am particularly interested in the ways that the mythology arch uses techniques like regression, recovered memory, oral history, government cover-up, and American mythology making.

hypnosis, dreams, and the credibility of memory

Phil Farrand, in The Nitpicker’s Guide to The X-Files has pointed out the disparities between the story of Samantha’s abduction that Mulder tells in the pilot episode and the flashback of that night in “Little Green Men” (2X01). In the pilot, Mulder claims she “disappeared out of her bed one night,” the later version of the evening shows that Mulder was awake and present at the time of the abduction, home alone with his sister, waiting to watch The Magician and playing Stratego. This scene recurs throughout the series, but it is unclear whether this memory actually represents reality.

In fact, the memory is initially presented as a dream. However, the series later takes it at face value as representative of the night Samantha was abducted. The fourth season episode “Paper Hearts” draws heavily on what we assume are Mulder’s recovered memories, repressed due to the trauma of the incident, and uses the “Little Green Men” memory throughout. However, it later becomes clear that this is only because John Lee Roche is acutally able to manipulate Mulder’s dreams. Mulder is never entirely certain of the accuracy of his memories, and, despite his attempts to accesss them, the surreality of Mulder’s recollections erodes their validity.

However, because of episodes like “Paper Hearts” or “Demons” (in which Mulder undergoes some very questionable pseudo-lobotomizing procedures in order to fully access memories) which use that memory as a springboard, the “Little Green Men” narrative becomes standard. Even by the middle of the second season, when clone-Samantha asks, “Is it too late for a game of Stratego?”, it becomes clear that the details that clone-Samantha relates coincide with Mulder’s dream-memory from “Little Green Men.”

Similar narrative confusion arises with Scully’s abduction in the second season. Mulder first imagines Scully’s abduction in “Ascension” (2X06), but this image is later corroborated by Scully’s memories in “Nisei” (3X09). Again, a hypothetical image, constructed primarily from cultural assumptions and constructions of alien abduction, becomes verified through repetition The image of Scully’s swollen stomach becomes emblematic of her abduction, along with the isolated image of the drill that recurs throughout abduction narratives in the series, especially creating a parallel between Mulder’s abduction in the eighth season of the series with Duane Barry’s in the second.

Episodes like “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space” explicitly question the validity of subjective memory, and especially memory that is accessed through hypnosis. This skepticism, paired with narratives that appear to accept such memories creates uncertainty as to what can be taken as truth within the show.

“Red Museum” and Subversive Mythological Development

The episode “Red Museum” (2X10) combines elements of the monster of the week with mythological implications, quietly working to establish the mytharc without alerting the audience to its implications. Later mythology episodes take the form of the two-part whammy, not even waiting until the end of the teaser to alert the audience that the episodes will expect the audience to navigate and remember the latest twists and turns of government conspiracy and UFO activity within the show. However, “Red Museum” occurs between the show’s first two multi-episode installments, and so occupies a unique position in the development of the show’s mythology. While Scully’s abduction in the “Duane Barry” episodes foregrounds the development of the mythology, and both validates Mulder’s specific quest for answers and raises the stakes for Scully in the pair’s endeavors. However, it is “Colony” and “End Game” mid-second season that truly validate the mythology as an ongoing project within the show. “Red Museum,” six episodes before “Colony,” is therefore on the brink between a view of the show as made up of discrete installments, and a show that is concerned with an ongoing, overarching plot.

The episode takes place in a small town, and the ostensible issue facing the agents is cultism or possession, not abduction or government conspiracy. There is no indication that there is any extraterrestrial involvement, and even midway through the episode, it is not clear that Gerd Thomas, the creepy landlord, is not actually at fault for the abduction, and even murder of local teenagers. It is only at the conclusion of the episode that it becomes clear that the teenagers have been injected with purity control, the mysterious substance that Scully discovered at the conclusion of season one.

A key factor in making this obscure connection is Scully’s recognition the Crew Cut Man, one of the shadow government’s hired assassins, shown through a flashback to the night of Deep Throat’s death invites viewers to connect the episode to “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” as an early example of narrative development of the show. This sets up for the “Colony”/”End Game” two-parter, as those episodes again refer back to “The Erlenmeyer Flask,” and expand upon the alien-human hybrid development and cloning project.

Here a seemingly isolated set of incidents within a small town ultimately raises the question of other possible test groups that could exist throughout the country, and the ways that the Purity Control project is testing its research on unsuspecting citizens. “Red Museum” presents a community with a unique control group; the members of the Church of the Red Museum do not eat meat, and it appears that beef cattle are being injected with some form of the substance. However, beyond that, the teenagers' doctor had been giving them further injections. The results of this indicated that the subjects were unusually health, but that there had also been an increase in violent, aggressive behavior within the community. As Mulder and Scully simply stumble upon this connection to the Purity Control project, the episode implies that the scope of the project may extend to many other communities as well, and that the directors of the experiment have no concern for their human test subjects.

where to start?

The pilot episode of The X-Files introduces themes and motifs that recur and develop throughout the series— alien abduction, implants, hypnosis, time loss, memory loss, government involvement on both a local and larger scale. The episode begins with a disclaimer that serves as a point of validation for the series: "The following story is inspired by actual documented accounts." As this note does not appear again throughout the series, it raises the question of whether later episodes are also to be taken as essentially factual, also inspired by truthful accounts, or whether this applies solely to the series' first episode. This opening note also establishes the show as a serial endeavor, comprised of individual, discrete units, separate investigations into paranormal activity similar to Kolchak: The Nightstalker or The Twilight Zone. For the most part, the first season of the show maintains this aesthetic.

Throughout the first season, the show suggests government involvement in the suppression of evidence of paranormal activity, but the purpose of this cover-up, aside from potential public hysteria is unclear. Even within the pilot episode, the reason for Dr. Nemmen and Detective Miles involvement in the active suppression of the abductions of their children raises questions the show never answers This is also true of Mulder’s investigation of The X-Files. Mulder's initial description of his sister's disappearance as a motivating factor for his investigations into the paranormal is appropriately vague-- her abduction left no evidence of motive or method. Mulder's only memories stem from memories he has recalled through regression hypnosis. Even these memories, while they may suggest alien abduction, are hazy. Mulder's drive stems primarily from an inability to access classified information related to the X-Files, a knowledge that he only has access to the tip of the iceberg. The information that is unavailable to him becomes even more of a motivator than the the little information he can access.

Throughout the series, the show strikes a balance between standalone "Monster of the Week" episodes, and the more overarching, and generally more convoluted "mythology" episodes. The first season makes less of a distinction between the two, laying foundations and giving glimpses into government and military attempts to block access to information, while keeping motivations obscure. Mulder's informant, Deep Throat, without giving Mulder much concrete information, stresses the importance of his persistence, and indicates that the government has been involved the the cover-up of extraterrestrial activity since the 1940s. This establishes an historical precedent, as well as a connection to the well-known Roswell incident, and many other alleged UFO encounters of the 1940s and ‘50s.

At the close of the pilot, when the Cigarette Smoking Man places the implant from Billy Miles into a case of similar implants, it becomes clear that Bellfleur, Oregon is not unique in its experiences. In fact, the series seems to suggest that many instances of abduction revolve around isolated test groups in a single location. It is only later in the series that a bigger picture in terms of patterns of national and worldwide abductions becomes clearer (though never entirely explicable).

what ARE those things?

The title sequence of The X-Files remains, in conjunction with its eerily catchy theme song, one of the show's most immediately recognizable elements. This opening sets the tone for the show, placing it within a context of conspiracy, unexplained events, and mysterious activity of a secretive and scientific nature. The opening is marked by vaguely recognizable, grainy images evoking a sense of uncertainty while assuring its viewers that the images arise from the world of science fiction. The text that accompanies the images-- "Paranormal Activity," "Government Denies Knowledge," and "The Truth Is Out There"--further cements this association. The graininess recalls both homemade videos and security cameras, already creating the juxtaposition between the unverifiable determination of fanaticism and a real fear that the government's true agenda is more terrifying than the fanatic imagines. Especially since the title sequence usually comes on the heel of grotesque, often inexplicable murder, the images, themselves without any specific context, unnerve and pique the curiosity of the audience even further. The title sequence, particularly the image of mirrored shifting and growing masses (actually purported to be bean sprouts) creates a sense of unease, establishing and enforcing the show's creepy tone.