Irresistible
- Episode aired Jan 13, 1995
- TV-14
- 45m
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
5.2K
YOUR RATING
Scully and Mulder hunt down a fetishist who collects pieces of the dead.Scully and Mulder hunt down a fetishist who collects pieces of the dead.Scully and Mulder hunt down a fetishist who collects pieces of the dead.
Maggie Blue O'Hara
- Young Woman
- (as Maggie O'Hara)
Kiara Hunter
- Coed
- (as Ciara Hunter)
Megan Hilty
- Deceased Girl Jessica
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the opening scene (post credits), the camera pans past several gravestones. The name on one of the gravestones is Raymond Soames. Ray Soames is a character in Pilot (1993) about whom the plot revolves.
- GoofsWhen Scully and Pfaster are rolling down the stairs, as they reach the bottom step a crew hand is visible on the left hand side rising up to stop them falling into the camera.
- Quotes
Mulder: It's been said that fear of the unknown is an irrational response to the excesses of the imagination. But our fear of the everyday, of the lurking stranger and the sound of footfalls on the stairs, the fear of violent death and the primitive impulse to survive, are as frightening as any X-File; as real as the acceptance that it could happen to you.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Horrifying X-Files Moments (2018)
- SoundtracksTrois Gymnopédies
Performed by Erik Satie
Featured review
Some people collect salt and pepper shakers. The fetishist collects dead things.
As I had mentioned in a review for another episode, the best stand-alone X Files are the ones that integrate the emotional reactions of the main characters and provide the viewers with greater insight into the minds of agents Mulder and Scully. Even when the subject material requires a suspension of judgment (an example would be season 4's "Unruhe"), the unreality of the circumstances becomes irrelevant when the protagonists have a personal stake in the matter. When they manage to pull it off convincingly and in a way that demands empathy from the viewers, they make for engaging storytelling. "Irresistible" is one such episode, and once again it is Gillian Anderson who steals the thunder, portraying Scully's anxieties and terrors in a convincing fashion that fits in logically within the overarching plot of the series (a little more than a month following her abduction). The premise of the story is less concerned with the usual paranormal phenomena than it is the atrocities wreaked by a man driven by horrible primitive urges - in this case, Donnie Pfaster, who has a disturbing affinity for the hair and fingernails of the deceased. Despite the eternal creepiness of the crimes, the episode is driven more by Scully and her struggle to deal with the magnitude of them, which becomes so consuming that she is forced to retreat to DC and seek the assistance of a therapist (who returns for a similar scene in "Elegy") before she herself can confront her demons.
This episode intrigues me because I think at it's core it has to do with facades. Under one we can find the merciless desires of a demon made flesh, under the other is a fragile human grasping at straws for a sense of security. When you factor in the realism of the story and the fact that it could actually happen it makes it even more frightening. While I think "Irresistible" would have worked better had it been aired a few episodes earlier, it is certainly one of the more memorable episodes from this particular season. I originally wanted to give it an 8, but my better judgment is telling me to give it a 9/10.
This episode intrigues me because I think at it's core it has to do with facades. Under one we can find the merciless desires of a demon made flesh, under the other is a fragile human grasping at straws for a sense of security. When you factor in the realism of the story and the fact that it could actually happen it makes it even more frightening. While I think "Irresistible" would have worked better had it been aired a few episodes earlier, it is certainly one of the more memorable episodes from this particular season. I originally wanted to give it an 8, but my better judgment is telling me to give it a 9/10.
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- DWilliams1089
- Jun 24, 2010
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