"Hungry"

"And just maybe you can blow town before the long arm of the law reaches out and grabs you by the gonads."
Originally Aired 11/21/99

This is an interesting episode because when I was watching reruns on the Sci Fi Channel in the mid-2000's, I came across this episode a few times yet it was always during the final ten minutes. It seems like I'd always remember there was an afternoon rerun at the last possible chance to turn it on after I got home classes. It also happens to be interesting for another reason, because "Hungry" goes against the typical X-Files formula and is told from the perspective of the monster. While the series has featured sympathetic villains in the past such as in "Leonard Betts", those episodes still featured plenty of scenes with Mulder and Scully. Here they only get a handful of scenes together and most of the investigation seems to consist of Mulder stalking the monster, much like how he followed Wayne in "Terms of Endearment." "Hungry" isn't breaking new ground but I love how the writer Vince Gilligan has combined bits of previous episodes into a fun "monster of the week" tale.

Rob Roberts (Chad Donella) works at a burger joint but he doesn't have cravings for the double patty with cheese, instead he enjoys delicious brains. He's hiding his true self and feeds off excess ground beef once the joint closes, though he can't hold off his cravings much longer. I like that we follow his side of the story because we get some delicious slices of Vince Gilligan's dark comedy- Rob dreams he's frying up brains on the grill, and later, he sees a bald guy's throbbing brain through the back of his noggin. It's kind of like when a guy in a cartoon gets hungry and sees his plump friend as a hamburger.

Another guest star in this episode portrayed April O'Neal in the original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Judith Hoag, although the real treat was seeing Mark Pellegrino as "Derwood Spinks." Besides having the cool name of Derwood, it's nice to spot him in these earlier bit roles, after seeing him in key roles on TV shows, Lost and Supernatural. An interesting fun fact is that the P.I. Steve Kiziak is actually named Steve Kiziak, and he's also David Duchovny's stand-in.

The seventh season is actually off to a fine start despite my hestitations, which is actually closer to dragging my feet since I held off on writing anything new since the finale of Season 6. "Sixth Extinction" 1 & 2 and now "Hungry" are all solid episodes while also being "new" episodes, with exception to the ending of "Hungry." This leaves me with 10 new episodes and 9 I've already watched.