X-Files--"Home"

“Home” is the most controversial episode of The X-Files. It is the only episode of the series to be banned from FOX after its initial airing. One wonders how it ever aired in the first place with its graphic depictions of infanticide, double bludgeoning, a decapitation, and the graphic depiction of the deformations caused by inbreeding. You can imagine how this description must mean a divisive split among X-Philes as to the popularity of the episode. It is practically a litmus test for true fans.

I pass the test for a full fledged X-Phile. It is not a fun episode to watch, but it is so well written and directed, with some incredibly thought provoking elements that I am glad it was produced as an episode of one of my all time favorite television series, but one viewing will stick with you likely for the duration. I feel the same way about the films The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en for much the same reasons. “home” is gruesomely brutal, yet shines a light on the hopelessly sad state of some people that you feel like you really need to see. It is not Freddy Krueger popcorn horror, but a real world nightmare that probably really is happening somewhere.

I watched ’Home” when it first aired. Rarely will watching a random episode of a television series stick in my mind, but I still recall the gape jawed reaction to the opening teaser. Right off the bat, it reminded me of classic Tales from the Crypt comics from the ’50’s. the kind that brought on the now nearly defunct Comics Code Authority self-censorship. Anyone who does not know comics will likely dismiss my above comparisons to Oscar winning films. You will just have to trust my judgment. Not all comics are or have been as frivolously juvenile as you probably think. The rest of the episode confirmed my thought ‘Home” was an EC Comics story come to film, though no where have writers Glen Morgan and James Wong confirmed an homage, at least to my knowledge.

The first scene involves a carefully shadowed childbirth, then burial in a field of the infant--from the infant’s perspective. The only concessions to censorship allowed was cutting the audio track of the baby’s crying as it is being buried alive. In spite of my Christian conservative roots, I am not big on censorship. I am all about personal responsibility and letting you pay the consequences, natural and eternal, for whatever you choose to experience. But even I am glad they chose not to cross that line.

The child is discovered by kids playing a pick up game of baseball in the field when the batter kicks up some bloody sand. This is a small town in which nothing like this ever happens, so the local sheriff immediately hands the matter over to the FBI. It is not a federal matter until Scully, repulsed by the appearance of the severely deformed corpse, theorizes someone, probably kidnapped, is being forced to breed children and needs to be rescued.

There is no mystery here beyond the identity of the mother. We only see her in the shadows. We have already seen the three deformed monster burying the infant. We know exactly who they are and what they have done. So does the sheriff. The Peacock family, as they are known, are complete throwbacks to savagery. Total recluses without any modern conveniences, they eat, work, and *ahem* breed within their own. The sheriff and the rest of the town pretend they do not exist. He assures the agents they have not been breeding. Hence, Scully’s kidnapped woman theory.

You cannot blame the sheriff for his lack of trust in Scully’s theory. Every effort is made to make Home, Pennsylvania into mythic Mayberry. Literally. The sheriff is named Andy Taylor. At one point, he is shown pulling his gun out of a dusty lock box. There are no bullets in it. This is down home, never have to lock your doors Norman Rockwell America. Contrast that idyllic image with the reality of the Peacocks.

Mulder, Scully, and the deputy, before he is decapitated by a booby-trapped front door, invade the peacock house and discover the woman is not a kidnap victim, but the mother. Missing three limbs from a car accident she was presumed killed in decades ago, the three boys keep her in a box under the bed until they are ready to--use her. She is perfectly content with the arrangement. This is her home, her family way. Outsiders are intruding on it. The agents have little recourse but to intervene. By this point, her sons have murdered Sheriff Taylor , his wife, and deputy. They have to be brought in.

The confrontation is the most violent on The X-Files, including one of the boys being impaled on another booby trap. Somehow, the mother crawls away during the skirmish. It is revealed later that one son survived and took his mother to safety. They drive off into the night in a stolen ’57 Cadillac to find a new home to start over all again.

Oh, mercy. Where to begin?

It is difficult to not assume the Peacocks were inbreeding from the beginning or, at the very least, the mother was a freak. No effort was made to give any credence to Scully’s kidnapping theory even before she convinced Mulder, who thinks the baby’s death is a local matter the FBI has no business dealing with., to go along with it. He concedes solely because because Scully’s maternal instincts strongly emerge. Not that this is the first or last time Scully has or will show a strong inclination to protect children, but it is particularly poignant since she is the one to confront Ms. Peacock in the climactic scene to get an earful of a warped mother’s sense of devotion. That is what the episode is really about--the devotion family members have for each other. However sick that may sound in this case.

“Home” is definitely sick. Definitely tasteless, too. Not just for the content of the plot, but also for much of the banter between Mulder and Scully. Mulder comes across as particularly aloof reminiscing over his childhood while Scully examines the infant’s shallow grave. Both come across as cruel in their witty banter throughout, even during the assault on the Peacock home. Really, Babe quotes while sneaking passed a hog pen? Come on.

There are some logical flaws, too. The agents would never assault a house with at least three armed men inside without state police for backup. It is doubtful Scully could identify such severe birth defects specifically by name just by looking at the infant’s corpse. She is not an expert in such things. Oddly enough, the biggest flaw is in geography. The Peacocks are presented as Southern hicks. The mother even refers to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression. But the episode is set in Pennsylvania, not a southern locale. James Carville once famously quipped the Keystone State is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between. Still, that is not good enough. If you are going to make fun of Southerners as inbred hicks, at least put them on the proper side of the Mason-Dixon line.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend “Home.” It is a divisive episode for an X-Phile. One either ranks it near the top or in the cellar. I am of the former. Watch it at least once. Once is probably all you will ever need.

Rating: **** (out of 5)