Quagmire (The X-Files)
| "Quagmire (The X-Files)" |
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"Quagmire" is the twenty-second episode of the third season of The X-Files. When a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances are reported near a lake in a small town, Agents Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate. With local folklore of a killer sea serpent running rampant amongst the locals, the agents must take their search for the truth to the water. Text taken from the "Quagmire" summary here.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (September 2007) |
- The title itself, Quagmire refers to the type of area in which most of the episode is set.
- Queequeg, as is revealed, is the harpoonist from Moby-Dick, which is the inspiration for what Agent Scully names her dog. Dana inherited the dog itself from a previous episode.
- Furthermore, Moby-Dick is the inspiration for the nicknames Dana and her father used for each other in the first season, which were Ahab and Starbuck, respectively.
- The name of the location of the 'sea monster' sightings, Heuvelmans Lake, is likely a reference to French 'father of cryptozoology' Bernard Heuvelmans, given the cryptozoological nature of the episode.
- In Heuvelmans Lake appears on souvenir mugs in The X-Files: The Game.
- The episode bears many similarities to the 1999 film Lake Placid, in which a community is threatened by a giant crocodile.
- The Legendary Creature in the episode is nicknamed "Big Blue". At almost 13 minutes into the episode, in a possible hidden play-on-words reference, a "Great Blue" Heron is seen flying along the lake.
- The teenagers featured licking the toad in the scene on the dock appeared earlier in the season in the episode "War of the Coprophages."
- This episode would be one of the few notable episodes in which the story line does not deal with any paranormal or supernatural forces. The ending of the episode is, however, designed to suggest that possibility does in fact exist.
- (possible spoiler) This episode was shown out of order during the original UK BBC airings. It was aired before ‘War of the Coprophages’ instead of after. Although the episodes’ storylines are self-contained, War of the Coprophages’ features scenes of Scully bathing her dog Queequeg, while in Quagmire Queequag is eaten by the ‘lake monster’. So in the BBC’s continuity, Scully’s dog is killed and then a few episodes later, he reappears.
- (possible spoiler) There is an obvious continuity error in the early post-opening credits scenes. After the credits, Mulder and Scully are driving and Scully mentions Queequag needs a toilet break. Mulder says he's lost & needs to pull over for directions. The next scene has them interveiwing Dr. Paul Farraday in his lab, which is followed by a scene showing Scully and Mulder walking to a shop and asking directions. Scully is in the same jacket for the car/shop scenes, but a different suit jacket during the interview with Farraday.
