"Pilot" is the episode where Mulder and Scully meet. (what a coincidence, considering it's the first episode!) Throughout the episode they are flirting with eachother. I have even gotten some NoRoMoS to verify that fact, so I know that it is plausible, and it's not only me. In the ep, various kids who had graduated highschool not long ago kept finding themselves in the forrest without knowing how they got there. (hey no biggie) The only problem was that they started dying in the forrest. So, the newly assigned partners, Mulder and Scully, go off to Oregon to investigate their first X-File!!

An "Oregon female, age twenty-one, no explainable cause of death. Autopsy shows nothing. Zip" dies. But there are 2 marks on her lower back that make Mulder suspect alien involvement. There are various other deaths of the same unknown cause across America. So, Mulder and Scully go to Oregon to investigate the latest death. As they are driving on the road, everything starts going wacko. First of all, Mulder asks Scully if she is squeamish around dead people and she gets an odd expression on her face and tells him that "she's never had the pleasure" (referring to doing an autopsy) Which, seems kinda spooky to me since she is a forensic pathologist......Anyway, back to the car going wacko...the radio starts flipping through channels rapidly and eventually turns into a high pitched screeching, and at the same time, the clock starts changing times too. Mulder pulls the car over to the side of the road and turns it off. He gets out of the car, rummages through the trunk, gets some neon orange spray paint out, and marks a big "X" on the road.

As Mulder and Scully finally reach the cemetery to dig up a body and make sure that a proper autopsy is done, the county medical examiner shows up and gets upset that his work on Karen Swenson (the body being dug up) was being questioned. But, they continue digging up the body despite his objections. As the casket is being lifted out of the grave, it slips and rolls down a hill and falls open. Inside is a small body with a big head.....Later at a morgue, Mulder is taking pictures of the alienesque body and Scully is attempting to prepare to do her 1st autopsy.(lol) *may i also add that this is the only episode where we see Mulder's photography hobby* Mulder theorizes out loud that the remains are alien, while Scully thinks the remains are "chimpanzee or something from the ape family."

The next day, Mulder and Scully go to the State Psychiatric Hospital to visit Ray Soames. According to the glass, Soames and some of his other classmates had been suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress, 2 of these people being Billy Miles and Peggy O'Dell. Apparently, Billy Miles is experiencing a "waking coma" and therefor does not react to anything around him, but Peggy seems to be challenged, and is seen reading to Billy. Peggy gets very upset when Mulder asks that a cursory medical exam be done on her. In the middle of her fit, her nose starts bleeding tremendously. As this happens, Mulder quickly lifts up her shirt to expose 2 punctures on her lower back, just like the other victims.

That night, Mulder and Scully go into the woods to try and get some clues to what's been happening. Unfortunately, a policeman tells them that they are on private property and trespassing. They are forced to leave, but aha, Scully managed to get a sample of some sand splotches in the dirt.
9:03pm
On their way back to wherever they are going, Mulder's compass starts going wacko....you get the point. There is a loud roar and a bright light and for a couple of seconds, time stands still. When they come back, Mulder automatically looks at his watch to see that it is now 9:12! Mulder over reacts; screaming that they are now "abductees" while Scully seems very confused. Mulder runs down the road and starts screaming even louder. He is standing on the orange "X" he marked the road with at the beginning of the episode.

Later, at the no powered hotel room, Scully is about to take a shower when she notices some bumps on her back. Afraid that these are the same bumps that the other people had, she runs into Mulder's room and takes off her robe to expose herself in only her bra and underwear. (now this seems kinda strange to me, but oh well) Mulder takes an unusually long time to examine the bites and then tells her that they are only mosquito bites. Then it cuts off and comes back to Mulder saying "I was twelve when it happened. My sister was eight. She just disappeared out of her bed one night. Just gone, vanished. No note, no phone calls, no evidence of anything." Which of course, he is talking about whom? SAMANTHA!

Then the phone rings and an anonymous person states that Peggy O'Dell has died. M & S rush off to the Psychiatric Hospital and find out that Peggy has been run over by a truck. Then, Scully finds out that the alien/monkey corpse has been stolen from the lab.

When they go back to the hotel, uhoh, "FIRE!!!!!" All of Mulder's pictures of the corpse, the X-rays, and Scully's autopsy recording all burn up. Theresa Neman, the medical examiner's daughter informs Mulder that she too has found herself out in the woods with no recollection of getting there. She confesses that her father knows about what has been happening, but has told her never to tell anyone about it. Mulder then finds out that Theresa has the 2 marks on her back. Theresa's father comes into the restaurant and takes her away.

Scully and Mulder decide to dig up the other two graves of the people that died, but the caskets were empty. This is when Mulder theorizes that Billy Miles is the one committing all the murders.

Back again at the State Psychiatric Hospital, Mulder and Scully discover that Billy Miles has dirt on his feet…dirt that Scully thinks is from the forrest, but unfortunately, she cannot prove this because the original sample was in the hotel room, thus burned in the fire. So, they decide to go back to the woods and take another sample of the dirt found. While in the woods however, they see the detective's car, meaning that he is in the woods and then hear a scream. Mulder runs into the detective while running toward the screaming sounds and convinces the detective that covering up Billy's crimes is only killing more people. Billy's father, the detective, thinks about this and then yells at Billy to stop. Billy starts to lift Theresa up into the air and there is light again and a whirlwind around Billy and Theresa. The light dies down and then both Billy and Theresa no longer have the 2 marks on their lower back!

Back in DC, the FBI is questioning Billy Miles. He says that "they" would tell him to gather the others so that "they" could do tests. But, the test did not work, and "they" wanted everything destroyed.

4- on the top of the favorites list
3- really good ep, but lacking some important x-fileish things
2- ok...better than musings of CSM anyway
1- pretty much an ep without M or S in it, one with a plot that makes too much sense, or just an ep that is missing something

"Pilot" recieved a(n): 3.5
"Pilot" was a classic episode because it's when Mulder met Scully and Scully met Mulder. It also has some conspiracy in it. However, the conspiracy in this ep does not really correspond with the other conspiracies. Also, there were a few nit picks in it. Obviously, Mulde and Scully were a little out of character. But, you have to give DD and GA credit, because it was the first episode and they weren't used to their characters. But, one of the outcomes of them being out of character was that Mulder and Scully flirted with eachother, which gets a thumbs up from all us shippers!

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SHIPPINESS SCALE:
5- One of those eps where something in shipper history happened. One of the things that pop into your mind whenever you are trying to convert a NoRoMo.
4- Shippy, but not long lasting. It has impact, and whenever you watch the ep you go "awwwwww"
3- an ep with a lot of little shippy things in it that don't amout to much, but make you watch it over and over again
2- no shippiness
1- i hate to say this, but there are eps like this(well, in all of these eps, there is some ship that makes it up)....noromo appearance
"Pilot" recieved a(n): 2.3
The only reason I say this is because since it is the first ep, Mulder and Scully do not know eachother very much. If Scully walked into Mulder's hotel room in the next new episode and took off her clothes, it would be A LOT different. But, the fact that Scully already trusted Mulder enough to do that, foreshadows her trust in the future, and that is shippy! *******************************************************
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