The X-Files/Recap/S01/E14 Gender Bender

In a dance club, a young man is taken by a young woman, Marty, for casual sex. The man dies afterwards, and Marty leaves the room as a man. FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are called to the scene; Mulder believes that the man's death was caused by a fatal dose of pheromones. There is also ambiguity in similar murders as to the sex of the killer. Evidence from the crime scene leads the duo to an Amish-like community in Steveston, Massachusetts, which Mulder calls the Kindred.

Mulder approaches some of the Kindred, only to be shunned. Meanwhile, Scully befriends a member, Brother Andrew, who is reluctant to talk. While shaking hands with him, Scully appears entranced, not coming to until Mulder catches her attention. The agents visit the Kindred's remote community, where they are asked to surrender their guns before entering. Mulder and Scully are invited to dinner. When the Kindred refuse to allow Scully to treat Brother Aaron, a sick participant at the table, Brother Andrew states that the Kindred take care of their own. Meanwhile, in another nightclub, a man convinces a girl to dance with him by touching her hand.

When the Kindred escort the agents out of the village, Mulder comments on the lack of children in the community and states that he recognizes some of the faces from photographs taken in the 1930s. Curious, he returns to the village that night, and hears chanting as a procession of the Kindred moves to a barn. Scully is led off by Brother Andrew, who claims to be able to give her information about the murderer, whom he calls Brother Martin. Downstairs in the barn, the group can be seen bathing Brother Aaron's body in watery clay. Mulder hides in a crevice, where he discovers that the sick man has been buried alive and has begun to take on feminine features. Meanwhile, Brother Andrew uses his power to seduce Scully. She is unable to resist, and is on the verge of succumbing before Mulder comes to her aid. The agents are again escorted out of the village.

Another man, Michel, is having sex with the female form of Brother Martin in a parked car before a patrol officer interrupts them. As Michel suddenly starts retching, the officer is attacked by Brother Martin, who changes into a man and escapes. In the hospital Michel reluctantly reveals to Mulder and Scully that when he looked out of the car, the girl he was with "looked like a man". The agents are alerted about activity on a previous victim's credit card, which was stolen by Brother Martin. The agents chase Brother Martin into an alley, only to have the Kindred appear and take him away. The following morning the agents return to the Kindred's dwelling, which now appears deserted. The tunnels are blocked entirely with the white clay. Mulder and Scully walk into the nearby field where they find a large crop circle, suggesting that the Kindred are aliens.


 * Gender Bender - The episode's title is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The aliens can switch genders at will.
 * Human Aliens - The monsters of the week look exactly like humans.
 * Living Aphrodisiac - The aliens themselves.
 * Sex of Death - The only real reason the aliens could be considered monsters at all. Sleeping with them is almost inevitably fatal to the human.
 * You Look Familiar - Nicholas Lea, who would go on to play Alex Krycek, appears as a would-be victim.


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