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You may be looking for the person of the same name, see Duane Barry.
Duane Barry   Credits   Gallery   Transcript   Background Information    TXF-S2-Logo
Sometimes it hurts real bad, and you just want to die ... It's like living with a gun to your head and never knowing when it's going to go off
Duane Barry

"Duane Barry" is the fifth episode of the second season of The X-Files. It first aired in the United States on October 14, 1994 on the Fox network. The episode was written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, his first directorial effort. Duane Barry helped explore the series' mythology arc, with the plot further progressing in the next episode, Ascension.

Synopsis[]

Mulder becomes involved in a hostage situation with an escaped psychiatric patient who claims to be terrified of frequent alien abductions. (Part 1 of 2)

Summary[]

A psychiatric patient named Duane Barry seizes a guard's gun and kidnaps his psychiatrist, Doctor Del Hakkie. He soon holes up in a travel agency with three other hostages. Special Agent Fox Mulder is swimming in a speedo, his silky chest hair visible, when he is called in on the case and attempts to negotiate with Barry, as part of his psychiatric history involves alien abduction. During the negotiation there's suddenly an unexplained bright light from above and various electrical blackouts which spook Barry enough that he starts randomly shooting about, causing one of the hostages to be shot. Mulder, under the guise of a paramedic, is sent in with another to help save hostage's life. Eventually, gaining his trust, he exchanges himself as a hostage for the shot man. Mulder further gains Barry's trust with stories of his sister's own abduction, while Dana Scully combs through the FBI records for information on Barry.

Team Duane Barry

A hostage rescue team coaching Mulder in his negotiations with Duane Barry.

Scully discovers that Barry is a former FBI agent who was shot in the head in the line of duty, destroying the moral center of his brain and making him delusional - similar to Phineas Gage's accident in 1848. She goes to the command post outside the travel agency and talks to Mulder through a hidden communication device in his ear, warning him that Barry is not what Mulder thinks he is.

Barry tells Mulder that he has been abducted by aliens and the subject of various tests. We see him on an alien ship having his teeth drilled into with some kind of laser. He claims there are implants in his teeth, sinus cavities and his abdomen. After Mulder convinces him to free the two female hostages, an FBI sniper shoots Barry in the chest, seriously wounding him. Barry is taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

Grey Aliens Abduction Duane Barry

Grey aliens as they appeared to Duane Barry.

An examination confirms Barry's claims about the implants and Scully takes possession of a ragged-shaped metal piece that was in his abdomen. A microscopic analysis shows what appear to be lines similar to a bar code. The lab also tells her that the implants could not have been done with modern technology.

Later, at the grocery store, as the cashier is away from the post, on a whim Scully scans the piece of metal on the laser grocery scanner and the cash register goes haywire, displaying a strange, scrambled readout on the display. Perplexed, she rushes home to tell Mulder what happened.

Barry awakens in the hospital and is startled by a vision of aliens at his bedside. In a panic, he clubs a guard with a fire extinguisher and escapes.

Scully calls Mulder and is leaving a message on his answering machine when she hears a noise; on investigating she's startled by Barry who's standing outside her window, peering in. At Mulder's empty apartment, the recorder picks up the sound of breaking glass and her cries for help as she's attacked.

To be continued...

References[]

Virginia; tooth; Laser drilling device

Cast[]

Main Cast

Guest Starring

Co-stars

Featuring

Music[]

Featured song[]

  • "I Feel for You" by Chaka Khan

External Links[]


Episode Navigation[]

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