episode by Chris Carter
summary by Pellinor
Internal dating: The hostage negotiation begins in daylight on August 7th 1994 and is over the same night. It isn't clear whether it's hours or days that have elapsed before Barry escapes from the hospital at the end, so it isn't clear when Scully was abducted. August 8th 1994, or a day or two later, presumably.
1985. A man (Duane Barry) is lying on bed watching television when suddenly there is a very bright flickering light. Alien figures are seen outside the room, and Barry screams. "Not again!" he says, as a space ship is seen above his house.
Davis Correctional Treatment Center, Marion, Virginia. August 7 1994 (date shown a few scenes later). Duane Barry is brought to see his psychiatrist, Dr Hakkie. Barry says he's not crazy, but "they" are coming to take him again. The doctor goes to give him an injection, but Barry walks out, grabs a guard's gun, and takes the doctor hostage.
Mulder is swimming at the FBI pool (an infamous scene!) when Krycek arrives and tells him about Barry. Barry has four hostages in an office building and claims he's being controlled by aliens.
Mulder and Krycek arrive at the scene, which is a hive of activity. The negotiation commander, Lucy Kazdin, introduces herself and explains the situation. Barry wants safe passage for himself and Dr Hakkie to an alien abduction site, but he can't remember exactly where that is, so he's stopped at a travel agent, which is where he is now. Mulder says he's never been in a hostage negotiation before, and is told that Barry needs a friend - someone who appears to understand him who will then encourage him to listen to reason. Mulder asks about Barry's abduction experiences, but they haven't bothered to find out. "You really believe in this stuff, Agent Mulder?" Kazdin asks. She then tells him to start negotiations immediately. When he again asks for more details on his abduction, she says "the guy's a psycho.... We stop to do a Freudian analysis, next thing we know we've got four dead hostages. So whatever crap you've got to make up about spacemen or UFOs, just keep him on the phone."
Barry begins getting violent. He says again that he wants the doctor to come with him so he will see it's real. Just then the phone rings and Mulder introduces himself. "I think I know what you're going through, Duane," he says. "You know what I'm going through?" Barry shouts. "You think you know what Duane Barry's going through?" Mulder assures him they are only concerned about his safety, but Barry says he knows the routine. "Honesty, Containment, Conciliation," he says, quoting the words that are written on the blackboard in the negotiation room. "You need someone to trust, Duane," Mulder says, and tells he him he knows lots of people who've been through similar ordeals. Barry says that if they do anything to stop him he'll kill the hostages. "They're not taking me again," he says. "They can take somebody else." Then he hangs up.
Mulder turns angrily to Kazdin, asking to be told the truth. "He's FBI, isn't he?" "Former FBI," she admits, but he's been out of the Bureau since 1982. Mulder accuses the Bureau of mishandling the situation out of a desire to minimise embarrassment. Once again he says the only way they can make any headway is to understand what Barry's afraid of, not by just reading the script. "Have you ever spoken to an abductee, Agent Kazdin?" he demands, describing people being conscious as their brain is sucked out of their nostril. After Mulder storms off, Krycek eagerly offers his help, but looks crestfallen to be only given a drinks order.
Scully is watching the situation on tv when Mulder calls. He asks her to find out background information on Barry.
At the crime scene, all the power goes off and there is a very bright light. Barry panics and shoots, wounding one of the hostages. Although Barry clearly thinks it is the aliens coming, the official explanation is that it's just a substation going down. Barry agrees to let a doctor in.
Mulder dresses as a paramedic, with a tiny communication device in his ear and a microphone in his bullet-proof vest. He is told to try to get Barry to the front door where they can shoot him.
Mulder and another agent, who has medical training, are held at gun-point by Barry who searches them but doesn't find the microphone. The other agent tends to the hostage while Mulder talks to Barry. He asks them if the light was the aliens, and says he checked his watch and saw they lost time. Barry flashes back to being abducted as Mulder talks. "I believe your story," says Mulder, ignoring Kazdin's warnings that he shouldn't feed the fantasy. "I know you're afraid.... I've talked to people, Duane. People just like you." He urges Barry to let the other hostages go, especially the wounded one. Barry agrees to let the wounded man go, but insists that Mulder stays instead.
Mulder is tied to a chair and Barry again asks why he claims to believe his story. "It happened to my sister," Mulder says. Barry thinks he's lying, but Mulder pushes him, asking how the abductions happen, describing an abduction scenario to him. Barry again flashes back to an abduction as Mulder talks and asks questions. He sees himself rise from the bed, then tells Mulder that the aliens can read minds, though they don't talk in the normal way. He would beg them to let him go, but "they never listen. They knew what I was saying, but just got right on with their business. Tell him what their business is?" he urges Mulder, gesturing at the doctor. "Tell him." "They take you aboard their ship to perform the tests," Mulder says. "They drill holes in my damn teeth!" Barry suddenly screams, as the camera shows this happening.
The FBI team is working on drilling through the wall when Scully calls. Krycek takes the call and tells her what has happened. She says they have to get Mulder out immediately or he could be killed. "Duane Barry is not what Mulder thinks he is," she says.
Mulder and Barry talk about Samantha. Barry says he's seen little girls in the ships, having tests done to them. "Are they hurting them?" Mulder asks. "Oh yeah," he says. "Sometimes it hurts real bad, and you just want to die, you know." Mulder urges Barry to let everyone go except him. Barry says if the FBI heard about that he'd be in trouble, but Mulder says he doesn't care about that. Barry still refuses, saying he won't do that to him.
The FBI finish drilling through the wall and get a camera in. Scully rushes in, having just flown in. She says there has been a critical misjudgement. Barry was shot in 1982, the bullet piercing his bilateral frontal lobes. This effectively destroyed the moral centre of his brain, making him a pathological liar, like a famous case of a man called Gage a hundred years ago. Kazdin asks how Scully got involved and she says she used to work with Mulder, but she looks away and seems rather awkward about it.
Barry says the government's in on it, and are sometimes in the room too when they come. He calls it a secret corporation, and flashes back to seeing men in dark suits watching as he is abducted. "The government knows why they're here," he says. "But they wouldn't dare let the truth out, so they co-operate." Mulder again asks Barry what he wants, and he says he wants to take the doctor to the place it first started - a mountain ascending to the stars.
Scully speaks to Mulder telling him what she's discovered, but Mulder continues to talk to Barry, asking him how they find him. Barry says it's by implants in his sinus cavities, gums and abdomen. Scully urges Mulder to negotiate, and Mulder asks Barry to free the hostages. Barry agrees to release the two women, but insists that the doctor and Mulder stay. As they leave, one of the hostages stops and tells Barry she believes him. Once they're clear, the hostage retrieval team prepare to go in.
Mulder wants to know where the aliens come and again ask Barry to remember, When he sees the red light showing a gun is aimed at Barry's head, he quickly calls Barry closer so he can talk to him. "There's something I've got to know." he says. "Are you making any of this up?" "You're calling Duane Barry a liar now?" Barry asks, angry, Mulder apologises, but Barry grabs him, shouting, "I trusted you! I trusted you!" Mulder then tells Barry to go and lock the door, which was left unlocked after the women left. Barry does so, and is shot.
Barry is taken away to the hospital, and Scully ask Mulder if he's okay. "Whatever you're feeling." she says, "you did the right thing." "It's just that I believe him," Mulder says. "Sometimes when you want to believe so badly you end up looking too hard," she tells him.
Kazdin calls Mulder to see Barry in the hospital. She thanks him for his part in the negotiation, but also tells him that pieces of metal were found exactly where he said they would be, and there were tiny holes in his teeth, beyond current technology.
Scully and Mulder look at one of the implants. Mulder says it means he was telling the truth. "Or some version of the truth," she says. She says she'll take it to Ballistics to be examined.
The Ballistics man finds small marking etched into the metal, and when Scully's shopping on the way home she suddenly realises it looks like a bar-code and surreptitiously runs it over the scanner. The machine goes wild.
In the hospital, Barry suddenly regains consciousness when there is a bright light and aliens seems to be beside his bed. He runs from the room, knocking a guard unconscious with a fire extinguisher.
Later, Scully calls Mulder, getting his answer phone. "Mulder, I've just had something incredibly strange happen," she says, telling him what has happened. "It's almost as if somebody was using it to catalogue him." Then there's a noise, a Duane Barry is at her window. Mulder! I need you help!" she cries onto his machine, as there is the sound of breaking glass. "Mulder!"
To be continued in Ascension