Love Your Momma!
"Home" Plot Summary:
A horribly deformed newborn which was apparently born alive is discovered in a shallow grave. The local sheriff calls in the F.B.I., but Scully sees no reason to believe that there's anything paranormal going on. However, when they hear about the local Peacock family, Mulder hypothesizes that something more may be going on. The family was once a large clan which lived on the edge of town, intermarrying and inbreeding to propagate their own kind. Now the three remaining brothers, all horribly deformed, work as pig farmers. Their favorite song, which they play loudly on the car radio, is "Wonderful, Wonderful."
After an investigation of the farm reveals evidence of a recent, bloody birth, Mulder suspects that the brothers may have forced a woman to bear the now-dead child. Meanwhile, the three brothers go to town and brutally murder the sheriff and his wife. Fearing for the woman who watches unseen at the farm, Mulder and Scully break into the farm house, but discover that the prisoner is the boys' mother - who apparently lacks legs, and has other physical deformities. She gave birth to the infant, who was apparently fathered by one of her sons.
The three Peacock boys return and attempt to slaughter the agents, but Scully manages to shoot one of them while Mulder kills another. In the melee, however, the remaining son and his mother escape in their white Cadillac. As "Wonderful, Wonderful" plays on the car radio, Mrs. Peacock reminds her son of his obligation as a Peacock to do whatever Mother wants, and they go off to find a new home.
Analysis:
This episode was just plain repugnant. I'm not sure what the point is - that the nuclear family is a disgusting, moribund institution? That certainly seemed to be one suggestion, particulary in the early scene where Mulder told Scully that he never envisioned her as a mother, as if that were by definition a good thing. Everything connected with domesticity is rendered nauseating - birth is bloody, violent, and unnatural, marital bliss is a crock to cover up the violent underpinnings of society, family ties are pathological. Who wants to see a show about a world like this one?
I suppose the gory directing was good, and the episode was suspenseful - I didn't see the ending coming, but I guess that's because mother-son incest is supposed to be unthinkable. I have a renewed appreciation for the Mulder and Scully families, which have always seemed pretty dysfunctional - they can't begin to compare with the Peacocks. It's hardly surprising to see this much darkness attributed to the social unit, but the black humor of this episode didn't make it watchable.
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