User Reviews

The first season of the X-Files went out with a bang. The Erlenmeyer Flask delivers in so many ways. It has the most exciting opening teaser of any episode so far, an intense car chase on the docks of Maryland. This marks the first time that the tag line changes at the end of the opening credits. It reads, 'Trust No One' instead of 'The Truth Is Out There'.

We get our first glimpse of the alien/human hybrid experiments and their toxic green blood. The story is fast-paced with some good dramatic moments between Mulder and Scully and Deep Throat. The episode begs the question, after having been misled by Deep Throat in 'E.B.E.', can he be trusted again by Mulder and Scully? Early on, Deep Throat accosts Mulder as he returns to his apartment, asking why he is giving up so soon. How did Deep Throat know that Mulder was giving up? There is really no way he could have known. The writers just needed to advance the story is how I figure it.

Mulder has plenty of one-liners in this episode as usual, and even Scully gets in a rare joke with her 'monkey pee' line.

With the second appearance in the series of the voice of Danny, Mulder gets an address from him for Zeus Storage. It is located on Pandora Street. I think this episode is kind of like opening a Pandora's box for the rest of the series. The first season was fine and all, but this episode really jump-starts the popularity of The X-Files. I find it to be an interesting parallel. And, that was the actual name of the street in Vancouver where they filmed that scene.

The scene where Mulder enters the warehouse and discovers the bodies suspended in liquid is a breathtaking visual. Another classic visual from this episode is when Scully removes the alien fetus from the canister. Irrefutable proof for Scully? Maybe not.

The end of the episode has a near exact ending to the ending of the Pilot episode with the Cigarette Smoking Man putting a piece of evidence away in the basement of the Pentagon. I like how that shows that the first season has come full circle.

The Erlenmeyer Flask keeps you jumping up until the end when the ultimate sacrifice is made to save Mulder. This episode is a must-see for all.

The Erlenmeyer Flask the Limerick:

A doctor with alien DNA

From the syndicate runs away

A flask labeled "Purity"

Turns out not to be

The monkey pee, Scully will say

Great episode. The mythology officially kicks off into full gear with this wonderful season 1 finale. On rewatching this episode I was surprised to find out how many mythology references originated from this episode. Such as the cloning experiment, Zeus genetics, purity control, the phrase: "trust no one", etc. It is too bad that Deep Throat dies so early in the series but luckily we are given a very worthy successor soon enough. I also thought this was quite early for Scully to get her evidence from the monkey pee about finding alien DNA. It seemed that it took longer for her to find evidence like that in the series. The conspiracy still seemed so new and mysterious with so much to look forward to. I give the episode a perfect 10.

The teaser of this episode was awesome.But what followed was even better. Mulder and Scully get deeper than ever into the conspiracy surrounding them. We get to see some tests involving alien DNA on human subjects and an alien baby frozen on liquid nitrogen. The episode was really good and one of my personal favorites from season one. I love the final scene, its mystical...pure X-Files. We see Deep Throat get killed, shame, he was such a good character. For the first time we hear " Trust no one" which became a catchphrase later on.

Overall a great final, The second season opener "Little Green Men" was just as good

The Season ends with a very excitable bang and leaves us in suspense from the very start. The year has been a very excitable and interesting year and I have loved every minute of it, good and bad. I shall now do my last Good and Bad for Season 1, The Erlenmeyer Flask. Enjoy.

The Good: That alien baby was adorable. x]

The final scene. Beautifully done.

Those bodies in the glass. Wow.

Deep Throat. Trust him or not?

The Bad: The whole shooting thing. :'(

Conclusion: Brilliant end of a brilliant First Season. I want to believe. 10/10

Every once in a while, a show comes along that will grip you and not let go...The X-Files is that kind of a show.

During the First Season of The X-Files, we are introduced to Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), a brilliant (yet strange) F.B.I investigator. Mulder believes that his sister was abducted by aliens when she was a child, and he will do everything in his power to prove that the U.S. government knows of this and is covering it up. Because of his obsession, Mulder is paired with Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), a straight-laced, by-the-book agent sent to debunk his work. However, rather than spying on Mulder, Scully takes an interest in his work and they become strong partners. That is the basis for the rest of the show.

In most episodes, Mulder and Scully investigate paranormal happenings that defy the laws of nature or the universe. Scully proves to be ever the skeptic she set out to be, never being convinced of Mulder's work.

The real power of the show, though, comes with its ability to let the viewer feel exactly what Fox Mulder is feeling. So many times during the First Season Mulder comes agonizingly close to unearthing critical evidence against the government in his pursuit of aliens, but each and every time it is yanked away or swept under the rug. The viewers feel just as cheated as Mulder does, wanting to continue the quest for the truth.

Along the way in Season One, a few key characters are introduced. The Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis) makes a few minor, yet crucial, appearances, while the mysterious Deep Throat (Jerry Hardin) works as a trusted (?) informant to Mulder.

Season One of The X-Files is quite different from all the other seasons. It has more of a darker, scarier feel to it. The "mythology" established in later seasons has not been developed quite yet, so it consists primarily of stand-alone episodes. A good job is done with character development, and it definitely makes one want to keep watching the show.

In conclusion, Season One is a great scary, sci-fi show. Turn out the lights, turn up the TV, and enjoy!!

Update (12/2015)

-After a recent re-watch of this season, I'm keeping this season at four stars. It is a great first season, but with a few too many really terrible clunkers to give it a full five stars. One thing I had forgotten about this season is how passionate Duchovny is as Mulder. With respect to Anderson's Scully, Mulder's character arc is really what jump-starts this show in the early-goings.

I'm sorry I said Ice was the best episode of the season 1, earlier. I didn't really think or care about the series' mythology during that watch. This episode is an amazing example of writing with full intensity, suspense and drama.

Sad to see Deep Throat, as he started to became a more "human" person like some critic said that his death made him seem "real" but as he finally met Scully, I started to like him a little as a character.

I hope I see more episodes with this type of darkness, unsafeness in the future and really get these mythology episodes while also enjoying brilliant MOTW episodes. I give this episode a well, fully earned 10/10 point and also praise Gillian Anderson's acting as Dana Scully.

Wow, this story ends with not one, not two, but potentially three cliffhangers, and the buildup was nothing to sneeze at either. The way things go in comic books and movies, one doesn't really know if Deep Throat is left for dead with any certainty (he was, but...), while the enigmatic Smoking Man (William B. Davis) places the fetal alien in storage in the bowels of the Pentagon. The final kicker comes when Mulder calls Scully to let her know the shady executive reaches of the government is shutting down the X-Files. If that didn't keep you hanging on for Season Two, I don't know what would have.

Have you noticed that ever since it was revealed that Spock had green blood, that green is the color of choice whenever alien creatures are involved? I wonder why that is, or why no one ever took a stab at blue, or purple, or yellow. At least to my recollection there hasn't been. Pretty sure black has been though, that would make sense for monster aliens who exude diabolical evil.

What's cool about the story here is how writer and series creator Chris Carter fleshed out the story with a basis in science, fabricating a fifth and sixth DNA pair that doesn't exist in nature to support the idea of gene therapy on terminal patients to improve their chances of survival. The application would have astounding consequences for the future of mankind, hence the involvement of super secret laboratories to keep the existence of aliens under wraps. The scene of those experimental aquarium subjects was just the creepiest thing yet in the X-Files universe.

This episode might also have featured the longest Hail Mary pass in the series up to that point when Scully guessed on the password 'purity control'. Thinking about it, it seemed a logical choice, but what would have happened if she missed? Hazard to think, there might not have been a second season after all.

Scully has found two bits of irredfutable evidence that science cannot explain. Her whole world has now changed, very excited to see what she does next.

I'm very glad deep throat has now made him self more prominent to scully before his untimely demise this will help her to link eveything that has happened and be on par with mulder.

Really wish we got to know more about deep throat but from the glimpses he seems to feed Mulder information to make recompense for his years of lies and wrong doing. Perhaps in the next season we'll learn more.

And of course since they're only higher up ally dies they no longer have any protection. Which has lead to the x files being shut down. But the show must go on, I believe the writers will find a way.

Lastly Who is this man collected evidence in the pentagon since the ICE worms episode! He seems like he'll be the next shadowy figure that we must watch for.

Just as I feared, I really don't really care much for this episode.

It's actually my least favorite Mythology episode of the first Season. Even the Pilot is more exciting.

There weren't really any good Sculder moments, and the rest of it was kinda slow. It's not bad, but it's just not something that really stands out for me. and it introduced the cloning and green-blood aliens. Bore/

The only shocking part of the episode was when Deep Throat was shot. it's a shame to see him go. But it's not shocking after repeatable viewings because you already know what's gonna happen.

I'm gonna give this episode THREE stars. It was an OK ending to an OK season.

The whole alien DNA storyline and subsequent ridiculously perfect cover up just doesn't work for me. Totally ridiculous. Some evidence would survive.

I much preferred the paranormal criminal episodes in season one.

This is the very center of The X-Files S1 through S8E1-2: PURITY.

Purity refers to what was in "The Erlenmeyer Flask" (The flask in which "Purity" was stored was not precisely an actual "Erlenmeyer Flask") - The ALIEN DNA. This was given to some agency in the 40's and had been stored in the vault ever since. In this ep, Dana Skully was used to effect a change of hands over who had control of and access to Purity.

We know from X-Files history, that the Consortium then used the material to create the "weak vaccine" that we eventually saw used in "The X-Files: Fight The Future."

But did we know any of this back when this was broadcast? Not at all. So when we first see this ep, it seems that Deep Throat's initial call to Mulder was about something apparently Trivial. This of course was The Maguffin of Maguffins.

This was the Episode where we discovered, there was NOTHING Trivial about the information that flooded from Deep Throat.

This was the last time Jerry Hardin played the "Living" Deep Throat, but not the last time that character appeared to Mulder.

This episode was simply the tip of an iceberg - It propelled The X Files from a "Night Stalker MOTW" show to something truly ingenious. There were levels within levels of story arc, and this was the moment we knew: This show is SPECIAL.

I saw each S1 X-Files Ep from day one, and when I saw this, I knew it was not going to be canceled after just one season. Soon after this Episode was Broadcast: The X-Files Convention came to San Diego. So this end of year one became a celebration of what was to become a tradition: First a Friday Night Tradition, then a Sunday Night Tradition. And this was one of the only times Fox actually Helped a show along by moving it to a better slot.

Everything we know about The X Files: It Stared HERE in THIS EP.

The Erlenmeyer Flask is about Mulder being tipped by Deep Throat of an unusual missing fugitive.

Overall story arc progresses significantly and a there's a super serious tone, missing some of usual memorable character moments. It's solid, though not a favourite of mine. We have alien-human-hybrids and the murder of those who become involved.

Scully: What exactly did you find? Carpenter: A fifth and sixth DNA nucleotide. A new base pair. Agent Scully, what are you looking at... it exists nowhere in nature. IT would have to be, by definition... extraterrestrial. Ah good wording and pronunciation.

This episode really left me speechless as it was really pretty good.

I guess I'll start with the story itself. It started off extremely dynamic, immediately giving the feeling that something big is about to happen. The whole conspiracy and alien experiments arc is exactly what I was waiting for. I don't even know if there are much to say tbh. It's not a difficult but definitely an intruiging one. I really wanna see how things will play out later on as all the evidences now are destroyed and Deep Throat is dead and unable to help Scully and Mulder any longer. Seems very interesting cause I'm sure that Mulder isn't about to give up. I like it how he always remains the same, loyal to his desire to make people believe. Anyway, I guess it could've been done better and some of the evidences would've remained, if Scully had taken results immediately or if Mulder had been more cautious and hadn't gone anywhere without a good plan. But I liked it the way it's been done.

The other thing I wanna talk about is characters. It's definitely one of the constant things which makes me continue watching the show even during not the brightest of the episodes.

Deep Throat. It was pretty unexpected to see him go so soon. He was probably the most intruiging character of the whole season and definitely one of the most charismatic ones. I've never known if he could've been trusted, always doubted him and hoped to see more of him. But it was an interesting way to kill him off by giving him the ability to save both Mulder and Scully. That was suprising and even shocking for me. I honestly expected those guys to work for him and it all to be a part of the one big lie initiated by Deep Throat. Feels good to be wrong about it. I guess that's one of the reasons a can give this episode a credit for.

Scully. She's my favourite character so I really pay attention on the way she's written. And here she was amazingly written in every scene she was in. I liked it how she at first was extremely bored and completely uninterested in the case that indeed was so vague and came from someone she didn't trust. Perfectly fitting. I liked it how, by being shocked, by being lost and maybe even scared, by realizing that she was dealing with something she could've never explained, by basically being faced with the evidences of what she thought was impossible, she remained professional. It's especially noticable during her and Mulder's convo with Deep Throat when she was asking only those questions that were realeted to the case and showed her suspicious towards him as a trustworthy source of information.

Mulder. The thing I loved the most about him in this episode was probably the fact that he confronted Deep Throat. As for the rest, he was perfectly in character that was obsessed with his case and wws willing to be put himself in a great risk just to find out the truth.

All in all, I enjoyed this episode a lot and I find it to be pretty exciting. I don't have much to say, but stakes were really high in this one and that was cool. I'll give it something between 8.5/10 and 9/10.

At first, police was shooting and trying to kill the guy. He did not have any guns but they were shooting. It was really bad. I hate cops that is why :)

Scully has just started to believe in mulder and this theories in last episodes. But now they came to end.

The protecter guy who was head of something important in government also died in this episode. He sacrificed himself. Probably he said once, he still regretted killing the alien. That is why he sacrificed I think.

He could reveal truth alone maybe but he said, "without evidence noone belives you". So that is why he did not try to do this.

He did not have authority to take the baby alien (or half alien half human?) himself so he used scully. And they did great exchange.

They are very strong who kidnapped mulder. I dont know who they are. Very very deep state probably. Like gladio. As the protector guy said, since 1940s they tried to do.

So they try to create next generetaion humans, with super gens mixed.

I cant understand why they could not kill both; scully and mulder. Maybe it could take attentions if they killed but it would be forgetten later.

Or after they took the alien, they could also kill. I dont question this because it was really good.

Now their protector is gone. So, they will moved to other departments.

But this series lasted 7-8 seasons so somehow they will find a way to come back.

As I always said, they needed a journalist and tv reporter. They were always alone. They cant manage to spread truth like that.

I will miss this series. Because i watch 1 season for each series than i move to another :(

I could not understand also how scully managed to guess password of purity. Maybe in before episodes, something happened.

For a season, we could not see i think even kissing. Only one-two kssing scenes with the episode in fire boy. No love scenes. Not between scully and mulder anything. They are always too busy so they cant even date or speak or chat or the episodes dont show us that.

"I'm not going to give up. I can't give up. Not as long as the truth is out there." – Fox Mulder.

Episode 24, season finale, 'The Erlenmeyer Flask', original air date May 13th, 1994. Written by Chris Carter and directed by R.W Goodwin. Mythology episode count, 5. The final episode for season 1 introduces several significant plot elements that lay the ground work in establishing the series broader mythology. Though at the time Carter himself didn't even know exactly where they were headed with some of these ideas, in retrospect the episode actually does a great job at establishing the human/alien hybrid experiments which the as yet unknown shadow government organisation is conducting. For the first time in the series, the iconic tag line "The truth is out there", is replaced during the opening credits with the now quintessential phrase, "Trust no one," echoing Deep Throat's final words at the episodes conclusion. This is a device that will be used several times throughout the series, generally preceding episodes that significantly advance the mythology storyline.

Mulder is directed towards an innocuous car chase report on TV by Deep Throat, convinced there is something significant for him to find amongst the footage. Despite a clear lack of direction, he persists with his investigation. Scully on the other hand has had enough. She's dubious of Deep Throat's motives and urges Mulder to resist in impulsively following his vague and cryptic slivers of information. The strength of the pair's relationship and the mutual respect that has developed over the season is clearly indicated here as Mulder listens to Scully and confronts Deep Throat himself.

The pair investigate the death of a scientist who was working on the human genome project. Scully has a substance analysed at Mulder's request and they discover that it is alien DNA. This plot point introduces us to the concept of human/alien hybrid experimentation, a key component of the series mythology. Though it is ultimately unclear at this point why these experiments are taking place, it's nonetheless a critical plot point that will continue to be developed throughout the course of the series. It's exciting to re-watch this episode and realise just how significant 'The Erlenmeyer Flask' is in establishing the ongoing conspiracies. The term 'Purity Control' makes it's debut in this episode, as we now know this is the code name given to the hybrid project, which is the syndicate's attempt at developing a race of humans that will be able to survive the impending colonisation of earth. The hybrid's toxic blood and super human strength is established here by the character of Dr. William Secare (Simon Webb). The syndicate of course cannot risk exposing a hybrid to the outside world, and much of the episode's action sequences involve the capture and extermination of this character.

Just when Deep Throat is becoming more interesting he is prematurely killed off by Carter at this episode's conclusion. While this is disappointing from a fan's perspective, it's nevertheless a successful plot device in regards to establishing the threat that looms over Mulder and Scully if they pursue the X-Files investigations further. Carter has said that he felt killing off Deep Throat showed the audience that anyone, outside of Mulder and Scully, is expendable. This works to heighten the drama surrounding supporting characters, as we're never sure just how long they will last on the show, anyone can be killed off if the storyline requires it. Having Deep Throat be killed also legitimises his characters involvement with the conspiracy. Up until this point we could argue that he is simply toying with Mulder, stringing him along with false information. His death at the hands of the shadow organisation involved in Purity Control shows us that he was in fact a key player who was in possession of information that could jeopardise their well laid plans. What this means for the audience is that when the character of 'X' is introduced next season, we're more likely to trust that his information is genuine and are more sympathetic to the compromising and potentially life threatening situation he places himself in, in order to provide Mulder with information.

The episodes conclusion mirrors the final scene of the Pilot. The Smoking Man makes his third and final appearance in Season 1, seen here placing an Alien foetus among countless pieces of presumably top secret evidence in the Pentagon vault. The X-Files have been shut down and Mulder and Scully are to be re-assigned to new areas, thus we have come full circle over the course of the season as we first began with the F.B.I intending to debunk Mulder's work and close down his unit. The closure of the X-Files was something Carter had always intended to end the series with, as he felt it was where the first season was always headed from day one. It was also fortunate that splitting up the agents in the beginning of Season 2 helped the writers to work around Gillian Anderson's pregnancy. The Fox network was very hesitant to allow the series to end with the closure of the X-Files unit as they felt that it would give the impression that the series had been cancelled, which it had not. With the internet being in it's infancy at the time, some fans of the show may have felt this was the case as there was not way to confirm or deny this assumption.

Considering that there are still 8 more seasons to go, it's interesting to note just how much has been established in only 5 mythology based episodes. The ground work has been laid for what will be a complex and often-times convoluted myth-arc that remains to this day ultimately unresolved. However, as confusing as it was to decipher the first time around, it's arguably more interesting and engaging to track it's progress in retrospect, armed with a solid foundation of knowledge gained from viewing the series multiple times.