Roadrunners (The X-Files)

"Roadrunners," written by Vince Gilligan, was described as "uncharacteristically brutal."

"Roadrunners" was written by Vince Gilligan and was inspired by the thriller film Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).[3] The script, called "uncharacteristically brutal" for Gilligan—who had been noted for his comedic episodes like season five's "Bad Blood"[4] and "X-Cops"[5]—was written with the expressed intent to make, according to Gilligan, "a really all-out scary, creepy, get under-your-skin—literally and figuratively—X-File."[6] Gilligan also wanted the episode to show the audience that John Doggett was on the side of the heroes.[7] The writer explained, "I wanted this gangbusters episode, one that showed Doggett was a good guy; someone to be counted on."[7]

Many fans were unhappy with Doggett's condescension towards Scully during her apology.[8] Robert Patrick, the actor who portrayed Doggett, however, had a different interpretation: "The whole essence of the scene was, 'Look, I'm here for you. I've got your back. We're partners now.' And you give that the weight of a marine saying to someone, 'I'll jump on a grenade for you, so you can trust me.' The idea was to really assure the fans that the show was continuing on."[8]

Several of the characters in the episode were named after real-life individuals, including: the character of Hank, who was named after the brother of Vince Gilligan's girlfriend; Mr. Milsap, whose name is a reference to the American country music singer and pianist Ronnie Milsap; and Sheriff Ciolino who was named after Gilligan's mortgage broker.[3]

The episode was directed by Rod Hardy, making it his first credit for the series.[9][10] Hardy was offered the role after an unknown individual working at The X-Files saw his TBS remake of the film High Noon.[11] The parasitic creature that was used in the episode was created using animatronics[6] and was designed to look like a banana slug.[3] During the scene where the creature is inserted into Scully's back, the production crew created a false fiberglass back for Gillian Anderson. To create the illusion that the creature was crawling up the body, the fiberglass was placed on top of Anderson, and then the animatronic slug was pressed against the fake back.[6] Anderson later described the scene as "fun to shoot", although she also called it "exhausting" because she had to struggle on the bed, all the while tied down, with her arms being attached to the headboard and her legs to the footboard.[7] Paul Rabwin later noted that he had several cameramen "start to lose it" during the scene.[6][7]

"Roadrunners" first aired in the United States on Fox on November 26, 2000.[10] The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.3, meaning that it was seen by 8.3% of the nation's estimated households.[12] The episode was viewed by 8.37 million households,[12][nb 1] and 13.6 million viewers.[13] The episode ranked as the 38th most-watched episode for the week ending November 26.[12] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the episode made its first appearance on television on March 1, 2001, on Sky1.[14] "Roadrunners" was the seventh most watched program that week and received 0.67 million viewers.[15] Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "A desolate town. A bizarre cult. A horrifying ritual. And Scully may be the next victim."[16]

"Roadrunners" received mixed reviews from critics. Den of Geek writer Juliette Harrisson named the episode the "finest stand-alone episode" of the show's eighth season.[17] Harrisson praised the character development in "Roadrunners" and noted that the episode "effectively brings [Scully and Doggett] together as partners."[17] Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode four stars out of five.[18] The two note that, "for the first half-hour, this works as a slow burn horror story ... It's the transition of Gillian Anderson's performance from wry exasperation to outright paranoia ... which makes this so effective."[18] Shearman and Pearson criticize the cutting of John Doggett's role to a minimum.[18] Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club awarded the episode a "A–" and wrote that it "is an episode that’s dedicated to helping us move past the Mulder era."[19] She praised the creepiness of Gilligan's script, as well as the characterization of Scully, writing that even though she is in a situation that is over her head, she is still smart in her attempts to escape; he also praised Anderson's acting. However, VanDerWerff was more critical of the final scene, noting that it made Doggett come across as "kind of an asshole".[19] Paul Spragg of Xposé wrote positively of the episode, saying it features a "return to the body horror stories that had worked so well in the early seasons". Spragg added that "Roadrunners" is "certainly close" to the highly acclaimed first-season episode "Ice".[20]

Not all reviews were positive. George Avalos and Michael Liedtke of the Knight Ridder Tribune wrote that the episode's slug "continued the series' fine tradition of monsters that made us queasy as we squirmed in our seats".[21] Despite enjoying the gore and the reality of Scully's isolation, the two were critical of the cult's motivations, writing that "we were given absolutely no clue as to why the Utah cult members believed the slug represented the Second Coming of Jesus Christ."[21] The two ultimately concluded that "Roadrunners" fell "well short of a classic."[21] Sarah Stegall highly criticized the episode, calling it "a bad mix of The Fly and The Kindred, with plenty of X-Files classic paranoia but none of the finesse we've seen before."[22] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a scathing review and awarded it no stars out of four.[23] She heavily derided the plot, sarcastically referring to Doggett as a "man's man" and the parasite a "phallic-shaped giant slug".[23] Furthermore, she criticized Scully's actions to go off on an assignment without telling her partner.[23] Dave Golder from SFX criticized the episode and called it a retread of the first season episode "Ice".[24]