F. Emasculata

"F. Emasculata"
The X-Files episode
A prisoner with exploding pustules. The pustules were carefully rigged to burst on command by makeup supervisor Toby Lindala.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 22
Directed by	Rob Bowman
Written by	Chris Carter Howard Gordon
Production code	2X22
Original air date	April 28, 1995
Running time	45 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner William B. Davis as The Smoking Man Charles Martin Smith as Doctor Osbourne John Tench as Steve Angelo Vacco as Angelo Garza John Pyper-Ferguson as Paul Dean Norris as Marshal Tapia Lynda Boyd as Elizabeth Alvin Sanders as the Bus Driver Kim Kondrashoff as Bobby Torrence Chilton Crane as Mother at Bus Station Bill Rowat as Doctor Robert Torrence Jude Zachary as Winston
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Calusari" Next → "Soft Light"
List of The X-Files episodes

"F. Emasculata" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It first premiered on the Fox network in the United States on April 28, 1995. It was written by series creator Chris Carter and staff writer Howard Gordon, and directed by Rob Bowman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "F. Emasculata" received a Nielsen rating of 8.9 and was watched by 8.5 million households. The episode received mixed reviews from television critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this episode, Scully tries to discover the cause of a mysterious illness after several men in a prison die. Meanwhile, Mulder attempts to find two escapees who could potentially spread the disease.

"F. Emasculata" was based on the actual practice of pharmaceutical companies sending scientists all over the world looking for plants and animals that could have medicinal use. The X-Files director Frank Spotnitz felt that the episode's exploding pustules were ridiculous because of their over-the-top nature. The Costa Rican forest at the opening was shot at the Seymour Demonstration Forest in Northern Vancouver.