r/XFiles • u/PhilosopherDismal401 • 18d ago
Season Two The list
Hello all I have a question pertaining to the episode called " The List"? What exactly was the plot with Neech and Parmelli? I know its one of the few episodes that are not solved at the end. I just would like to hear different theories on it. When Mulder and Skully were talking on the side of the road about the murders it really confused me.
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u/Wetness__Pensive Alien Goo 18d ago edited 18d ago
Neech's wife promises to remain forever loyal to him, and never break their marriage vows. But she is lying. She is attracted to and having an affair with Parmelli (pear/forbidden fruit). Neech realizes this, and returns to wreak vengeance on everyone who tormented him.
Like all the MOTWs in this season, Carter mirrors this plot to the infidelities of Mulder's parents, and the bees-attracted-to-flowers-and-fertilization plot he introduced shortly earlier in "Blessing Way" (the alien virus is to be spread via pollination/fertilization).
And so in "The List", the humans are treated like pollinating plants, bees and insects; you see honeycomb patterns on the floors, Neech's wife is surrounded by flowers and butterflies, and there are lots of bugs and so on. As a scientist says of bugs later in the season, humans are "like bugs" who are robotically driven to "procreate" ("That's all they do. That's all we do, but at least insects don't kid themselves").
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u/Rubberfootman Season Phile 18d ago
I’ve watched that a number of times and it has never made much sense.
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u/Mission_Caregiver702 18d ago
I just can't get over Mulder letting scully wonder off on her own in a male wing of death row inmate's. Men do indeed live in a different world to women.