Roadrunners (The X-Files)
"Roadrunners" is the fourth episode of the eighth season and the 165th episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on November 26, 2000 on Fox and on March 1, 2001 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was written by Vince Gilligan and directed by Rod Hardy. The episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 8.3 and was watched by 13.6 million households. The episode received mixed to positive reviews from television critics.
The series centers on FBI special agents Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her new partner John Doggett (Robert Patrick)—following the alien abduction of her former partner, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny)—who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Scully, working alone, pursues a cult that worship a slug-like organism and believe it to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; but in her efforts to save an injured stranger, she discovers she is in over her head.
The episode was written by Gilligan to be intentionally "creepy". Furthermore, Gilligan wanted to show the audience that John Doggett was a good person and an ally of Scully's. The parasitic creature that was used in the episode was designed to look like a banana slug and was created via animatronics. Several of the scenes were so gruesome that producer Paul Rabwin later noted that some of the cameramen "start to lose it" during filming.