Rush (The X-Files)

Rush (The X-Files)

"Rush" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series The X-Files, and the 144th episode overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 5, 1999. It was written by David Amann and directed by Robert Lieberman. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Rush" earned a Nielsen household rating of 7.9, being watched by 12.71 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly mixed-to-negative 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, Mulder and Scully investigate a high school student who is the prime suspect in the bizarre murder of a police officer. They discover that the boy and a couple of friends have been playing with the ability to accelerate their movements to a frequency the human eye can’t perceive.

The idea for "Rush" had been proposed as far back as the sixth season of The X-Files. However, the original plot of the episode—the effects of having super speed—eventually delved into "deeper" themes, such as drug abuse, boredom, and the teenage experience. Although the episode relied on special effects, many of the scenes were created by manipulating the speed of the camera during filming.