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"Hungry" is the third episode of the seventh season of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on November 21, 1999. It was written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Kim Manners, and featured a guest appearance by Chad Donella. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. However, unlike previous Monster-of-the-Week stories, "Hungry" is told from the monster's perspective. "Hungry" earned a Nielsen household rating of 9.6, being watched by 16.17 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mixed to positive reviews from 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, a fast-food employee with unusual cravings becomes the focus of an FBI investigation under the direction of Mulder and Scully. The victims appear with no brain and a suction hole in the forehead. Gilligan wanted to try a "different" approach to ''The X-Files'' with "Hungry" by telling the main story through the eyes of the monster. Actor Chad Donella, who portrayed the monster, was chosen because he possessed a "subtle, interesting quality," according to casting director Rick Millikan. Manners was pleased with Donella's performance, calling him a "great little actor." Because both David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were filming movies, ''Return to Me'' and ''The House of Mirth'' respectively, the production company decided to film "Hungry" before any of the other episodes, despite the fact that it would be aired third, after the conclusion of "The Sixth Extinction" arc. ==Plot== In Costa Mesa, California, a young man named Donald Pankow approaches the drive-thru of a Lucky Boy fast food restaurant. Despite the restaurant being closed, Pankow angrily demands service. The sheepish fast food attendant tells the man to drive to the next window, where he is attacked and violently pulled out of his car. Pankow's body is later discovered with the brain removed from the skull. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are assigned to assist the local police in their investigation. The only clue found at the scene is a Lucky Boy employee button. Mulder and Scully check all of the employees and discover that one of the clerks, Derwood Spinks, is missing his button. Scully suspects Spinks after it is discovered he has a criminal record. Mulder, however, believes that the victim's brain was removed by a proboscis, and suspects another employee, Rob Roberts, of committing the murder. Rob, who is actually a mutant human who wears a disguise to hide his true physical body, subsists on brains in order to survive. When he is trailed by a private investigator (Steve Kiziak), Rob kills him and eats in order to placate his hunger, which begins to get more and more uncontrollable. Spinks visits Rob at his home the following day, annoyed at being fired from Lucky Boy for lying about his criminal record. He confronts Rob with evidence of his role in Pankow's murder - Rob's diet pills (to control his voracious hunger) with a bloodstain fingermark on the lid - and attempts to blackmail him. Later that day, Rob intrudes Spinks' residence to retrieve his pills, but hides in a closet when Spinks returns; noticing that someone is in his home, Spinks arms himself with a baseball bat. He discovers Rob is in his home after seeing a pill bottle (belonging to Spinks) on the ground and tells him that he's going to turn him in instead of blackmailing him. As Spinks heads to the closet, Rob takes off his disguise, opens the closet door, and reveals his true self to a stunned Spinks before killing him. Rob is later contacted by Dr. Mindy Rinehart, a counselor hired by Lucky Boy to consult the employees following Pankow's killing. In session with her, Rob admits that he is battling an "eating disorder." Rinehart sends him to an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, not fully understanding Rob's true nature. Before attending the OA meeting, Rob is visited by Mulder and Scully, both who inform him that Spinks has disappeared; Mulder then reveals about Pankow's missing brain and that a "tiny shark's tooth" was discovered by Scully embedded in the skull. Mulder deduces that a "genetic freak" is responsible, which Rob nervously laughs it off. After the agents leave, Rob attends the OA meeting. At the meeting, he sees his kind landlady, Sylvia Jassey. Although he does not respond well to the meeting (by discreetly detailing the taste of a brain as "salty", "juicy", and "buttery" and especially visualizing a pulsing brain when a man turned to Sylvia), Rob and Sylvia bond on the trip home. Unfortunately, his hunger is far too overpowering and he is reluctantly compelled to feed upon her. To cover up her murder, Rob disposes of her body and smashes up his own apartment with Spinks' baseball bat. He tells Mulder and Scully that Spinks showed up and accused him of being the killer. Mulder then tells Rob if he recognizes Kiziak, the private investigator, but Rob says no. Both agents leave to find Sylvia. Rinehart shows up to find Rob packing his things, intent on leaving town. After a bitter argument, with Rinehart revealing that she knew Rob murdered Pankow, Rob reveals his true self to Rinehart. However, before Rob prepares to attack her, she shows deep sympathy for him, throwing Rob off-guard. At that moment, the agents arrive with guns drawn, having found Sylvia's body. Rinehart tells Rob to be the good person she knows he is capable of being. Instead, Rob charges at Mulder and is shot twice in the chest, committing suicide by cop. As Rob lies dying, Rinehart asks, "Why?" To which he replies, "I can't be something I'm not."〔Shapiro, pp. 31-41〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hungry (The X-Files)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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