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Recap / The X-Files S03 E06 "2Shy"

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Season 3, Episode 06:

2Shy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thexfiles2shy.png
"It's just a theory, but what if he's not doing this out of a psychotic impulse but rather out of physical hunger?"
Written by Jeffrey Vlaming
Directed by David Nutter

Mulder: "2Shy"?
Lauren's roommate: That was his online name. Lauren used to... read me his letters. They were amazing. He knew exactly what to say. He sure as hell fooled me.

A serial killer targets overweight women he meets online, killing them for their body fat.


Tropes:

  • Anywhere but Their Lips: The killer picks up a hooker who doesn't want to be kissed.
    Holly McClain: No kissing. Anything else you want is fine, but no kissing.
  • Asshole Victim: Detective Cross.
  • The Charmer: The mature gentleman variety. Incanto is not very good with people in his everyday life and strikes his young neighbour as creepy, but more mature women see a different side of him. This especially comes out with his overweight victims, who invariably have self-esteem issues and enjoy the attention this affable, handsome, mild-mannered man pays them. He takes this up to eleven through the filter of the internet; his poetry and love letters even managed to seduce one victim's roommate, who kept them for herself.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Jesse casually remarks that Incanto smells off, despite being blind. This skill becomes useful later on when she confronts Incanto in his room to look for her mother. He denies that she's in there, but she knows he's lying because there was the smell of her mum's perfume.
  • Combat Stilettos: Used as a self-defense weapon by Scully, who kicks a serial killer in the face.
  • Complexity Addiction: Pragmatically, Incanto gains just as much sustenance from the hooker he picks up on a whim as any of his other girlfriends. Aside from the possibility that much like depictions of the creatures he's compared to, Icanto simply prefers to feed off people he forms an emotional connection with, there's no given reason as to why he takes the risk of establishing relationships with his victims (which becomes his undoing when the FBI cracks his computer) rather than killing indiscriminately.
  • Dating Service Disaster: This is what kicks off the plot. Incanto chats with insecure women online through a dating service, so that he can meet them in person and suck out their body fat through deadly kisses.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Incanto puts on a charming act for his victims, but is shown to be quite dismissive with women he isn't interested in.
  • Flies Equals Evil: The first sign that tips off Jesse's mother about Incanto's secret killings are flies buzzing on the package of poems she wanted to give to him.
  • Improvised Weapon: Scully left her gun lying on the floor in a next room, so when she fights with Incanto, she stabs him with nail scissors.
  • Horror Hunger: After the killer breaks his MO and kills a hooker instead of the usual lonely women looking for Mr. Right, and the crime lab finds traces of his skin that contain absolutely no oils or fatty acids, Mulder suggests that he kills women and steals all their body fat not out of some psychotic impulse but instead because of this trope. The killer later confirms this.
  • Kiss of Death: The killer uses kissing as a pretense to regurgitate acid into his victims, pre-digesting their flesh so he could suck out their fat.
  • Monster of the Week: Incanto.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Virgil claims that he was simply giving his victims what they wanted, and taking what he needed in return. Scully is less than convinced.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Incanto needs fat rather than blood.
  • Serial Killer: Incanto targets lonely women. He needs to suck their body fat.
  • Straw Misogynist: Detective Cross' Establishing Character Moment, is him telling Scully that he is "old-fashioned" and therefore believes that women does not belong "in certain areas of law enforcement", and does little else than ridicule her for being a woman.

"I morti non sono piu soli."Translation 

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