"Home" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files, which originally aired on the Fox network on October11, 1996. Directed by Kim Manners, it was written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. "Home" is a "monster-of-the-week" story, unconnected to the overarching mythology of The X-Files. Watched by 18.85 million viewers, the initial broadcast had a Nielsen rating of 11.9. "Home" was the first episode of The X-Files to carry a viewer discretion warning for graphic content. It would have been the only episode to receive a TV-MA rating upon broadcast, but it aired two months before the December 19, 1996 introduction of the TV Parental Guidelines. Critics were generally complimentary, and praised the disturbing nature of the plot; several made comparisons to the work of director Tobe Hooper. Some reviewers felt the violence was excessive.
The series centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who work on cases linked to the paranormal, collectively called "X-Files". Mulder is a believer in the paranormal; the skeptical Scully was initially assigned to debunk his work, but the two have developed a deep friendship. In this episode, Mulder and Scully investigate the death of a baby born with severe physical defects. Traveling to the small isolated town of Home, Pennsylvania, the pair meet the Peacocks, a family of deformed farmers who have not left their house in a decade. Initially, Mulder suspects the brothers kidnapped and raped a woman to father the child, but the investigation uncovers a long history of incest involving the Peacocks' own mother.
"Home" marks the return of writers Morgan and Wong, who left the show following its second season. They attempted to make the episode as ambitious and shocking as possible and were inspired by real-life events, including the documentary Brother's Keeper and a story from Charlie Chaplin's autobiography about an encounter with a family in rural Wales. The graphic content of the script attracted controversy from early in the production process. Commentators have interpreted the episode as satirizing the American Dream, addressing globalization, and exploring the nature of motherhood. Critics and crew members describe "Home" as a seminal episode of The X-Files.
Plot In the small town of Home, Pennsylvania, a woman gives birth to a deformed baby. Three similarly deformed men bury it near their dilapidated house during a rainstorm. Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are sent to investigate after the corpse is found by children during a sandlot-ball game. While talking to local sheriff Andy Taylor (Tucker Smallwood), Mulder asks whether the Peacock brothers—the inhabitants of the house nearest to the crime scene—have been questioned. Taylor informs him that the house dates to the Civil War and is without electricity, running water or heat. He also insinuates that the family has been inbreeding since the war. The three Peacock brothers watch the agents from their front porch.
During an autopsy, the agents discover that the baby suffocated by inhaling dirt—meaning that it was buried alive. Scully suggests the baby's defects could have been caused by inbreeding. Mulder insists this hypothesis would be impossible since the Peacocks seem to live in an all-male household. Suspecting the Peacocks have kidnapped and raped a woman, the agents investigate their now-abandoned residence and discover blood, scissors and a shovel on a table. In retaliation, the Peacocks enter Taylor's house during the night and murder him and his wife, Barbara (Judith Maxie).
Laboratory tests indicate the baby's parents were members of the Peacock family. Believing that the three Peacock brothers must be holding the dead baby's mother hostage, the agents and Deputy Barney Paster (Sebastian Spence) go to arrest them. When Paster breaks down the front door of the house, he is decapitated by a booby-trap, before the brothers rip the body apart. Mulder and Scully then release the Peacocks' pigs to lure them out of the house before searching it.
The agents find a quadruple amputee hidden under a bed. She is revealed to be Mrs. Peacock, the mother of the boys. She was presumed dead from a car crash several years previously; however, she survived and continued to have inbred children. Mrs. Peacock reveals that neither she nor anyone in the family can feel pain. The brothers realize Mulder and Scully are inside their house and attack. The two youngest sons withstand several gunshots before dying, one of them impaled on another booby-trap. Afterwards, the agents discover that Mrs. Peacock and her eldest son have escaped in their car, planning to start a new family elsewhere.Meisler (1998), pp. 39–46
Production
Background
"Home" marked the return of writers Glen Morgan and James Wong, who had left production of The X-Files after the second season to work on other television projects.Kellner (2003), p. 158.Short (2011), p. 60. Before their departure, Morgan and Wong had written many episodes of the series and were instrumental in the success of its first season. The two developed Space: Above and Beyond, a science fiction television series canceled after one season.Johnson-Smith (2005), p. 134. Subsequently, the two rejoined the staff of The X-Files and became writers for the fourth season. To make an impact for their return, they decided to write an ambitious story and attempted to produce a script shocking enough to push the boundaries of television. Space: Above and Beyond co-star Kristen Cloke advised them to study books about the "dark" side of nature so they could write about subjects like survivalism.
Many actors from Space: Above and Beyond appeared in the fourth season; the first was Tucker Smallwood, who portrays Sheriff Andy Taylor in "Home".Booker (2002), p. 126.Smallwood (2007), p. 45. When Morgan first pitched the episode to Chris Carter, he specifically described three actors from the show—James Morrison, Rodney Rowland and Morgan Weisser—as the trio of "big freak brothers". The episode contained references to popular television, such as the use of the names Andy Taylor and Barney, and referring to Mayberry, which are references to characters and the fictional town from The Andy Griffith Show.Cornell et al (1998), pp. 284–288
Writing
Sources consulted by the writers included Brother's Keeper (1992), a documentary film depicting the story of the Wards, four "barely literate" brothers who lived on a farm that had been passed on through their family for generations.Merritt (1999), p. 394.Niemi (2006), p. 421. The brothers drew international attention following the alleged murder of William Ward by his brother Delbert. With an estimated IQ of 68, Delbert escaped prosecution by claiming police had tricked him during interrogation. Wong chose to base the Peacock family on the Wards, incorporating their lifestyles into the script. The name "Peacock" came from the former neighbors of Morgan's parents.
Further inspiration came from a story in Charlie Chaplin's autobiography; while touring with a musical theatre production, he stayed at a miner's tenement home in Wales. After dinner, the host introduced Chaplin to a disfigured and legless man named Gilbert who slept in a kitchen cupboard; Glen Morgan incorrectly recalled this as a totally limbless boy who was kept under a bed. Chaplin described the man as "a half man with no legs, an oversize blond flat-shaped head, a sickening white face, a sunken nose, [and] a large mouth" who could jump using his arms, but this was misremembered by Morgan as though the man had no limbs and "flopp[ed] around" while the family sang and danced. Morgan used his memory of this incident within the screenplay, although at Wong's suggestion they changed the character to the boy's mother. The episode was also made as an homage to 1970s horror films such as Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977).Waddell (2006), p. 113.
It took some time for the concepts to come together into a story;Booker (2002), p. 129. elements first appeared in the second season episode "Humbug", written by Morgan's brother Darin and featuring a cast of circus sideshow performers. The episode incorporated several themes that had an influence on "Home", including the use of a "benign soul trapped in the body of a monster".
When director Kim Manners read the script for "Home", he called it "as classic a horror script [as] I'm ever going to see." The producers, on the other hand, felt the show had gone too far, and called it "tasteless". William B. Davis, the actor who portrayed the series' main antagonist The Smoking Man, argued that the screenplay read like Morgan and Wong deliberately wanted to go back to the stylistic origins of the series.Davis (2011), p. 129.
Filming and post-production
Like the rest of the fourth season, "Home" was filmed in British Columbia. Most of the scenes depicting buildings were shot in the town of Surrey, British Columbia, with the exterior of the Langley Community Hall in Fort Langley doubling as Home's sheriff's station. As the town's architecture comprised both old and new styles, careful reverse angles were employed to preserve the impression of "small-town America".Gradnitzer and Pittson (1999) p. 122. The building used as the Peacock house had been previously utilized in the season two episode "Aubrey". At that time, the producers noted that the house had been "untouched for years" and was "so good" they had to return to film it again.Lowry (1995), pp. 188–189Gradnitzer and Pittson (1999) p. 70. The car that the Peacock family drives in the episode was found on a farm outside Vancouver. It was rented and restored for use in the episode. Cadillac later sent the producers a letter thanking them for including one of their cars in the show.
After the episode aired, Tucker Smallwood recalled that the filming was an unpleasant experience. He entered production of the episode with little knowledge of the nature of The X-Files, and was surprised when he received the screenplay. During his first day on set, he asked other cast members if the series was always so violent. An unidentified crew member said, "this is awful even for us", and commented that it was probably the most gruesome episode of the series run. During the sheriff's death scene Smallwood insisted on performing his own stunts, until he hit his head attempting a dive. Another uncomfortable moment for the actor involved lying face down in a pool of fake blood for more than 90 minutes.
The episode incorporates the song "Wonderful! Wonderful!" by musician Johnny Mathis.Cornell et al (1998), p. 286.Delasara (2000), p. 125. Having read the screenplay Mathis refused to allow his version to be used, owing to the episode's graphic content, and a cover version had to be created. Producer David Nutter, who had a background as a singer, intended to record the vocals but at the last minute another singer who sounded more like Mathis was hired. Manners explained that he wanted to use the song because "certain songs [like 'Wonderful! Wonderful!'] have a creepy, icky quality that none of us have really openly acknowledged".Hurwitz & Knowles (2008), pp. 91–92